These are the same guys currently criticizing Syria?
"Deadly Kurd ambush draws Turkish raid" August 18, 2011|New York Times
ISTANBUL - Kurdish militants in southeast Turkey ambushed a military convoy yesterday with a quadruple bombing attack that killed seven soldiers and one guard, wounded at least 14, and infuriated Turkish leaders, who promised a punishing response and said their patience with the long-simmering Kurdish insurgency had run out.
Hours later, Turkish news services said at least 15 Turkish warplanes had bombed suspected Kurdish insurgent positions inside northern Iraq along Turkey’s border, where the militant Kurdistan Workers Party maintains a network of bases and hideouts. There was no immediate official confirmation of the Turkish bombing assault.
The convoy ambush, in Turkey’s Kurdish-populated Hakkari Province, was the deadliest single attack on the Turkish military since it began a new crackdown in mid-July on the Kurdish autonomy movement, a step that officials said was justified by an insurgent attack on July 13 that killed 13 Turkish soldiers.
In all, at least 30 Turkish soldiers have died in the past month of fighting with the Kurdish insurgents, who seek autonomy for Turkey’s nearly 12 million Kurds....
I'm always for autonomy because it mean freedom and independence.
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Is it possible Israel could be causing problems for the Turks?
"Turkey attacks Iraqi targets to flush out Kurdish bombing suspects; Rebels accused of killing eight in an ambush" August 19, 2011|By Sebnem Arsu, New York Times
ISTANBUL - Turkish warplanes attacked 60 targets in the mountains and border areas of northern Iraq early yesterday in pursuit of Kurdish separatist rebels suspected of orchestrating a deadly quadruple bombing ambush a day earlier on a military convoy in southeast Turkey, the army headquarters said.
No big deal bombing another nation.
The airstrikes followed an artillery barrage by Turkish forces targeting 168 locations in the same region of northern Iraq. The areas were frequented by the PKK, or Kurdistan Workers Party, the insurgent group that has been fighting for autonomy in Turkey’s southeast since the early 1980s, according to military intelligence.
“Similar actions of the Turkish armed forces inside and outside the country will continue in a determined way until the north of Iraq would be turned into a secure residential area and the terror organization that uses the area as a launch pad for attacks would be eliminated,’’ a written statement by the army command said.
The bombardment of the Qandil and Zap regions in northern Iraq came after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that his patience with the Kurdish rebels had run out....
Turkish news accounts yesterday suggested that Erdogan was planning further military steps....
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"Turkish air raids kill 7 Iraqi civilians" Associated Press / August 22, 2011
ANKARA, Turkey - Turkish airstrikes on suspected rebel targets in northern Iraq killed seven civilians yesterday, Iraqi officials said....
Governments never learn, do they?
Firat, a news agency close to the Kurdish rebels, also said seven people - including five children and a woman - were killed inside a car while trying to flee raids on the village of Golle, on Qandil.
Turkish warplanes have been striking at suspected rebel positions across the border in Iraq since Wednesday.
Has it even made TV? I wouldn't know because I don't watch news on TV.
The military has confirmed three days of strikes, but Kurdish groups also reported bombings by Turkish jets on Saturday and yesterday.
Turkey’s latest offensive follows stepped-up attacks by the rebels of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party that have killed some 40 soldiers since July.
The party, considered a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union, is fighting for autonomy in southeastern Turkey.
Turkey’s military has said the jets are targeting party sites only - including shelters, antiaircraft gun positions and ammunition depots - showing the “necessary’’ care not to harm civilians.
Yeah, that's the difference between NATO and bad guys like Assad and Khadafy.
And yet there they are, dead.
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The more you look at the map the more you realize Turkey is NATO's cop on the beat in the region. Must be the price of an EU membership.
