Agence France-Presse,
The foreign ministers of both Iraq and Turkey denied reports Wednesday that Turkish troops had launched a cross-border raid to strike Kurdish rebel bases in Iraq's northern highlands.
Turkey has stepped up its military presence in its own southeastern region, Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told AFP, but both he and his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul denied there had been a recent incursion.
Ankara suspects northern Iraq's Kurdish authorities of turning a blind eye to cross border attacks by separatist fighters from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is fighting for self-rule in southern Turkey.
In recent weeks the tone of the dispute has hardened following a spate of attacks by Kurds inside Turkey, spawning Wednesday's invasion rumours.
“These reports are inaccurate. There hasn't been any Turkish military incursion into Iraqi territory,” Zebari told AFP in a telephone interview.
“We've checked those reports with Kurdish regional authorities and with border guards all along the Turkish frontier. They denied that there has been any such incursion or any operation whatsoever,” he said.
The minister, himself an Iraqi Kurd, confirmed the Turkish military was increasing its presence near the border, but denied it was on the move.
“There has been Turkish build-up for some time, but it's all been in their own territory, there hasn't been any movement across the border,” he said.
In Turkey, Gul confirmed this, telling reporters: “There is no incursion into any other country at the moment. There is no such thing. If there ever is, we will tell you.”
But he warned that Ankara's patience was not limitless.
“No one should forget that we are involved in a war on terror. We will not flinch from taking whatever action is necessary to eradicate terror… There are preparations in that respect,” he said.
Since April, the Turkey has been conducting large-scale operations against the PKK, including in areas close to the Iraqi border.
The Turkish media have reported that thousands of troops, backed by heavy armour and air power, are involved in the operation, triggering speculation that the army is poised to pour into northern Iraq.
But the head of Iraq's troops on its northern frontier with Turkey on Wednesday also denied the reports of a Turkish raid, which were carried on several websites and news agencies, but not AFP.
Colonel Hussein Roshid, the commander of the Iraqi border guards in the Kurdish province of Dohuk, said: “It's untrue. There have been no cross-border incursions on the Iraqi frontier in Dohuk.”
Roshid said that last month there had been a brief Turkish military push into Dohuk, the Iraqi province bordering Turkey, which saw troops push two kilometres (one mile) into Iraqi territory near Zakhu.
But the probe was short-lived and had not been repeated, he said.
The PKK, branded a terrorist group by Ankara and much of the international community, has been fighting for self-rule in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast since 1984, in a conflict that has claimed more than 37,000 lives.
Turkey also suspects Iraqi Kurds of designs to break away from Baghdad and set up their independent state which, it fears, would embolden the PKK and fan separatism among the restive Kurdish community in Turkey.
In the latest of stern warnings to Iraqi Kurds, the Turkish army last week threatened to respond “at the highest level” following an incident in which it said a military liaison team was harassed at a checkpoint in northern Iraq.
Turkey does have a small force deployed inside northern Iraq to keep an eye on rebel movements in the highland region near the remote town of Barmeni, but Zebari insisted that the longstanding presence was with Kurdish approval.
“There are some troops there with prior agreement, and with the approval and consent of the regional authority. They have been there for some years now,” he said. “It's a number of isolated posts just to monitor the situation.”
The minister estimated the strength of this force at 1,300 troops.
“They have liaison teams. Their mandate is very clear. They liaise with the regional authorities,” he said.
