Lots going on.

#1 — not yet opening Pandora’s box, but removing its wrapping paper.

Turkish warplanes and troops attacked Kurdish rebels inside Iraq this week, security sources said on Wednesday, but Ankara wants to hold back from any major incursion for now to give diplomacy a chance.

Turkey moved more troops to the mountainous Iraqi border, keeping up pressure on Baghdad to honour promises to crack down on an estimated 3 000 rebels of Turkey’s outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) who use northern Iraq as a base.

Security sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed a series of sorties between Sunday and Tuesday evening in which Turkish warplanes flew 20km into Iraq and some 300 ground troops advanced about 10km.

[snip]

The Turkish official described as a “final chance” for diplomacy a planned visit by an Iraqi delegation to Ankara on Thursday. At Turkey’s request, the team will be headed by Iraqi Defence Minister General Abdel Qader Jassim. It will also include Iraqi National Security Minister Shirwan al Waeli.

[snip]

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday she had told Erdogan on Sunday that she took the situation “extremely seriously”.

“Iraq should not be a place where terrorism can hurt Turkey,” she said. “We have a list of things that we believe, if they are undertaken, will help to deal with this situation,” she added, citing Iraq’s pledge to close PKK offices there. [Pants on fire, Condi, and not even a barely credible bluff. Where was this mysterious “list” and any — even partial — discussion or implementation of it over the past 4½ years? — voxd] Article

A bit more here, and also some info here and here.

#2 — veritable tons of chaff; little if any wheat

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani on Wednesday denied telling Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan that Baghdad might agree to hand over Kurdish rebel leaders hiding out in northern Iraq to Ankara.

[snip]

Earlier a senior Turkish Foreign Ministry official in Ankara said Talabani had made the offer to Babacan. Talabani has previously said Iraq would never hand over any Kurds to Turkey. Article

#3 — a government at odds with itself.

Kurdish lawmaker Mahmoud Othman described on Wednesday the Iraqi government’s stance on the Kurdistan Workers Party’s (PKK) crisis as weak and “irresponsible” and denied Turkish accusations of financing the party’s activities in northern Iraq.

“We express our great regret at the government’s stance on the PKK,” Othman, a Kurdistan Coalition (KC) member of parliament, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI), adding “The government’s labeling of the PKK as a terrorist party is far from reality.”

[snip]

According to Othman, the Turkish and U.S. governments agreed that a military incursion into northern Iraq to track down PKK separatists is the solution to the crisis. “The Turkish foreign minister’s visit to Iraq yesterday was part of a diplomatic protocol…It does not necessary indicate peace or a desire to initiate dialogue on controversial points,” Othman indicated.

[snip]

Claiming that the decision was made “behind closed doors,” the Kurdish parliamentarian said “the United States is a primary driver in the decision.”

“We warn against any military action because it will add to the complexity of the situation and create more enemies for the United States and Turkey. They have to reconsider their policies,” Othman explained. Article

#4:

In Baghdad, politicians acknowledged that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki lacked the political and military muscle needed to fulfill his pledge to crack down on rebels from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, who last week killed 12 Turkish soldiers and captured eight in an ambush in Turkey.

Iraqi Kurdish officials indicated that they were unlikely to help in any crackdown, with the regional government’s spokesman denying that there are PKK bases in northern Iraq.

“We believe that the statements of Mr. Maliki about closing the centers of the PKK don’t apply to us because we do not have any centers,” the spokesman, Jamal Abdullah, said.

“If Mr. Maliki knows about any centers of the PKK in areas under the control of the central government, let him close these centers and we will encourage and support him. But in areas under our control, there is not a single center.”

[snip]

Wednesday’s raids were the first time Turkey has sent planes into Iraqi airspace since its parliament last week authorized an invasion of Iraq to stop PKK attacks, which have claimed hundreds of lives in Turkey.

The raids came a day after Maliki sought to defuse tensions by publicly calling the PKK as a terrorist organization and banning it from operating in Iraq.

But politicians said that Maliki has no means to enforce the ban in Iraq’s Kurdish region, which operates virtually as an independent country, flying its own flag and signing its own deals with foreign investors. In recent interviews with McClatchy Newspapers, regional officials have said that they have little interest in tangling with the PKK.

“He (Maliki) really can’t do anything about it,” said Mahmud Ali Othman, a Kurdish member of the Iraqi parliament. “I think it’s just words he’s using to satisfy the Turks. He hasn’t thought about how he’s going to implement it.”

Othman said he believed that Maliki’s ban on the PKK will only create tension between Iraq’s central government and the Kurdish region. “It will create problems,” Othman said. “It was a mistake to give promises when, really, he can’t do anything.”

The spokesman for the Kurdish region’s security force, the peshmerga militia, emphasized that local Kurdish officials, not the government in Baghdad, would decide whether to go after the PKK.

“The peshmerga gets its orders from the presidency of the Kurdistan region, not the Iraqi minister of defense,” Maj. Gen. Jabbar Yawir said. He rejected placing the regional army under the direct command of the central government. Article

#5 — adding a cold shoulder to hot pursuit.

