Officials said Prime Minister Recep Erdogan convened the General Staff
and senior members of his Cabinet to discuss an expansion of Turkish
cooperation with Iran. They said Iran has sought Turkish military help
against the Party for Free Life in Kurdistan, which operates from
neighboring Iraq.
"The officials reviewed all issues concerning foreign security in their
broadest sense," a government statement said.
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The meeting on Aug. 8 was chaired by Erdogan and included new Chief of
Staff Gen. Necdet Ozel, Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz and Foreign Minister
Ahmet
Davutoglu. Officials said the participants were briefed on Iran's invasion
of Iraq's Kurdistan region and Teheran's request for Turkish military
assistance.
Kurdish opposition sources said the Turkish military was providing
unprecedented help to Iran's invasion of the Kandil mountains in northern
Iraq, Middle East Newsline reported. They said Turkey has already deployed U.S.-origin M-60A3 main battle
tanks and Israeli-origin Heron unmanned aerial vehicles to track and shell
PJAK bases and fighters.
So far, the Erdogan government has not confirmed reports of Turkish
military cooperation with Iran in the Kandil mountains. Officials said the
Turkish military leadership was complaining that Iran was withholding vital
information on its counter-insurgency campaign against PJAK.
The two-hour meeting was also said to have discussed how the Turkish
military could use the Iranian invasion of Kandil to help eradicate the
Kurdish Workers Party from northern Iraq. The PKK, which has long targeted
Turkey, was said to have deployed at least 2,500 fighters in bases in
northern Iraq.
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