Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told the Egyptian daily Al-Shorouq that without an Israeli apology, Turkish-Israeli relations would stagnate.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will begin his visit to Egypt today. During the visit, the establishment of a high strategic commission headed by the Turkish and Egyptian governments is to be announced.

Turkish warplanes have renewed their attack on mountain areas north of Iraqi Kurdistan.

Source: Al-Ghad (Jordan), September 8, 2011.

Source: Al-Raya (Qatar), September 6, 2011.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi is expected to visit Erbil, the capital of Kurdistan Regional Government, shortly to discuss the ongoing clashes on the border between Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and the anti-Iranian separatist movement Party of Free Life (PJAK). There have been conflicting reports on the numbers of casualties on both sides.

The Turkish army has announced that air strikes on August 25 and 28 in northern Iraq killed 145-165 of PKK rebels, claiming direct hits of PKK targets. It said that Turkish artillery, in coordination with the air force, has hit 38 targets August 25-28.

A senior Iraqi army officer told the daily al-Hayat that "the security relations and the pursuit of rebel bands on the border are founded on certain principles, including an agreement between Turkey and the various regimes in Iraq to surround the Kurdish rebellion in the Iraqi-Turkish-Iranian triangle." There was a reference to a strategic agreement signed in July 2008 on security and military cooperation for preventing the flow of illegal weapons to and from Iraq. This cooperation agreement, signed by the prime ministers of Iraq and Turkey, allows Turkey to pursue the PKK fighters inside the Iraqi borders.

The Iraqi government daily Al-Sabah reported that Turkish commando units have been moved forward toward the Iraqi border in preparation for a wide-scale land operation against PKK [Kurdish Workers Party] bases on the Iraqi-Turkish border after id il-fitr [a holiday that follows the fasting month of Ramadan] which falls early next week.