Turkish military ready to cross into Iraq

TURKEY: Turkey's top general said his army - which has been massing troops on the border with Iraq - was prepared to attack separatist Kurdish guerrillas in a cross-border offensive and accused Turkey's allies of supporting the rebels.

Gen. Yasar Buyukanit said Thursday that the military was ready and awaiting government orders for an incursion, putting pressure on the government to support an offensive that risks straining ties with the United States and sparking tensions with Iraqi Kurds.

"As soldiers, we are ready," Buyukanit said at an international security conference in Istanbul.

Turkey last carried out a major incursion into Iraq a decade ago, before the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. But separatist Kurdish guerrillas, taking advantage of a power vacuum in northern Iraq, have escalated attacks on Turkish targets.

Turkey frequently complains that the United States and Iraqi Kurds have done little to stop them.

And on Thursday, Buyukanit denounced what he said was a lack of assistance from allies, many of whom have branded the group a terrorist organization.

"Turkey does not receive the necessary support in its fight against terrorism," the general said. "There are countries which directly or indirectly support PKK terrorism." He did not identify those countries.

Any military deployment would require parliamentary approval. Public support for an offensive is high, especially following the recent killings of soldiers and a suicide bombing that killed six people and that authorities blamed on the rebels.

On Thursday, suspected rebels attacked a group of forestry workers in the predominantly Kurdish province of Bingol, killing four of them and injuring four others, officials said. The military launched an operation to try to capture the rebels.

Many Turks believe a major incursion would help finish off the rebels from the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, which has been fighting for autonomy of the Kurdish-dominated southeast since 1984, a conflict that has killed tens of thousands.

Ankara, Friday, AP