17 December 2007
The European Union today called on Turkey to show restraint after it launched the biggest attack on Iraq since the US invasion in 2003, sending more than 50 warplanes to bomb suspected Kurdish insurgent bases inside Iraqi territory.
Kurdish officials reported that one woman had been killed in the strike, and two others injured, although the Kurdish rebels, the PKK, said seven people were dead.
The overnight bombardment up to 60 miles into Iraq, which included long-range artillery shelling, sent hundreds of families fleeing and added to the volatility of a region once considered Iraq's most peaceful. Now it is threatened with the prospect of a major showdown between Turkish forces and the PKK. Villages up to 60 miles from the Turkish border were targeted.
The EU expressed its concern to Ankara in a statement from the Portuguese presidency: "The presidency calls on the Turkish authorities to exercise restraint, to respect the territorial integrity of Iraq and refrain from taking any military action that could undermine regional peace and stability," it said, according to the AFP news agency.
"The presidency reiterates the importance of reinforcing the dialogue and cooperation between the governments of Turkey and Iraq in order to ensure that the Iraqi territory is not used for any terrorist actions against Turkey."
The Iraqi parliament condemned the bombing, calling it an "outrageous" violation of Iraq's sovereignty that killed innocent civilians.
The Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said the attack had been a success and raised the prospect of more military action to come. "Our struggle will continue inside and outside Turkey with the same determination," he said.
The Turkish military claimed terrorist headquarters had been hit, but local officials said the rebels had dispersed in recent weeks in anticipation of the strikes and that villages, not bases, had been hit.
The head of Turkey's military said it had US approval for the air strikes. "America last night opened Iraqi airspace to us. By opening Iraqi airspace to us last night America gave its approval to the operation," the Anatolian state news agency quoted General Yasar Buyukanit as saying.
At a meeting in Washington, George Bush persuaded Erdogan to put off a full-scale land invasion of northern Iraq. In return, the US agreed to accept limited cross-border strikes and to provide US intelligence on Kurdish rebel movements. But Turkey still has tens of thousands of troops massed along the mountainous border with northern Iraq, along with tanks and artillery.
Abdullah Ibrahim, a senior official in Sangasar, in the Iraqi Kurdish region, said Turkish warplanes bombarded 10 Kurdish villages, killing one woman and injuring two others. He acknowledged there were Kurdish rebel bases in the area but said they were far from the villages that were hit. "The villagers are now scared and are hiding in nearby caves. They lost all their properties," Ibrahim said.
