Turks
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/10/17/asia/turkey.php
ISTANBUL: Parliament voted Wednesday to give the government the authority to send troops into northern Iraq, moving this NATO country one step closer to a military confrontation with Iraq over Kurdish rebels who hide there.
Turkish lawmakers voted 507 to 19 in favor of the motion, which was supported by all but one of Turkey's political parties and seemed to broadly reflect the wishes of the Turkish public.
It gives the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan a year to begin an offensive against Kurdish separatists who carry out attacks in Turkey from hideouts in Iraq. They want to establish an autonomous Kurdish region in eastern Turkey.
"After so many incidents, we're at a point that our patience has run out," Cemil Cicek, spokesman for the government and a member of the Special Council in Combat Against Terrorism, said in the parliamentary chamber.
But even as Parliament voted, officials in several countries were working strenuously to avert military action, and Turkish officials said the motion's passage did not necessarily mean it would be applied.
An offensive into Iraq would be extremely troubling for the United States, which is trying to balance its role in Iraq with its support for Turkey, a NATO ally that provides a major supply base for the Iraq war.
Turks accuse Iraqi Kurds, who strongly support U.S. policy in the Iraq war, of turning a blind eye to Kurdish militancy.
In Washington, President George W. Bush quickly addressed the issue.
"We are making it very clear to Turkey that we don't think it is in their interests to send troops into Iraq," he said at a news conference. "There's a better way to deal with the issue than having the Turks send massive troops into the country."
Turkish officials say that diplomatic efforts in the recent past have not succeeded. Turkey signed a security agreement with Iraq in September, but rebel attacks have since killed more than two dozen Turks, some of them civilians, and the government is under public pressure to act.
The September agreement does not give Turkey the permission to strike at rebels across the border, and that frustrates the Turks. Cicek said that the authority voted Wednesday would not necessarily be used immediately, or even at all.
"What suits a great nation is to exercise patience at the point where our patience has already run out, to find the right way and lock on the right target," Cicek said.
Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq called Prime Minister Erdogan to ask for more time and to express Iraq's determination to take action against the rebels. Maliki said a delegation will arrive in Ankara on Thursday to seek a diplomatic solution.
"Let's do whatever necessary together," Maliki said, according to the state-run Anatolian News Agency.
Erdogan responded that he would meet the delegation but that Turkey had no tolerance for more loss of time, according to the Turkish agency.
That tone stood in contrast to remarks by an Iraqi vice president, Tariq al-Hashimi, who spoke to reporters before leaving Turkey on Wednesday morning. "There is a new atmosphere to stop the current crisis," Hashimi told reporters in comments carried by the private network NTV. "The Iraqi government should be given a chance to prevent cross-border terror activities."
Turkish officials responded sharply against Iraq and the United States. "The U.S. must realize the seriousness of this situation and Turkey's determination to root out terrorism," one member of Parliament, Nihat Ergun, said during the debate. "Iraq has become a stomping ground for terrorists."
Turkey's military chief of staff, General Yasar Buyukanit, speaking to reporters in Rome, where he was on an official visit, said: "Hashimi says he got what he wanted, but I don't know what he got. Has he gone shopping? What has he done, or bought?"
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