ISTANBUL, 15 June 2007 — Turkey yesterday accused Iraq of making “no effort at all” to curb Turkish Kurd rebels who it says take refuge in northern Iraq where they obtain large amounts of explosives. “According to information we have, between 3,500 and 3,800 terrorists take shelter in camps in northern Iraq, meeting their logistical needs and obtaining explosives and ammunition,” Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul told a conference in Istanbul.

“It is regrettable that ... the Iraqi authorities make no effort at all to prevent the activities of the PKK on their soil,” he said. The Turkish Army has called for a cross-border operation into northern Iraq to destroy camps of the separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which it says are supported by Iraqi Kurds who run the region.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Ankara and much of the international community, has stepped up attacks in Turkey this year. Facing general elections on July 22, the government has come under pressure to toughen its stance against Iraq. Public anger boiled over in May when a suspected PKK militant blew himself up in Ankara, killing seven people.

But Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday signaled his opposition to a cross-border operation, saying Ankara would focus on fighting the PKK inside Turkey and seek dialogue with Baghdad. “We expect the Iraqi government to control its borders. If it is unable to do that, the coalition forces should do it. If this does not happen either, then they should cooperate with those who can resolve the problem,” Gul said.

According to media reports, Ankara wants to set up a 15-kilometer wide security belt on the Iraqi side of the border to stop PKK militants from infiltrating Turkey. “Turkey has no territorial ambitions against any country... But the Turkish government is determined to take all measures to ensure the security of its people (who) ... as any other people, have the right to live free of the threat of terrorism,” Gul said.

Gul said anti-PKK operations in Turkey last year resulted in the seizure of two tons of plastic explosives originating from Iraq. Washington is opposed to Turkish military action in northern Iraq, wary that this would destabilize a relatively peaceful region of the conflict-torn country and further strain tense ties between Ankara and Iraqi Kurds, staunch allies of the United States.

Washington has promised to combat the PKK by nonmilitary means such as cutting off financial channels, but Ankara wants more. The mounting violence in Turkey’s southeast claimed another life yesterday as PKK rebels killed a soldier in fighting in Elazig province, the Anatolia news agency reported.

Late on Wednesday, an army major was killed and two soldiers were wounded in a roadside bomb attack in the Hakkari province in the southeast of Turkey, sources said. President Ahmet Necdet Sezer Erdogan condemned the attack on the army major.

The army is cracking down against the PKK in the east and southeast of the country and has massed troops on the border with Iraq. The PKK took up arms for self-rule in the Kurdish-majority region in 1984. The conflict has claimed more than 37,000 lives so far.

Meanwhile, Kyrgyz Prime Minister Almazbek Atambayev has been hospitalized at an elite military hospital in Ankara after he was poisoned by an unknown substance last month, Turkish and Kyrgyz officials said yesterday. “He has to undergo medical check-ups after his being poisoned in his office in May,” Roza Daudova, a spokeswoman for the Kyrgyz government, told AFP.

“He feels well,” she said. “He will be back at work at the beginning of next week.” Atambayev was admitted to the GATA military medical academy hospital on Monday for “check-ups and general treatment,” a Kyrgyz embassy official in Ankara told AFP.

He also said the prime minister was “in quite good health.” An aide to Erdogan said: “I believe he has some stomach problems, but he is well.” GATA declined to comment. Erdogan visited Atambayev in hospital late Wednesday. An official Kyrgyz medical report said last month that Atambayev was poisoned with “toxins of unknown origin” on May 11.