Kurdish Rebels Still Pose Threat in Iraq

Pressure on Turkish leaders to send an expeditionary force into Iraq has lessened because Kurdish rebels released eight Turkish soldiers kidnapped on Oct. 21. But that does not mean that pressure on the Iraqi and U.S. governments to do something about the Kurdish separatists will go away.

Guerrillas from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, attacked a Turkish army unit inside Turkey on Oct.. 21. They killed 12 Turkish soldiers and kidnapped eight others.

Since then, public opinion in Turkey appears to have favored an armed incursion into Iraq, where the PKK forces have a refuge. They have used it many times as a base from which attacks inside Turkey have been launched.

When the PKK released the eight captured soldiers on Sunday, the immediate pressure on Turkish leaders was lessened. But, again, one cannot expect the Turks to allow the situation of Iraqi Kurds conducting attacks inside Turkey to continue. Both Iraqi and U.S. government officials need to crack down on the PKK, before another crisis looms.