Azernews.Az

Kurdish rebel group PKK has decided to relocate its stronghold to Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh, an Azeri region under Armenian occupation, after tensions escalated in northern Iraq with the launch of Turkey's battles against the extremists, Turkey's influential Hurriyet and Akhsham newspapers reported.
Following the killings of scores of soldiers and civilians by PKK militants in attacks from mountain hideouts near the border, Turkey launched military operations against the extremists. Turkish military officials said about 100 troops had crossed into Iraq on Saturday and bombed a PKK camp using artillery and helicopters. Ankara said significant losses had been inflicted on Kurdish rebels. Kurdish officials in Iraq insisted there had been no military incursion.
The PKK, which was earlier based in Syria and was driven out under Turkey's pressure, has now decided to withdraw from Iraq. The terrorists intend to first relocate to a European country and then to Upper Garabagh. PKK members have forged ties with the Armenian Diaspora to materialize the plan, Hurriyet said.
Upper Garabagh is an Azeri region occupied by Armenian forces since a 1994 cease-fire ended separatist hostilities that killed an estimated 30,000 people and ousted about a million out of their homes. Peace talks are brokered by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chaired by the United States, Russia and France.
PKK has long been using the South Caucasus as a stronghold for its illegal activities. In addition to drug trafficking, the outlaws are carrying out smuggling of laundered money in the region with the aid of ethnic Armenian terrorists, according to the report. In the past years Armenians have arranged the settlement of a number of ethnic Kurds who come from Iraq and Syria in Upper Garabagh. PKK also runs a newspaper and a radio in the occupied Azeri region.
Ankara has stepped up efforts to counter the PKK's plans to expand activity in the South Caucasus. Turkish President Abdullah Gul discussed the issue during his two consecutive visits to the two regional countries - Azerbaijan and Georgia - in November. Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Mikheil Saakashvili said their countries stood by Turkey in its combat against terror.
The reports also said the Azerbaijani government had requested a list of wanted terrorists and that the delegations of the country's justice and interior ministries raised the issue during their recent talks in Ankara.
About 3,000 PKK rebels, seeking a separate Kurdish homeland in southeastern Turkey, operate in northern Iraq. Ankara blames the PKK for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people since it began its armed struggle in 1984. Turkey has aligned up to 100,000 troops near the mountainous border with northern Iraq, backed by military machinery, to wage combat against Kurdish rebels.

Terror acts
The Turkish media said PKK was actively involved in hostilities and acts of terror perpetrated by Armenia against Azerbaijan, alongside Armenian terrorist organization ASALA.
Under a deal reached with ASALA in 1987, PKK assisted the Armenian forces' military operations against Azerbaijan during the Garabagh war in the early 1990s. The group's guerillas were stationed in the mountainous areas on the Turkish-Armenian border to carry out the operations. The militants used Turkish and Iranian territory to arrange the transfer of their cohorts in Iran to Armenia for their further involvement in acts of terror. In May-June 1992, 40 PKK terrorists took part in military action against Azerbaijanis in Upper Garabagh.