Rebel Kurds Defy Turks, US

Rebel group leader vows 'no surrender' against Turkey or US
By Jason Farago,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 21, 2007 9:09 AM CST
Rebel Kurds Defy Turks, US
Turks hold national flags and banners during a funeral ceremony for the slain soldiers in Istanbul, Turkey, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2007. Turkish Army Lt. Gokhan Yavuz, Pvt. Gokhan Soylu and two other soldiers were killed by separatist Kurdish rebels of PKK on Tuesday in southeastern Turkey. The banners...   (Associated Press)

The leadership of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, the rebel group based in northern Iraq that the United States considers a terrorist organization, has spoken out to warn of resistance to any Turkish cross-border incursion. In a report by a pro-Kurdish news agency, a leading PKK commander warned that his group would fight not only the Turkish army but also any US and Kurdish Iraqi parties that aid Turkish efforts.

The US and Iraqi Kurdish factions "should understand that if we want, we can create instability and place their interests in danger," said Cemil Bayik, a leading commander of the PKK. Yesterday General David Petraeaus met with the head of Turkey's army, but no details have been released about their meeting and whether Turkey will go ahead with planned sorties in northern Iraq. (More Kurdistan Workers' Party stories.)

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