ANKARA, Oct 29: Turkey paraded its military muscle on Monday, amid stern warnings from Baghdad that any large-scale Turkish incursion against Kurdish rebel bases in northern Iraq would have ‘disastrous’ results.
In the capital Ankara, tanks and rocket launchers were on display in the annual national day parade as Turks celebrated the 84th anniversary of the secular republic’s creation by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
In stark contrast to the festive mood across most of the country, Turkish troops faced off with some 100 rebels in the Ikiyaka mountains in the southeast.
The military had surrounded the fighters from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in a bid to prevent them escaping across the Iraqi border, the Anatolia news agency reported.
Witnesses saw helicopter gunships pounding suspected rebel positions in mountainous areas on the Turkish side.
Turkey has threatened a major cross-border assault on PKK bases in northern Iraq if Baghdad and Washington fail to make good on promises to crack down on the rebels there.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari warned on Monday that such a move could have ‘disastrous consequences’ and would be met with stiff Iraqi resistance.
“They are talking about a large-scale military incursion which is getting people extremely, extremely nervous and worried,” Zebari told the BBC in an interview.
Describing the increasingly tense situation on the Turkish-Iraqi border as ‘dead serious’, Zebari complained that Turkey ‘was not responsive’ when Iraqi officials flew to Ankara last week for talks on how to resolve the situation.—AFP
