Turkish Troops Freed to Head Off Attack on Iraqi Kurdistan

Eight Turkish soldiers captured last month by Kurdish rebels were freed yesterday in an attempt to divert Ankara from attacking northern Iraq.

The soldiers' release occurred on the eve of a visit to Washington by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, which was expected to focus on the rising tensions in the Iraqi-Turkish border areas, and moves by Ankara to launch broader military action against Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels believed to be operating from northern Iraq.

Kurdish officials in northern Iraq yesterday called the release of the soldiers a "symbolic message" to Ankara of a renewed commitment by the authorities to crack down on the PKK. That commitment was underlined by the behind-the-scenes role played by Jalal Talabani, Iraq's Kurdish president, in winning the release of the eight soldiers.

The handover appeared to be the first concrete result of a diplomatic effort by Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, to contain rising tensions between Iraq and Turkey and head off a full-scale Turkish military assault. The Bush administration had been anxious to prevent such a military intervention, fearing it would destabilize the one region of relative calm inside postwar Iraq, and jeopardize its own military supply lines.

Turkey has been pressing for a crackdown on the PKK in northern Iraq, and had demanded that the authorities shut down the military bases used to launch cross-border attacks on Turkey. Ankara has also demanded the arrest of PKK leaders in northern Iraq.

At a meeting in Istanbul at the weekend, Nuri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, promised to drive out the rebels, and prevent the PKK using Iraqi territory as a base. "Our relationship with our neighbor Turkey will not be affected by the current crisis, and we will work on defeating the terror that is targeting both the Iraqi and Turkish people," he said. Mr Maliki also promised to shut down suspected PKK front groups in Iraqi Kurdistan, and to sever other suspected links with the organization. PKK members would also face trial in the Iraqi courts, he said.

The tough stand from the Iraqi authorities was welcomed by the state department yesterday in its statement on the release of the soldiers. "We urge continued, deepened, and immediate cooperation between Iraq and Turkey in combating the PKK," the statement said.

The Turkish soldiers held by the PKK were seized in an ambush two weeks ago which left 12 Turkish soldiers dead. They were handed over to officials in northern Iraq early yesterday, who then delivered them to US military officials. They were later flown home to Turkey.

The ambush, and the heavy losses by the Turkish military, had brought intense domestic pressure on the authorities in Ankara to launch cross-border military actions against the PKK rebels.