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 betaken or which groups would be targeted. Article

A tad more:

The MGK statement followed a six-hour meeting, chaired by President Abdullah Gul. Erdogan and General and Yasar Buyukanit also attended the meeting. Article

Also:

Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Hilmi Guler said on Wednesday that Turkey has not yet decided to cut power supply to Iraq, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported.

Asked if Turkey would cut electricity to north of Iraq as a retaliatory measure for Iraq, which has hitherto failed to effectively stop cross-border attacks launched by the outlawed Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) based in north Iraq, Guler said Turkey supplies electricity to Iraq, not north of Iraq.

“Electricity is supplied to Iraq in accordance with Turkish foreign policy and it is not cheaper than the electricity sold in Turkey,” Guler was quoted by Anatolia as saying.

“Our power supply to Iraq is considered as a favor to north of Iraq. I would like to correct this mistake. We do not supply electricity to terrorist organization PKK,” the minister underlined.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday during his visit in London that Turkey may impose “some sanctions with respect to some goods we export to Iraq.

He did not specify what might be embargoed but mentioned Turkey had been helping Iraq with water, power, fuel and food. Article

#6 — Misleading as it ignores or chooses not to mention the joint security agreement regarding Kurdish cross-border affairs in and out of northern Iraq which by direct action impact either country’s soil, signed by Turkey and Iran some time ago. Other than that, some decent info.

Iran’s radical Islamic government, eager to expand its regional influence and resist U.S. efforts to isolate it, is wooing the Turks by showcasing its bombardment of the camps of Kurdish fighters along its border, according to experts on the region.

The Iranians draw a pointed contrast between their willingness to act and what Turks see as a failure by the U.S. and its Iraqi partners to move against other Kurdish camps in northern Iraq.

[snip]

“If the Turks make a serious incursion into northern Iraq, a fairly deep penetration, it would be very serious,” said retired Army General Jay Garner, who headed U.S. relief efforts for Kurds in northern Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War and served as the first U.S. occupation administrator in Baghdad in 2003. “It’s an incredibly difficult situation we’re all in.”

While the impact of the crisis on Iranian-Turkish relations has received relatively little attention in the U.S., it represents a serious challenge to Bush’s policy of reining in Iran, experts say.

[snip]

The Iranians are bombing Kurdish camps for their own reasons: The fighters based there — members of a PKK offshoot called the Party for Free Life in Kurdistan, or PJAK — often attack Iranian forces.

Still, the Iranians don’t hesitate to play up their actions with the Turks, said Barkey, who now heads the international relations department at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. “You see the Iranian ambassador giving interviews to Turkish journalists, saying that they go after the PKK and the Americans, who control Iraq, do not,” he said.

A senior U.S. defense official agreed that Iran has sought to capitalize on Turkish anger over the PKK attacks to expand its influence in Turkey.

The official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity, added that there were many inherent limits on how much sway Iran would be able to gain in Turkey. The official said Turkish leaders share U.S. concerns about Iran’s nuclear program and its record on human rights.

Iran’s foreign ministry said Oct. 21 that “security cooperation” was essential to confronting the threat of cross- border Kurdish terrorism, according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency.

Turkey is pursuing major energy deals with Iran over U.S. objections. It reached an accord with Iran in July to transport Iranian gas to Europe and to develop and extract gas from Iran’s South Pars field.

[snip]

The U.S. is studying alternative ways to move supplies in case its normal methods are hampered, the operations director for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Carter Ham, said last week.

Anthony Cordesman, an analyst at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies, said one likely option would be to fly more supplies from U.S. bases in Germany.

Cordesman said Turkish officials aren’t eager to send forces into the rugged mountainous terrain of northern Iraq and prefer that the U.S. and Iraq act instead.

“Turkey has no great desire to go inside Iraq to fight a guerrilla war and perhaps get stuck there,” Cordesman said. “But Turkey is not a country that stands by if there is no response, and it is not famous for its patience.” Article

#7:

As Turks nationwide continue rushing to the streets on Wednesday to protest the outlawed Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK)’s weekend attacks against the Turkisharmy, carrying and waving national flags of various sizes, flag vendors enjoy good business.

Along the streets of the Turkish capital, besides groceries and shops, vendors selling the red Turkish flags studded with a white moon and star can be seen almost everywhere.

[snip]

“Yes, it (business) is good,” was his simple answer when he was asked about his business, as he was still busy counting the money while unfolding more flags and hanging them on a string tied between two trees as the old ones are sold.

[snip]

From the biggest city of Istanbul to the southeastern province of Hakkari, tens of thousands of people took to the streets for the fourth day since Sunday’s attack, as was shown by local TV.

The processions looked like a flowing red river because of the Turkish flags carried by the protestors.

Two girls, Belily and Lale, from Anatolia high school in Ankaratold Xinhua that they hated the PKK, saying that it is an evil force and they support the government to take immediate actions to crack down on them though they call themselves the dissidents of the government.

Private Osman, who is now in charge of guarding the Anit Kabir Mausoleum, the resting place of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the revered founding father of the Turkish republic, said that he is anxiously waiting for his term here to end, which has 20 more days to go, so that he could sign up to go to the front and fight the PKK.

“It is a honor to guard our country and people and I am not afraid of death,” said the young soldier, a native from the central-western province of Eskisehir. Article