Posted on 11/11/2004 3:43:19 PM PST by datura
| FOCUS ON TURKEY |
Turkey warns U.S. it plans to invade northern Iraq shortly after elections
ANKARA — Turkey's military has begun preparing for what officials warned could result in a major invasion of neighboring Iraq.
Officials said the Turkish General Staff has drafted plans for an invasion by at least 20,000 troops into northern Iraq in early 2005. They said the General Staff has urged approval from the government of Prime Minister Recep Erdogan and discussed the proposed invasion with the United States.
"The current phase is to show the United States that we're serious," a Turkish government source said. "After the Iraqi elections in January, the Turkish military will be ready to move."
The military has called for a massive operation in northern Iraq to prevent Kurdish militias from controlling the area. The General Staff has been particularly alarmed by the reported Kurdish effort to drive out ethnic Turks from Kirkuk, the oil capital of northern Iraq and long claimed by Ankara.
Under the Turkish plan, the military would deploy at least 20,000 Turkish troops in an enclave south of the Iraqi-Turkish border. The force would focus on eliminating the Kurdish Workers Party and ensure the return of Turkmens to Kirkuk.
About 3,000 PKK fighters are said to be based in northern Iraq and have been sending insurgents and weaponry for attacks inside neighboring Turkey.
The United States has refused numerous Turkish appeals to eliminate the PKK strongholds.
On Oct. 14 Erdogan and his cabinet reviewed the General Staff's plan. That meeting, attended by Chief of Staff Gen. Hilmi Ozkok and Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul, discussed the rapid deployment of up to 40,000 troops in northern Iraq.
A scaled-down version of the military plan was discussed in the national security council on Oct. 27. The officials said that over the last week some units have already been deployed along the Iraqi-Turkish border.
Officials said the General Staff has sought to prepare two army divisions to cross the Iraqi border within 18 hours of any approval of the operation.
The first goal of the ground operation, supported by fighter-jets and attack helicopters, would be to destroy PKK strongholds in the Kandil mountains in northern Iraq.
The General Staff has warned the cabinet that Ankara could no longer ignore the Kurdish threat. Officials said the military has determined that Kurds from Iran and Syria have bolstered support for the PKK.
Iranian and Syrian Kurds, they said, have participated in PKK attacks against police and military targets in southeastern Turkey over the last week.
Officials said the General Staff has sought to obtain U.S. approval for the operation in northern Iraq. But Washington has not provided implicit approval.
The Erdogan government has sought to delay any Turkish military operation until after the European Union summit on Dec. 17. The government intends to spare the EU any pretext to delay a date for accession.
Officials said the Peshmerga are digging tunnels and establishing outposts outside Dahouk, near the Turkish border.
We've been in ww3, everybody is just getting their ducks in a row and setting up the chess pieces.
FORK Specter!
I thought the 'Cold War' was WWIII and this is the beginnings of WWIV.
Our blood wasn't spilled in the cold war. Our blood was spilled on 9-11. The beginning of ww3. On our home turf.
Our blood wasn't spilled in the cold war. Our blood was spilled on 9-11. The beginning of ww3. On our home turf.
Sorry about double-post, hubby was talking to me.
Dear friend and Nato Ally Turkey:
Don't jeapordize those adjectives by confronting our troops in Northern Iraq.
I was being a little facetious.
Yes blood was spilled, it was just not published much in the press. Then there are the wars; Vietnam, Cuba (Bay of Pigs), Grenada/Nicaragua, etc...
Who bets $10 Turkey won't attack Iraq?Yeah, really. I'll believe it when I see it.
By: Yusuf Kanli
Turkish Daily News/ Nov 11, 2004
Some 'prominent' friends of the Iraqi Kurdish leaders have become more vocal on the 'great benefits' to Turkey if a Kurdish state is carved out of Iraq, while information is pouring in that 'Kurdistan Airlines' will soon start flights to Turkey. The AKP government must spell out what's really going on
Some "prominent" Turkish friends of the Iraqi Kurdish leaders have started a campaign to explain the "great benefits" Turkey would gain if a Kurdish state were to be carved out of Iraq, while at the same time information is pouring in that "Kurdistan Airlines" could soon start flights between Arbil and Istanbul's Ataturk International Airport. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government must disclose to the Turkish public what's really happening and in exchange for what.
According to one claim, the AKP government has made a deal with the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of Massoud Barzani for the Nov. 20 start of flights between Arbil and Istanbul for "humanitarian purposes." While the AKP government has preferred to remain silent on the issue, reports from northern Iraq indicate stepped-up activity at the Arbil airport, enhanced by some Turkish contractors, and that sophisticated equipment is being installed in the flight tower.
"Kurdistan Airlines" has reportedly leased two aircraft with which it will start flights to and from Turkey.
Despite the official silence in Ankara, Kurdish sources have been claiming that the AKP government has even agreed that "Kurdistan Airlines" can put its name on the planes on condition that a "Kurdish flag" or any such emblem does not appear anywhere on the aircraft.
A demand that the crew of "Kurdistan Airlines" be allowed to wear "traditional national costume" in "national colors" was reportedly rejected by the AKP government, which had previously agreed that the passports or entry and exit documents of people traveling to and from Arbil could be stamped by the "Government of Kurdistan." Nowadays, entry and exit visas of the "Government of Kurdistan" are not attached to passports but instead are stamped on empty sheets of paper that are collected upon exiting the Iraqi side of the Habur border gate.
The Greek Cypriot and Greek media, on the other hand, have been in a panic that in exchange for Turkey's "approval silence" as regards the creation of a Kurdish state in northern Iraq, Washington would recognize northern Cyprus. Though the Greek and Greek Cypriot claims could be considered a product of their own paranoia, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul must face the nation and announce what's really happening in northern Iraq and what this "Kurdistan Airlines" business is all about.
If these rampant claims are incorrect, then why the official silence?
By the way, the "prominent Turkish friends" of the Kurdish leaders who have started preaching to Turkey the benefits of the establishment of a Kurdish state -- and who are most probably paid in contracts for their "great services" -- are at the same time people close to the AKP leadership.
...so you agree with me that shortly hereafter Powell resigns, and a fresh start is brought into the DoS - that Allawi and Bush need to come to grips with consolidating sovereignty and security of ALL in Iraq? :)
Kurdistan Airlines ?? BTTT
Very true. I apologize for my ignorance on the cold war statement.
That's an eye opener. Thanks.
Damn Communist chinese POS'...
No problem.
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