Call it bad timing.  Something either went very right or very wrong in Iraq with a Turkish military incursion into Northern Iraq controlled by the Kurds.  Meanwhile Condy Rice gets snubbed.

Currently, the Turkish troops have begun to withdraw approximately 700 troops from northern Iraq after a series of International showdowns and foibles dealing with the Kurds in Northern Iraq. 

The day was marked by an invasion into Iraq by Turkey and a snub of Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice by President Talabani of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region. 

Turkey had been in conflict with the Kurdish PKK, and has used northern Iraq as a base from which to attack Turkish forces.

According to Turkey, the invasion was actually “hot pursuit” of Kurd rebels.   

The incursion of the Turkish soldiers into the mountainous area bordered by Iraq, Iran and Turkey upstaged a surprise visit to Iraq by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in which she urged Iraqi officials to tackle the thorny issue of political reconciliation.

Dr Rice’s plane touched down on Tuesday in the city of Kirkuk in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region, where she was due to meet with Iraq’s Kurdish president Jalal Talabani before meeting with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

However, she was snubbed by Mr Talabani, who refused to meet with her because the US had reportedly sanctioned the Turkish military incursion into the Kurdish region.

The oil-rich province of Kirkuk is hotly contested between Kurds and Arabs. A referendum due to be held last month to decide whether Kirkuk should become part of Iraqi Kurdistan has been delayed until May 2008 due to ethnic tensions.

It is one of several political reconciliation goals that have fallen to the wayside as the Iraqi government continues to implode with religious and ethnic in-fighting, which Dr Rice will address during her visit.

Yet hours before she arrived, furious Kurdish officials were facing a more immediate crisis with news that Turkish troops had entered their territory.

Since the Turkish parliament approved military incursions into Iraq on October 17, the US and Iraqi governments have urged Turkey to refrain from carrying out its threat, fearing this would destabilize the region and set a dangerous precedent for Iraq’s other neighbors to justify military action across their borders.

However, Turkey insists it has the right to attack PKK bases that have been used to launch bloody attacks in southern Turkey for years, especially given the repeated failures of the US and Iraqi governments to take action.

Turkey has further accused Iraqi Kurdish officials of supporting the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by the US, NATO and the European Union.