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US: Turkish operation into N. Iraq ‘right to defend itself’
The Turkish military announced on Wednesday it had killed four PKK members in a raid in northern Iraq earlier in the day. The troops pursued members of the PKK into northern Iraq after they had attempted an attack on security forces, the military said, noting that the killings took place between two and three kilometers inside northern Iraqi territory run by the autonomous Kurdish administration.
In Washington, US State Department spokesperson Philip J. Crowley said as two NATO allies, the US and Turkey maintain intelligence-sharing against terrorist activities “on an ongoing and continual basis.”
“I can’t say that the United States is directly involved in the action that Turkey has taken. These are security matters that directly affect the Turkish government and the Turkish people. The PKK challenge for Turkey is a longstanding one. Turkey, like any country, has the right to defend itself against terrorist organizations, and we will continue to work with Turkey depending on how this goes. But we certainly understand the reasons behind the action,” Crowley said on Wednesday in response to a question at a daily press briefing.
In early 2008, the Turkish military conducted a major operation against the PKK in northern Iraq, and Turkish warplanes have since carried out regular cross-border bombing raids against targets in the mountainous region.
When reminded of the fact that a trilateral mechanism between Iraq, Turkey and the US in order to combat the PKK has been in force since November 2008, Crowley said: “I believe that this is an action that Turkey made decisions about based on actions recently by the PKK. You’re quite right; this is an issue that the United States, Turkey, and Iraq have had longstanding discussions about, and clearly we want to see in the north of Iraq the end to these kinds of pockets that allow groups like the PKK to continue to operate.”
The PKK, which took up arms in 1984 to fight for an ethnic homeland in southeastern Turkey, is listed as a terrorist organization by a large majority of the international community including the United States and the European Union.
A senior-level bilateral counterterrorism meeting scheduled to take place in Ankara on Wednesday was postponed because the US was not able to participate in the meeting at this time, Crowley said in a written statement released on Wednesday and in response to a question taken at the briefing earlier in the day.
US Ambassador Daniel Benjamin, the State Department’s coordinator for counterterrorism, was supposed to represent the United States at the meeting.
“Turkey is a valuable counterterrorism partner and we anticipate that the meeting will be rescheduled,” Crowley said.
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