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Turkey says no to pressure

The prime minister says the military will pursue Kurdish rebels based in Iraq if necessary.

ANKARA, Turkey - Turkey will fight Iraq-based Kurdish rebels when it is needed, regardless of international pressure, the prime minister said Saturday, while the country's top military commander promised to make the separatists "grieve."

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a flag-waving crowd in the western city of Izmit that he would not be constrained by other nations in deciding on a cross-border offensive - despite concerns of the United States, Iraq and other countries that an incursion would destabilize northern Iraq.

"Whenever an operation is needed to be carried out, we will do that," Erdogan said. "Some (countries) might have other wishes, but we make our decisions on our own."

The military chief, Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, said Friday that Turkey would wait until Erdogan met with President Bush in Washington on Nov. 5 before deciding on a cross-border offensive.

Clashes between government forces and guerrilla fighters have been escalating since rebels broke a cease-fire in 2004. Fighters of the Kurdistan Workers' Party - known by its Kurdish acronym PKK - have killed at least 42 people in the past month, including30 Turkish soldiers in two ambushes that were the boldest attacks in years.

"We are determined to make those who cause this sadness grieve with an intensity that they cannot imagine," Buyukanit said.

The bellicose comments come amid an increasing nationalist fervor in Turkey. The country's flag and images of modern Turkey's founding father, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, are draped over scores of balconies and displayed in the backs of cars.

Outside the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, about 1,000 people took to the streets chanting, "Down with the U.S.A., down with the PKK."

Hundreds more marched in Istanbul, while another 1,500 - mostly children - took to the streets of the predominantly Kurdish city of Sirnak near the Iraqi border.

Meanwhile, the PKK indicated it was considering the release of eight Turkish soldiers it captured in an operation on Oct. 21.

[Last modified October 28, 2007, 01:50:20]