TURKEY:Turkish leaders have moved rapidly to assuage international concerns, as the Turkish military launched what appeared to be its biggest incursion into Iraq in over a decade.
"We will withdraw our troops once the mission is complete and within the shortest possible time," prime minister Tayyip Erdogan told reporters yesterday, adding that Turkish Kurdish militants were Turkey's only target.
According to Turkish media reports, 3,000 members of a special forces battalion moved roughly six miles inside northern Iraq late on Thursday in what appeared to be pinpoint operations against suspected Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) bases there.
The incursion follows two months of air strikes against the group, whose 24-year fight for Kurdish autonomy has cost nearly 40,000 lives. The Turkish military appears intent on dealing the militants a surprise blow before the snow melts and the 5,000-strong PKK makes its traditional spring advance into Turkey to attack army units.
Since December, when it began bombing PKK positions, Turkey has been co-operating closely with Washington, whose efforts to balance its strategic alliances with Turks and Iraqi Kurds appeared close to collapse last year.
Yet despite a flurry of diplomatic contacts between Turkey and Washington over the past fortnight, and Mr Erdogan's assurances today that he had informed US president George Bush of the operation, the extent of the US's involvement remains unclear
Washington's first reactions were cautious. "A land operation is a whole new level," US deputy assistant secretary of state Matthew Bryza said yesterday, describing the raid as "not the greatest news".
Most Turkish analysts expect operations to last at most four days and to be repeated periodically in coming months. Others argue that the PKK has had plenty of time to evacuate camps close to the border and fear army units could get sucked deeper into Iraq.
In Baghdad, Iraqi officials grudgingly acquiesced to Turkey's plans. However the operations have racked up tensions between Turks and Iraqi Kurds, whose growing regional clout Ankara has been watching nervously.
Thursday saw the most serious stand-off yet, when Iraqi Kurdish troops refused to allow Turkish soldiers to leave a northern Iraqi base they have controlled since 1996.
"Today's operation isn't just against the PKK", retired Turkish general Armagan Kuloglu told Turkish private NTV television today. "It also serves as a warning [ to the Iraqi Kurds]."
An analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, Bulent Aliriza worries that Turkey may overestimate the depth of US support.
"Although Bush has belatedly tilted towards the Turks, the US position is much more nuanced than the Turks may wish to acknowledge," he says.
If, as appears to be the case, Washington has given short-term support for an escalation of Turkish activity against the PKK, the question is what Turkey has offered in return.
One hint came yesterday, when Turkish and Iraqi officials confirmed that the Turkish president had officially invited Jalal Talabani, his Iraqi counterpart, to Ankara. An ethnic Kurd, Mr Talabani has repeatedly been snubbed by Turkey before.
More intriguing is US vice-president Dick Cheney's planned visit to Turkey in the second week of March. He last visited as Washington was seeking support for its war against Iraq. Some speculate he may now be seeking Turkish support against Iran.