Iraq Kurds slam Turkish incursion against rebels

Residents of Arbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, oppose a Turkish invasion of the region, but some also want Turkey and the Kurdish rebels it is targeting to solve their problems elsewhere.

Forces of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which first took up arms in Kurdish-majority southeastern Turkey in 1984, killed 24 Turkish soldiers in a series of attacks in the early hours of Wednesday, the biggest loss of life for the army since 1993.

The Turkish military announced the following day that it had begun a "large-scale land operation" backed by air strikes against the PKK in Iraq.

The 22 battalions comprise commando units as well as gendarmerie and special forces, it added, without specifying how many had entered Iraq. Analysts said a total of 10-15,000 troops would be deployed.

The incursion -- the first since 2008 -- follows a weeks-long Turkish bombardment of PKK rear-bases in northern Iraq that began in mid-August and continued through September.

"All Iraqi and Kurdish people do not accept the Turkish army crossing the border," said Saman Omar Ali, a worker at a restaurant in Arbil.

"Violence will not solve problems," he said. "Politics should be the option. They should sit down at a table and discuss it. The Turkish army should retreat."

But he said of the PKK: "We think that it is an opposition party in Turkey itself. They should not import their problems to our country."

Bakhtiyar Sherzad, who owns a cafe in Arbil, agreed.

"My opinion is that the PKK problem is not in Arbil and Kurdistan, it is inside Turkey," he said.

But "on the other hand, Turkey has been bombing the Kurdistan region for years. That is oppression. We were suffering under Saddam Hussein, and we are now due to the Turkish bombing," said Sherzad.

"I think the Turks should not enter Kurdistan's borders. We are against it. Rather, they should solve everything in parliament and give the Kurds their rights.

"The solution," he said, "should be a peaceful one."

Baghdad, Ankara and Washington set up a joint committee in 2008 to take up the issue of the PKK, which is blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by Turkey and much of the international community.

In an official statement on Thursday, Iraq pledged to cooperate on security issues with Ankara, which has repeatedly urged Baghdad not to allow its territory to be used as a springboard for attacks on Turkey.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan also had a telephone conversation with Massud Barzani, the president of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, media reported. He is expected to visit Turkey soon.

"Iraq is a sovereign country, and what the Turks are doing is illegal," said Shoresh, a 32-year-old teacher.

Like Sherzad, he called for a solution inside Turkey.

"There should be an essential and peaceful solution for the Kurds of Turkey. If the Turks became democratic and gave the Kurds their rights, I don't think the PKK would carry weapons and kill soldiers," he said.

But he ultimately put the blame on Turkey, and said he thought the PKK was acting in self-defence.

"The problem is that the Turkish government does not listen to Kurdish demands and listens only to themselves. The Kurds do not want independence, they want to live as respected human beings with freedom in their countries," he said.

Araz Najmeddin, a government employee from Arbil, came out strongly in support of the PKK.

"Kurds are defending their rights, and they have the right to do so. Turkey is occupying Kurdish lands and does not give them their full rights. We see the PKK as defending the rights of the Kurdish people."

Abdullah Ibrahim Mohammed, who works as a day labourer, said: "We condemn the Turkish aggression on Kurdistan," and expressed hope that it would soon end, pointing to the suffering of those displaced by the violence.