(18 Dec 07 - RV) About 300 Turkish troops crossed into northern Iraq today, in what
is believed to be the first Turkish deployment of troops since the Cabinet approved
the measure last month in a bid to hunt Kurdish rebels. The Turkish army blames
rebels from the Kurdistan's Workers' Party (PKK) of using bases inside Iraq to launch
attacks on Turkey. The semi-autonomous government of Iraq's Kurdish northern region
said the troops later withdrew. Turkish warplanes bombed villages in northern Iraq
over the weekend, when Iraq complained that at least one civilian woman was killed
and said it wanted any future action coordinated with Baghdad. Sabri Sayari, Professor
of Political Science at the Sabanci Unviersity in Istanbul, spoke to us about the
difficulty of monitoring the area where the PKK operates