TURKEY/IRAQ: DEMANDS FOR ACTION ON PKK ACCELERATE

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 004381 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/01/2016 TAGS: PREL PTER MOPS IZ TU SUBJECT: TURKEY/IRAQ: DEMANDS FOR ACTION ON PKK ACCELERATE AS MIDDLE EAST CRISIS CONTINUES Classified By: CHARGE NANCY MCELDOWNEY FOR REASONS 1.4 (B,D). ¶1. (C) The public mood throughout Turkey is increasingly agitated as PKK terrorism continues to claim lives and Israeli operations in Lebanon spark public claims of double standards and hypocrisy. In a July 31 address to the nation, Prime Minister Erdogan said Turkey's patience on the PKK issue had reached the exhaustion point. Meanwhile, rumors of cross border military activity continue to circulate, though available evidence indicates Turkish forces are holding their positions in the southeast and border areas. In our dialogue with the GOT, they insist that demonstrable positive results must emerge in the near term. ¶2. (SBU) PKK attacks inside Turkey continue and the issue remains extremely sensitive for the government here. One child was killed and three others injured in the explosion of a PKK landmine in Bingol province on July 30. A village guard was killed in Agri province and six police officers were injured when their outpost was raked by gunfire on July ¶30. In a July 31 address to the nation, PM Erdogan focused on continued PKK depredations and the Turkish government's readiness to take strong measures. ¶3. (C) Recent press reports allege actual or impending Turkish cross-border incursions into northern Iraq to combat PKK forces operating there; a report the week of July 24 alleged Turkish operations near the Iraqi town of Zakho. Ankara DATTs traveled to Mardin in southeastern Turkey July 30 on a previously scheduled mission and contacted our U.S. military liaison officer stationed in Silopi, on the Turkey-Iraq border. Our LNO, fresh from discussions at the Turkish special forces headquarters in the region, reported no/no indications of any Turkish cross-border incursion into Iraq. ¶4. (C) In our dialogue with the GOT, Turkish officials have stressed that concrete steps to follow up on our, the Iraqi government's, and Iraqi Kurd commitments to inhibit PKK activities in northern Iraq are essential. Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/ankara/ MCELDOWNEY