According to the US State Department’s annual “Country Reports on Terrorism 2007”, the PKK, which it said operated out of bases in northern Iraq, had a separatist agenda, and was mainly directing the focus of its efforts against Turkish security forces.
“In 2005 and 2006, PKK violence claimed hundreds of Turkish lives,” the report said. “This persisted in 2007, when the PKK continued its terrorist tactics.”
The report noted that on October 17 last year, the Turkish parliament overwhelmingly passed a motion authorizing cross-border military operations against PKK targets in northern Iraq.
“Turkish forces carried out extensive operations along the Turkey-Iraq border in the latter part of the year,” said the report. “On November 5th, President Bush committed to provide Turkey ‘real-time, actionable intelligence’ to counter the PKK in northern Iraq.”
The report also listed other terrorist threats faced by Turkey, saying that there were domestic and transnational terrorist groups that targeted Turkish nationals and foreigners, including, on occasion, U.S. personnel, in Turkey, for more than 40 years.
“The Turkish National Police and the National Intelligence Organization conducted an aggressive counterterrorist campaign and detained numerous suspected terrorists in a number of raids, at least temporarily disrupting these groups before terrorist acts could be carried out,” the report said.
