Large numbers of Turkish fighter jets have bombed suspected Kurdish rebel bases in northern Iraq, reports say. Turkish officials said the warplanes had targeted the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), in areas near the border. But officials in northern Iraq said the planes had struck several villages. There were reports that one woman was killed, although this was unconfirmed.
Turkey's deputy prime minister said more strikes against "terrorists" were possible in the coming weeks. "We, as the government, are resolute to remove this trouble from the agenda of our country," Cemil Cicek told the state-run Anatolia news agency. Mr Cicek also called on Kurdish militants to lay down their arms and return to their homes, insisting their fight was futile. Turkey has regularly targeted the PKK inside Iraq in recent months, but this is thought to be the first fighter jet raid outside its own territory.
Previous strikes had used artillery or helicopters.
The Turkish planes struck several targets in different areas of northern Iraq, according to reports. Private Turkish TV reports spoke of "large numbers" planes involved, with numbers ranging from 20 to 50. The planes hit the regions of Zap, Hakurk and Avasin as well as areas in the Kandil mountains, the military said.
Turkish General Ergin Saygun, deputy chief of the Turkish General Staff, has accused certain EU countries, particularly France and the United Kingdom, of acting in a way that supports PKK terrorists against Turkey. Saygun said the PKK is "conducting propaganda campaigns in the European Parliament, as well as in the French and U.K. parliaments." PKK has offices in many EU countries under different names. The PKK's Roj TV broadcasts from Denmark to Turkey and calls Kurdish people for violance. Saygun made such remarks while delivering a speech at the symposium on "Cutting ideological and Economic Support for Terrorist Organization," the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported. "We have witnessed important steps taken by EU recently against the PKK, which is a good thing," said Saygun, "however, the outlawed organization is still able to sponsor conferences in the European Parliament and the parliaments of France and Britain."
At least 51 illegal migrants from Africa and the Middle East drowned and more were missing when a boat carrying some 80 people capsized off the Turkish Aegean coast on Saturday. Six people, including two Palestinians, were rescued and taken to hospital, Orhan Sefik Guldibi, a local governor in the coastal Izmir province, told state-run Anatolian news agency. Helicopters and rescue boats were searching the waters for the missing migrants. Dozens of bodies had already washed up on the Turkish coast. The Turkish coast guard, which put the death toll at 32 earlier on Monday, said there had been some 85 people on the 15- to 20-metre (49- to 66-foot) boat. It quoted survivors as saying the boat had sunk near what they thought was a Greek island. Guldibi said the migrants were Palestinian, Somali and Iraqi. The incident is one of the worst involving illegal migrants in Europe this year. Turkey is a major transit point for illegal immigration, as migrants head for European Union member countries on its border.
Turkey's ambitions to join the European Union suffered a setback Monday after EU foreign ministers, under pressure from France, dropped the term "accession" from a text referring to next week's talks with Ankara. Unlike a similar text approved a year ago, the "Council conclusions on enlargement" text approved by ministers on Monday refers to this month's "Intergovernmental Conferences with Turkey and Croatia" and omits the term "accession" when referring to such talks. Council sources said the final draft of the text was amended to appease France, whose President Nicolas Sarkozy has emerged as one of the strongest opponents of Turkey's entry into the EU. Britain and Sweden, which both want Turkey to join the 27-member bloc, are believed to have expressed strong reservations over the approved text. In their conclusions, ministers also regretted "the limited progress achieved in political reform in Turkey in 2007."
The Turkish prime minister urged separatist Kurdish rebels on Friday to surrender to security forces and benefit from an existing amnesty for those who voluntarily leave the guerrilla group. Turkey has massed thousands troops on its rugged border with Iraq for a possible cross-border offensives against the rebels, who have been launching attacks from bases in northern Iraq. Turkish troops are also fighting rebels inside Turkey in areas near the border. Turkish army helicopters in recent weeks have dropped thousands of leaflets on mountain paths used by the rebels of the Kurdish Workers' Party, or PKK, to infiltrate Turkey. The leaflets tell of the amnesty and urge rebels to leave the PKK. "We are telling (rebels) who are on the mountains and have not engaged in bloody terrorist acts: 'go back to your mother and father,'" Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in an address to members of his ruling party. The amnesty pardons rebels who leave the PKK voluntarily and who have not been engaged in fighting. Rebel leaders who share critical information about the group also qualify for the amnesty.
