Turkey

Turkey and Armenia are likely to announce a deal soon aimed at easing their conflict, diplomats said Friday in a development that would sweeten President Obama's visit to Turkey next week. The two countries are expected this month to announce an agreement to resume official contacts and reopen borders that have been closed since 1993, said the diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the subject.

Turkey and Armenia signed a landmark agreement Saturday to establish diplomatic relations and open their sealed border after a century of enmity, as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton helped the two sides clear a last-minute hurdle. The contentious issue of whether the killing of as many as 1.5 million Armenians during the final days of the Ottoman Empire amounted to genocide is only hinted at in the agreement. Better ties between Turkey, a regional heavyweight, and landlocked Armenia have been a priority for President Obama, and Clinton had flown to Switzerland to witness the signing, not help close the deal.

Unarmed Kurdish rebels in combat dress marched into Turkey from northern Iraq on Monday in a show of support for peace with the Turkish government. The eight rebels, along with 26 other Kurds, were immediately detained by Turkish paramilitary police after crossing the border gate at Habur. They were moved to a military battalion's headquarters for questioning by prosecutors, the state-run Anatolian news agency reported. Earlier, Kurds in northern Iraq celebrated with music and drums as the group left from a refugee camp, the news agency reported.

A remote-controlled car bomb blasted a passing bus transporting soldiers in southern Turkey on Thursday, killing five people and wounding scores more, authorities said. The attack in the city of Diyarbakir, in Turkey's predominantly Kurdish southeast, appeared to be the latest in a raging border battle between Turkish forces and Kurdish separatist rebels, most of whom are based in northern Iraq.

The president of Turkey approved a pair of constitutional amendments Friday that would allow female students to wear Islamic head scarves at universities. The legislation, which has exposed the deep gap between the Islamic-rooted government and the military-led secular establishment, is expected to face a legal challenge. Turkey's parliament, dominated by members of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Islamic-rooted party, voted 411 to 103 on Feb. 9 to approve two amendments.

Turkish troops clashed with Kurdish militants in the snowy mountains of northern Iraq on Friday after staging an invasion, the most serious offensive in years in Turkey's conflict with anti-government rebels. Iraq's government reacted angrily, demanding the troops' withdrawal and accusing Turkey of destroying five bridges in violation of its pledge to target only rebel bases. The White House confirmed that it knew in advance of the invasion.

At least 33 Kurdish separatists and eight Turkish soldiers were killed Sunday, the fourth day of a cross-border offensive against rebel hide-outs in northern Iraq, Turkey's military said. A military helicopter crashed in the mountain terrain, but it wasn't immediately clear whether the eight soldiers were aboard the aircraft. The rebels said they had shot it down, but Turkey did not confirm that.

Artillery and gunfire echoed through the mountains of northern Iraq on Monday during continued clashes between invading Turkish troops and Kurdish rebels, with Turkey saying that 153 guerrillas had been killed in four days. Iraqi Interior Minister Jawad Bolani suggested that the United States should do more to stop the fighting, which has left villagers stranded by bombed-out bridges. "They are the greatest force on the ground. They have certain obligations," Bolani said Monday of the U.S.

Lawmakers in northern Iraq's semiautonomous Kurdish region authorized their military Tuesday to intervene if Turkish forces pursuing anti-government rebels bring their battle into civilian areas. The move heightened fears that the conflict could draw in Iraqi Kurdish forces and destabilize the one region of Iraq that has been relatively peaceful since the U.S. invasion in March 2003.