Agence France-Presse,
ANKARA: Turkey on Tuesday told Iraq to crack down on Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq or face the consequences, as Baghdad said it would send a delegation for urgent talks to dissuade Ankara from a military incursion.
With Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi already in Turkey for a visit and the Turkish parliament preparing to vote on a motion allowing for cross-border raids, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan made it clear that Ankara's patience with Baghdad had run out.
“The central government in Iraq and the regional government in northern Iraq must put a thick wall between themselves and the terrorist organization,” said Erdogan, referring to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
“Those who are unable to distance themselves from terrorism cannot avoid being adversely affected by the struggle against terrorism,” Erdogan told members of his ruling AKP party.
Ankara complains that the PKK enjoys free movement in northern Iraq, is tolerated by local Kurdish leaders and obtains weapons and explosives there for attacks inside Turkey.
The PKK has waged a bloody campaign for Kurdish self-rule in southeast Turkey since 1984 in a conflict that has claimed more than 37,000 lives.
The Turkish parliament is expected to adopt a government motion on Wednesday, giving the green light for cross-border operations against PKK bases.
Such an incursion will take place “if there is a need, at the right time, at the right place and in a manner to obtain the best result,” Erdogan said.
The authorization would be valid for one year and allow the government to decide the timing, scope and frequency of the raids.
Iraq and the United States have both urged Turkey not to follow through with its threat.
Hashemi told reporters here ahead of his talks with Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul that he was hoping to persuade Ankara to work towards a diplomatic solution.
“The Iraqi and Turkish governments can resolve this issue through a common understanding,” Hashemi was quoted by the Anatolia news agency as saying. “The solution reached at the end of the day must serve both sides' interests.”
In an emergency meeting in Baghdad, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and his cabinet decided to send a high-level delegation to Ankara, his office said in a statement.
Maliki warned earlier Tuesday that Iraq “will not accept military solutions … even though we realise and understand the worries of our Turkish friends.”
In its most explicit call for restraint to date, the White House urged Turkey to refrain from any unilateral action that could further destabilise Iraq.
“We urge the Turks to continue their discussions with us and the Iraqis,” White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.
Turkey says it has no option other than military action amid escalating PKK violence and what it sees as a lack of cooperation by Washington and Baghdad to crack down on the rebels.
In the latest incident, a Turkish soldier was killed Tuesday in the southeastern province of Bingol in a landmine explosion blamed on the rebels, security sources said.
The threat of a Turkish incursion coincides with a downturn in US-Turkish relations over a pending Congressional vote on a resolution labelling the World War I mass killings of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire as genocide.
Turkey and Iraq signed an accord last month to combat the PKK but failed to agree on a clause allowing Turkish troops to engage in “hot pursuit” — as they did regularly in the 1990s — against rebels fleeing into Iraqi territory.
