Turkey says Kurdish MPs caught "red-handed" in Iraq

Source: Reuters

ISTANBUL, Nov 5 (Reuters) - The presence of pro-Kurdish parliamentarians at the release by Kurdish rebels of eight Turkish soldiers proves their party has links to the militants, Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek said on Monday.

NTV television said an Ankara prosecutor had launched a probe into the presence of the Democratic Society Party (DTP) deputies in northern Iraq, where the soldiers were handed over by Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrillas on Sunday.

The troops' release could ease public pressure on Ankara to launch an incursion into northern Iraq against around 3,000 PKK rebels who launch attacks into Turkey from bases there.

The three DTP lawmakers had gone to Iraq to help secure the release of the soldiers, who were captured in an ambush last month. They were handed over to Iraqi Kurdish officials before being sent back to Turkey.

"They were caught red-handed," Cicek said of the three MPs in an interview with CNN Turk television.

Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L0582876.htm

Weren't these m.p.s involved in obtaining the release of the Turkish soldiers and doesn't that explain why they would be present at the exchange?

The Turkish soldiers were released not far from where they were being held.

The PKK are not stupid enough to allow anyone who is not sympathetic anywhere near their bases.

Regardless, Turkey is playing the same game as the U.S. is with the Iranian diplomats they arrested in Iraq. Turkey is no fool and are using the U.S.' own tactics against the U.S. and Iraq.