TRKNWS-L NEWS from Vic McDonald

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From: newsdesk_aps_nl at apsf.aps.nl (newsdesk at aps.nl)
Subject: TRKNWS-L NEWS from Vic McDonald


Arab League to Turkey: Get Out of Iraq
      CAIRO, March 26 (Reuter) - The Arab League on Sunday slammed Turkey's
military offensive in northern Iraq as a violation of international law and
called on Ankara to withdraw its troops.

    ``The League... sees this invasion as a violation of the principles of
international law and legitimate international resolutions,'' the 22-member
league said in a statement.

    The statement stressed Arab support for the territorial integrity of
Iraq, standing ``alongside fraternal Iraq in defending its sovereignty and
regional unity.''

    It said the league also regretted the loss of life caused by Turkey's
incursion, aimed at wiping out guerrilla bases belonging to the Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK).

     ``The Arab League calls on the Turkish Government not to escalate the
situation further but to withdraw from Iraqi territory,'' it said.

    Turkey said it has killed 168 PKK fighters and lost 16 of its soldiers,
while the PKK put its death toll at up to 13, with 178 Turks killed.

    Europe has condemned Turkey's massive week-long military operation, but
Foreign Minister Murat Karayalcin was quoted as saying on Sunday Turkey
cannot let separatist Kurds control northern Iraq, whatever international
pressures it may face.
REUTER     Transmitted: 95-03-26 15:12:44 EST

Turkey Defends Push Into Iraq
      By Suna Erdem

    ZAKHO, Iraq, March 26 (Reuter) - Turkey sought to assuage growing
international concern over its military offensive into northern Iraq to crush
Kurdish separatists, despite mounting reports of Iraqi civilian casualties.

    ``Everything that can be done will be done in order to save civilians and
civil organisations. Turkey always respects the laws,'' Prime Minister Tansu
Ciller told the nation in a televised address.

    Turkey, in the largest military expedition in its modern history, sent
35,000 troops backed by air power into northern Iraq almost a week ago to
``eliminate'' bases there of the separatist Kurdistan People's Party (PKK).

    The situation on the ground remained unclear amid a welter of
contradictory reports from Turkish military officials, doctors and local
residents.

    Turkish officials insisted there had been no civilian casualties, but
doctors in the border town of Zakho said a man from the village of Kashan was
dead on arrival at their hospital on Friday, ripped apart by Turkish
shrapnel.

    The doctors told Reuters at least five other civilians were injured, two
seriously, while Iraqi Kurds reported more casualties from Turkish air raids.


    Iraqi Kurdish leaders, who assisted Turkey in a similar sweep in 1992,
condemned the military operation but have apparently not resisted it.
Ironically, Iraqi Kurds battling Baghdad rely on Turkey for a lifeline to the
outside world.

    International pressure continued to mount on Turkey and U.S. President
Bill Clinton again talked to Ciller by telephone.

    Germany's Labour Minister Norbert Bluem, ditching diplomatic language in
favour of populist outrage, said: ``One cannot even treat animals the way
Turks treat Kurds.''

    The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced plans
to move up to 2,000 Turkish Kurd refugees from Zakho to Atrush, more than 100
km (60 miles) further east, where 10,000 Turkish Kurds are already encamped.

    Few new military details emerged on Saturday. Turkish officials said they
were closing in on two main PKK bases, at Haftanin, 30 km (19 miles) east of
Zakho, and Betufa.

    Turkey said it had killed 168 PKK fighters and lost 16 of its soldiers,
Anatolian news agency said. The PKK put its death toll at either 11 or 13
against 178 Turks killed.

    Turkish ground troops are known to have advanced about 40 km (25 miles)
into Iraq, mainly around Zakho. There have also been reports of air raids
near the Iranian border, 200 km (125 miles) to the east.
REUTER       Transmitted: 95-03-26 07:00:40 EST

German Collaborators With PKK Busted In Turkey
      BONN, March 26 (Reuter) - Six Germans have been arrested in
southeastern Turkey as suspected collaborators with the separatist Kurdistan
Workers Party (PKK), an official said on Sunday.

    Bonn Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Erdmann said the German embassy in
Ankara was trying to arrange their release from house arrest in a hotel in
Cizre, south of Diyabarkir, where they have been held since Saturday.

    PKK guerrillas have been fighting for an independent Kurdish homeland in
southeastern Turkey since 1984. More than 15,000 people have died in the
conflict.

    The Nowrouz Coordination Bureau in Frankfurt -- a group of German Kurdish
sympathisers -- said the six were academics from the nothern city of Bremen
who had travelled to the region to observe events on the Kurdish new year,
known as Nowrouz.

    It said police in Turkey had said they needed more time to examine film
and a laptop computer confiscated from the group before they could be
released.

    Nowrouz's Bremen office said in a statement one British and four Turkish
journalists had also been detained in Cizre on Saturday.

    It identified the Briton as Richard Wayman but did not say for whom he
was working, neither did it name the four Turkish journalists.
 REUTER     Transmitted: 95-03-26 11:02:08 EST

Turkey Airlifts Supports Troops Into Iraq
      DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, March 26 (Reuter) - Turkish aircraft on Sunday
ferried reinforcements and equipment into northern Iraq to strengthen
Ankara's operation against rebel Kurdish bases, a Turkish security source
said.

    ``A constant run of men, materiel and logistic supplies is maintained
from the points at Silopi, in Sirnak province, and at Cukurca, in Hakkari
province, to the east,'' said the source in Diyarbakir, nerve centre for the
anti-rebel fight.

    The operation was contining on Sunday, the source said, but there were
few early details of other military activity.

    In the latest military briefing from an army press centre in Diyarbakir
on Saturday, a spokesman said troops had taken and destroyed 25 mountain
bases of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) since the campaign began before
dawn last Monday.

    Turkish television footage showed the camps, mountain caves and some
lean-tos covered by plastic sheeting, apparently emptied by the guerrillas,
leaving behind ammunition and food stores.

    Lieutenant General Hasan Kundakci, commanding the operation, told
reporters that Turkish troops were moving under cover of darkness to get
close to PKK-held positions.
REUTER             Transmitted: 95-03-26 06:33:17 EST