Turkey is a very close ally and a member of NATO. The Kurds of Iraq are our best friends there and their region is the only part of Iraq that can be said to be secure and prospering. Right? Not so fast. We’ve got a big problem developing in Kurdistan.
ANKARA, Jan 12 (Reuters) – Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on Friday reaffirmed Turkey’s right to send troops into Iraq to crush Kurdish rebels there and chided U.S. officials for questioning it.
“The Turkish Republic will do whatever is necessary to combat the terrorists when the time comes, but it will not announce its plans in advance,” Erdogan told a news conference after a meeting of his ruling AK Party.
“We say we are ready to take concrete steps with the Iraqi government and we also say these steps must be taken now.”
In sharp language underscoring Turkish anxiety about the chaos in Iraq, Erdogan said it was wrong for Washington — “our supposed strategic ally” — to tell Turkey, with its historic and cultural ties in the region, to stay out of Iraq.
“We have a 350 km border with Iraq. We have historic relations … the United States is 10,000 km away from Iraq, and yet is it not intervening in Iraq’s internal affairs?” he said.
Turkish media say Erdogan has been irked by comments attributed to Washington’s envoy to Baghdad, Zalmay Khalilzad, warning third countries not to interfere in Iraqi affairs.
Ankara has long complained that the United States and Iraqi government have failed to crack down on Kurdish rebels, and periodically asserts its right under international law to conduct cross-border operations against the guerrillas.
With both presidential and parliamentary elections looming in 2007, analysts say Erdogan is under increased pressure to show he is tough on security issues.
This will, of course, provide just one more reason why ‘serious people’ say we have to stay the course.
Barely 3 weeks after the Bush Gang’s invasion of Iraq this letter of mine addressing what seemed an obvious inevitable problem with Turkey and the Kurds in northern Iraq was published in slightly edited form.
More than 3 1/2 years later, virtually no diplomatic energy has been spent by the lunatics of the Bush regime to deal with this issue.
Absolutely nothing. That is their typical MO for them — stick their heads in the sands and not do anything until it is too late to do anything.
As many as 30 years ago I was reading about the Kurds of northern Iraq and how they would very much like an independent state. Unfortunately the Kurds of neighboring areas like Armenia, Iran and yes, Turkey would like to be part of this independent state.
Any hint of the possibility that the Iraqi Kurds are going to break away into their own country and the Turks will be over the border faster than you can say “Wha’ happened?”
This is what happens when the Sorcerer’s Apprentice sets forces in motion that he doesn’t fully understand and can’t control. Unfortunately in this particular analogy I have no idea who the Sorcerer might be, or even if there is one.
The Kurds in Iraq are our best friends
Hmm. that friendship looks to be wearing thin and threadbare.
Best friends don’t point their guns at each other. We are working very hard to alienate the Kurds. In December we arrested their invited guests – the Iranians. On Thursday, before dawn, with attack helicopters we raided what was an Iranian diplomatic property in Erbil, Kurdistan.
BBC radio reported the Erbil raid did not go over well with the Kurds.
Just to be clear on one thing. A cross-border operation is a very different thing than an invasion. An invasion is an existential threat to a system, nation and a country a cross-border skirmish is not.
This will, of course, provide just one more reason why ‘serious people’ say we have to stay the course.
Maybe. Maybe not. “Serious people” will say anything they think some ignorant fool will believe.
The real point of the Turkish statement is that the Turks have not responded to US support of the Kurdish militias. Yet.
That is about to change.
It is a blunt warning that Turkey will manage its “Kurdish problem” in its own way and regardless of what the US thinks. If the US opposes them, so much the worse for the US.
The US can still project violence from a distance. But its position on the ground is weak and getting weaker. The Turks are saying that they know this, and will exploit it.
If need be.
I do not know if the Turks have designs on Kurdish oil. It seems doubtful they could keep it, and doubtful they think they could. I don’t think that is the main point.
But they could knock the US right out of the region. The US holds Kurdish Iraq because, and as long as, the Turks allow it.
This is probably the last warning we will get before the shooting starts.