Erdogan: ‘considering new ways and means’
Turkey warns Iraq over Kurd rebels
Turkish PM says Ankara’s patience with government in Baghdad ran out as Turkish soldier killed.
ANKARA - Turkey on Tuesday told Iraq to crack down on Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq or face the consequences, as Baghdad called for urgent talks over Ankara's threat of a military incursion.
With Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi in Turkey for a visit and the Turkish parliament preparing to vote on a motion allowing for cross-border raids, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan made it clear that Ankara's patience with Baghdad had run out.
"The central government in Iraq and the regional government in northern Iraq must put a thick wall between themselves and the terrorist organization," said Erdogan, referring to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=22688
The reason they Turks are 'warning' Iraq about any inkling of relations with PKK, is the Turks will then feel vindicated in attacking within Iraq without restraint. It must be wonderful to be an Iraqi these days. No sovereignty. No peace. No military.
Turkey has right to act inside Iraq: Gul
PKK leader acknowledges Turkey strike
PKK leader acknowledges Turkey strike
ANKARA: Turkish President Abdullah Gul reaffirmed on Sunday Turkey’s readiness and right to intervene in northern Iraq one day after the Turkish army carried out an operation inside Iraq against Kurdish rebels. “The army was granted a mandate. This mandate is being used when the army deems it necessary,” Gul told reporters before flying to Pakistan for an official visit. A military official said around 100 special forces were sent into northern Iraq to hit PKK rebels on Saturday. The army also sent between four and six helicopters to bomb a camp used by the PKK.
EDITORIAL: Pakistan's autocracy challenged
By MIDDLE EAST TIMES
Published: November 30, 2007
EDITORIAL: As Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf abandons his military façade yet maintains military rule, international critics accuse him of strategically stalling the Pakistani democratic process. With a tumultuous history that encompasses six generations of military misrule, repeated suspension of constitutional rights and internal instability, Pakistan seems an unlikely candidate for a flourishing civil society.
But recent events have proven otherwise. As Musharraf struggles to retain control over a fragmented state, the increasing number of Pakistanis protesting unconstitutional rule is a hopeful indication of the sort of political participation central to democracy.
Instead of accepting cooperation with the largely illegitimate military regime, prominent members of the judicial system, including chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, have been dismissed, arrested or imprisoned by Musharraf. By doing so, the president demonstrated not only a continued disregard for the Pakistani constitution, but also a growing fear of a multitude of opposition groups.
Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's second return to the country – in defiance of exile imposed once again by Musharraf – indicate the tenacity of the opposition to military rule and contributes to a veritable foundation of grassroots democracy in Pakistan.
Although martial law has been imposed before, tolerance of such flagrant disregard for public opinion is now at its nadir.
Chaudhry's repeated dismissal and Bhutto's return highlight not only the inconsistencies of Musharraf's policies but also that the fear so necessary to run an illegitimate state is no longer present among the people or his political rivals.
Now that Musharraf has become a general without an army, both literally and figuratively, the state is set for opposition groups to re-rout power to the people in an attempt to establish the representative government that Pakistan has long deserved.
http://www.metimes.com/Editorial/2007/11/30/editorial_pakistans_autocracy_challenged/5565/
Bhutto warns of foreign intervention if militancy not curbed
9:13AM Monday December 03, 2007
9:13AM Monday December 03, 2007
By Riaz Khan
Benazir Bhutto at yesterday's press conference in northwest Pakistan. Photo / AP
PESHAWAR - Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto said on Sunday she would use economic as well as military means to defuse Pakistan's pro-Taleban insurgency, and warned that "foreign forces" could invade unless the government curbs spreading militancy.
Bhutto was speaking to journalists in Pakistan's troubled northwest, where she launched her campaign this weekend for January 8 parliamentary elections. She planned key talks Monday with another opposition leader, Nawaz Sharif, who is urging a boycott of the vote.
Bhutto also raised the spectre of militants moving on the capital, Islamabad, and gaining control of a crucial nuclear installation - widely seen as an unlikely scenario.
Benazir Bhutto at yesterday's press conference in northwest Pakistan. Photo / AP
PESHAWAR - Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto said on Sunday she would use economic as well as military means to defuse Pakistan's pro-Taleban insurgency, and warned that "foreign forces" could invade unless the government curbs spreading militancy.
Bhutto was speaking to journalists in Pakistan's troubled northwest, where she launched her campaign this weekend for January 8 parliamentary elections. She planned key talks Monday with another opposition leader, Nawaz Sharif, who is urging a boycott of the vote.
Bhutto also raised the spectre of militants moving on the capital, Islamabad, and gaining control of a crucial nuclear installation - widely seen as an unlikely scenario.
