Kurdish separatists vowed to step up their attacks on Turkish government targets yesterday, raising fears that Ankara will carry out its threat to launch a punitive strike against rebel bases in northern Iraq.

In a statement distributed in southern Turkey, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) said that, far from halting their recent raids, they planned to escalate operations and specifically target Turkey’s ruling AK Party and the opposition CHP.

Bahoz Erdal, a PKK commander whose forces have 3,000 fighters in camps on the Iraqi side of the border with Turkey, accused the Turks of using “state terror” against the Kurds.

“The AKP Government is a war government,” he said. His statement coincided with the latest PKK ambush, which killed one Turkish soldier and wounded two.

The latest incidents prompted Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish Prime Minister, to say: “If terrorism is based in a neighbouring country and if that country does very little about it, then it falls upon us to act.”

Border tensions between Turkey and the Iraqi Kurdish region have been simmering for years, but in the past America has intervened with its two allies to defuse the situation.

But a separate dispute between Washington and Ankara this week has limited America’s influence. A resolution approved by the US House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee describing the killing of Armenians by the Ottoman Turks in 1915 as “genocide” prompted Ankara to recall its ambassador from Washington on Thursday. Mr Erdogan made it clear yesterday that the dispute could permanently damage ties.

He was applauded by supporters when he used a Turkish expression to describe the state of relations with Washington: “Where the rope is worn thin, may it break off.”

Mr Erdogan emphasised that Turkey did not need outside advice on how to deal with northern Iraq. He added that when America invaded Iraq it did so “without asking anyone’s permission”.

Diplomats monitoring the situation said there was concern that the Turks would attack PKK bases in northern Iraq, which has so far been democratic, peaceful and economically successful.

“Erdogan is under huge domestic pressure to deal with this problem decisively,” said one diplomat. “Taking military action would also help to settle differences between the Government and the Army.” Mr Erdogan suggested that no action would be taken until he received parliamentary approval next week.

Meanwhile, Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, is heading to the region and may try to mediate.

Abdel Qader Mohammed Jassim, the Iraqi Defence Minister, held talks with Derya Kanbay, the Turkish Ambassador to Baghdad, yesterday, but there was no report of any progress between the sides on how to avert the crisis.

Fighting for ‘Kurdistan’

— Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) founded on Marxist-Leninist principles in 1974

— It assumed its current name in 1978

— Kurdish nationalists seek international recognition for “Kurdistan”

— 2007 estimates suggest between 3-10,000 active members

— PKK is mainly based in north west Turkey and northern Iraq

Source: jamestown.org, fas.org

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