Military: Government should to set guidelines for incursion into Iraq

The New Anatolian / Ankara

Turkey's military chief on Wednesday admitted that a cross border operation into Iraq will not finish off the PKK terrorist organization but insisted it will deal a heavy blow to the militants and asked the government to set political guidelines for an incursion into northern Iraq.

"Will we go to northern Iraq just to fight PKK terrorists, or for example what will we do if we come under attack from local Iraqi Kurdish groups?" Gen. Yasar Buyukanit told a televised news conference. "There is a need to know political targets in this struggle, then the military would determine what kind of force it needs to do it and seek formal approval." In his earlier statements last month Buyukanit had said the government should decide whether Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani should be a target. This time he seemed to speak in a more guarded manner.

Buyukanit had asked the government in April to approve a cross-border incursion into northern Iraq, increasing pressure on the United States and Iraq to crack down on Kurdish terrorists there. At the time Buyukanit said a military incursion was needed and believed it would be successful.

However, the government said priority should be given to fighting the terrorists who are already inside Turkey.

"In April, I had said that a cross-border offensive would be beneficial, today I think the same thing," Buyukanit said, confirming that "some planning" was under way.

Buyukanit said dealing a blow to the PKK in northern Iraq "could provide great benefits." He also said a one-time operation would not be sufficient to deal with the PKK.

The government is likely to consider military action only as a last resort. Asking parliament to approve an incursion would strain ties with Washington and Iraq, which oppose such unilateral Turkish action.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan refrained from making comment, saying "I cannot say anything before discussing the issue with them," the military leaders.

Parliament is in recess before July 22 general election and would have to reconvene for any vote on whether to send troops to Iraq.
"We cannot go beyond the laws," Buyukanit told the conference at a commando training center in the southern city of Isparta.

Buyukanit said struggle against terrorism is an on going process and said despite the fact that the ETA terrorist organization is Spain is much smaller than the PKK is has managed to survive for all these years.

The general said the struggle against PKK could not only be done through military means and said these have to be supplemented by social and psychological measures. "PKK enjoys outside support and this is not just arms and material support. It also gets political backing."

He said some NATO allies are either directly or indirectly supporting the PKK and said "the task to stop the outside support for the PKK is not the task of the military."

"We cannot say for the time being that the U.S. extends sufficient support to Turkey's fight against the terrorist organization PKK," Buyukanit said.

"Obviously, we have various requests and demands from the U.S. There should be no double standards in the fight against terrorism," Buyukanit told reporters.

"Both the Taliban and the PKK are two terrorist entities. We have a long history with the U.S. Turkey deserves much more support for countering PKK terrorism, which it has not yet received," Buyukanit added.

Buyukanit also said "for every terrorist to roam freely in the mountains you need ten collaborators below. If a Muslim preacher or a village headman is planting a bomb how can you fight against terrorism? First we have to incapacitate the collaborators."

Asked whether terrorists expanded their infrastructure in the region, Gen. Buyukanit said, "we do not have tangible data. What is important is our approach towards the local people. We have never considered them potential terrorists. We should make a certain distinction between terrorists and local people."

"I do not accept that economic difficulty is one of the basic reasons for terrorism. Some people, who became landlords thanks to the state in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir, have still been supporting terrorists," he said.

Upon a question on temporary military security zones, Gen. Buyukanit said, "some regions in many parts of Turkey are declared temporary security zones from time to time. This practice aims at taking places used often by terrorists or areas of military exercises under control. The General Staff is authorized to declare shooting ranges and military exercise areas as land, naval and air military security zones for certain periods of time under the Military Off-Limit Areas and Security Zones Law to provide safety of civilians."

When asked whether terrorists' laying down their arms and participation in politics could be solutions, Gen. Buyukanit said, "we cannot make a bargain with terrorists since they aim at reaching their targets through acts of violence. No one can make a bargaining with the state while walking around mountains with weapons. Terrorists should surrender to security forces."

Kurdish militants have stepped up attacks on the military this year, killing 64 soldiers so far - a 65 percent increase compared with last year, Land Forces Commander Gen. Ilker Basbug told the same press conference.

Basbug put the number of killed or captured by the PKK at 220 in the same period.

"Between 2,800 and 3,100 PKK terrorists operate in the north of Iraq," Basbug said.

Basbug said between 1,800 and 1,900 militants were concentrated just inside Turkey mainly in the provinces of Sirnak and Siirt. He estimated the total PKK strength between 5,100 and 5,650.

Basbug blamed roadside bombs by Kurdish terrorists for more than half of the Turkish losses. He said the bomb attacks were similar to those of Sunni and Shiite militants targeting U.S-led forces in Iraq.

Basbug said the main ingredient of explosive devices used by the PKK was cheap fertilizer and the military has asked the government to tightly restrict sales of ammonium nitrate, an ingredient used to make bombs.

The military has come under fire for sending in inexperienced enlisted soldiers to Southeastern Turkey to fight the PKK. Basbug said the military has deployed eight additional companies to try to secure the rugged border and announced plans to restructure six commando brigades on the Iraqi border only with professional soldiers.

During the 1990s, Turkish troops penetrated Iraqi territory several times, sometimes with as many as 50,000 troops. The Turkish forces withdrew, leaving behind about 1,300 soldiers and 40 tanks to monitor the terrorist activities in northern Iraq.

Meanwhile asked about the U.S. position on any possible Turkish incursion into northern Iraq, Ambassador Daniel Speckhard, the charge d'affaires for the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, said: "We're encouraging the government of Iraq and the government of Turkey to work directly, to engage in political dialogue, and engage the Kurdish regional government in that discussion."

He said U.S. officials wanted to "ensure the government of Iraq is doing all it can to address the challenges posed by the PKK as a terror organization, and any actions or operations they may be taking in Turkey."

"We've been pushing the government of Iraq very hard to address that issue, given its limited resources."

The U.S. is "working with the government of Turkey to be a constructive partner in Iraq, to help stabilize the situation."