Turkey to submit report to UN on north Iraq

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

ANKARA, Jun 4 (Reuters) Turkey will deliver a report to the United Nations this week spelling out its concerns about militant Kurdish separatists in Iraq and reaffirming its legal right to take action against them, an official said today.

The news comes as Turkey reinforces its troops along the border with Iraq and the powerful army General Staff stresses its readiness for a cross-border operation to crush guerrillas of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

''Diplomacy first,'' said today's Sabah newspaper headline, saying the U.N. move prepared the legal and diplomatic ground for the possible military operation, which has already sparked alarm in the United States, Turkey's NATO ally.

The Foreign Ministry official told Reuters Turkey's permanent U N representative, Baki Ilkin, would hold talks with U N Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon this week.

''The terrorism incidents will be explained. A report will be presented concerning the explosives and weapons we have determined are coming (into Turkey) from northern Iraq,'' the official said.

''More cooperation from the United Nations is requested on this matter,'' he added. The official declined to comment on the possibility of military action in northern Iraq.

Ankara has long urged US and Iraqi government forces to crack down on an estimated 4,000 PKK guerrillas who use the mountains of northern Iraq as a springboard to attack military and civilian targets inside Turkey.

But U S troops, battling an Arab insurgency in central and southern Iraq, are reluctant to intervene in the relatively peaceful, mainly Kurdish north of the country.

Turkey insists it has the right under international law to send troops into Iraq in self-defence if need be. Parliament must approve any such action and the government has said no plans are currently under consideration.

Parliament went into recess on Sunday ahead of July 22 elections, though the government could recall it at any time if it decided to send troops into Iraq.

Yesterday, U S Defense Secretary Robert Gates urged Turkey against using military force against the PKK in Iraq. Iraq's prime minister also urged Ankara over the weekend to tone down its threats of military intervention.

The Iraq situation has fuelled a strong rise in nationalism and anti-American sentiment in Turkey ahead of the elections.

REUTERS AE HT1500

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