KurdistanObserver.com
Kurdish Troops
Surround Turks in Worst Confrontation Yet In Southern Kurdistan
McClatchy Newspapers
February 21, 2008
BAGHDAD | Iraqi Kurdish troops on Thursday encircled Turkish soldiers in Iraqi
Kurdistan and threatened to open fire in the most serious standoff between the
two nation’s forces since Turkey threatened late last year to go after
guerrillas from the Kurdistan Workers Party sheltering in Iraqi Kurdistan.
The standoff began when Turkish troops in tanks and armored vehicles left one of
five bases they’ve had in Iraq since 1997 and moved to control two main roads in
Duhok province, Iraqi officials said.
Kurdish soldiers from the peshmerga, which is loyal to the Kurdistan Regional
Government, moved to stop them. For an hour and a half, the two sides faced off
before the Turkish soldiers retreated to their base, which is about 27 miles
northeast of the city of Duhok. The peshmerga surrounded the base and remained
there late Thursday.
The Turkish troop movement was accompanied by artillery and airstrikes that
targeted mountain areas held by rebels from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which
is known by its initials as the PKK. A spokesman for the peshmerga, Jabar Yawar,
said the shelling began at about 11 a.m. and continued past midnight. Two
bridges were knocked out over the Great Zab River, he said.
"This is a matter of the sovereignty of Iraq and the unity of Iraq," said Falah
Bakir, the head of the foreign relations department of the regional government.
"We hope that there will be no clashes — the Kurdistan Regional Government has
done enough to show our goodwill to Turkey."
Bakir said the regional government has tightened security at checkpoints,
airports and hospitals to stop PKK movements, but that the Turkish military has
continued its buildup. He called for the Iraqi central government and U.S.
military to step in to stop what he called Turkey’s "abnormal movements."
In Baghdad, Iraqi government officials held tense meetings with American
civilian and military officials to stem the crisis in one of the only peaceful
areas of Iraq.
"We have to do something," said a senior Iraqi official, who asked not to be
identified because of the sensitivity of the issue. "We cannot keep quiet and
keep digging our heads in the sand."
The growing tension between Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan has wedged the United
States between two allies. Turkey is a NATO member, and the Iraqi Kurds have
been among the biggest supporters of the American presence in Iraq.
But the PKK, which has battled Turkey for decades for an autonomous Kurdish
region in southern Turkey, also has broad support in northern Iraq, despite
being labeled a terrorist organization by the United States.
There were no PKK casualties from Thursday’s Turkish shelling, said Ahmed
Dennis, a spokesman for the group.
