ARBIL, Iraq, 19 December 2007 — Turkish troops crossed into northern Iraq yesterday in the first ground incursion against Kurdish rebels, overshadowing a visit to Iraq by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Turkey’s President Abdullah Gul said the army was “doing what is necessary in the fight against terrorism,” while Rice said the United States, Iraq and Turkey shared a “common interest” in stopping rebel activities.
Annoyance over Washington’s perceived approval of the Turkish action created a diplomatic incident, with the president of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region reportedly refusing to meet Rice in Baghdad. Iraq’s Kurdish regional administration initially said 300 Turkish soldiers advanced some three kilometers into northern Iraq before dawn, two days after warplanes bombed several villages along the border, targeting rebel Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) bases.
Early yesterday evening, the office of Kurdish regional President Massud Barzani said the troops “have started to withdraw back into Turkish territory.” It said around 500 Turkish soldiers entered northern Iraq and remained in remote areas along the Iraq-Turkey border.
“There were no clashes,” the statement said, referring to some media reports that the Turkish soldiers had clashed briefly with the Peshmerga forces of the Iraqi Kurdish region.
As the reports of the incursion emerged, Rice arrived in Iraq on a surprise visit, landing in the northern oil city of Kirkuk. It was later reported that Barzani was refusing to meet her because of the US position over Turkey sending soldiers into Iraq.
Barzani had warned Ankara about taking military action, saying the “blood of the people of Kurdistan is not cheap.” He also said Washington had a “moral duty” to protect his region from further Turkish strikes.
Kurdish regional Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani last evening said “it was decided that Massud Barzani would go to Baghdad to take part in a meeting with Condoleezza Rice and other officials, but he will not go now as a sign of protest against the American position on the bombings by Turkey.
“It is unacceptable that the United States, in charge of monitoring our airspace, authorized Turkey to bomb our villages,” he said.
In Iraq, Insurgents killed at least 22 people yesterday in a series of bomb attacks, including a suicide attack that killed 16 people in a cafe near the restive city of Baquba.
