Word: turkishly
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...comes amid rising nationalist sentiment in Turkey, fueled by the PKK attacks and also by moves in the U.S. Congress to declare the mass killing of up to 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks starting in 1915 a genocide. The situation is also complicated by the desire of the Turkish military to improve its standing among ordinary Turks after its failed attempt to block the election of the moderate Islamist Abdullah Gul as the country's President earlier this year...
...Turkish analysts say the political atmosphere in Turkey increases the likelihood of some kind of incursion. Mehmet Ali Kislali, a veteran commentator with the Radikal newspaper who covers the Turkish military, told TIME that the most likely scenario now is Turkish air strikes against strongholds of the PKK in the Qandil mountains near the Iranian border, followed by mopping-up operations by special forces units from a base just inside the Iraq border, to be established after a "large-scale initial land offensive." He added that "as far as is possible, Turkish troops will not venture into heavily populated territory...
...Turkey has repeatedly stressed that its goal is to root out the PKK, and that it wants to avoid clashes with Iraqi forces under the control of the Iraqi Kurdish administration. But U.S. and Iraqi officials fear that Turkish forces, whatever their intention, could clash with Iraqi Kurdish forces, making the conflict difficult to contain. Turkey accuses Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish administration, led by Massoud Barzani, of sheltering the separatist guerrillas, and some see it as a hostile entity. Retired Turkish general Riza Kucukoglu told TIME: "The PKK is the enemy. But there are also the forces of Barzani...
...official Turkish position is to demand that the Iraqi Kurdish authorities act against the PKK. "The central government in Iraq and the regional government in northern Iraq must put a thick wall between themselves and the terrorist organization," Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan said Tuesday, referring to the PKK. "Those who are unable to distance themselves from terrorism cannot avoid being adversely affected by the struggle against terrorism...
...Washington has so far refused Turkish requests to send American troops to root out the PKK. Instead, the U.S. is urging talks between Turkish and Iraqi leaders to find a peaceful solution. For Turkey, that would require that the Iraqi Kurds distance themselves from the PKK, shut down its offices and make some attempt to crack down on their bases in the mountains. Turkey also wants Iraq to join Washington and Ankara in labeling the PKK a terrorist organization. But if Iraq fails to curb the PKK, then, as President Abdullah Gul told TIME in an interview earlier this year...