Kurdish rebel leader warns Turkey against Iraq incursion

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Source: Guardian

· Concern grows over army build-up on border
· PKK man predicts political and military disaster

A Kurdish rebel leader has warned Turkey that it faces disaster if its troops and tanks cross into northern Iraq, amid growing concern of a big Turkish operation to hunt down Kurdish guerrillas holed up across the border.

The Turkish army faces "a political and military disaster" if its generals give orders for a cross-border offensive, Cemil Bayik, one of the two most powerful figures in the Kurdistan Workers party, or PKK, told the Guardian at a hideout in the Qandil mountains on the border with Iran. Mr Bayik said his units did not seek a fight, but "would defend ourselves if attacked". It could become "a quagmire for them (the Turkish army) and create space for Iran to interfere in Iraq also," he said.

Over the past month, tensions have been rising in Iraqi Kurdistan, with the Turkish army massing thousands of troops and tanks along the 238-mile border and its hawkish chief of staff, General Yasar Buyukanit, repeatedly pressing a reluctant government in Ankara for permission to go in after the PKK.

Turkey says the group, which is regarded as a terrorist organisation by the US, the EU and Turkey, is launching attacks from its mountain hideouts in Iraq. It accuses Iraqi Kurds of helping them. The rebel group is thought to have 2,000-3,000 well-trained but lightly armed fighters inside Iraqi territory, where its strategic leadership also resides. The bulk of its membership is on Turkish soil, many in poor city suburbs.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2105306,00.html