Turkey took a step toward a military operation in Iraq on Tuesday, as its top political and military leaders issued a statement authorizing troops to cross the Iraqi border to eliminate separatist Kurdish rebel camps in the northern region.
Yesterday, Turkish troops pounded suspected Kurdish rebel camps in northern Iraq with artillery fire, a newspaper reported.
Turkey made the move in the face of strong opposition by the US, which is anxious to maintain peace in the region, one of the rare areas of stability in conflict-torn Iraq. But more than two dozen Turkish soldiers have been killed in recent days and the government of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan seemed far more determined than before to act decisively.
A government official without authorization to speak publicly on the issue who asked not to be identified by name said preparations were underway to seek parliamentary approval for a cross-border military operation, a request that would be the first formal step toward an offensive.
Government offices and institutions have been ordered "to take all economic and political measures, including cross-border operations when necessary, in order to end the existence of the terror organization in a neighboring country," said the statement, released by Erdogan's office after he met political and military leaders in Ankara.
A Turkish military offensive into northern Iraq would have far-reaching consequences for the US. Turkey is a NATO member and has the region's most powerful army. Its support of the US in the Iraq war is crucial. The US' Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey supplies the military in central Iraq.
US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the US had encouraged Turkish officials to work with the Iraqi government.
"In our view, it is not going to lead to a long-term, durable solution to have significant incursions from Turkey into Iraq," he said at a news briefing in Washington.
But Baghdad has little authority in the region, which is controlled exclusively by Kurds and an accord reached by Iraq's interior minister and senior Turkish officials last month did not include permission for military operations, a formulation that frustrated Turkey.
Rainfall is expected to become more widespread and persistent across central and southern Taiwan over the next few days, with the effects of the weather patterns becoming most prominent between last night and tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Independent meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said that based on the latest forecast models of the combination of a low-pressure system and southwesterly winds, rainfall and flooding are expected to continue in central and southern Taiwan from today to Sunday. The CWA also warned of flash floods, thunder and lightning, and strong gusts in these areas, as well as landslides and fallen
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
SOUTH CHINA SEA? The Philippine president spoke of adding more classrooms and power plants, while skipping tensions with China over disputed areas Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday blasted “useless and crumbling” flood control projects in a state of the nation address that focused on domestic issues after a months-long feud with his vice president. Addressing a joint session of congress after days of rain that left at least 31 dead, Marcos repeated his recent warning that the nation faced a climate change-driven “new normal,” while pledging to investigate publicly funded projects that had failed. “Let’s not pretend, the people know that these projects can breed corruption. Kickbacks ... for the boys,” he said, citing houses that were “swept away” by the floods. “Someone has
‘CRUDE’: The potential countermeasure is in response to South Africa renaming Taiwan’s representative offices and the insistence that it move out of Pretoria Taiwan is considering banning exports of semiconductors to South Africa after the latter unilaterally downgraded and changed the names of Taiwan’s two representative offices, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. On Monday last week, the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation unilaterally released a statement saying that, as of April 1, the Taipei Liaison Offices in Pretoria and Cape Town had been renamed the “Taipei Commercial Office in Johannesburg” and the “Taipei Commercial Office in Cape Town.” Citing UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, it said that South Africa “recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the sole
RSS