Turkey chiefs eye Kurdish thrust

Turkey chiefs eye Kurdish thrust

By Nick Thorpe
BBC, Turkey

Turkey has been moving troops up to the border

In Turkey an important meeting of the powerful National Security Council takes place on Friday, the first since the war began in neighbouring Iraq.

Turkey has a large army positioned on the border and has said repeatedly it will cross if its security is threatened.

But in recent days, officials have underlined that any move would be closely coordinated with its ally, the United States.

The council has five military and nine civilian members and is often seen as the most important decision-making body in the Turkish state.

At the top of the agenda will be the situation in northern Iraq and the influence Turkey is trying to exert there by political and military means.

Co-ordination centre

Ozkok: Pulled back from mminent incursion

In the past days statements by the army chief and by the foreign minister appeared to pull Turkey back from an imminent incursion across the border.

A top US general, Henry Osman, also visited the border area.

There are also reports of plans to establish a Turkish-American co-ordination centre at the Habur gate, close to the main road from Turkey into Iraq.

The changing situation on the ground is being studied closely by Turkey.

Kurdish promise

In particular, officials may be alarmed by Thursday's news of an advance by Kurdish peshmerga - or volunteer - fighters on the key oil city of Kirkuk after Iraqi forces withdrew.

An agreement was signed recently between Kurdish opposition leaders and Turkish officials under which Kurdish parties promised not to enter Kirkuk.

Turkey has said repeatedly that could be the trigger for sending its own troops in.

Weeks of intense US-led diplomacy have focused on trying to avoid a confrontation between the Turks and Kurds, its main allies in the region.