VOA常速英语2007-Iraqis Protest Against Possible Turkish Incursio

By Deborah Block
Irbil, Iraq
18 October 2007

Thousands of Kurds and other Iraqis took to the streets in northern Iraq. They were protesting the Turkish parliament's decision Wednesday authorizing¹ a Turkish military incursion across the border into Iraq. Turkey says rebels from the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, have been conducting raids into Turkey. VOA's Deborah Block is in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil and has more on the story.

Thousands of teenage schoolchildren and other protesters marched to the United Nations office in Irbil waving banners in Kurdish and English, saying understanding is better than killing².

Kurdish leaders have warned that a Turkish incursion into northern Iraq would threaten the relative stability of the region. They are calling on Ankara to seek peaceful means to resolve the issue of PKK attacks on Turkish forces staged from bases in Iraq.

"We want peace in Iraq in every kilometer in Iraq because this is the safest part of Iraq," said a 17-year-old high school girl marching in Irbil. "I am very afraid because we do not have anywhere else to go. This is our last safe place."

Iraqi officials have been urging Turkey not to resort to force.

Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh, a Kurd, was in London Thursday.

He says Iraq is serious about keeping good relations with Turkey and is against attacks from any group that operates from Iraqi soil. He adds that Turkey and Iraq's government are still in talks about the border problem. He urged Turkey to have more patience.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari told reporters Iraq wants to move against the PKK, but is unable to do so now because its military is tied down fighting insurgents³ elsewhere in the country.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the parliament's motion does not mean a military operation is imminent⁴. But he says Turkey needs to be able to respond to a recent rise in bomb attacks it blames on PKK rebels based in northern Iraq.

The United States and Britain continue to urge the Turkish government to use restraint.

1 authorizing   

授权，批准，委托( authorize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Letters of Marque: Take letters from a warning friendly power authorizing privateering. 私掠许可证：从某一个国家获得合法抢劫的证书。
• Formal phavee completion does not include authorizing the subsequent phavee. 阶段的正式完成不包括核准随后的阶段。

2 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

3 insurgents   

n.起义，暴动，造反( insurgent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The regular troops of Baden joined the insurgents. 巴登的正规军参加到起义军方面来了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Against the Taliban and Iraqi insurgents, these problems are manageable. 要对付塔利班与伊拉克叛乱分子，这些问题还是可以把握住的。 来自互联网

4 imminent   

adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的

参考例句：

• The black clounds show that a storm is imminent.乌云预示暴风雨即将来临。
• The country is in imminent danger.国难当头。