Turkish commandos fight PKK terrorists in northern Iraq

25/02/2008

The Turkish military reiterated the sole goal of its ground offensive is to destroy PKK camps and that troops will return home as soon as this is achieved.

By Ayhan Simsek for Southeast European Times -- 25/02/08

A Turkish soldier uses a land mine detector while patrolling a road near the Turkey-Iraq border into the mainly Kurdish southeastern province of Sirnak. The Turkish military launched a ground offensive in northern Iraq on Thursday (February 21st). [Getty Images]

Turkey's air and ground offensive in northern Iraq against the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), the biggest such operation in a decade, continued in northern Iraq on Monday (February 25th) under international scrutiny.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterated on Sunday that the offensive was not directed at Iraq or the people of northern Iraq. He said many efforts were under way to isolate the PKK from Iraqi society. Central Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said on the weekend that Iraq understood the threat Turkey faces from the PKK.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice commented on the offensive, saying the PKK is an enemy of the Iraqi people and government because Iraqi territory shouldn't be used to launch terrorist operations.

As fighting intensified, Turkey's General Staff announced on Sunday that at least 112 PKK militants had been killed, as had 15 Turkish soldiers. Also Sunday, the army said one of its helicopters crashed on the Turkish-Iraqi border.

In the first three days of the operation, Turkish air and land forces destroyed 63 targets, including terrorist shelters, logistic centres and ammunition. Three PKK camps -- Zap, Hakurk and Avasin -- were the prime targets of the initial operations.

The offensive began amid growing public pressure and a months-long debate among Ankara, Washington and Baghdad. The PKK, declared a terrorist organization by the United States and the EU stepped up violent terrorist attacks over the past 13 months, killing more than 120 security personnel.

The Turkish Armed Forces codenamed its ground offensive "Gunes", or ''Sun'', after a three-year-old girl whose father, a corporal, was killed by the PKK during operations in the Gabar mountains last October.

The Turkish General Staff did not reveal the exact number of forces in northern Iraq, but stressed this is a mission carried out mainly by the Special Forces to purge the area of PKK terrorists. The Iraqi government said fewer than 1,000 Turkish troops had crossed the border, while Turkish defence sources put that figure at around 5,000. One battalion returned to the country Sunday night, local agencies reported.

Ankara says an estimated 3,500 PKK terrorists are in northern Iraq and are using the region as a springboard for cross-border attacks.

Turkey's Armed Forces have carried out four major ground operations against PKK targets in the region in the last 16 years, most recently in 1997. More than 5,000 PKK terrorists were killed and around 2,000 terrorists were detained in these operations.

A prominent expert on the PKK and counterterrorism, Nihat Ali Ozcan, said the ongoing fifth major operation would not be a solution alone to the PKK problem. "There is already a broader plan with political, legal and economic elements that aims at eliminating the PKK threat," he said.

According to Ozcan, the recent operation would not only destroy PKK's infrastructure and weaken its ability to launch attacks at Turkish targets in the spring, but would also deal a major "psychological blow" to the group, which has long enjoyed free movement in northern Iraq.

However, another analyst, retired Turkish Army officer Celalettin Yavuz, believes the political goal of Turkey's recent operation is not limited to destroying the PKK. "In its statement Turkish General Staff underscores the importance it attaches to Iraq's territorial integrity and its stability. The political goal of this operation is to prevent possible emergence of a new state in Turkey's neighborhood," he said.

The United States is cooperating with its NATO ally, Turkey, in the fight against the PKK, has urged for the quick completion of the ground operation. "The shorter the better," US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said, stressing that the military operations are not going to be sufficient to solve the problem.

"I think all our experience in Iraq and Afghanistan shows us that while dealing with a terrorist problem does require security operations, it also requires economic and political initiatives," Gates said, during a visit to Australia. Gates is expected to hold comprehensive talks on the PKK problem with the Turkish officials, during a key visit to Ankara on February 27th to February 28th.

Iraqi Kurdish groups, who fear that a Turkish military existence in the region would undermine their region's autonomy, strongly criticised the offensive and urged the United States to increase pressure on Turkey to withdraw its troops.

The Turkish General Staff warned the Iraqi Kurdish groups on Sunday not to shelter PKK terrorists, who "are trying to flee southwards in panic. Local Iraqi groups are expected to prevent members of the terrorist organisation -- the biggest enemy of regional peace and stability -- from entering their region and being given protection there," the statement by the Turkish General Staff said.