The Turkish government has had enough with Kurdish rebels operating out of northern Iraq.

Turkey's prime minister gave the green light on Tuesday for possible military action in northern Iraq to confront Kurdish rebels there, drawing a warning from the United States, which fears wider regional instability.

The ruling AK Party said it would request, as soon as possible, parliament's authorization for a major incursion into the mainly Kurdish region, Turkish private broadcasters CNN Turk and NTV reported.

The latest incident that has led to this crisis was a PKK ambush that killed 13 Turkish soldiers on Sunday. However, this has been building for a very long time.

"Wherever a Turkish bayonet appears, there is no Kurdish problem."

- Turkish newspaper VAKIT, 1925

Turkey says that 3,000 PKK rebels are operating out of northern Iraq, and thousands more within Turkey. On Sauturday, Turkey established a buffer zone around northern Iraq to incursions. Invading Iraq wouldn't be something new for Turkey. They made major incursions into Iraq twice in the 1980's.

Since January the Turkish government has been debating an invasion of northern Iraq. They've massed troops on the Iraq border. The only reason they haven't acted is because of pressure from the Bush Administration and promises that the PKK problem will be handled by American troops.

But the Bush Administration has promised more than it can deliver. It needs the help of the Kurdish government of northern Iraq, and the Kurds have no interest in fighting their ethnic brothers from southern Turkey.

The Turkish and Iraqi governments signed a pact on Friday to fight the PKK. But the Iraqi government's control over Iraqi Kurdistan is nominal, and Turkey has long accused the Iraqi Kurds of aiding the PKK.

But Massoud Barzani, leader of one of two main Iraqi Kurdish factions, the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP), said last week: "These threats are worthless. We are not afraid of Turkey."

Meanwhile Turkey and the Bush Administration has suffered a falling out over a bill recognizing the Armenian Genocide. So whatever political influence Bush had over Turkey is diminished.

Onur Oymen, the deputy chairman of the Opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), said: "Northern Iraq is the only place in the world where a terrorist group can operate without being pursued."
"If the Iraqis and the US are not prepared to take action over this, then we must."

Turkey has recently accused the Bush Administration of having a double-standard for fighting terrorism.

Of course all of this is happening in the background of a secret war against Iran being operated out of Iraqi Kurdistan. This secret war involves America arming Kurdish rebels, and Iran occasionally sending troops into Iraqi Kurdistan chasing Kurdish rebels.