Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan refused on Tuesday to rule out the possibility of military operations into northern Iraq to root out armed Kurdish separatist groups that he said had taken refuge in the border region.
Erdogan also criticized some Western countries for what he called an increasingly hawkish stance against Iran.
Meeting with a group of foreign journalists on Tuesday ahead of his trip to the US to meet with US President George W. Bush and others attending the UN General Assembly next week, Erdogan said that despite the relative calm in the northern region of Iraq bordering Turkey, all options remained open in his country's struggle against Kurdish separatist militants.
"No country can continue living under the constant threat of terrorism," Erdogan said in his office at his party headquarters in Ankara. "This struggle has the same legitimacy for Turkey as it has for the US, Spain or United Kingdom."
The PKK, or Kurdistan Workers' Party, has been operating in Turkey since the 1980s, pressing demands for a separate Kurdish state in a conflict that has taken more than 30,000 lives.
There are around 3,500 armed rebels taking shelter in the mountains of northern Iraq and launching hit-and-run attacks inside Turkey according to Turkish officials. These attacks, which have been more frequent in recent months, have led the Turkish military to insist on an active operation to counter them.
"We have done our part in joint struggle against terrorism in Afghanistan as requested by the US," Erdogan said. "Now, we expect the same approach from the US when we expect a three pronged approach -- US, Iraq and Turkey -- to function against the terror organization settled in Northern Iraq."
Turkey has unilaterally entered northern Iraq three times since the 1990s with large numbers of troops and so-called hot pursuits by special army units have become common along the Iraqi border throughout the years.
A large-scale Turkish military operation now, however, could complicate matters in Iraq. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and US Defense Secretary Robert Gates have warned Turkey against such military action, urging a political resolution.
The general elections and presidential election in Turkey this summer stalled any activity against the PKK, but the issue continues to simmer as Kurdish separatist attacks take lives in the predominantly Kurdish southeast.
The growing international tension surrounding Iran's nuclear ambitions has added another layer of complexity to Turkey's relationship with the US and Europe, which have accused the Iranians of trying to develop nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is for civilian energy.
Erdogan has strongly opposed the idea of military action against Iran, calling instead for an objective analysis of the Iranian nuclear program.
He questioned the accusations against Iran, saying, "We have to trust their word that they are using nuclear power for peaceful humanitarian needs until otherwise is proven."
Turkey has signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation on natural gas with Iran, Turkey's second-largest provider of natural gas. That agreement was criticized by Nicholas Burns, the US undersecretary of state for political affairs, in a conference in Washington last week.
Burns arrived in Turkey on Tuesday for a two-day official visit and was scheduled to meet the newly appointed president, Abdullah Gul; the prime minister; and other officials in Ankara yesterday.
Erdogan brushed off the US criticism and said that Turkey would determine its own policies.
"Our foreign policy is based on gaining friends, not enemies," Erdogan said.
Kouri Richins, a Utah mother who published a children’s book about grief after the death of her husband is to serve a life sentence for his murder without the possibility of parole, a judge ruled on Wednesday. Richins was convicted in March of aggravated murder for lacing a cocktail given to her husband, Eric Richins, with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl at their home near Park City in 2022. A jury also found her guilty of four other felonies, including insurance fraud, forgery and attempted murder for trying to poison her husband weeks earlier on Feb. 14, 2022, with a
‘PERSONAL MISTAKES’: Eileen Wang has agreed to plead guilty to the felony, which comes with a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison A southern California mayor has agreed to plead guilty to acting as an illegal agent for the Chinese government and has resigned from her city position, officials said on Monday. Eileen Wang (王愛琳), mayor of Arcadia, was charged last month with one count of acting in the US as an illegal agent of a foreign government. She was accused of doing the bidding of Chinese officials, such as sharing articles favorable to Beijing, without prior notification to the US government as required by law. The 58-year-old was elected in November 2022 to a five-person city council, from which the mayor is selected
DELA ROSA CASE: The whereabouts of the senator, who is wanted by the ICC, was unclear, while President Marcos faces a political test over the senate situation Philippine authorities yesterday were seeking confirmation of reports that a top politician wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) had fled, a day after gunfire rang out at the Philippine Senate where he had taken refuge fearing his arrest. Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, the former national police chief and top enforcer of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s “war on drugs,” has been under Senate protection and is wanted for crimes against humanity, the same charges Duterte is accused of. “Several sources confirmed that the senator, Senator Bato, is no longer in the Senate premises, but we are still getting confirmation,” Presidential
HELP DENIED? The US Department of State said that the Cuban leadership refuses to allow the US to provide aid to Cubans, ‘who are in desperate need of assistance’ US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday said that Cuba’s leadership must change, as Washington renewed an offer of US$100 million in aid if the communist nation agrees to cooperate. Cuba has been suffering severe economic tumult led by an energy shortage that plunged 65 percent of the country into darkness on Tuesday. Cuba’s leaders have blamed US sanctions, but Rubio, a Cuban American and critic of the government established by Fidel Castro, said the system was to blame, including corruption by the military. “It’s a broken, nonfunctional economy, and it’s impossible to change it. I wish it were different,” he told
RSS