Turkey beefs up border with 30,000 extra troops

Turkey has deployed more than 30,000 additional troops in its predominantly Kurdish south-east and along its rugged border with Iraq and Iran to fight Kurdish guerrillas and stop them from infiltrating across the Iraqi border.

Kurdish rebels yesterday killed two Turkish soldiers and injured a third in a grenade attack on a military outpost, the Anatolia news agency reported, raising the number of Turkish troops killed this year to at least 17.

More than 40 Kurdish guerrillas have also been killed in the same period in a series of clashes.

The Turkish deployment, which has been going on for several weeks, boosts an already large garrison in the region that by some estimates tops 250,000 soldiers.

While Turkey has not ruled out a major incursion into Iraq, military officers have privately said that such a move was not being considered.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Turkey on Tuesday and appeared to warn against any possible major Turkish move into Iraq.

“We want anything we do to contribute to stability in Iraq and not to threaten that stability or to make a difficult situation worse and that is why a co-operative approach to this problem, co-operation between Iraq, Turkey and the coalition is very important,” she said.

Guerrillas of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, have bases in northern Iraq but also have substantial forces in the mountains of south-eastern Turkey. They typically step up their attacks in the spring, when winter snow melts, clearing mountain passes in the region. Turkey often increases its military activities in response.

“The deployment is only aimed to prevent infiltrations of the terrorist organisation into Turkey,” said Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul. Turkey regards the PKK as a terrorist organisation.

This weekend, the commander of Turkey’s land forces, Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, said that “as long as the PKK exists our operations will continue in ever-increasing intensity”.

But he also stressed there was nothing unusual in the troop deployment in the region.

Iran also reportedly has moved forces to the border, and last week shelled a mountainous region inside Iraq used by anti-Iranian Kurdish fighters believed to be linked to the PKK.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, who is Kurdish, has expressed concern over reported Iranian and Turkish troop concentrations on his country’s borders.

Gul said that since Iraq doesn’t “have the capability to fight terrorism, they should be pleased with the measures we have taken and they should help us”.

Turkish soldiers have been pursuing Kurdish guerrillas across the border into Iraq, penetrating up to six miles.

Turkey already has an estimated 2,000 soldiers stationed inside Iraq and limited incursions inside Iraq in pursuit of rebels have not been uncommon in the past.

The PKK took up arms against the Turkish government in 1984 and the fighting has so far claimed more than 37,000 lives.