The Turkish army carried out an "intense intervention" against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq on Saturday, sending in special forces a day after the cabinet authorized a cross-border operation. The action did not appear to be a long-awaited major operation by NATO member Turkey to destroy rebel bases. A military official said around 100 special forces were sent into northern Iraq to hit Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels. The army also sent between four and six helicopters to bomb a camp used by the PKK. The NTV news channel said the army used helicopters and artillery in a cross-border operation for the first time in many years. The military official said the special forces had returned to Turkish territory. Earlier, a spokesman for Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani said there had been no incursion by Turkish troops into the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region of northern Iraq. The U.S. military said it was unaware of any incursion. The Turkish army said on its Web site that a group of 50 to 60 PKK rebels had been spotted inside Iraq's borders. "An intense intervention was made on the group and it was detected that the terrorist group had suffered heavy casualties," it said.
A plane operated by a budget airline crashed Friday in mountains in southwest Turkey after apparently veering off course, killing all 57 people on board, officials said.
It was not immediately clear what caused the crash, but Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan suggested that the aircraft may have struck a hilltop as it was preparing to land in the city of Isparta.
The fuselage and wings of the MacDonnell Douglas 83, operated by Atlasjet, were torn apart and pieces of metal and bodies, some still in their seats, were scattered across the area, Anatolia news agency reported. There were no signs of an explosion or a fire.
Earth-moving machines had to clear a narrow path up a hillside so that security forces, ambulances and civil defence teams could get to the wreckage, the agency said.
There were 50 passengers -- among them a 45-day-old baby girl -- and seven crew on the jet which crashed shortly after the pilot informed the control tower that he was coming in for the airport.
A priest from Turkey's Syriac Christian community has been kidnapped in the country's south-east, officials say. Edip Daniel Savci's car was reportedly found abandoned near Midyat town in Mardin province on Wednesday. A local clergyman had received a phone call demanding a ransom of 300.000. Euros for his release, the Anatolia news agency said. Attacks on Turkey's Christian minority have increased recently. A Catholic priest was shot dead last year and three Protestants were killed in April. Five men accused of the attack on the Protestant missionaries went on trial in the town of Malatya last week. Turkish police are working to secure the release of the missing priest, security officials said. Turkey's Syriac Christian community numbers an estimated 25,000 people and is based mainly in Mardin, in the largely Kurdish south-east, and in Istanbul. Syriac Christians are one of the faith's oldest denominations and are found in modern Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.
Turkey’s Justice Ministry announced Thursday that two members of the terrorist group the PKK had been extradited from Germany and were now being held in a Turkish prison. According to a statement issued by the Justice Ministry, Mehmet Iltas and Mehmet Esref Kizilay were being held by German authorities after being taken into custody earlier this year. Iltas is accused of taking part in terrorist activities such as a raid on a gendarmerie unit in the Genc region of the south eastern province of Bingol in 1991, and an attack on a minibus that left eight dead and another four wounded. According to the statement, Kizilay was wanted international red-notice on charges of killing a policemen in 1991.
Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, arrived in Turkey on Sunday for a four-day trip that includes a tour of the mausoleum of one of Islam's greatest poets. The royal couple were to travel to the central Turkish city of Konya on Monday to visit the mausoleum of the poet and mystic philosopher Mavlana Jalal al-Din al-Rumi. Later, the heir to the British throne and his wife will travel to Catalhoyuk, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Konya, to visit the 9,000-year-old Neolithic settlement that is being excavated by a British-led archaeological team. On Tuesday, they will visit a rehabilitation center in Ankara and dine with President Abdullah Gul at the presidential palace before traveling to the cities of Istanbul and Izmir. Prince Charles last visited Turkey in April 2005 when he attended the 90th anniversary of the disastrous World War I Gallipoli campaign in which some 300,000 soldiers were killed.
Turkey-EU Troika Meeting held in Brussels tuesday. In the a joint press conference that parties prepared after the meeting Member of the European Commission Responsible for Enlargement Olli Rehn said that EU respects the right of Turkey to protect her citizens against terrorism and demands from Turkey and Iraq to find a political solution to the problem. He also told that the EU is closely following the steps taken by Turkish authorities to ban the country’s pro-Kurdish Political Party, Democratic Society Party. In the conference, Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan underlined the concerns of Turkey on terrorism. As known, Turkey suffers from PKK attacks, which is listed as a terrorist organization by the EU and the USA, and considers launching a military operation to the Northern part of Iraq to impede terrorist attacks. In the Troika meeting, Mr. Babacan demanded help and cooperation from EU states in fighting against terrorism. Mr. Babacan also mentioned the cooperation between the EU Commission, EU’s Term Presidency and the Turkey. Ali Babacan underscored the reform movements in Turkey within the last 5 years and added “Turkey is in the process of transition. Turkey has successfully overcome all the difficult problems up to now, and she is also going to pass the forthcoming exams successfully.”
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