Sign up to The Irish Times Archive (1859 - 2008)My Account »

Sat 06 Jun 2007Turkey ready to dislodge terrorist Kurds in IraqTURKEY:Turkey has prepared a blueprint for the invasion of northern Iraq and will take action if US or Iraqi forces fail to dislodge the guerrillas of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) from their mountain strongholds across the border, Turkey's foreign minister Abdullah Gul has warned."The military plans have been worked out in the finest detail. The government knows these plans and agrees with them," Mr Gul told Turkey's Radikal newspaper. "If neither the Iraqi government nor the US occupying forces can do this [ crush the PKK], we will take our own decision and implement it," he said. The foreign minister's uncharacteristically hawkish remarks were seen as a response to pressure from Turkey's generals, who have deployed some 20,000 to 30,000 troops along the borders with Iraq. They are itching to move against the rebels they say are slipping across the border to stage attacks inside Turkey.