Turkey: We will make Kurd rebels grieve

The tension in Turkey is reaching critical mass over the Kurdish PKK rebels...

From the ap:

Turkey's top military commander promised Saturday to make Iraq-based Kurdish rebels "grieve with an intensity that they cannot imagine," while the prime minister said his nation would fight "when needed," regardless of international pressure.

The military chief, Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, said Friday that Turkey would wait until Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with President Bush in Washington on Nov. 5 before deciding on any cross-border offensive.

But Erdogan said his country could not be pinned down by dates in deciding whether to attack.

"We can't say when or how we will do it, we will just do it," he said.

Clashes between government forces and guerrilla fighters have been escalating since the rebels broke a cease-fire in 2004. Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, fighters have killed at least 42 people in the past month. Those casualties included some 30 Turkish soldiers in two ambushes that were the boldest attacks in years.

"We are determined to make those who cause this sadness grieve with an intensity that they cannot imagine," Buyukanit said.

Look, we cannot ask one of our allies to sit back and do nothing while terrorists are attacking them. We don't put up with it, so why should Turkey? They have every right to attack the PKK in Kurdish territory. I love the Kurdish people, but they have got to take care of these terrorists or Turkey has the right to do it themselves.

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