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Turkish troops destroyed five bridges across a remote mountain river on the Iraqi Kurdistan border during an incursion launched to hunt Kurdish rebel fighters, Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said on Friday.
"We don't expect that a large incursion is taking place, as it's a remote and inhospitable region," Zebari told AFP, estimating that "hundreds, rather than thousands" of Turkish troops were involved in the day-old operation.
Earlier, Ankara had announced a "limited operation" to flush out guerrillas of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Zebari said information from the mountainous and snow-bound border area was sketchy, and he could not confirm reports of clashes or casualties but he said that Turks had demolished five bridges on the Avashin or Blue River.
Along parts of its course the Avashin forms a boundary between southeastern Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan's Qandil Mountains, stronghold of the Turkish-Kurdish-PKK fighters.
"Three of the bridges were used by vehicles, and two just by people on foot and farm animals," Zebari said.
"There hasn't been much information. The area wouldn't sustain a large number of troops. We wouldn't expect to see movement of armour because it's a very inaccessible region and there are no road links or infrastructure."
Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki urged his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan to respect Iraq's sovereignty, and Zebari said that Turkey's charge d'affaires in Baghdad had been summoned to receive a protest.
Iraqi Kurdistan politician says, Turkey is using Turkey's Kurdish separatist PKK rebel group as an excuse to invade Kurdistan region 'Iraq' to prevent the establishment of Kurdistan state in the Kurdish autonomous region in 'northern Iraq', Turkey fears this could fan separatism among its own large Kurdish population in southeast Turkey.
Over 39,000 Turkish soldiers and Kurdish PKK guerrillas have been killed since 1984 when the PKK took up arms for self-rule in the country's mainly Kurdish southeast of Turkey. A large Turkey's Kurdish community openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK rebels.
The PKK demanded Turkey's recognition of the Kurds' identity in its constitution and of their language as a native language along with Turkish in the country's Kurdish areas, the party also demanded an end to ethnic discrimination in Turkish laws and constitution against Kurds, ranting them full political freedoms.
The PKK is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the EU.