Neighbours Turkey and Iraq on Friday signed an anti-terrorism agreement in which Baghdad pledged to cooperate with Ankara in efforts to crack down on Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq but which crucially fails to give Turkey permission to launch military operations across the border, REPORTED DPA. Aides to Iraqi Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani had originally indicated on Wednesday that a deal had been reached which would have allowed Turkish troops to cross the border in pursuit of rebels from the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) but the Iraqi side insisted the "hot pursuit" clause be excluded after Kurdish authorities in northern Iraq objected. Arguments over a "hot pursuit" clause meant that the watered-down agreement was signed by al-Bolani and his Turkish counterpart Besir Atalay in Ankara on Friday, a day after it was originally to be signed. After signing the agreement, Atalay told reporters that issues surrounding the hot pursuit clause would be further discussed. The agreement signed on Friday will see the banning of all logistical help for the PKK, will see it become illegal to spread PKK propaganda and calls for PKK leaders in Iraq to be arrested and either tried in Iraq or extradited. The Turkish military estimates that around 3,000 PKK rebels use bases in mountainous northern Iraq from which they launch raids across the border in to Turkey. Turkey has threatened to launch a full-scale military incursion into northern Iraq if US or Iraqi forces do not take steps to destroy PKK bases.
