The Turkish military says it has killed 20 Kurdish guerrillas in the province of Tunceli in southeast Turkey where around 8,000 Turkish troops are fighting Kurdish militants. Meanwhile, along the Iraq border, Turkey has massed up to 100,000 troops, backed by tanks, artillery, warplanes and helicopters. On Sunday, Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan refused to rule out a Turkish invasion of Iraq.

Ali Babacan: “We can use or continue to use diplomatic means, or resort to military means. All of these are on the table, so to speak.”

Massoud Barzani, the president of the Kurdistan Regional Government, told The Independent of London, “If they invade there will be war.” Barzani said he is increasingly convinced that the Turkish objective was not defeating the outlawed PKK but seizing the region of Iraqi Kurdistan, which has achieved near-independence since 2003.