ANKARA, 17 June 2007 — Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has invited his Iraqi counterpart Nuri Al-Maliki to Ankara to discuss measures against the safe haven that Turkish Kurd rebels enjoy in northern Iraq.
Under mounting pressure to toughen measures against resurging rebel violence ahead of elections on July 22, Erdogan told the CNN Turk news channel late Friday he was awaiting a response to a letter he sent recently to Maliki proposing talks by the end of June.
Ankara is also in contact with Washington on the issue, he said. “This is a diplomacy offensive. The result of this diplomacy offensive could shape certain things,” he said.
The influential Turkish Army has called for a cross-border operation to destroy bases of the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in neighboring northern Iraq, where, Ankara says, the rebels also obtain weapons and explosives for attacks in Turkey.
Erdogan stressed Tuesday military action should be the last resort, saying that Ankara would seek dialogue with Baghdad and focus on fighting the PKK inside Turkey. He told CNN Turk the government had not ruled out an eventual incursion into northern Iraq. “If necessary, Parliament can take a decision (to authorize military action) so that we can have it at hand... But we have to come to that point first,” he said.
The army has charged that Iraqi Kurds, who run northern Iraq, tolerate and even support the rebels. Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul on Thursday accused the Iraqi authorities of making “no effort at all” against the PKK, which he said, has between 3,500 and 3,800 militants based in northern Iraq.
