Turkish troops crossed into northern Iraq early yesterday in a series of raids to crack down on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) terrorists there, in a small scale operation that follows the weekend's large air strike, according to unconfirmed reports. About 300 Turkish troops crossed the border at 3:00 a.m., said Jamal Abdullah, a spokesman for the semi-autonomous Kurdish administration in northern Iraq. The region is a deserted mountainous frontier area, he said. In his first remarks Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan neither confirmed nor denied an incursion by the Turkish army and said, “Right now our army is doing what is necessary and will continue to do so.”
Iraqi Kurds, on the other hand, denounced the raid. “We condemn this incursion. Turkey wants to transfer the problem into the territory of Iraqi Kurdistan,” said Fouad Hussein, an Iraqi Kurdish official.
Following the large-scale strike targeting terrorist hideouts inside northern Iraq over the weekend, Turkish troops crossed into northern Iraq early yesterday in a series of small raids against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), according to unconfirmed reports. The Turkish forces crossed into an area near the border with Iran, about 120 kilometers north of the city of Arbil, said Jabar Yawar, a spokesman for the Kurdish peshmerge forces.
About 300 Turkish troops crossed the border at 3:00 a.m., said Jamal Abdullah, a spokesman for the semi-autonomous Kurdish administration in northern Iraq. The region is a deserted mountainous frontier area, he said.
It is not clear how long the Turkish soldiers who reportedly entered Iraq yesterday will stay, but they were sent as “reinforcements” to existing Turkish troops stationed further inside Iraq, a Turkish government official told the Associated Press. “They are going there as reinforcements, they are not returning,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
The incursion appeared unlikely to develop into larger military action, a senior Iraqi military official who asked not to be named told Reuters.
“I think this is a limited incursion and will not be expanded,” the source said.
“From now on whatever is necessary in the struggle against terrorism will be done,” Turkish President Abdullah Gül said when asked about a reported clash between the Turkish troops and the PKK inside Iraq.
“Turkey has only one target (in Iraq), and that is terrorism,” Gül said. In early remarks, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said: "Right now our army is doing what is necessary and will continue to do so."
The incursion “is not acceptable and will lead to complicated problems,” Iraqi government spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh, said.
“Iraq understands the threat the PKK represents, one that endangers Turkish security. But Iraq rejects any Turkish interference in Iraq,” al-Dabbagh said, adding that the Iraqi government was given no warning about the incursion.
About 1,200 Turkish military monitors have operated in northern Iraq since 1996 with permission from local authorities. A tank battalion has been stationed at a former airport at the border town of Bamerni and a few other military outposts are scattered in the region. Ankara rotates the troops there.
Iraqi Kurds condemn raid
The semi-autonomous Kurdish administration in northern Iraq denounced the Turkish military's operation.
“We condemn this incursion. Turkey wants to transfer the problem into the territory of Iraqi Kurdistan,” said Fouad Hussein, head of the office of Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani.
Indeed, Barzani warned Ankara about taking military action claiming that civilians sustained damages as a result of the Turkish military's bombing of PKK camps.
“The Turkish government committed a cruel crime against the people of Iraqi Kurdistan when it hit Kurdish villages on the border. It is a cruel crime against unarmed citizens,” Iraqi Kurdish leader Barzani was quoted as saying late Monday.
Turkey conducted air strikes against the PKK in northern Iraq Saturday night. As many as 50 fighter jets were involved in the attack, the biggest against the PKK in years. The planes attacked several villages, killing one woman, an Iraqi official said.
"I want to remind everybody that the blood of the people of Kurdistan is not cheap," said Barzani.
He urged Washington to abide by its “moral and legal commitment to protect Iraq's sovereignty, Iraqi people and especially the people of Kurdistan.”
“We are against any Turkish incursion inside Iraqi territory. This is regarded as a violation of Iraq's sovereignty,” said Abdullah, spokesman for Barzani.
“We don't expect that problems between Turkey and the PKK will be solved by a military operation,” Abdullah said, adding that Turkish forces should “be careful not to harm civilians” who might be living in the area.
The weekend's four-hour operation cost $20 million, $5 million of which was spent on fuel used on warplanes, $13 million on bombs and $2 million on artillery, the daily Hürriyet reported.