Thousands of Kurdish anti-war demonstrators took to streets in a town in Iraq's northern province of Duhuk on Saturday to protest the Turkish parliament's approval of a motion backing military incursion into Iraq to pursue the banned Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) rebels.

 

"Thousands of people staged a massive demonstration in the streets of Zakhu town, rejecting the expected Turkish military's intervention inside Iraq," Yasir al-Hamdani, a local journalist told Xinhua.

 

On Thursday, a massive demonstration was held by hundreds of angry Kurdish people in Arbil, Duhuk and some other Kurdish cities, holding banners rejecting the Turkish threats and calling for peaceful solutions.

 

However, the two demonstrations came as the Turkish parliament gave on Wednesday its nod to a motion submitted by the Turkish government for military incursion into neighboring Iraq to target the PKK rebels based in Iraqi territories.

 

The passage of the motion paved way for the possible Turkish military actions in northern Iraq during the next one year period.

 

In another development, The Iraqi President Jalal al-Talabani lashed out, in a statement issued Saturday by his office, at his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Asad for recent statements in which he announced his public support for Turkish military interference in northern Iraq.

 

"I heard and saw al-Asad statements. I think they are very dangerous and contrasted with the spirit of Arab solidarity," al-Talabani said, adding it is better for Asad to adopt a political solution despite his understanding of Turkey's stance.

 

The Syrian president said during a visit to Turkey last week that he backs Turkish military operations against the Kurdistan Workers Party's (PKK) fighters inside Iraqi territories.

 

In an earlier statement which was issued by the office of the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, in which al-Maliki said that, his government "will not accept the military solutions to be the way of dealing with issues between the two countries even though we realize and understand the concerns of our Turkish friends.

 

The statement added that al-Maliki is keen to prevent PKK militants' attacks against Turkey by activating bilateral agreements and finding new horizons for security cooperation that may serve stability.

 

(Xinhua News Agency October 21, 2007)