Turks Mull Northern Iraq Incursion (not invasion?)

[maddezmom]

Source: CBS

Turks Mull Northern Iraq Incursion
ANKARA, Turkey (CBS News) ― Turkey's foreign minister said Thursday that any incursion by Turkish forces into Iraq would target Kurdish guerrilla fighters and their bases and "would not be an invasion."

Ali Babacan said an upcoming meeting Monday between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Bush "will determine the steps that Turkey would take." But if Turkey sends its troops into Iraq, "any cross-border attack would be aimed at hitting terrorist bases and would not be an invasion," he said.

Still, he indicated growing frustration with the government of the semiautonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, accusing it of inaction against the rebels, who stage attacks on Turkey.

"We have doubts about the sincerity of the administration in northern Iraq in the struggle against the terrorist organization," Babacan said. "We want to see solid steps - we hope our point of contacts understand the seriousness of this job."


Read more: http://cbs3.com/national/Turkey.Iraq.border.2.480037.html

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Turkey denies nothern Iraq airspace shut

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey said on Thursday planned economic sanctions against Kurdish militants in northern Iraq would be targeted at groups providing support for the rebels.

Officials declined to say what the new measures would include but made clear they would not harm Turks and Iraqis not connected to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been launching attacks on Turkey from across the border.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said the measures, agreed at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, were not yet in force and he denied a television report that Turkey had closed its airspace to flights to and from northern Iraq.


Turkey has sent 100,000 troops to the Iraqi border, backed by tanks, artillery and aircraft, ready for a possible military incursion into northern Iraq against PKK militants there.

more:http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&storyid=2007-11-01T123530Z_01_L30362887_RTRUKOC_0_UK-TURKEY-IRAQ.xml

[Supersedeas]

1. guess Condi's Thursday meeting wasn't that fruitful -- Bush has to win the day

[ohio2007]

2. hmmm. Headline news; "Turkey is Chicken" nt