PKK

A series of conflicts with insurgent groups along Iran's borders may be impelling Tehran to back its own allies in Iraq in what it regards as a proxy war with the U.S., according to security experts and officials in the U.S., Iran and Iraq. Dozens of Iranian officials, members of the security forces and insurgents belonging to Kurdish, Arab Iranian and Baluch groups have died in the fighting in recent years. It now appears to be heating up once again after an unusually cold and snowy winter.

Iraqi leaders complained Monday that Turkey had not coordinated with Baghdad before sending dozens of warplanes to bomb Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq the day before. U.S. officials confirmed that they had prior knowledge of the attack. In Washington, a Pentagon official said the U.S. military had "deconflicted the airspace" in Iraq for the strikes -- that is, the United States made sure that Turkey would have clear use of the skies to enable the bombings.

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.

PKK Kurdish rebel group and its sister organization, PEJAK, have been receiving support from the US and Israel, an American journalist claims.

Turkish warplanes have bombed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) targets along the Iraqi border in southeast Turkey, the country's semi-official Anatolia news agency has said.