(Todayszaman) - A ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) official has confirmed that the government is planning to send Parliament a motion requesting authorization for a cross-border operation into northern Iraq, but said that an immediate Iraq incursion to hit the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) bases there seems unlikely.
The motion is most likely to be submitted to Parliament after a Cabinet meeting on Monday, Sadullah Ergin, a senior lawmaker from the AK Party, told the Anatolia news agency. The draft of the text is ready, he said. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a televised interview on Wednesday evening that the motion could be brought to Parliament as soon as Thursday. But Erdogan suggested that a cross-border operation is unlikely to be launched immediately, saying the approval would be valid for one year and would be used whenever deemed necessary. Parliament, where Erdogan's AK Party has a large majority, would have to grant permission for troops to cross the border into Iraq.
But passing the measure would not automatically mean Turkish troops would go into northern Iraq.
Erdogan said the problems stemming from the PKK presence in Iraq would be discussed when a meeting of Iraq's neighbors and key international actors convenes in Istanbul early next month and when he visits the United States for talks with President George W. Bush, again next month. "Let's make sure we have the authorization at hand so that we can decide to take a step whenever it is necessary," Erdogan said in the interview, aired on CNN Turk.
Ertugrul Gunay, the minister of culture in Erdogan's Cabinet, said in Frankfurt that military intervention in Iraq was not likely right away. "We do not want to go into Iraq ... What happens in northern Iraq is not of interest right away. We are fighting against militants within Turkey," Gunay told Reuters in an interview at the Frankfurt Book Fair.
Erdogan also sounded cautious on a possible cross-border operation. "We have to avoid acting emotionally on the issue of a cross-border operation. It should be assessed thoroughly. What it would bring and what it would cost should be assessed carefully," he told CNN Turk. "So far, there have been 24 such operations. When you look back at its benefits, we see they have not been particularly effective. We have to see this fact... If we don't analyze it well, we will lose in the end," he stated.