Turkey says it is ready to send troops into Iraq

Backed by airpower, Turkish soldiers pressed ahead with a major offensive against separatist rebels in Sirnak province, close to the Iraq border.

Soldiers targeted suspected escape routes used by fighters and tracked rebels in the Gabar, Cudi, Namaz and Kato mountains in operations that began after 13 soldiers were killed in an ambush Sunday. Two more soldiers died in explosions Monday.

Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabagh said the violence in Sirnak and the killings of the Turkish soldiers was of “great concern” to Iraq. He extended condolences to the victims’ families and solidarity with the Turkish people, but stressed that regional cooperation is key to confronting all terrorist groups.

Al-Dabagh invoked a September counterterrorism agreement signed by Iraq and Turkey that prohibits Turkey from sending troops to Iraq’s north, and said that preserving that agreement was the way to maintain the security and sovereignty of both countries.

Turkey had demanded the right to send troops into Iraq’s north to pursue Kurdish rebels. Iraq did not agree to the demand under pressure from the leaders of its semiautonomous Kurdish region.

Turks are furious that PKK rebels carry out attacks on Turkish soil and then slip across the border to mountain hideouts in the predominantly Kurdish region of northern Iraq. Turkey has accused Iraqi Kurds of tolerating their ethnic brethren in the PKK; one punitive measure at Turkey’s disposal is to close the border with northern Iraq, hurting the economy of the landlocked region.

Opposition wants incursion
The latest images of soldiers’ coffins draped in the Turkish flag intensified pressure on Erdogan.

Opposition leaders, chastened by defeat in general elections in July, condemned Erdogan’s party. One opposition group called for a cross-border operation, and another blamed the PKK attacks on the government’s “lack of determination” to fight terrorism.

Nihat Ali Ozcan, a terrorism expert, noted that a cross-border offensive could disrupt efforts to assimilate its minority Kurdish population into the political process, especially after a bloc of pro-Kurdish lawmakers won seats in the July elections after an absence of more than a decade.

Erdogan also has a sensitive relationship with his own military, which has put the Islamic-rooted government on notice it will not tolerate any effort to undermine Turkey’s secular traditions.

The PKK is branded a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the European Union. Its war with Turkey has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

Iran, which is also fighting a Kurdish rebel group linked to the PKK, reopened five border crossing points with Kurdish-run northern Iraq on Monday. The border points had been closed Sept. 24 to protest the U.S. detention of an Iranian official.

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