Turkish Cabinet authorizes an attack

Almost as if to blend into what's going on with Kosovo Turkey's cabinet has given the military authorization to go into Northern Iraq:

Speaking on Turkish television, Mr Erdogan said "Turkish armed forces are now authorised for a cross-border operation."

His cabinet had approved the decision in a meeting on November 28, he said.

Turkey has amassed some 100,000 troops on its border with Iraq since October 17 when Turkish MPs voted by 507 votes to 19 in favour of military action.

Combined with Turkey dropping leaflets calling PKK members to surrender, this seems to indicate an attack is soon to be launched, though exactly when is uncertain. Adding to the mix is this report in the AP:

"The PKK fighters have evacuated their posts in Iraq's Qandil mountain chain, and gone to Turkish Kurdistan," Ocalan said, adding that the PKK fighters were largely replaced by fighters from the anti-Iran Free Life Iranian Kurdish Party.

While there is some question to the truth of this, it's unlikely Turkey differentiates between the two anyway and this has the potential to bring Iran into the mix, which would cause even greater problems. If that happens then the reverberations will be fought across the region.