ANKARA - Turkey's army chief pushed for a military incursion into northern Iraq on Thursday to crack down on Turkish Kurd rebels he said had sought refuge there.
"If you ask me whether a cross-border operation is needed, yes it is needed. It would be useful," chief of general staff, General Yasar Buyukanit, told a rare press conference.
"But there is a second dimension to that: it requires a political decision," he said. "If the armed forces are given this mission, they are strong enough to carry out such operations."
Buyukanit's comments are the latest in a series of official Turkish statements that have ratcheted up the pressure on neighbouring Iraq over the presence of Kurdish rebels in the north of the country.
On Wednesday, Turkey called on Iraq to take "urgent" measures against the rebels, who Ankara says enjoy unrestricted movement in the region and are able to obtain weapons and explosives for cross-border attacks on Turkish targets.
04/12/2007 13:39 GMT