KurdistanObserver.com

Kurdish Rebels Claim Turkey Preparing For Incursion Into Iraq

ANKARA, April 22, 2006 (AFP) -  Turkey's main armed Kurdish rebel group alleged on Saturday that the army was preparing for an incursion into neighbouring Iraq to hunt down its militants, and warned that Ankara would suffer from such a move.

The warning from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) followed Turkish press reports that thousands of additional troops had been deployed in the southeast of the country to intensify operations against Kurdish rebels, who have increasingly begun to infiltrate the region from across the border in northern Iraq.

"We believe the preparations are for a cross-border operation into northern Iraq," Zubeyir Aydar, the head of KONGRA-GEL, the PKK's political wing, told AFP in a telephone interview from Brussels.

"There are only a few thousands (PKK) guerillas at most in southeastern Turkey. It does not make much sense to move so many troops and equipment into the region for them," he said.

Aydar stressed that PKK rebels had made the necessary preparations and would "continue their struggle on the basis of active legitimate defence" against a possible cross-border operation.

"Turkey will suffer from such an operation. It would only lead to more death and pain," he added.