Turkey is marshaling forces along its border with Iraq as diplomatic efforts have done little to curb the PKK, a separatist Kurdish group using bases in Iraq, from launching attacks against Turkish forces. The PKK waged a separatist war in Turkey the 1980s and '90s which cost the lives of some 30,000.
They have also been accused of several bombings throughout Turkey. On Monday, two people died and at least seven others were injured in a blast in the city of Antalya. It came hours after three bombs went off in the resort town of Marmaris injuring 21 and another blast Sunday in Istanbul that injured six people. There were no immediate claims of responsibility but local Marmaris officials said they suspected the PKK was involved.
Following the killing of 15 of its soldiers in July, Turkey started moving a large number of troops and tanks toward its border with Iraq. Turkey, along with Iran, which has its own Kurdish rebel group to deal with - the Kurdistan Free Life party (Pejak) - has also been shelling parts of the northern Iraqi border where the PKK has camps.
"Clearly there is a tension to this issue. The United States is paying more attention to it, but the question is whether the Turks will wait to see concrete results from the U.S.," says Henri Barkey, an expert on Turkey at Lehigh University. "It also depends a lot on whether there are other spectacular attacks by the PKK."
Cengiz Candar, a political analyst in Istanbul, describes Turkey's military buildup on the Iraqi border as "saber rattling," but says it's also "a statement to the Americans that Turkey is uneasy and trying to follow up on its demands that the PKK be dismantled."
Comments