Turkey, Iran cooperating against Kurdish guerrilla group
Published: Thursday, June 05, 2008
TURKEY – IRAN – PKK
15:45GMT—11:45AM/EST
Washington, 5 June (IranVNC)—The Turkish military coordinates with Iran operations against a Kurdish guerilla group, but it has not done so in the past two months, Reuters reports today, quoting the head of Turkey’s land forces.
"When they start action, we also do... They carry out operations from the Iranian side of the border and we do so from the Turkish side," General Ilker Basbug said at a security conference, according to AFP.
Turkey has carried out several air raids and one ground operation in northern Iraq in the past year, targeting what it says are hideouts of militants belonging to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
Turkey says it believes several thousand members of the militant group operate from northern Iraq to mount attacks against Turkey.
Iran, on Wednesday carried out a two-hour long operation against bordering villages in northern Iraq. Two civilians were wounded as a result, General Jabari Yawar, spokesperson for the Kurdish Regional Government’s Peshmerga militia forces said, reports AFP. The mortar shelling also killed some livestock and damaged some fields, Yawar said.
The shelling, which began at 01:00 GMT also damaged some farming fields and killed livestock in the villages of Kala-Daza, Jomursim Borye, Siamio and Kani Sif, Yawar said.
Iran’s Law Enforcement Force has killed “ twelve terrorist who intended to infiltrate the country,” from the northwestern region, the semi official Fars News Agency reported on today, citing the chief of the Staff Command of the law enforcement forces.
Iran has repeatedly shelled villages in northern Iraq targeting guerillas of the Free Life Party of Kurdistan [PJAK], an Iranian Kurdish guerrilla group operating from northern Iraq and believed to be connected to the PKK. However, on a visit to Japan, Turkish President Abdullah Gul said his government would continue its operations against the PKK, which has used a “weakened Iraqi government to attack Turkey from northern Iraq.” He added: “we are only targeting this terrorist organization,” reports Reuters.
The PKK has conducted an armed campaign against the Turkish government since 1984, with the stated aim of self-rule for the largely Kurdish Southeastern region of the country.
© IranVNC 2008. All rights reserved.
Sources: Reuters, Fars News, Agence France-Presse