After the bloody attacks on Sunday, which killed 12 Turkish soldiers and 34 PKK guerillas, the situation looks heated along Turkey-Iraq border. Considering the government having the approval of the parliament for a cross-border incursion, and the growing pressure that comes from the street protests (mostly organized by the extreme-right, nationalist MHP and likes), chances are the region is in the middle of a new “war crisis”.

The timing of the deadly attacks from PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) is very intriguing. There is a group of Kurdish MPs of DTP (Democratic People’s Pary) in the parliament since July 22 elections; there were hopes for a peaceful solution in the Southeastern Turkey, without disturbing the unity and the integrity of the country, and suddenly these violent attacks took place one by one in a very short time. Somebody are trying hard to incite/provoke Turkey to enter Northern Iraq in such a critical time. But who and why? No comments for now; we’ll wait and see soon.

clipped from news.yahoo.com

Turkey said on Monday eight of
its soldiers were missing a day after clashes with Kurdish
rebels near the Iraqi border, in which at least 12 soldiers
were killed.
Turkey has deployed as many as 100,000 troops, backed by
tanks, F-16 fighter jets and attack helicopters along its
border with Iraq in anticipation of a possible incursion.
Asked about any pending attack, Defense Minister Vecdi
Gonul said on Sunday: “Not urgently. They are planning a
cross-border (incursion)…We’d like to do these things with
the Americans.”
The United States and Iraq have called on Turkey to refrain
from a military push into the largely autonomous Kurdish
region, one of the few relatively stable parts of the Iraq
since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
Turkey’s tougher stance has helped propel global oil prices
to record highs over the past week. The PKK has said it might
target pipelines carrying Iraqi and Caspian crude across
Turkey.

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