Turkey Considering Invasion of Kurdistan

Turkey has decided to seek parliamentary approval for possible military action against the Kurds in northern Iraq. This would signal a step-up of Turkey’s military actions against Kurdish rebel forces.

Kurdistan has long been considered the one bright spot of Iraq since the U.S. led invasion in 2003. The U.S. wants Turkey to find some sort of political solution. State Department spokes person Sean McCormack said, "If they have a problem, they need to work together to resolve it, and I'm not sure that unilateral incursions are the way to go."

If only the United States followed that advice before the invasion of Iraq….

Story from the LA Times.

Update on Turkish Forces Invading Iraq

We wondered in the comments section why we hadn't heard more of the Turkish invasion into Northern Iraq. Answer: It now appears as though it hasn't happened. Michael Totten -- who has covered such Middle East hot spots such as Iraqi Kurdistan and Lebanon better than anyone else I've read, has this to say:

My sources in Iraqi Kurdistan told me there has been no Turkish invasion. The Turkish government, the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), and the United States government all agree that there has been no Turkish invasion.

[...]

Here’s what’s actually happening: The Marxist-Leninist Kurdistan Worker’s Party (or PKK) from Eastern Turkey has dug into a remote mountainous area just inside Iraq which they use as a staging ground to launch terrorist and guerilla attacks inside Turkey. The Turkish military is shelling the area from their side of the border and may have chased PKK elements across the border in hot pursuit before returning to Turkey immediately.

[...]

Free advice for the United States government: Help the Kurds of Iraq eject the PKK from the mountains before Turkey does to Iraqi Kurdistan what Israel did to Lebanon. The Turkish government sees this problem through the lens of last year’s war in July, and we don’t need to see that movie again.

Check his blog out.

Turkey Invades Iraq

Yesterday from Reutuers:

Turkey said on Wednesday it had no plans at present to send troops into northern Iraq to crush Kurdish rebels there, but it indicated this remained an option in the future.

The future is now. Today, from Turkey's official Cihan news agency:

Turkish army launches massive offensive in SE Turkey

Turkish army has launched one of the largest military offensives in the past few years against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) terrorists in the eastern and southeastern parts of the country.

The operation, involving about 50,000 troops and backed by armored vehicles and combat aircrafts, is targeting the PKK terrorists in 11 provinces in southeastern Turkey, namely Mardin, Sirnak, Siirt, Diyarbakir, Tunceli, Bitlis, Bingol, Agri, Hakkari, Van and Mus, and also northern Iraq.

More here.