DANGEROUS BORDER * Turkey / Iraq - Rumblings of war, trucks

As troops enter area, Kurds say their lifeline hangs in the balance

Cizre,Turkey -The Chicago Tribune (Chicago Ill,ISA), by Christine Spolar -October 25, 2007: -- Whole families in this poor Turkish borderland depend on how fast and freely their men can roll trucks in and out of Iraq. Now truckers are looking to the hills and highways to gauge the possibility of a devastating blow to their cross-country lives: Turkey invading Iraq in search of Kurdish rebels and shutting down the nearest border crossing...
"In Cizre, when we're born all we see is the border and the truck," said Hamza Naz, who trundles metal skewers from southeast Turkey to kebab sellers in Iraq. "Trucking is all we do. If there is an operation, they will shut this down. And if they shut this, they will shut down a lot of lives"... Hectic diplomatic efforts continued Wednesday as Turkey appeared to be making preparations for a possible move into Iraq to quell cross-border attacks by the PKK rebel group... (Photos by JAMIE FRANCIS/St. Petersburg Times published January 19, 2003: 1. A few hundred feet inside southeastern Turkey, roadside tea shops are set up at Habur gate, where trucks wait to cross the border. The mountains of Iraq are visible in the background - 2. A prayer platform with the words "Please keep clean" scratched into the concrete provides respite at Habur gate. )