Turkish premier warns neighbors would intervene to prevent break up of Iraq along ethnic lines

New Orleans Times-Picayune ^ | 1/14/04 | Suzan Fraser

[Holly_P]

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) -- Turkey's prime minister told an Iraqi leader Wednesday that Iraq's neighbors would get involved to prevent the country's breakup along ethnic lines and that Kurds would be stopped if they pursue ambitions to control oil-rich areas in northern Iraq, news reports said.

[Happy2BMe]

Oh, I get it. The Turks bar the United States from staging troops in their country and attacking the war from the north.

Now that the war is over and the oil is up for grabs (second largest reserve on planet earth, BTW) Turkey decides there are "ethnic" problems need fixing and they will "intervene" to do it.

What's wrong with this picture?

[Holly_P]

What's wrong with this picture?

What's going to be wrong with the picture is if we allow the Turks any more say in any matters concerning Iraq than we allow our "friends" the French.

[thoughtomator]

What's wrong with this picture is that they can't be stupid enough not to know that there are 150,000 troops just looking for another insane Islamic tyranny to destroy.

What 'neighbors' would intervene? Iran? Syria? Kuwait? Saudi Arabia? Turks teaming up with Russians, with three divisions of US troops reloading? Don't make me laugh!

[Atlantic Friend]

Well, Turkey intervened militarily in Iraq to crush PKK (Kurdish communist party) activists in the last ten years. As you may know, the Turkish state always had a troubled history with its minorities, be it Armenians or Kurds. Basically, Ankara sees the Kurdish national identity as a threat to Turkey's cohesion - it is a question of national security.

Should you travel in Turkey, you'd see a sharp contrast between the western part of the country, which is very European, and the rural and poor eastern part, which is the Turkish Kurdistan. It's clear Ankara does not want to see a semi-independant Iraqi Kurdistan that would be a sanctuary for the PKK and that would inevitably encourage autonomist movements in Turkey, and possibly result in some kind of civil war in the eastern provinces. Should the Iraqi Kurds control the rich oilfields of Kirkuk, they will have the money to fund Kurd activists in Turkey. Even if they don't, they'll act as a magnet for Turkey's Kurdistan province.

Whether or not the United States decides to back the Kurds, your government will have to take the Turkish fears and strategy into account. This said as a "friend", of course...