Turkey warned today it was considering launching a possible ground operation against Kurdish separatist militants in northern Iraq.
Interior Minister Idris Naim Sahin told reporters that launching a ground operation depended on the result of talks with Iraq.
Turkey's armed forces last week said that air and artillery strikes on suspected bases of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region killed 145 to 160 PKK fighters.
Turkish media said a senior Turkish official, Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioglu, met Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, himself a Kurd, in Baghdad, as well as Kurdish regional officials in Irbil.
More than 40,000 people have been killed since the PKK began its armed struggle against the Turkish state in 1984.
Reuters
Interior Minister Idris Naim Sahin told reporters that launching a ground operation depended on the result of talks with Iraq.
Turkey's armed forces last week said that air and artillery strikes on suspected bases of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region killed 145 to 160 PKK fighters.
Turkish media said a senior Turkish official, Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioglu, met Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, himself a Kurd, in Baghdad, as well as Kurdish regional officials in Irbil.
More than 40,000 people have been killed since the PKK began its armed struggle against the Turkish state in 1984.
Reuters
