Erdogan Says Northern Iraq Raid May Come in `Days' (Update2)

By Ben Holland and Mark Bentley

Oct. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country's forces may carry out strikes on Kurdish fighters in Iraqi territory in the next few days if the U.S. and Iraq fail to rein in the militants.

A Turkish assault into northern Iraq to attack armed members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, won't necessarily mean sending in ground forces, Erdogan said at the U.K.'s Oxford University. Turkey's forces strafed the border area with artillery fire and missiles from F-16 jet fighters yesterday, Sabah newspaper said, citing witnesses.

``We have told the U.S. and Iraq that we will do what is necessary to protect our interests if within a few days those developments that we expect do not take place,'' Erdogan told the Oxford Union debating society late yesterday.

Turkey is under U.S. pressure to allow Iraqi forces to try to control the PKK, out of concern a Turkish incursion will disrupt the American war effort in Iraq.

Oil prices for December delivery fell for a third day, to $85.55 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, as diplomatic efforts to head off military action increased. The contract was trading at $85.99 at 9:54 a.m. in London. Prices rose to a record above $90 last week on concern an invasion would hurt regional stability and disrupt supplies.

In nationwide demonstrations, Turkish citizens pressed their government to begin a military assault on the Kurdish militants in Iraq after 12 soldiers were killed and eight went missing in clashes that started two days ago with the group near the border.

Joint Operation

Turkey has invited the U.S. to join a military operation against the PKK, Turkey's Hurriyet newspaper cited Erdogan as saying. ``We expect to work together, just as we do in Afghanistan,'' he said.

President George W. Bush, in a telephone call with Turkish President Abdullah Gul, expressed his ``deep concern'' about the PKK's attacks and promised the U.S. will cooperate in clamping down on the militants operating out of Iraq, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said yesterday.

In a separate video conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, Bush said he will work with the Iraqi and Turkish governments to prevent the PKK from using Iraqi territory to plan or carry out terrorist attacks. Maliki agreed with Bush that Turkey should have no doubt about the countries' commitment ``to end all terrorist activity on Iraqi soil,'' Johndroe said.

The Turkish government urged Turkey's citizens to remain calm, saying it will give diplomacy a chance, after thousands of people took to the streets of the nation's cities to call for an immediate raid on PKK camps in Iraq's north.

Iraq-Turkey Talks

Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan arrived in Baghdad to persuade Iraq's political leaders to crack down on the PKK.

Babacan ``will tell the Iraqi government, in the most open manner, of Turkey's resolve to battle terrorism and reiterate once more that the PKK's presence in Iraq must end,'' the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in an e-mailed statement.

Turkey blames the PKK for the deaths of almost 40,000 people in a two-decade conflict. The militants, seeking an independent homeland for Turkey's 12 million Kurds, are designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the European Union.

The PKK says it is seeking a political solution to the conflict. The group called for efforts to find a resolution ``away from violence and fighting,'' Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan said on the party's Web site. Turkey has refused to negotiate with the PKK in the past, instead demanding the group's unconditional surrender.

Arrests Rejected

Talabani has rejected a call by the Turkish government to arrest the PKK's leaders in Iraq and hand them over to Turkey, saying Iraqi forces aren't capable of dealing with the group. There are about 3,500 PKK fighters in the Kurdish region of Iraq.

A dozen Turkish soldiers and 34 PKK fighters have died in battles over the past two days near the Turkish village of Daglica, 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the Iraqi border.

Turkish nationalists, backed by members of the opposition Nationalist Action Party in parliament, are calling on the government to launch an immediate raid on PKK camps in Iraq.

In a second day of demonstrations in Istanbul yesterday, about 3,000 people chanted slogans against Erdogan. Hundreds marched on offices of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party, smashing windows and chanting anti-PKK slogans.