A group of 20 tanks loaded on trucks emerged from army barracks in Mardin near Syria and headed towards the Iraqi border in southeast Turkey, already the scene of a major army offensive against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Speculation about an imminent incursion into Iraq has grown since Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said last week he saw eye to eye with the army over possible military action, despite unease in the US, Turkey's NATO ally, about such a move.There was also anxiety along the border in southeast Turkey. "We support the operations in the mountains here because the PKK made us suffer a lot. I lost 10 people from my family," said Nadir Karadeniz, an official in the village of Görümlü, located near a military base just a few kilometers from the border.
But there was reluctance to take the fight into the Iraqi mountains, where thousands of PKK members are based, given the strong opposition from Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani -- a respected figure among Turkey's own Kurds. "I don't think it would be good to go into northern Iraq because Barzani said he would not accept Turkish soldiers there," Karadeniz said, before a military jeep arrived in the village and told journalists to leave the area.
Military operations are currently focused on the militants already inside Turkish territory. Security forces killed 10 PKK members in clashes across the Southeast on Tuesday.
The US has repeatedly urged Turkey not to send troops into Iraq because it says it will only complicate the situation.
Local concerns are focused on the impact of an incursion and also on the economy of the impoverished region, closely linked with northern Iraq in trade terms as well as ethnically.
"This [operation] would mean great suffering, great losses and a blow to the harmony between Turks and Kurds," said Muhsun Kunur, mayor of the town of Silopi, around 15 kilometers from the official border gate to Iraq.
Pressure within Turkey for an incursion is growing after a suicide bombing in the capital Ankara last week killed six people and injured scores more. Authorities blamed the attack on the PKK, which denied any involvement. The same week six soldiers were killed when their vehicle was blown up by a landmine believed to have been planted by the PKK.
Erdoğan feels the need to act tough ahead of national polls due in July. On Tuesday, he reiterated his frustration over the failure of US and Iraqi government forces to crush the PKK in Iraq despite Ankara's regular appeals for action. Against this backdrop and given the military build-up, locals in Silopi see an operation as increasingly likely. "We see a 90 percent chance of them crossing over. They are now stationed on the border," said hairdresser Sadık Pusat, 32. "If the military goes into northern Iraq we will have to leave our lives here and migrate to the West."
Benzer Haberler 
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