Q&A: Turkey and the Kurds

Who are the PKK?

Founded in the 1970s, the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' party) launched an armed struggle against the Turkish government in 1984.

The PKK initially wanted an independent Kurdish state within Turkey, but has since scaled back its demands and now favors more cultural rights for Turkey's estimated 15 million Kurds and the release of imprisoned PKK members.

Eighteen months ago, Abdullah Ocalan, the PKK leader captured by Turkish troops in 1999, called on the organization to begin an unconditional ceasefire. The PKK, estimated to have around 3,000 fighters in northern Iraq, ignored his appeal.

How popular is the PKK among Turkey's Kurds?

Although Turkey's ruling Justice and Development (AK) party has recently made political gains in the south-east, many Kurds - and the EU - say the government needs to do much more to improve the rights of the country's Kurdish minority. The PKK remains popular with many people there.

The Kurds have a long history of suppression. Estimated to number between 20 million and 25 million, they are the fourth-largest ethnic group in the Middle East and form the most numerous stateless people in the world, spread over regions of Syria, Turkey, Iran and Iraq.

According to one of their sayings, they have "no friends but the mountains".

Why has the PKK stepped up its attacks?

The PKK seems to be deliberately goading the Turkish military into launching an attack in the knowledge that such action would damage Turkey's relations with the US and Europe at a time when Ankara is seeking EU membership.

In 2004, the party resumed its violent campaign and the fighting has been escalating steadily, despite several unilateral ceasefires. More than 30,000 people have died since the conflict began.

What has happened now?

In October, Turkey began demanding the extradition of all Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq and considering the closure of airspace to and from Iraq to put pressure on Kurdish authorities.

On December 16, it launched its biggest bombing raid on rebels, sending more than 50 warplanes to target suspected Kurdish insurgent bases in attacks that also killed at least one civilian.

Two days later, Turkish troops crossed into northern Iraq in pursuit of Kurdish guerrillas, angering the Kurdish regional government and Baghdad authorities. The move caused widespread concern in the US that the attacks would destabilize the region.

Today, several hundred Turkish troops crossed the border to target PKK camps in northern Iraq, following fighter jets and heavy artillery attacks on PKK forces.

The Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said he had given advance warning of the attacks to Iraq and the US and defended the operation.

What has been the impact of past incursions?

Previous major attacks have failed to crush the PKK, which is still able to strike against Turkish forces with deadly effect.

For years, Turkey has been pressing US and Iraqi authorities to clamp down on PKK fighters, including its leaders.

However, Iraqi Kurds, while calling on the PKK to lay down its arms in favor of political struggle, are reluctant to hand over their fellow Kurds to Turkey.

In October, the Iraqi president, Jalal Talabani, said: "We will not hand any Kurd over to Turkey, not even a Kurdish cat." Today, Talabani warned Turkey not to "violate" the country.

Even so, the presence of the PKK along Iraq's rugged border with Turkey is a growing headache for Iraq's Kurdish leaders, who suspect the Turkish military of using the PKK issue as a pretext to disrupt Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region.

Kurdish leaders say Turkey must get over its "paranoia" about Kurdish nationalism.