Ankara: Turkish helicopters and fighter jets pounded Kurdish rebel positions yesterday as diplomatic efforts began in Ankara to avert a major offensive against the guerrillas based in northern Iraq.
Turkey described as unsatisfactory a series of proposals offered by a high-level Iraqi delegation to Ankara to prevent military operation against Kurdish rebels in Iraq, a senior Turkish diplomat said.
Iraqi Defence Minister General Abdul Qader Jassem and National Security Minister Shirwan Al Waeli are in Ankara for talks with Turkish officials on how to crack down on the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). "Those proposals do not meet our expectations," the Turkish diplomat said.
Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek separately demanded that Baghdad hand over all separatist rebels in the country. "Everyone [PKK members in northern Iraq] there is guilty," he said.
Turkey has massed up to 100,000 troops along the frontier before a possible cross-border operation to crush about 3,000 PKK rebels in Iraq.
State-run Anatolian news agency said Turkish helicopters fired on PKK shelters discovered after reconnaissance missions yesterday along the mountainous border and inside Turkey.
Security sources said 10 Sikorsky helicopters, carrying troops and equipment, took off from Yusekova town in Hakkari province and headed for Daglica region near the Iraq border.
