By SUZAN FRASER, Associated Press Writer
Oct 17, 2007
ANKARA, Turkey - Parliament on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved a possible
cross-border offensive against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq, although the
government appears willing to give diplomatic pressure on the U.S.-backed Iraqi
administration more time to work.
Lawmakers voted 507-19 in favor of empowering the government to order the
military to cross into Iraq during a one-year period, Parliament Speaker Koksal
Toptan said. They then burst into applause.
Turkish leaders have stressed that an offensive against the rebels of the
Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, would not immediately follow the expected
authorization.
In Washington, President Bush said the United States was making clear to Turkey
it should not send a massive number of troops into Iraq.
Bush said Turkey has had troops stationed in Iraq "for quite a while."
“We are making it very clear to Turkey that we don’t think it is in their
interest to send troops into Iraq,” Bush said at a White House news conference.
Bush also noted that Tariq al-Hashimi, one of Iraq's vice presidents, was in
Istanbul expressing that Iraq shares Turkey's concerns about terrorist
activities, but that there's a better way to deal with the issue than sending
more troops into Iraq.
"What I'm telling you is that there's a lot of dialogue going on and that's
positive," he said.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan appeared to dismiss Bush's comments.
"What's important is the parliament's decision, not what people say," private
NTV television quoted him as saying.
Wednesday's motion — authorizing an attack into Iraq sometime in the next year —
had the backing from all of Turkey's parliamentary parties except a small
Kurdish party.
Hours before the vote, Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki called his Turkish
counterpart to say that his government was determined to halt the "terrorist
activities" of the PKK on Iraqi territory, and he emphasized the need for the
two nations to continue to talk, his office said.
In Paris, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, an ethnic Kurd, called on PKK rebels
to stop fighting in Turkey, while also urging the Turkish government not to
launch an incursion.
"We consider activities of PKK against the interests of the Kurdish people
first, and then against the interests of Turkey," Talabani told reporters during
an official visit to the French capital. "We have asked the PKK to stop
fighting, to end the so-called military activity."
Turkey has complained about what it considers a lack of U.S. support in the
fight against the PKK. It also is frustrated with Washington, after U.S.
Congress last week approved a resolution labeling the World War 1-era killing of
up to 1.5 million Armenians a genocide.
A resolution is an affront to Turks, who deny there was any systematic campaign
to eliminate Armenians.
At a White House news conference, Bush also repeated calls for the
Democratic-controlled Congress to drop plans for a resolution labeling as
genocide the World War I-era killing of up to 1.5 million Armenians in the final
years of the Ottoman Empire.
Noting the number of domestic bills pending before Congress, he said: "One thing
Congress should not be doing is sorting out the historical record of the Ottoman
Empire."
The House vote to label the century-old deaths of Armenians as genocide was in
jeopardy Tuesday after several Democrats withdrew their support and sounded
alarms it could cripple U.S. relations with Turkey.
