Turkey Establishes Buffer Zone In S

[kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu]

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at locust.etext.org>
Subject: Turkey Establishes Buffer Zone In South Kurdistan

Turkey Establishes Buffer Zone In Northern Iraq

Associated Press, 10/22/97

     ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - Turkey's military has started
occupying a strip of northern Iraq to block cross-border raids by
Iraq-based Turkish Kurdish rebels, a newspaper reported today.
     The daily Hurriyet quoted an unidentified Cabinet member as
confirming that Turkey had 8,000 soldiers in the newly created
buffer zone.
     "The Turkish armed forces has undertaken the necessary
measures in the region," Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit told
Hurriyet, without elaborating.
     Ecevit had said earlier that the government was considering
creating a buffer zone along the 198-mile border.
     Baghdad lost direct control over northern Iraq after the
Gulf War. A U.S.-led alliance monitors a no-fly zone to keep
Saddam Hussein's troops away from the region, controlled by rival
Kurdish groups.
     Kurdish rebels fighting for autonomy in Turkey's southeast
have taken advantage of the power vacuum, setting up bases in
northern Iraq to launch attacks at Turkish targets.
     Turkish troops have gone into northern Iraq repeatedly in
the last few years to try to wipe out the rebels. But each time
troops leave, guerrillas return to the mountainous terrain.
     The buffer zone was apparently established following
Turkey's latest military operation in northern Iraq, when it sent
about 16,000 soldiers across the border earlier this month.
     Although it was not clear how much of the country Turkey
might be occupying, earlier talk had suggested a buffer zone
about six miles deep.
     There was no word on how long the Turkish troops might stay.
     Hurriyet said Turkey also placed surveillance equipment
purchased from the United States and Israel at the border to
monitor the Kurdish rebels' movements.
     Since 1984, the Turkish-Kurdish conflict has killed more
than 28,000 people.

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