Kurd militants threaten Turkey if it enters Syria

Turkish Kurd militants threatened to turn all Kurdish populated areas into a "war zone" if Turkish troops entered Syria, a sign the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) which has allies in Syria may be taking sides in the conflict there.    

A renewed alliance between Damascus and the PKK would anger Turkey and could prompt it to take an even stronger line against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad over his brutal repression of anti-government protesters.    

PKK field commander Murat Karayilan said Turkey was preparing the ground for an intervention in Syria.    

"The Turkish state is planning an intervention against our people," the Europe-based Firat news agency, close to the militants, quoted him as saying.    

"Let me state clearly, if the Turkish state intervenes against our people in western Kurdistan, all of Kurdistan will turn into a war zone," he said.     Western Kurdistan is the term Kurdish nationalists use to describe Kurdish areas of northeast Syria, while by Kurdistan they mean the Kurdish areas of Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran.     

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said last week that setting up a "safe zone" or a "buffer zone" along the border with Syria to protect civilians from Assad's forces was among the options being considered should the stream of refugees turn into a flood.    

Setting up such a zone would involve troops entering Syria to secure territory. Turkey has turned sharply against its former friend Assad and has taken a lead in trying to forge international agreement on the need for stronger action on Syria.    

While Syrian government forces are clashing daily with insurgents demanding the downfall of Assad, Syrian Kurdish areas have remained relatively calm, despite many Kurds' long-standing opposition to the government.     

Reuters