ISTANBUL—Turkish special forces crossed into northern Iraq on Wednesday to chase Kurdish guerrillas after the killing of at least 24 Turkish soldiers on the border between the two countries, in a sharp escalation of a conflict with the Kurdistan Workers Party that stretches back three decades.
The Turkish air force also bombed Iraqi territory from the air and the chiefs of Turkey’s armed forces were deployed to the Turkey-Iraq border.
The attack comes at a sensitive moment in the region, with Syria in turmoil, U.S. troops withdrawing from Iraq, and Turkey and Iran increasingly at odds. An estimated 25 million ethnic Kurds live divided among those four countries.
Some 200 fighters of the Kurdistan Workers Party, known as the PKK, opened fire on military posts in the Hakkari province, near the Turkish borders with Iraq and Iran, beginning at 1 a.m. Wednesday, a PKK spokesman said in a telephone interview. The gunbattles, some captured on video by Turkey’s Dogan News Agency, lasted four hours.
The overnight attack appeared to end any hope for a quick solution to the long conflict. The Turkish state had been in negotiations with the PKK’s imprisoned leader, Abdullah Ocalan, who is being held in solitary confinement on a Turkish island. But talks broke off in July amid escalating violence.
«Revenge for these attacks will be great and in multiples» of the number of Turkish soldiers killed, President Abdullah Gul said in a TV broadcast.
A land assault against PKK bases in the mountains of northern Iraq looks likely, analysts said. This month, Turkey’s Parliament reauthorized such a cross-border attack.
Speaking after an emergency meeting Wednesday, Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that in addition to 24 dead, 18 others were wounded. «Whoever in secret or openly supports terrorism,» he warned, «the breath of the Turkish state will be on their necks.»
Marzoud Barzani, president of Iraqi Kurdistan, also spoke out against the killings: «This action is first and foremost against the interests of the people of Kurdistan. We call for an immediate end to these attacks.»
The PKK attack drew condemnation from the U.S., as well as the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The U.S. and the EU list the PKK as a terrorist organization.
«The United States strongly condemns this morning’s outrageous terrorist attack against Turkey,» the White House said in a statement and pledged to «continue our strong cooperation» to help Turkey defeat the PKK.
The U.S. also voiced unease about a Turkish military incursion into Iraq. «I would just say that we certainly recognize Turkey’s right to defend itself against terrorist attacks,» State Department spokesman Mark Toner said. «We also certainly encourage Turkey to work closely with the government of Iraq to combat the threat.»
Washington is preparing to withdraw its troops from Iraq by year-end, and U.S. officials worry that Iraq’s neighbors, particularly Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, could engage in a prolonged competition for influence inside the Arab country.
The U.S. provides Turkey with intelligence on PKK movements from drones flying over northern Iraq, as well as Cobra attack helicopters that, according to the PKK spokesman, were involved in Wednesday’s pursuit.
More than 30,000 people are estimated to have been killed since the PKK launched its armed conflict in 1984. Ending the bloodshed would remove a source of political risk for Turkey’s economy and secure Mr. Erdogan’s place among icons of modern Turkish history.
However, previous campaigns to eliminate the PKK’s estimated 4,000 to 5,000 fighters in northern Iraq—most recently in 2007 and 2008—have failed.
«It is not possible to solve the Kurdish question by military force,» said Cevat Ones, former deputy undersecretary of Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization, who worked on the PKK conflict until 2005.
Regional risks have grown as Syria’s Kurds join unrest in that country and Turkey’s relations with Iran grow increasingly tense, analysts say. Turkey’s decisions to drop support for the regime in Syria, Iran’s closest ally, and to host a radar for NATO’s new missile defense system have angered Tehran.
Turkish media have speculated in recent weeks that Iran is supporting the PKK against Turkey. PKK officials said they negotiated a cease-fire with Iran this month, in which Iran agreed not to support Turkish efforts against the organization. Neither Turkey nor Iran has commented on any alleged deal.
«There is definitely a sense in Turkey that Iran may be playing a dirty game to get Ankara to change its position on Syria,» said Omer Taspinar, Turkey expert at the Brookings Institution in Washington.
Coming just before the snow begins to fall in the mountains, making military operations impossible, the PKK was also sending a message to Mr. Erdogan that it remains strong and is unwilling to lay down its arms, Mr. Taspinar said.
Until last year, Turkey’s government and Kurdish nationalists appeared to move closer. Mr. Erdogan went further than any previous leader to address Kurdish concerns: ending the state of emergency that had long paralyzed the region’s economy, and introducing Kurdish language TV for the first time and legalizing the teaching of Kurdish.
Mr. Ocalan and the PKK, meanwhile, no longer demand independence, but limited autonomy, along with Kurdish-language schools and Mr. Ocalan’s release.
But any concessions to the PKK are political dynamite in Turkey. «These are crazy demands. No Turkish government, not even Ataturk if he were alive, could do that and survive politically,» said Ibrahim Kalin, a top adviser to Mr. Erdogan, referring especially to Mr. Ocalan’s potential release.
Mr. Erdogan reversed his engagement policy over the past year, saying that had he been in power when Mr. Ocalan was captured in 1999, he would have hanged him. Meanwhile, police arrested several thousand Kurds, including some elected mayors alleged to be members of a PKK-related organization.
In a message published Tuesday, Mr. Ocalan said any bloodshed was out of his hands and it was up to the state to resume talks: «They will continue with this extermination policy for a while. But if they do not get a result, the negotiations may resume in the future.»
The PKK said 100 Turkish soldiers were killed in Wednesday’s operation, as well as five of their own fighters.
Source: /online.wsj.com