Turks parlement geeft toestemming inval Irak (en)
Following months of attacks, Turkish lawmakers have authorised the government to militarily intervene in northern Iraq in order to crack down on Kurdish rebels operating from that region, brushing aside appeals from both the US and the EU to refrain from military action.
On Wednesday (17 October), members of the Turkish parliament overwhelmingly voted in favour of a resolution that gives the government the right to carry out attacks in its south-eastern neighbour at any time during a one-year period - 507 were in favour and only 19 against.
The resolution comes after months of attacks by the PKK - a Turkish-Kurdish separatist militia partially operating from Iraq - on Turkish security forces and civilians.
US and Iraqi forces are hard pressed elsewhere in the conflict-ridden country, and the US is seen to be reluctant to pressure the Iraqi Kurds too hard to act against their ethnic brethren from Turkey.
In the past week, Turkish troops have been massing on their side of the border with Iraq, in possible preparation for a ground assault.
"We're at a point that our patience has run out," Cemil Cicek, a government spokesman said in the parliament, the International Herald Tribune reports.
But the Turkish government stated last week that a resolution is intended to free the hands of the government in order to be able to make a swift decision if the situation requires it, and does not necessarily mean that anything will happen.
In the meantime, both the EU and the US have reiterated that a solution should be found through diplomacy and cooperation with the Iraqi government, rather than by force.
"It is crucial that Turkey continues to tackle this problem through cooperation between the relevant authorities," a spokesperson of the European Commission said on Wednesday.
"The EU and Turkey have regularly reiterated that they remain committed to the independence, sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of Iraq," she added.
Meanwhile, MEPs have reacted unusually quickly to the Turkish move. On Wednesday evening, drafts of a possible clause on the consequences of a Turkish military incursion were already circulating.
The new wording is to be including in a general report on Turkey's EU progress to be voted on next Wednesday (24 October).
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