VOA常速英语2007-Turkish Officials: Military Targeting Kurdish Re

By VOA News
24 October 2007
 

Turkish officials say the military has been firing at Kurdish rebel positions inside northern Iraq since a rebel ambush¹ near the border Sunday that killed 12 Turkish soldiers.

The officials say Turkish artillery² units shelled suspected rebel bases across the border Tuesday night. Turkey's official news agency says warplanes bombed rebel positions along the Turkish-Iraqi border Wednesday.

Officials say the shelling is in retaliation³ for Sunday's ambush in southeastern Turkey, and not part of any large-scale incursion into Iraq.

Turkish military and political leaders held a meeting of the National Security Council in Ankara Wednesday, to discuss possible further measures against rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK.

In another development, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani denied Turkish reports that he had offered to extradite rebel leaders to Turkey. He said in a statement today that the PKK leaders live in the mountains of northern Iraq with their fighters, so it is impossible to arrest them and hand them over.

Earlier, Turkish officials said Mr. Talabani told Turkey's Foreign Minister Ali Babacan during talks Tuesday that Baghdad might agree to hand over Kurdish rebels hiding in northern Iraq.

A high-level delegation⁴ from Iraq is expected to visit Ankara for talks with Turkish officials Thursday. Babacan says he expects the delegation to come with concrete proposals for ways to defuse tensions along the border.

In Washington, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino warned against the escalation⁵ of tensions between Turkey and Iraq. She urged the two sides to exercise restraint, saying both Iraqis and Turks agree the common enemy is the PKK.

The European Union today also urged Ankara to refrain from launching a military incursion into Iraq to counter the rebels.

Turkey has built up its forces along the Iraq border, deploying⁶ about 10,000 troops.

The PKK has been fighting for Kurdish autonomy in southeastern Turkey since 1984. More than 30,000 people have died in the conflict.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.

1 ambush   

n.埋伏(地点)；伏兵；v.埋伏；伏击

参考例句：

• Our soldiers lay in ambush in the jungle for the enemy.我方战士埋伏在丛林中等待敌人。
• Four men led by a sergeant lay in ambush at the crossroads.由一名中士率领的四名士兵埋伏在十字路口。

2 artillery   

n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队)

参考例句：

• This is a heavy artillery piece.这是一门重炮。
• The artillery has more firepower than the infantry.炮兵火力比步兵大。

3 retaliation   

n.报复，反击

参考例句：

• retaliation against UN workers 对联合国工作人员的报复
• He never said a single word in retaliation. 他从未说过一句反击的话。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 delegation   

n.代表团；派遣

参考例句：

• The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
• We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。

5 escalation   

n.扩大，增加

参考例句：

• The threat of nuclear escalation remains. 核升级的威胁仍旧存在。 来自辞典例句
• Escalation is thus an aspect of deterrence and of crisis management. 因此逐步升级是威慑和危机处理的一个方面。 来自辞典例句

6 deploying   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的现在分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Provides support for developing and deploying distributed, component-based applications. 为开发和部署基于组件的分布式应用程序提供支持。
• Advertisement, publishing, repair, and install-on-demand are all available when deploying your application. 在部署应用程序时提供公布、发布、修复和即需即装功能。