Turkey Starts Withdrawal From Areas of Northern Iraq (Update2)

Dec. 18 -- Turkish troops began to withdraw from several areas in northern Iraq after 700 soldiers crossed the frontier late yesterday to target Kurdish militants who have carried out cross-border attacks.

Turkey's forces started to pull back after they penetrated 8 kilometers (5 miles) into Iraq's majority-Kurdish north, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan said on the party's Web site.

The country has been fighting the Kurdistan Workers' Party, known by its Kurdish initials PKK, which is seeking autonomy for Turkey's largely Kurdish southeast and uses northern Iraq as a base from which to attack Turkish forces.

The army ``is doing what's necessary and will continue to do so,'' Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at a news conference in Ankara today, without elaborating on any Turkish operations on the border.

The Turkish military issued a statement on its Web site late today saying it conducted a ``small-scale'' ground operation in ``hot pursuit'' of a group of rebels attempting to cross into Turkey during the night of Dec. 17-18. Turkish troops dealt them a ``heavy blow'' during the clash, which took place several kilometers inside Iraq, according to the statement. The account from the Turkish General Staff didn't cite the number of soldiers involved.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk earlier today and later met Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari in Baghdad in a trip the State Department said was unrelated to the incursion. She was also scheduled to meet Talabani in Baghdad, state television said.

U.S. Concerns

The U.S., alarmed about the prospect of a conflict in a relatively peaceful area of Iraq, has been working with Turkey to prevent a broad military offensive across the border. The Turkish government had complained for more than two years that Iraq and the U.S., which classifies the PKK as a terrorist group, hadn't done enough to stop the group from using northern Iraq as a base.

``We have made clear to the Turkish government that we continue to be concerned about anything that could lead to innocent civilian casualties or to a destabilization of the north,'' Rice said at a televised news conference today in Baghdad.

U.S. commanders and diplomats in Baghdad were angry to hear about Turkey's bombing attack in Iraq to pursue Kurdish rebels only after the warplanes had crossed the border, the Associated Press reported, citing unidentified officials.

`Limited' Action

Zebari called the Turkish move a ``limited military incursion'' and said it occurred ``high up in the mountains in unpopulated areas.'' The Iraqi and regional authorities are monitoring the movements, he said.

``We have shared, common goals here,'' he said. ``We want stability and security in Iraq and with Iraq's neighbors also and the border areas.''

In Washington, President George W. Bush's spokeswoman, Dana Perino, said the U.S. is coordinating with the Turkish and Iraqi authorities in the area.

``The PKK is a threat to Turkey, to Iraq and to the United States, so we continue to share information, share intelligence with them,'' Perino told reporters at the White House. ``We have asked Turkey to keep the operations very targeted and limited.''

Bush, Erdogan

Bush's agreement Nov. 5 at a meeting with Erdogan to provide ``actionable intelligence'' to the Turks for limited, surgical strikes on PKK infrastructure and camps has helped improve ties, said Stephen Larrabee, a Turkey expert at the research group RAND Corp. in Washington.

``This is what the Turks have been looking for the past three years,'' Larrabee said in a telephone interview today. ``The United States has committed itself to seriously helping the Turks resolve their terrorism problem with the PKK, and this is likely to have an important positive impact on relations and on public opinion in Turkey.''

The conflict between Turkey and the PKK has lasted more than 20 years and has cost almost 40,000 lives. Kurds are the Middle East's largest stateless ethnic group, with about 30 million living in the mountainous regions of Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey.

Besides the local leaders, Rice met with U.S. officials who are working on reconstruction in Kirkuk. A State Department spokesman, Tom Casey, said Rice's visit to Iraq was planned weeks ago.

``Did Secretary Rice change plans and go to Kirkuk because of Turkish military action? The answer is no,'' Casey said. ``She sees the military actions as similar to previous military actions that have been going on for at least a year.''

Attack Authorized

Erdogan's government on Nov. 28 authorized the army to attack PKK targets inside Iraq after the Kurdish rebel group stepped up its activities.

Turkish warplanes bombed bases used by the PKK in Iraq's Zap, Hakurk and Avasin regions and the Qandil mountains on Dec. 16, Turkey's military said on its Web site.

Iraq's Kurds may provoke further Turkish wrath by pushing to extend their self-governing territory southward into the oil fields dominated by the contested city of Kirkuk. The region gained autonomy after the 1991 Gulf War, as coalition forces protected the north from attack by Saddam Hussein's troops.

``The United States is very interested in the future of this very important province. Kirkuk is very critical,'' Rice said in between meetings with local government officials in the oil-rich region.

Kirkuk Issue

Rice's surprise visit to Kirkuk demonstrates the U.S. ``is now taking a high-profile interest in the issue of Kirkuk, which from the Turkish side, in principle, is positive,'' Larrabee said.

The question of whether Kirkuk should be controlled by the Kurdish autonomous region may be settled in a proposed referendum.

The Bush administration wants the United Nations to help settle Kirkuk's status, while Turkey prefers a ballot among all Iraqis to decide the city's future. Iraq's constitution calls only for the residents of a disputed area to vote in any referendum on its future.

Tensions between the government in Baghdad and the Kurdish region have been heightened over the signing of oil contracts by the Kurds without the consent of the Iraqi leadership.