Turks vs. Kurds

Ankara, Turkey

Turkey traded angry threats this week with Iraq’s Kurdish area, raising tensions in the volatile region. Massoud Barzani, leader of Iraqi Kurds, said his people would retaliate against any Turkish interference by stirring up trouble in Turkey’s Kurdish-populated southeast. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan said Barzani was “out of place” and would be “crushed under his words.” Since 1984, Turkish security forces have been fighting Kurdish rebels, mostly near the Iraqi border. Kurds, who are discriminated against in Turkey and banned from using their own language for many purposes, want a separate state.