SIRNAK, Turkey — Kurdish rebels ambushed a Turkish military convoy on Sunday less than three miles from the Iraqi border, killing 12 soldiers in the face of growing threats by Turkey to cross the rugged frontier and root out the guerrillas.
Turkey shelled the border region in response to the attack, and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani — himself a Kurd — ordered the rebels to lay down their arms or leave Iraq. Turkey dismissed his call, saying the time had come for action.
Despite the harsher rhetoric, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Sunday it appears Turkey’s military is not on the verge of invading Iraq’s most stable region in pursuit of the rebels, an incursion strongly opposed by the United States and Iraq.
Gates told reporters that in a meeting with Turkish Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul, he advised against a major cross-border incursion despite the continuing provocations.
“I’m heartened that he seems to be implying a reluctance on their part to act unilaterally, and I think that’s a good thing,” Gates said. “I didn’t have the impression that anything was imminent.”
Turkey’s Parliament last week authorized the government to deploy troops across the border, and the military confirmed that soldiers were chasing the rebels and pounding 63 suspected positions with artillery. Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek would not say, however, whether some of those positions were on Iraqi soil.
“Whatever is necessary in this struggle is being done and will be done,” Cicek said.
Later Sunday, Talabani told Turkish television that the rebel group, Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, could announce a cease-fire today. Turkey has rejected several unilateral rebel cease-fires in the past.
“Statements do not satisfy us. There has been nothing left to say; we are expecting concrete steps from them,” Cicek said Sunday.
The 12 soldiers died when an estimated 200 guerrillas, the largest single group to have attacked a Turkish unit in years — reportedly attacked an infantry company near the village of Daglica, less than three miles from the border. According to CNN-Turk, the PKK blew up a bridge as a 12-vehicle military convoy was crossing.
Retaliating Turkish troops, backed by helicopter gunships, killed 32 rebels on Sunday, Cicek said.
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