Turkey is considering economic sanctions against Kurd groups
which are backing the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels
based in northern Iraq.
Turkey's powerful National Security Council (MGK) made the
suggestion in a statement issued late Wednesday after a six-hour
meeting of the country's powerful security body.
"It has been decided to recommend to the government that they
take economic measures against the Kurds who support, directly or
indirectly, the separatist organization (PKK)," said the
statement.
However, the MGK statement did not say what measures should be
taken or which groups would be targeted.
Ankara has recently strongly criticized the Kurdish regional
administration in northern Iraq for failing to crack down on PKK
rebels.
Media reports said earlier on Wednesday that Turkey's military
and civilian leaders held a MGK meeting to discuss the scope and
duration of a possible incursion into northern Iraq, as they face
growing demands at home to stage the offensive against PKK.
The Turkish parliament approved on October 17 a government
motion backing a cross-border operation into northern Iraq for
pursuing PKK militants, straining the relations between the two
neighboring countries.
The PKK, which has been fighting more than 20 years for an
independent Kurdish country in southern Turkey, further fueled the
tension on Sunday by killing 12 Turkish soldiers in a deadly
ambush.
Turkey has been blaming the Iraqi government for its failure in
checking the PKK fighters who use Iraq's northern Kurdish region as
a launching pad for attacks against Turkish troops.
(Xinhua News Agency October 25, 2007)
