Getting ready for it!
"Turkey launches diplomatic offensive" by Christopher Torchia/Associated Press October 24, 2007
ISTANBUL, Turkey --Turkey delivered a tough message to Iraq and Western allies Tuesday: A cross-border attack on Kurd guerrilla bases is coming.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned during a visit to London:
"We cannot wait forever. [My government has] no choice but to consider the military dimension."
Erdogan's government ordered Turkish television and radio on Tuesday to tone down its coverage of the ambush story, perhaps hoping to calm the public demands for reprisals against the PKK. For a second straight day, tens of thousands were in Turkey's streets to urge the government to stop holding back the army.
[Looks like the Army won the tug-of-war!
And NOTHING like the Kurds to unite the Turks, huh?
CUI BONO, readers?
Makes you wonder who is "sponsoring" the Kurdish "attacks."
Especially after they CALLED FOR a Cease-Fire!
Guess it wasn't taken that seriously, huh?
CUI BONO?]
Ilhan Keskes, a mourner at a funeral for one of the slain soldiers east of the capital, Ankara:
"Our patience is running out. The government must do something before the nation explodes."
Erdogan also voiced impatience during his stop in Britain, an ally of NATO member Turkey.
Erdogan, in London:
"From this point forward, we're also looking at the military dimension. We have to make decisions, our own decisions, but ... it's important to have to work with friends and to have a common platform to combat this threat."
While in London, Erdogan raised the prospect of sanctions against Iraq, saying Turkey could cut off some exports, according to Turkey's state-run Anatolia news agency.
The agency quoted Erdogan during a meeting organized by a Turkish investment agency:
"I believe that countries that are determined to cooperate in the struggle against terrorism would agree to such a measure."
[Back to the Saddam days, huh?
But you still got OIL then.
So whatcha gonna do, Turkey.
Cut off your oil despite you glug-glug?
How you gonna power those tanks and planes for your invasion?]
Any economic sanctions would severely hurt northern Iraq's Kurds, who run their own administration and are suspected by Turkey of tacitly accepting Turkish Kurd fighters on their soil. Some 2,500 trucks daily bring goods across the border, and Turkey also provides electricity to northern Iraq.
[I think BOTH would be hurting, no?]
Visiting Baghdad, Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said Turkey expected international support for its fight against terrorism and ruled out the possibility of a truce with the PKK. Turkey has dismissed previous rebel announcements of cease-fires, viewing them as a ruse to make political gains or regroup after setbacks in combat.
[That's what you do when you WANT WAR!]
Babacan: "[Cease-fires are] possible between states and regular forces. The problem here is that we're dealing with a terrorist organization."
The buildup of troops along the border with Iraq continued, with Turkish military helicopters flying commando units into the area. Tens of thousands of soldiers are already deployed in the border region.
[It won't be a surprise when they go in full bore, that's for sure!
Be wary, Kurds!]
"U.S. Officials Upbraid Kurds for Failing to Halt Guerrillas" by RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr. and SABRINA TAVERNISE
[Isn't that nice? UPBRAIDING one of the FEW friends we have over there!]
BAGHDAD, Oct. 23 — In unusual criticism, United States officials on Tuesday upbraided Kurdish leaders in northern Iraq for failing to curb the Kurdish guerrillas who operate unchecked in the autonomous region and use it as a safe haven for ambushes inside Turkey.
[And what about against Iran?
Oh, we support them!
See what I mean about the STINK ZIONIST PRESS, readers?!!]
Those raids, which the Turkish authorities say have killed at least 42 people in the past month, have led the Turks to threaten an invasion into Iraq. Turkish armored vehicles continued to rumble into position on Tuesday along the mountainous border.
[And what about against Iran?
And why haven't the "aggressive" Iranians invaded, anyway, shit MSM?
Hmmmmmm?]
While the willingness of Kurdish leaders to crack down on fellow Kurds remained unclear, Iraqi leaders in Baghdad promised to shut down the offices of the guerrilla group, known as the P.K.K.
[Token gesture!
And WTF is a TERRORIST OFFICE doing in Baghdad?
"Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists. From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime." -- George W. Bush, September 20, 2001]
Fucking LIAR!!!]
Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki condemned the P.K.K. as a “bad terrorist organization” and vowed to do whatever was necessary to curb attacks:
[Is their a "good" terrorist organization?
The United States government, you say?]
al-Maliki: “We have made a decision to shut down their offices and not allow them to operate in Iraq territory.”
[But they were before, huh (and still are -- against Iran)?]
That “is a start,” a State Department spokesman, Sean McCormack, said in Washington.
[Ha-ha-ha!]
At the same time, the Iraqi foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, himself a powerful Kurdish politician, promised his Turkish counterpart at a meeting in Baghdad that Iraqi officials would act to sharply limit the guerrillas’ movements and their ability to obtain weapons, food and supplies.
Mr. Zebari said after meeting with the Turkish foreign minister, Ali Babacan:
“The Iraqi government will actively help Turkey overcome this menace.”
It was not clear whether Mr. Maliki’s pledge to shut down the P.K.K. was related to a list of political demands Mr. Babacan gave to the Iraqi government to avert Turkish military action. According to the state-run Anatolian News Agency, Turkey asked Iraq to shut down hide-outs of Kurdish militants, to extradite the group’s leaders and to restrict their movement by preventing logistical support from reaching them.
[How about that Cease-Fire instead?]
Turkey has made demands before, but not in such detail or as part of a political negotiation, and Kurdish leaders have always dismissed them as unrealistic.
[Why should the Kurds believe the Turks?
Why is the onus on them when THEY are the ones who have suffered the casualties?
Same old, same old from the MSM!]
Turkish leaders continued to send a double message on Tuesday, with Turkish officials visiting two countries and pressing the threat of military action but promising to first exhaust diplomatic efforts.
Mr. Babacan, the first Turkish minister to visit Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein, was careful after his meeting with Mr. Zebari to allow room for a diplomatic solution.
Babacan told reporters:
"The military option is a tool, one tool is on the table. It doesn’t mean on the other hand that we are going to give up the other tools.”
[It's on the table, huh? Like a GUN, right?
Gonna PICK IT UP, Iraqi?
Sort of a YOU DO IT or WE DO IT, huh?
Nice Turks!]
Arriving back in Ankara, Mr. Babacan said he tried to make clear in Baghdad that Turkey would accept only a solution that resolved the P.K.K. threat once and for all.
["Once and for all?"
I DON'T LIKE THE SOUND OF THAT!!!!
Sounds TOO MUCH like the ARMENIANS!!!
Yeah, CAN'T let THAT happen again!]
Babacan, at a news conference at the airport:
“We emphasized in every meeting that our objective was not to kill the mosquito, but to dry the quicksand.”
[Gonna try to WIPE YOU OUT, Kurds!
Then again, you guys are probably used to that by now.
No wonder you don't trust anyone!]
While Mr. Zebari promised that a senior Iraqi delegation would quickly be dispatched to Ankara, Mr. Babacan said the Iraqi officials should not even get on the plane unless they were bearing “tangible suggestions” for solving the crisis.
On a visit to London, the Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, renewed warnings that Turkey would take military action against the Kurdish guerrilla bases if diplomatic efforts to restrain the rebels fail.
Mr. Erdogan said at a news conference with Britain’s prime minister, Gordon Brown:
“We cannot wait forever [for Iraq’s government to take action]. We have to make our own decision.”
In Turkey, tens of thousands of people gathered for funerals of the 12 Turkish soldiers killed by P.K.K. forces on Sunday. In the western city of Aydin, about 50,000 people turned out, according to the Anatolian agency. Eight soldiers captured Sunday are still being held by the P.K.K., which released video of them on Tuesday.
[I'm getting the smell of a PROP-OP stink!
And the PUBLIC has been worked into a BLOOD-FEVER, huh?
CUI BONO, readers?]
Military operations continued near the Turkish border with Iraq. One Turkish newspaper reported that Turkish helicopters fired at targets near the border, while ground troops shelled several villages in northern Iraq.
[So the WAR is HERE, even if the Zio-papers want you to believe they are STILL TALKING ABOUT IT!
Are you sick of being lied to by the papers, readers?]
