TUNCELI, Turkey (Reuters) - Kurdish rebels killed at least 12 Turkish soldiers and wounded 11 others on Sunday in an ambush in mountains near the Iraqi border, security sources said. Fighting was continuing between troops and rebels in the border area, they said. The attack will put pressure on Turkey to send troops into northern Iraq to hunt down the rebels. On Wednesday, Turkey's parliament authorised cross-border operations against the rebels, who use the region as a base. I thought it may be a useful information in connection to the latest developments...
I am reading about Kurds http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurds. Some Kurds may be attempting to establish an independent state. This war is an old war. From Wikipedia: A series of referendums are scheduled to be held in 2007, to determine the final borders of the Kurdish region. According to the CIA Factbook they [Kurds] account for 20 percent of the 70 million people of Turkey, thus numbering about 15 million people. Other estimates vary between 12 to 15 million. They are predominantly distributed in the southeastern corner of the country. The Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan (PKK), also known as KADEK and Kongra-Gel, is considered by the US and EU to be a terrorist organization dedicated to creating an independent Kurdish state in a territory (traditionally referred to as Kurdistan) consisting of parts of southeastern Turkey, northeastern Iraq, northeastern Syria and northwestern Iran. It is an ethnic secessionist organization using force and threat of force against both civilian and military targets for the purpose of achieving its political goal. Between 1984 and 1999, the PKK and the Turkish military engaged in open war An estimated 3,000 Kurdish villages in Turkey were virtually wiped from the map, representing the displacement of more than 378,000 people.
yep, this news is already baked in the cake.. Any impending incursion by Turkey has been priced into the market as the authorization already occured last week...
Unfourtunately the oil momo boys will use this as another in their never ending stream of excuses, to ramp oil again. Its hard to believe but those moron are taking it to $100 this year.
The U.S. is ``outraged'' at the attacks by the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, from northern Iraq, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in an e-mailed statement today. ``The PKK terrorist organization has wrought a trail of bloodshed that serves only to perpetuate suffering,'' McCormack said. The fighting raised concerns that Turkey would make good on a threat to invade northern Iraq to attack PKK hideouts. That possibility helped push world oil prices to a record last week. In Kiev, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters today that he felt a Turkish attack isn't ``imminent,'' after meeting with his Turkish counterpart, Vecdi Gonul, the Associated Press reported.
Ha! Oil was DOWN by over a buck after this news. I guess the market doesn't care about the poor rebels anymore. (well, it was a typical excuse by the clueless media anyway) What is wrong with $100 oil, btw? I believe it is a Good Thing for the world.