ANKARA — Turkey's military is deploying troops to the Iraq border in preparation for a major
counter-insurgency offensive.
Officials said the Turkish General Command has been gathering an
infantry force backed by main battle tanks, armored personnel carriers and
helicopters along the borders with Iran and Iraq. They said the buildup was
meant to counter plans by the Kurdish Workers Party to send about 2,500
fighters from Iraq to Turkey.
On April 21, the Turkish newspaper Posta reported that the United
States has approved a Turkish military operation against the PKK in northern
Iraq. Posta said the Turkish military plans to send up to 250,000 troops to
the Iraqi-Turkish border.
"As long as the PKK exists our operations will continue in
ever-increasing intensity," Land Forces Command chief Gen. Yasar Buyukanit
said on Sunday.
So far, officials said, Turkey has deployed about 40,000 troops in the
provinces of Hakkari, Sirnak and Van in the southeast. The provinces border
the mountain regions of Iraq and Iran.
"There is nothing extraordinary; there is always some movement in the
area," Buyukanit told CNN-Turk television. "It is not different from
previous years."
Since 2003, the PKK was said to have sent about 3,000 fighters from the
Kurdish autonomous zone in northern Iraq to Turkey. Officials said the PKK
plans to launch a major offensive by deploying another 2,500 operatives
to conduct bombings in major Turkish cities.
Turkey has the largest military force in Europe, with about 700,000
troops. About 250,000 troops were said to be based in the southeast.
The Turkish newspaper Aksam reported on April 21 that Turkey has
deployed 10,000 soldiers along the Iraqi and Iranian borders. The newspapers
said this has increased the Turkish military presence to 50,000 troops.
Meanwhile, Turkey's leading commanders have toured southeastern Turkey, where Kurdish
attacks killed at least eight soldiers over the last three weeks. The
Kurdish Workers Party has introduced new weapons, such as rocket-propelled
grenades and advanced explosives, believed procured in neighboring Iraq.
"As long as the unity, the loyalty and self-sacrifice of the Turkish
soldier live on, no one will be able to divide the homeland," Turkish Chief
of Staff Gen. Hilmi Ozkok said during a visit to Van.
On Monday, a Turkish soldier and three PKK fighters were killed during a
military operation in the southeast. Military sources said the clash took
place in Sirnak near the borders of Iraq and Syria.
The military effort comes as parliament has been divided over the PKK
campaign. Several parliamentarians have blamed Prime Minister Recep Erdogan
for encouraging the PKK assault by suggesting the need to negotiate with
Kurdish separatists.
Erdogan has denied providing encouragement to the Kurds. Erdogan aides
point to the introduction of an anti-terrorism legislation that would expand
the powers of the police.
Still, there has been rising anger within the military toward Erdogan.
During a funeral on April 10 of a lieutenant colonel killed in a PKK
bombing, a supporter led chants against Erdogan, who attended the procession
in Ankara.
