Turkey launches land offensive into Iraq
ANKARA (Reuters) - Thousands of Turkish troops have crossedinto northern Iraq and thousands more are at the border readyto join them in their hunt for Kurdish PKK guerrillas, a seniormilitary source said on Friday.
Turkey's military said the land offensive -- the firstmajor incursion in a decade -- had fighter aircraft in support,and Turkish television reported that 10,000 troops had enteredIraq.
"The Turkish Armed Forces, which attach great importance toIraq's territorial integrity and stability, will return home inthe shortest time possible after its goals have been achieved,"the General Staff said in a statement posted on its Web site.
The military source based in southeast Turkey told Reuters:"Thousands of troops have crossed the border and thousands moreare waiting at the border to join them if necessary."
The U.S. military said it was aware that Turkish forces hadlaunched an offensive into northern Iraq against members of theKurdistan Workers Party (PKK), considered a terrorist group byAnkara, the United States and the European Union.
Rear Admiral Gregory Smith, a U.S. military spokesman inBaghdad, said the operation was understood to be of "limitedduration" and aimed at PKK fighters in the largely autonomousKurdish region in northern Iraq.
"Turkey has given its assurances that it will do everythingpossible to avoid collateral damage to innocent citizens orKurdish infrastructure," Smith said in a statement.
NATO member Turkey says it has the right underinternational law to hit Turkish PKK rebels who shelter innorthern Iraq and have mounted attacks inside Turkey that havekilled scores of troops. Turkey says some 3,000 PKK rebels arebased in Iraq.
Turkey's military said the cross-border offensive waslaunched at 7 p.m. (5 p.m. British time) on Thursday.
Turkish media said troops, backed by warplanes and Cobraattack helicopters, had moved 10 km (6 miles) inside Iraq.Television footage showed dozens of tanks moving at high speedalong the Iraqi-Turkish border.
Turkish financial markets dipped on news of the offensive,a possibility that had been mooted by Foreign Minister AliBabacan on Tuesday and in a statement from Turkey's NationalSecurity Council (MGK) after a meeting on Thursday.
"NOT THE GREATEST NEWS"
A U.S. State Department official said the land incursionwas "not the greatest news".
"A land operation is a whole new level," Deputy AssistantSecretary of State Matthew Bryza told reporters in Brussels.
He said Washington had been cooperating fully with allyTurkey in providing intelligence on PKK positions in northernIraq since last November to enable the Turkish air force tomake pinpoint attacks minimising civilian casualties.
The EU and the United States have in the past raisedconcerns that a major offensive could destabilise the region,though they have not criticised recent small cross-borderraids.
In Baghdad, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said hisgovernment was not aware of any Turkish ground offensive.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki called on his Turkishcounterpart on Thursday evening to respect Iraq's borders afterrenewed shelling. President Jalal Talabani accepted aninvitation from Turkish President Abdullah Gul to visit Turkey.
Iraq has repeatedly called for a diplomatic solution to thePKK problem but Turkey's government is under domestic pressureto take military action against the rebels.
Turkey launched several major land offensives in the 1990sinto northern Iraq against the PKK, but failed to dislodgethem.
"Militarily, even 50,000 troops in the 1990s were not ableto destroy the PKK, but psychologically this operation could bequite effective. It has taken the PKK by surprise," said GarethJenkins, an Istanbul-based expert on Turkish security issues.
"Because of the winter weather conditions, a land operationof this size will be very difficult, the supply routes will behard to secure", he added.
Turkey's military said the PKK was the target of the groundoffensive and vowed to act with restraint towards local groups.
"Turkish troops will stay in the region as long as theconditions dictate this. It will be very difficult for the PKKto re-base itself in northern Iraq," Turkey's formercounter-terrorism chief, retired General Edip Baser, told NTV.
Ankara blames the PKK for the deaths of nearly 40,000people since it began an armed struggle for a Kurdish homelandin southeast Turkey in 1984.
(Additional reporting by Michael Holden and Mariam Karounyin Baghdad, Paul Taylor in Brussels, Selcuk Gokoluk and GarethJones in Ankara; Editing by Tim Pearce)