Iraq Pres: Turkish Strike In N Iraq 'Almost Certain' -AFP

KUWAIT CITY (AFP)--Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said Friday a Turkish strike on Kurdish rebel bases in northern Iraq was "almost certain," Kuwait's state news agency KUNA reported.

Any strike would be "limited" and wouldn't affect relations between Iraq and Turkey or between Turkey and the Kurds, KUNA quoted Talabani as saying in an interview during a visit to Kuwait.

His comments come a day after the Turkish general in charge of land forces said preparations were under way for a military strike against Kurdistan Workers' Party bases.

"The parliament has authorized the cabinet (on a cross-border operation). We are now in the process of implementing the mandate for a cross-border operation," General Ilker Basbug said.

Turkey has massed an estimated 100,000 troops and military equipment on the border with Iraq following controversial parliamentary approval for an incursion.

"We have called on the PKK to either lay down arms or leave Iraqi territory," Talabani, himself a Kurd, said in Kuwait.

He said that following Turkish-Iraqi talks at a conference of Iraq's neighbors and Western powers held in Istanbul earlier this month, Ankara indicated that the threatened operation will be limited to the areas where the PKK is based and will not extend to populated areas or regions controlled by the Kurdistan regional government.

DJ Newswire 11-16-07 15:24