Turkey's Troops Have Already Crossed Into Iraq!

DEBKAfile Intelligence

March 22, 2007

DEBKA-Net-Weekly's military sources disclose the

Turkish government decided not to wait for the

spring, but to pre-empt the Kurdish spring offensive.

Turkish troops are therefore on the move in the northern Iraqi region of

Kurdistan, aiming tocapture the PKK's Kandil mountain strongholds near the

borders of southeast Turkey and western Iran.

The move by Prime minister Erdogen and his cabinet was prompted by an

intelligence report that the PKK had managed to recruit thousands of fresh

fighters during the winter months. They have all been armed and equipped

with modern weapons, supplied mostly by Iraqi Kurdish leaders. Sources in

Ankara report that the PKK's fighting force has ballooned as never before to

an estimated 10,000 men under arms.