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Shamus,
It is absolutely the case that bad, bad things could easily happen to the Turks if they attempt to persue that PKK into them thar hills. While the Turkish Army does have some air-mobility options available to them, the majority of the force would, by necessity be mech infantry. Dicey stuff, trying to bring that into the mountains. I'm seeing permutations of L.Z. Albany and Groupe Mobile 100, rather than a resounding Turkish success .How long would this incursion last? Fighting tough as nails PKK guerillas on their own turf, backed by an aroused local populace (on both sides of the border BTW) , in complex terrain, with winter coming on seems foolhardy.
I sympathise with the Turks, but the notion that a cross-border incursion is going to solve the problem of the PKK is not realistic. It is simply gonna kill a mess of Turkish soldiers, and a grip of Kurdish (nee Iraqi!) civillians. That being said, S-2 is correct in that this is a useful reminder to the KRG that they do not posess carte blance to wage their own personal war against the Turks.
Cato
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