raq closes representation of the Kurdish Workers' Party on its territory

The government of Iraq on Tuesday, 23 October, decided to close down at the country offices of the Kurdistan Workers Party, promised in the near future to block its financial funds transfers Associated Press.

This is a step the government of Iraqi Premier Nuri al hopes to ease tension in relations with Turkey, which is preparing a large-scale military operation in northern Iraq to suppress Kurdish fighters there.

Turkey has previously rejected the representatives of the Kurdish Workers' Party on a cease-fire, making it clear that it was not going to negotiate with terrorists, and continued to build up military presence in the border areas with Iraq.

Turkish Parliament approved a bill on 17 October, which gives the military the right to conduct transactions at any time during the year. The scale, intensity and duration of the military operations themselves can determine.

For its part, Iraq, the United States and Turkey, NATO allies are insisting on a peaceful, political solution to the conflict between Turkey and Kurdish separatists.

Turkey does not intend to rush to the start of the operation, but Iraqi authorities requires concrete steps against the Kurdish fighters in Iraqi Kurdistan, where they commit attacks on Turkish territory.

Over the last weekend, 20 and 21 October, between the army and the Kurdistan Workers' Party guerrillas have been a number of armed clashes, in which 12 Turkish soldiers were killed, 16 wounded and another eight are missing. According to some sources, they hit a prisoner to the militants. Turkey had responded shelling Kurdish positions, destroying some data on more than 30 militants.