Thousands of Kurds and supporters took to the streets in northern Iraq Thursday to protest the Turkish parliament's decision to authorize the government to send troops across the border to root out Kurdish rebels.
The vote in Turkey on Wednesday removed the last legal obstacle to an offensive, but there was no sign of imminent action as the United States and the Iraqi government urged restraint.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, a Kurd, said the government was willing to act against the Kurdistan Workers' Party, which is known by its Kurdish acronym PKK, but it doesn't currently have the forces to push the separatist group out of the country. "The Iraqi government is not running away from its responsibilities. It's just a question of time," he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. |