[JALU3]

Turkish troops fire artillery into northern Iraq

By VOA News
14 October 2007

Witnesses say the Turkish military has fired several shells into a northern Iraqi village, but no casualities were reported.
The shells hit late Saturday in a village near the Turkish border in Dahuk province.
Earlier Saturday two U.S. envoys, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Dan Fried and U.S. Undersecretary of Defense Eric Edelman, met with Turkish officials in a diplomatic effort to prevent a Turkish military incursion into northern Iraq. The U.S. diplomats promised they would remind the Iraqi government of Turkish concerns about Kurdish rebel activity in the region.
Turkey's government is seeking parliamentary approval this week for a military operation in northern Iraq. Ankara blames rebels based in Iraq for deadly attacks in southeastern Turkey.
The U.S. envoys told Turkish officials they would also work to ensure the U.S. Congress does not approve a resolution that labels the killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in the early 1900s as genocide.
Ankara has recalled its ambassador in Washington to protest the adoption of the resolution Wednesday by the foreign affairs committee of the House of Representatives. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other officials say the measure will hurt bilateral relations. It was also opposed by the Bush administration.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.