Turkey openly threatens US/Iraq

The Turks are nearing their limit as very little has been done about the PKK by the overextended US force in Iraq, but if this is more than a new round of threats, this could get very complicated very quickly.

The US is scrambling to head off a "disastrous" Turkish military intervention in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq that threatens to derail the Baghdad security surge and open up a third front in the battle to save Iraq from disintegration.

Senior Bush administration officials have assured Turkey in recent days that US forces will increase efforts to root out Kurdistan Workers' party (PKK) guerrillas enjoying safe haven in the Qandil mountains, on the Iraq-Iran-Turkey border.

But Abdullah Gul, Turkey's foreign minister, MPs, military chiefs and diplomats say up to 3,800 PKK fighters are preparing for attacks in south-east Turkey — and Turkey is ready to hit back if the Americans fail to act.

The reason the Turks have come to this point,

The firm Turkish belief that the US is playing a double game in northern Iraq. Officials say the CIA is covertly funding and arming the PKK's sister organisation, the Iran-based Kurdistan Free Life party, to destabilise the Iranian government.

Interestingly, the Turks have timed this threat for the day after Nowruzuz, a day traditionally used as an opportunity to highlight separatists demands by Kurdish rebels.

(For background, take a look at this excellent Asia Times article from last week on the simmering tensions between Turkey, Iran, and the Kurds. In it, the PKK were predicting an imminent attack by Turkey.)