Kurdistan

Opposition is beating the war drums; Turkish public is demanding an operation; Bush is offering an upgraded three-way ‘coordinators' scheme; winter is setting in... Difficult times to make difficult decisions for Erdogan. It must be rather uncomfortable for Recep Tayyip Erdogan being the prime minister of the country nowadays.

Members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) based in northern Iraq have been leaving the region for Iran to avoid an attack by the Turkish army, a former PKK leader has said. "The PKK has decreased its forces in Iraqi Kurdistan and they are moving to Iran. It is part of PKK tactics that when they feel pressure in one country, they move to another," Osman Öcalan, brother of the now-jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, told UK daily The Independent.