"Iraq Begins Crackdown on Kurdistan Workers' Party
Attacks by the PKK Had Drawn Turkish Military Activity in Northern Iraq; Iran Also Fires Across Border
By Kirk H. Sowell
The Iraqi government has closed the Baghdad offices of the Marxist Kurdistan Workers’ Party, an anti-Turkish terrorist organization, and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has promised his Turkish counterpart that no PKK activities will be tolerated in Iraq. Not only do Iraq and Turkey both have significant Kurdish minorities, but the two countries also have an important bilateral petroleum trade relationship. Yet despite this action in Baghdad the problem remains in Kurdish-dominated northern Iraq, where the PKK has its main Iraqi presence, and reports from yesterday indicated continuing missile fire across the border from not only Turkey but Iran as well. Turkish military activities in Iraqi Kurdistan have been ongoing periodically, as we noted in a recent report, and more recently by the Counterterrorism Blog, the latter being a greater escalation."
More:ThreatsWatch.Org: InBrief: Iraq Begins Crackdown on Kurdistan Workers' Party
