Turkey hunts rebels in security zones

The sign at the edge of one of Turkey's new security zones says trespassing poses a "danger to life," and the only vehicles that venture beyond it are armored ones ferrying soldiers into battle with Kurdish rebels.

Deep in the mountains of southeast Turkey, the military has declared what amount to free-fire zones in its fight against separatist guerrillas who infiltrate the region from havens in neighboring Iraq and stage bombings and ambushes.

Dozens of soldiers and village guards have died in recent weeks in an escalation of attacks by rebels from Turkey's Kurdish minority, who began their struggle more than two decades ago. The violence has intensified debate in Turkey about whether to stage a cross-border offensive against the rebels, a move that could destabilize the calmest area in Iraq.

The military last week imposed "security zones" in 23 areas in three southeastern Turkish provinces to keep civilians away from combat, and it has imposed similar limits in areas where it conducts live fire exercises. Some experts speculate that the latest announcement is one in a series of preparatory steps ahead of a possible Iraqi campaign.

"They want to clear an area near the region where they might launch a bigger operation," said Ersel Aydinli, an associate professor of international relations at Bilkent University in Ankara.

A military spokesman in Ankara, the capital, declined to answer questions about the security zones. The military released coordinates of the areas, but did not say how big they are.

The military restricts civilian movement in the zones in Sirnak, Hakkari and Siirt provinces, where many people grow crops and raise livestock in remote areas. Some villagers are staying away from their farms for fear of being caught up in violence.

"People are afraid to go and pick up the fruits and vegetables they grow," said Tahir Agacat, a former governor of Askinlar village, which is inside a security zone.

Askinlar, 15 miles north of the border with Iraq, is deserted and the area is the scene of sporadic clashes between Turkish troops and rebels, according to residents of neighboring areas. They said they heard gunfire and saw helicopters flying over the mountains.

Villagers said the military warned them against entering the zones because they could be shot by troops patrolling the area.

There are military checkpoints near some of the security zones. The road to Askinlar is dirt, and the driver of an Associated Press team refused to leave the paved road, saying it was easier for Kurdish rebels to plant bombs on or beside unpaved ones. The army has patched some asphalt roads to make it harder for rebels to place bombs in the path of its vehicles.

This month, two bombs in the newly designated security zones in Sirnak and Hakkari provinces killed four Turkish troops, including two majors and a lieutenant colonel.

A Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said the security zones do not affect cities, and had been imposed in places that were "relatively small" and lightly inhabited.

"They're effectively free-fire zones," the diplomat said.

But areas outside the security zones also are prone to violence. On Friday, a bomb in the mainly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir injured seven people, including a noncommissioned army officer. The pipe bomb, hidden in newspapers and attached to a bicycle, exploded near bus stops used by army vehicles to pick up military personnel, said Durdu Kavak, the city's chief prosecutor.

The security zones don't appear to involve the kind of harsh military control that existed in southeast Turkey at the height of fighting against rebels in the 1980s and 1990s. At that time, provincial governors were given additional authority to take measures such as curfews. Tens of thousands of civilians fled their homes, and many never returned.

The army said the zones will be in place for three months. But a big military sign in Dagkonak village said the area beyond had been designated a "military security zone" in April and would remain so until May 2008.

Turkey has deployed tens of thousands of troops along its 238-mile-long border with Iraq, which has protested to Turkey about alleged shelling by its forces of suspected rebel positions on the Iraqi side.

Turkey has previously staged cross-border offensives into Iraq, and some analysts say it might try to set up a "buffer" area in Iraq to prevent rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, known by its Kurdish acronym PKK, from crossing into Turkey.

By most accounts, few civilians move around freely in the security zones. But some say nothing has changed.

"I take my sheep to those mountains every day," said Abdurrahman Ucar, pointing at a range of peaks near the border with Iraq.

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AP reporter Christopher Torchia contributed to this report from Istanbul, Turkey.