Turkey Security

The government here said Saturday that it may clear some settlements from a "buffer zone" it plans to create in northern Iraq to prevent infiltrations by separatist Turkish Kurdish rebels.

You gotta love any kitchen tool that you can get at Home Depot. At the top of my list of must-have hardware-store cooking gear -- along with an inexpensive Microplane and a blowtorch -- is a simple ball of string. Or at least it's my favorite until Thomas Keller figures out how to sous-vide with duct tape. String, specifically cotton butcher's or kitchen twine, is one of the most useful things you can have in your kitchen.

Turkey announced new security measures after Kurdish rebels killed 27 people--11 of them children--in two southeastern villages. Prime Minister Turgut Ozal told a news conference after touring Pecenek village, where 16 people were killed, and Yuvali, where nine died, that a new coordinating governor with his own police and intelligence units would oversee security in the area. The measure will take effect when martial law is lifted in the area July 19, he said.

The government here said Saturday that it may clear some settlements from a "buffer zone" it plans to create in northern Iraq to prevent infiltrations by separatist Turkish Kurdish rebels.

Threatening retaliation, Iraq on Wednesday accused Turkey of unprovoked aggression in allowing U.S. warplanes to attack Iraqi targets from the Incirlik Air Base on the outskirts of this southern city. There was no immediate response from a Turkish government that has been reluctant to acknowledge the raids from Incirlik, which have given allied forces a second front in the air war against Iraq.

You gotta love any kitchen tool that you can get at Home Depot. At the top of my list of must-have hardware-store cooking gear -- along with an inexpensive Microplane and a blowtorch -- is a simple ball of string. Or at least it's my favorite until Thomas Keller figures out how to sous-vide with duct tape. String, specifically cotton butcher's or kitchen twine, is one of the most useful things you can have in your kitchen.

In a development that would please the United States, visiting British Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd won Turkish backing Tuesday for continuing an allied security zone in northern Iraq to protect 3 million Kurds there from Saddam Hussein. There had been doubts about Turkey's willingness to continue playing host to the American, British and French warplanes that patrol the zone.

At least 50 Kurdish rebels and three Turkish soldiers were reported killed Sunday in government attacks on guerrilla mountain hide-outs in eastern and southeastern Turkey. Security forces have staged large-scale, search-and-destroy operations against the Kurdish Workers Party since rebels shot and killed 33 soldiers and two civilians last Monday.

A woman doused her body with gasoline and set herself ablaze in a busy Istanbul square to protest Turkey's maximum-security prison system. Passersby put out the fire and the 26-year-old woman survived, the Anatolia news agency reported. She had reportedly served time in prison for being a member of the banned Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front, a Marxist group that calls for the overthrow of the government in Ankara.

Turkey's security forces raided two Istanbul neighborhoods in a bid to end a hunger strike that has cost more than 40 lives and thrown a spotlight on the country's poor human rights record. In one raid, police used tear gas and clashed with about 50 people who threw stones and Molotov cocktails. A second operation led to the arrest of seven hunger strikers and many of their supporters, the state-run Anatolian news agency reported. The strikers are protesting prison conditions.

In a development that would please the United States, visiting British Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd won Turkish backing Tuesday for continuing an allied security zone in northern Iraq to protect 3 million Kurds there from Saddam Hussein. There had been doubts about Turkey's willingness to continue playing host to the American, British and French warplanes that patrol the zone.

Threatening retaliation, Iraq on Wednesday accused Turkey of unprovoked aggression in allowing U.S. warplanes to attack Iraqi targets from the Incirlik Air Base on the outskirts of this southern city. There was no immediate response from a Turkish government that has been reluctant to acknowledge the raids from Incirlik, which have given allied forces a second front in the air war against Iraq.

Turkey announced new security measures after Kurdish rebels killed 27 people--11 of them children--in two southeastern villages. Prime Minister Turgut Ozal told a news conference after touring Pecenek village, where 16 people were killed, and Yuvali, where nine died, that a new coordinating governor with his own police and intelligence units would oversee security in the area. The measure will take effect when martial law is lifted in the area July 19, he said.

Having recently returned from a fantastic tour of Egypt and Jordan, I was delighted to read of Howard Schneider's adventures ('On a Bumpy Road to Ancient Ruins," April 1). Our group was prepared for the fabulous ruins thousands of years old and the exotic environment. But we were not prepared for the warm welcome by Egyptians from all walks of life. Apparently it is a well-kept secret that many Middle Easterners are fond of Americans and express that sentiment at every opportunity.

Ignoring appeals by the Bush administration to stay out of the way, Turkey sent at least 1,000 soldiers into northern Iraq on Friday, and the government said a much larger force was headed there to protect Turkey's security during the U.S.-led assault on Saddam Hussein. The troop movement, reported by Turkish sources and Western diplomats, came as the government opened two air corridors for foreign military aircraft, enabling U.S. and British bombers to begin striking Iraq from the north.