Turkey, Syria To Cooperate

After decades of enmity, Syria and Turkey have launched a strategic cooperation agreement. This month, the two neighbors signed an agreement meant that included cooperation in the defense and military sectors. The accord also saw the removal of restrictions along the border between Syria and Turkey.

“The brotherhood that exists between our people has been lifted to the political level with joint Cabinet meetings to be held between our two governments,” Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said. Officials said the government of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan regarded Syria as part of Ankara’s “zero problems with neighbors” policy.

They said Ankara and Damascus have decided to establish what was termed a high-level strategic cooperation panel.“Turkey is your second country and the people of Turkey have opened their arms to welcome you without the need for a visa,” Davutoglu said.

At a joint news conference on Sept. 17, Davutoglu and his Syrian counterpart, Walid Mualem, agreed to lift customs on trade between the two countries. They said trucks that shuttle between Syrian and Turkey would be exempt from taxes. “This is the biggest demonstration of cooperation, solidarity and mutual trust,” Mualem said.

However, Bulent Alireza, a senior researcher at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies commented that “the increasingly close relationship with Damascus, combined with the recent strains in the relationship with Tel Aviv, seems certain to raise additional questions about a possible change of direction in Turkish foreign policy in the Middle East.”

In 2009, Syria and Turkey launched its first military exercise. The exercise took place along the border.The analysts said the Turkish military has not been enthusiastic over cooperation with Syria. Syria has long been seen by the Turkish military as a haven for the Kurdish Workers Party, which has been conducting a long time insurgency operation against the Turkish government.

Some senior Turkish officials said Syria has drafted plans to offer asylum to Kurdish Workers Party operatives. They said the Syrian offer, praised by neighboring Turkey, would demand that the PKK agents renounce violence and surrender their weapons. “Our fight against the terrorist organization would be affected a great deal if some of these Syrians quit the organization and climb down the mountain,” Turkish Chief of Staff Gen. Ilker Basbug said.

In a briefing on Sept. 22, Basbug said the PKK contained an estimated 1,500 Syrian fighters, or more than one-third of the total insurgency force. He said Syrian members of the PKK were based in Iraq’s Kandil mountains.

The Syrian offer was announced by President Bashar Assad in mid-September. Assad said Syrian members of PKK could be allowed to return home if they renounce membership in the insurgency group.

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Ongoing turkish operations

The Turkish military said Saturday it attacked 50 to 60 Kurdish rebels inside Iraqi territory, inflicting "significant losses." The military said on its Web site that the rebels were detected following intelligence work and that military operations in the region would continue if necessary.

The attack came a day after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the government had authorized the military to launch a cross-border offensive against Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq at any time. The military said the attack occurred "inside Iraqi borders," southeast of the Turkish town of Cukurca in Hakkari province. Hakkari, where rebels are active, is in the southeast corner of Turkey and shares a border with Iran as well as Iraq.

Time

Rice in Istanbul

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday that the United States considers PKK as a terrorist organization and a common enemy.

"We have agreed with Turkish FM Ali Babacan that effective measures must be taken so that Turkey is not faced with terror attacks in the future," told Rice a press conference in Ankara. In a joint press conference after her tete-a-tete meeting with Ali Babacan, Rice indicated that they discussed the problem in north of Iraq and terrorist organization PKK.

"PKK is a threat to Iraq's stability; and security of both Turkey and the United States," underlined Rice.

"Turkey is an important friend of the U.S.. We are thankful to Turkey for organizing an international conference on Iraq in Istanbul," she noted .

Meanwhile the PKK released 8 turkish prisoners, after they were kidnapped during a PKK attack in Daglica last week.

Turkey attacks Kurdish rebels

Turkish planes and helicopter gunships have bombed Kurdish rebels along the border with Iraq.

Turkey has ramped up military operations along its southern border with Iraq, with aircraft reportedly bombarding the mountainous terrain on Wednesday, part of a growing confrontation that threatens to open a new northern front in the Iraq war.

While intense diplomatic efforts continued to prevent large-scale violence, Turkish military helicopters and warplanes attacked hideouts thought to be used by Kurdish rebels as they travel between Iraq and Turkey, the Turkish state-run Anatolian news agency reported.

Turkey's parliament last week approved a resolution authorizing a military offensive into Iraq to pursue the guerrilla fighters who live along both sides of the border and are accused of killing dozens of Turkish citizens in recent weeks. The prospects for such an invasion appeared to gain momentum after PKK fighters killed at least 12 Turkish soldiers in an ambush Sunday. The PKK also claims to have captured eight Turkish soldiers, and video footage of captives was broadcast on Iraqi and Turkish television stations.

Residents of northern Iraq say that both Turkey and Iran have shelled areas within northern Iraq sporadically for years. Turkey's military also has staged several raids into Iraq in the past under what it says is the right of "hot pursuit" against PKK rebels.

Dozens die in Turkey border clash

At least 12 Turkish soldiers have been killed following an ambush by Kurdish rebels near the Iraqi border - with 32 rebels also killed, officials say.

The PKK guerrilla group claimed it had also taken "several" soldiers hostage. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has recalled security officials to Ankara for a crisis meeting. Correspondents say the attacks will increase the pressure on the government to launch raids into Iraq, after it was given clearance to do so by parliament.

On Wednesday, MPs voted overwhelmingly in support of a motion to allow the military to launch offensives across the border, against rebels based in the remote, mountainous north of Iraq.

It followed an escalation of raids by the PKK - the Kurdistan Workers' Party - as part of its armed campaign for Kurdish autonomy. Recent attacks blamed on the group have left more than 30 Turkish soldiers and civilians dead.

About 3,000 PKK fighters are believed to be based in northern Iraq near the Turkish border, says the BBC's Sarah Rainsford in Istanbul. There have been regular clashes in the area since earlier in the year, but the latest attack was one of the deadliest for some time. The clashes will increase pressure on the government from the public and the military for a tough response, our correspondent says.

The United States, Turkey's Nato ally, has called for restraint, fearing that any incursions would destabilise Iraq's most peaceful area - the autonomous Kurdish region in the north.