Ankara says an estimated 3,500 PKK militants have taken refuge in northern Iraq, using camps there as a springboard for attacks across the border.
At least 150 rebels were killed on December 16 in the largest air strike in northern Iraq so far, when fighter jets bombed positions along the Turkish border and in the Qandil mountains to the east, the military said Tuesday.
The strike, it said, destroyed more than 200 PKK targets, including command, training and logistical bases as well as anti-aircraft defence positions and ammunition depots.
Following talks with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in November, US President George W. Bush called the PKK a common enemy and promised "real-time" intelligence on rebel movement.
The pledge was seen as a US approval of limited Turkish military action in northern Iraq to head off the threat of a large-scale incursion.
The US fears that a large cross-border operation by the Turkish military might destabilise the relatively peaceful northern part of Iraq and fuel tensions between two US allies -- the Iraqi Kurds and NATO member Turkey.
Ankara has accused Iraqi Kurds of tolerating and even aiding the PKK.
The Pentagon said last week a coordination centre was set up in Ankara where Turkish and US military officials are working to share intelligence.
Iraqi officials have condemned the Turkish strikes as a violation of the country's sovereignty.
We can probably be happy with this, too. The PKK--a Marxist group that the Kurds of Iraq should avoid--has been hit hard as they prepared to ride out the winter months. So they must go on the move in poor conditions with US assets looking for them and Turkish aircraft and commando units ready to strike. During 2008, the PKK should be less capable of provoking the Turks into a larger action that could interrupt our progress. So despite the frantic worrying, Iraq did not unravel as the result of this limited campaign.
Plus the Turks see that we helped them when it wasn't the best option for us. Especially after Turkey refused to let us stage 4th ID from Turkey in 2003, maybe the Turks will be more cooperative if we need help in the future.
And it surely helps us keep the Iraqi Kurds from doing anything rash like declare independence with the example of what Turkey could do if our protection is withdrawn. Iraq's Kurds have a good future ahead of them--finally after their long tragic history--if they keep their heads about them and accept their status as a self-governing region of Iraq.
