Turkey Bombards Northern Iraq

Some creepy stuff going on along the Turkish Iraqi border...

Source
Turkey bombards northern Iraq
Thu, 19 Jul 2007 02:08:25
Press TV and agencies
Turkey's military has waged a cross-border incursion into Iraq, bombarding northern areas of the country, the Iraqi government said.
The Iraqi government said Wednesday that Turkish artillery and warplanes bombarded areas of northern Iraq and urged Turkey to stop military operations and resort to dialogue, according to news agencies....
Last week, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari declared that Turkey had deployed 140,000 soldiers along its border with Iraq.

140,000 Turkish troops massed along the Iraqi border? Why that sound so ominous?

Oddly enough, this article was published ex post facto, the day AFTER the above article...

Source
Turkey: Threat To Attack PPK In Iraq
July 20, 2007 11 23 GMT
Turkey's army could attack Kurdistan Workers' Party bases in northern Iraq if talks with the United States and Iraq following the July 22 Turkish parliamentary elections fail to produce a solution regarding Kurdish separatists in Iraq, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said late July 19. Erdogan's ruling party is expected to gain a majority in the elections. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is likely to visit Turkey after the elections to discuss the Turkish

Source
July 19, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- Turkey's agreement with Iran to transport some 30 billion cubic meters of Iranian and Turkmen natural gas westward to Europe has prompted criticism in the United States, where officials are seeking to isolate Iran over its disputed nuclear program.
But Turkey seems intent on expanding its energy ties with Iran despite the controversy surrounding Iran's nuclear program and its alleged role in destabilizing Iraq.

Source
A one-time left-wing party — the Republican People's Party, or CHP — accuses its conservative opponents of being soft on terror, and invites the army to invade northern Iraq to crush the terrorists. Many CHP members, and even some feminists, take to the streets and call on the army to protect Turkish secularism.

The stakes could not be higher. The poll follows a constitutional crisis over the election of the next president and anti-government rallies of a million people. There has been talk of a coup. The army has massed 140,000 troops on the northern Iraq border and an invasion is possible.

The buildup of Turkish troops is all over the international news, and there are fears that if the US pulls out of Iraq, Turkey will invade with an overwhelming force of 140,000 which is nearly equal to the entire deployment of US troops there. This could potentially be heading towards World War 1, Part Two.

news.google.com...

[edit on 20-7-2007 by twitchy]

wow, hmmm, I wonder how this is going to play out.

If you believe in spirituality, I've been feeling a lot of disturbance and disruption lately. It's not going to be a pretty picture as this plays out...

This place should have been partitioned a long time ago..Iraq is a fiction..and the only friends if we can call them that are the kurds..If we are to redeploy it should be to the kurdish portion, Its going to be a bloodbath no matter, as Turkey is going nationalistic, and as Saudis and Syrians protect Sunnis and Iran proects Shia. (its all about a piece of the action) At least with the Kurds we can implement a protective zone unlike the rest of the country.I wish there were a clearer answer.These countries proxies are just spiraling slowly downwards for us to die or too weak to do anything. In the near term Look to price of oil to go to levels unheard of.

Still Going.

Turkish commando units cross Iraqi border

The 350-strong commando unit was deployed in the Sere Seve region of northern Iraq and is now in control of several strategic points ~

~ the commando unit's move across the border came following intense shelling of the border area by Turkish forces. The report said the move appeared to be a first step in a cross-border operation into Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq by Turkish forces.

Last week, analysts and officials said plans to launch a joint Turkish-US operation against the PKK camps in northern Iraq had collapsed after they were leaked to the press by certain senators that have reservations about such a move.

a reply to: makeitso

Eight years later and Turkey is still bombing Northern Iraq.

Turkish Jets Bomb Northern Iraq

I remember reading an article circa 2003-ish that said Israel was training Kurdish militants in Northern Iraq during the US occupation there. I wonder if these poor bastards and the whole 'Kurdistan' bit is just a gussied up proxy war between Turkey and Israel.

originally posted by: twitchy
a reply to: makeitso

Eight years later and Turkey is still bombing Northern Iraq.

Turkish Jets Bomb Northern Iraq

I remember reading an article circa 2003-ish that said Israel was training Kurdish militants in Northern Iraq during the US occupation there. I wonder if these poor bastards and the whole 'Kurdistan' bit is just a gussied up proxy war between Turkey and Israel.

The Kurd's that Israel supports are the same ones that Turkey supports. Those are the Iraqi Kurds. The Kurds that Turkey attacks are Turkish Kurds that hide in and launch raids form Norther Iraq. Intel on Turkish Kurds position is normally supplied by the Iraqi Kurds.

a reply to: twitchy

Eight years later and Turkey is still bombing Northern Iraq.

They are bombing those who have committed terrorist acts against them...The PKK.

Truck bomb attack by Kurdish militants kills six in southeast Turkey

www.reuters.com...

PKK attacks dormitory, 8 schools during class in southeast Turkey

www.dailysabah.com...

a reply to: tsurfer2000h

Yeah because it surely can't be Drugs...

Source
On 14 October 2009, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) targeted the senior leadership of the PKK, designating Murat Karayılan, the head of the PKK, and high-ranking members Ali Riza Altun and Zübeyir Aydar as significant foreign narcotics traffickers.[66] On 20 April 2011, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced the designation of PKK founders Cemil Bayik and Duran Kalkan and other high-ranking members as Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers (SDNT) pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (Kingpin Act). Pursuant to the Kingpin Act, the designation freezes any assets the designees may have under U.S. jurisdiction and prohibits U.S. persons from conducting financial or commercial transactions with these individuals.[67]

However, according to Kurdish activists all these are allegations used by the US administration in order to de-legitimate PKK assisting Turkey as a major ally. On the contrary, many activists claim that the Turkish intelligence service (MIT) has been involved in drug trafficking in the border with Iran similarly to the Iranian intelligence. Some cases like the Susurluk scandal case is one of the cases of drug trafficking by high Turkish officials that the Turkish MIT has hidden its details.

or Oil...

Source
Turkey-Kurd Deal On Oil Riles Iraq
By
Emre Peker
Updated May 14, 2013 6:57 p.m. ET

ISTANBUL—A Turkish state-run oil firm struck a deal with Exxon Mobil Corp. and Iraq's semiautonomous Kurds to develop projects in northern Iraq, Turkey's leader said Tuesday, an agreement fraught with political risks for the energy-rich region.

The deal thrust Turkey into a long-standing feud between Iraq's central government and the Kurdistan Regional Government over who has rights to northern Iraq's vast oil resources and raised tensions with Baghdad, which called it illegal.

The deal could help underpin a peace accord that Turkey is negotiating to end a three-decade conflict with its own Kurdish population as it enters a delicate phase, analysts say. It could also help Turkey meet rising energy demand and raise Ankara's sway in northern Iraq.