TUNCELI (Turkey), Oct 21: Kurdish rebels killed at least 12 Turkish soldiers and wounded 16 others in an ambush on Sunday, prompting Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan to call crisis talks to consider a military strike against rebel bases in Iraq.
The attack, one of the worst in more than a decade by rebels of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), came four days after Turkey’s parliament approved a motion to allow troops to enter northern Iraq to fight guerrillas hiding there.
“We are very angry. ... Our parliament has granted us the authority to act and within this framework we will do whatever has to be done,” Erdogan told reporters.
President Abdullah Gul said: “Iraq continues to harbour terrorists and Turkey has the right to eliminate the terrorists. Parliament has given the authorisation for this.”
Turkey’s military general staff said 12 soldiers and 32 rebels were killed in continuing clashes.
Turkey shelled areas inside Iraq on Sunday morning but no casualties were reported.
In Iraq, Kurdish rebels said they killed at least 16 Turkish soldiers and had taken ‘several’ hostage in the clashes.
“We cannot give details on how many we have captured, all I can say is that they are not in Iraq. They are in Turkey,” a PKK source told Reuters.
The pro-PKK Firat news agency put the Turkish death toll at 40 and said eight soldiers had been taken hostage.
A landmine killed one civilian and wounded at least 13 more in a minibus travelling in a wedding convoy near to where the soldiers were killed.
Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani said his autonomous region would defend itself if Turkish troops invaded. “We are not going to be caught up in the PKK and Turkish war, but if the Kurdistan region is targeted, then we are going to defend our citizens,” Barzani told reporters after meeting Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.
Turkey has deployed as many as 100,000 troops along the border to try to stop the rebels crossing into Turkey.
Turks staged anti-PKK rallies in Ankara, Istanbul and other cities and towns. Opposition politicians urged the government to send troops into Iraq.
Cabinet spokesman Cemil Cicek vowed swift retaliation for every rebel attack, but also urged citizens to stay calm.
Turkey voted in a referendum on Sunday to decide whether future presidents will be elec-ted directly by the people.
