Word: turkeys
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...been forced to flee their homes as a result of the Iraq war and the continuing instability there. About 2.2 million of those refugees have left home only to resettle elsewhere in Iraq, while the other half of the refugee population has left the country entirely. Iran, Egypt, Yemen, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon have absorbed the largest number of refugees...
...demand retaliation for an attack by Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) separatists based in north Iraq that killed 12 Turkish soldiers. It was the third large-scale attack in recent weeks. Eight Turkish soldiers are still missing after the incident. Sunday's attack may well prove the last straw for Turkey's hawkish military - NATO's second largest army after the U.S. - which has been readying to cross the border into north Iraq in pursuit of the PKK for several months. Public outrage over a mounting death toll finally led Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to approve an incursion last week...
Following Sunday's attack, the military said it had launched an offensive along the border, where Turkey already has some 100,000 troops, backed by tanks, F-16 fighter jets and attack helicopters. On Monday, a convoy of 50 military vehicles, loaded with soldiers and weapons, was seen heading toward the border, according to the Associated Press. In Istanbul, the capital Ankara and the port city of Mersin, thousands of protestors, wearing black ribbons and waving the Turkish flag, denounced the PKK attack. Across the country, public events and celebrations (including a concert by the American pop star Beyonce...
Until last year, the PKK seemed to have all but faded as an armed movement. The group spoke of democratic struggle and improved cultural rights. However, since then, observers say, the group's hawkish wing has taken over and now wants to draw Turkey into north Iraq. Any incursion is potentially treacherous and could lead Turkey into a quagmire much like the U.S. is facing in the rest of Iraq. The PKK's Kandil Mountain stronghold is notoriously rugged terrain well suited to guerrilla warfare. Air strikes alone are unlikely to be effective against it. A major land offensive, depending...
Worse, Turkish public fury has now found a second target in the Kurdish regional government of north Iraq, which popular opinion in Turkey has accused of harboring the PKK. Opposition politicians have called on the military to declare the Iraqi Kurdish administration an "enemy" and target them in any operation. Turkey is already deeply suspicious of Iraq's Kurds and their progress over the past four years toward creating an independent Kurdish state, which could in turn foment unrest among its own Kurdish population. "From this point on, our barrels are pointed at [Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud] Barzani," wrote Ertugrul...