Posted on 07/25/2006 10:28:59 PM PDT by managusta
It appears Turkey is preparing to conduct a larger anti-PKK operation in northern Iraq.
The Turkish government told the US that (paraphrasing) "Turkey will decide (not the US)" if Turkish troops enter Iraq in force." Turkish intelligence consistently reports that from 4000 to 5000 PKK guerrillas are operating from bases inside northern Iraq.
In April 2006 Aaron Glantz wrote that the Turkish government had sent an additional 40,000 troops to southeastern Anatolia, bringing the total troops stationed near the Iraqi border to an estimated 250,000 (close to double the number of U.S. forces in Iraq).
Daniel Pipes reports " Turkish officials signaled Tuesday [July 18] they are prepared to send the army into northern Iraq if U.S. and Iraqi forces do not take steps to combat Turkish Kurdish guerrillas there — a move that could put Turkey on a collision course with the United States.
Turkey is facing increasing domestic pressure to act after 15 soldiers, police and guards were killed fighting the guerrillas in southeastern Turkey in the past week. "The government is really in a bind," said Seyfi Tashan, director of the Foreign Policy Institute at Bilkent University in Ankara. "On the one hand, they don't want things to break down with the United States. On the other hand, the public is crying for action."
Diplomats and experts cautioned the increasingly aggressive Turkish statements were likely aimed at calming public anger and pressing the U.S. and Iraq to act against the Turkish Kurdish guerrillas. But they also said Turkish politicians and military officers could act if nothing is done. …
Turkey's NTV television and Hürriyet newspaper reported the government has told the military to draw up plans for a push into northern Iraq and to advise on the possibilities such an incursion could lead to a clash with Iraqi Kurds or U.S. troops. Any operation was unlikely before the end of August, when the current military chief of staff is replaced by an officer widely regarded as a hard-liner, NTV said. …
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan appeared to confirm reports that the military was ordered to draft plans when he said Tuesday: "We know how to take care of (terrorism) on our own... Our competent units are making preparations and will continue to do so." Erdoman's spokesman, Akif Beki, refused to comment, but referred to a statement Monday by government spokesman Cemil Çicek. Çicek called on Iraqi and U.S. forces to take stronger action against the rebels and warned that if they did not, "Turkey is going to use its international rights until the very end."
Zaman. com states that "Beyond that, even an invasion is possible. Before Rice's visit, the commander of Turkey's armed forces, Gen. Hilmi Özkök, was asked if his military would ask for permission from Washington before crossing the border into Iraq.
"We cannot make a decision of that kind based on the USA," he said. "Every country is sovereign. Every country makes its own decisions. If the conditions change, you act by the changing conditions."
Rimshot!
I agree.
Groooaaaan.
L
They'd become similar to Yugoslavia, and you can view some former Yugoslavian freepers views on that.
When all hell breaks loose, those soldiers will be just where we need them.
I feel for the Turks, but I can't quite reach them. Let them live under the same PC constraints they would try to put on us, or the Israelis, if we take action against a terrorist "state within a state".
The Kurds are not just some tribe. They are the ancient Mede peoples. They range throughout a region that touches on Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria. They have been systematically hunted and killed by these created nations for decades.
They have their own culture, traditions, and history.
They have also been among our strongest allies in the Mideast; next to, of course, the Jews.
Following your faulty logic, should people not trust Americans, the English, the Spaniards, and the French--simply because some of their ancestors drove out people from their current countries? (all human creatures are untrustworthy, but not because they invaded and displaced people).
The Turkish position would seem to have some parallels with the Israeli's. The Kurds use northern Iraq as a base to foment problems inside a sovereign Turkey.
We probably should get the Kurds to knock it off!
On the other hand, three well-placed JDAMs just inside the Iraq border with the assurance that the U.S. reserves the right to bomb every square inch of Iraq at will, would probably cause quite a bit of consternation among the Turkish troops. [They might have quite a bit of laundry to do! :]
For what it's worth I VISITED the Cherokee reservation last week. They DO have a nation within our nation.
The situation, though, is a bit different.
Iraq did not exist even 85 years ago; nor did Saudi Arabia, Syria, Kuwait, etc. They were all created by Britain drawing arbritrary lines following the Ottoman Empire's defeat with the Germans in WWI.
The Brits MISSED the Kurdish people. There was no rhyme nor reason for the lines they drew with the exceptions, perhaps, of Jordan and Lebanon.
Neither country should be criticized for defending their countries' integrity.
I beg your freakin' pardon???
I think Turkey might be more interested in having access to Iraq's oil...the Kurds are our strongest allies in Iraq. An invasion would not go over well.
"Send the UN and that will fix it. :-)"
LOL!
Koffi sez so. ;o)
only Israel was supposed to be in bold.
Iranian and Iraqi Jews have a serious case of Stockholm Syndrome.
I had to re-read that several times...that was just awful!!!
:)
Almost every single Iraqi Jew was deported from Iraq between 1947 and 1952. Iraq passed laws making Jews effectively non-citizens and unable to own property. I can't imagine any Jews still living in Iraq.
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