Turkey's Iraq Problem

motivez · 09-24-2006, 06:45 PM

By Lenore G. Martin
Saturday, September 16, 2006; Page A21

Although the world is paying more attention to Hezbollah and the Iraq insurgency, there's another guerrilla group that poses a severe threat to the stability of the Middle East.

The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), operating from havens in northern Iraq, has been attacking Turkish security forces in southeastern Anatolia and occasionally civilians elsewhere. Turkey is determined to prevent a repetition of the 1984-99 guerrilla war with the separatist PKK, in which it suffered more than 30,000 deaths. It has mobilized a large force on its Iraqi border and is threatening to invade northern Iraq.

A Turkish invasion would create chaos in that part of Iraq and potentially destabilize the region. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's response -- moving to reinvigorate a tripartite commission made up of the governments of Turkey, Iraq and the United States -- is insufficient. The United States needs to take much firmer action to stop the PKK guerrilla war from undermining its Middle East policy.

In the previous guerrilla war, the PKK operated from Iran, northern Iraq and Syria. Syria also gave sanctuary to Abdullah Ocalan, the PKK leader. Saddam Hussein and then the British and the Americans, under their no-fly zone, permitted Turkey to attack the PKK in northern Iraq. After Turkish troops massed on the Syrian border, the late Syrian leader, Hafez al-Assad, expelled Ocalan, who was eventually captured and imprisoned in Turkey.

The PKK then declared a cease-fire but renounced it in 2004. During the current Iraq war, the United States has prevented Turkish forces from crossing into Iraq, contributing to Turkey's frustration and the current crisis.

If the United States does not oppose a Turkish invasion it will face a more chaotic situation in Iraq and the loss of a long-term relationship with the Iraqi Kurds, who are Washington's best hope for obtaining rights for U.S. bases in the future. If Washington opposes the invasion, it risks further estrangement from Turkey, a state positioned to play a critical strategic role in a region where Iran increasingly challenges the United States for dominance.

Turkey fears Kurdish irredentism coming from an independent Kurdistan. The Iraqi Kurds perceive a Turkish invasion as aimed at controlling oil-rich Kirkuk, thereby denying the Iraqi Kurds an economic base for their independence. Furthermore, Turkish intervention in Iraq would create a terrible precedent for Syrian and Iranian intervention in the Iraqi civil war.

What should the United States, Turkey and the Iraqi Kurds do to avert this crisis?

Difficult as it may be for the Iraqi Kurdish leaders, they must be willing to deny the PKK havens in northern Iraq and prevent PKK leadership from traveling freely throughout the country.

The Turks, for their part, must more assertively address the cultural, political and economic demands of the Kurds in southeast Anatolia, an area suffering from high unemployment and in need of economic development. To its credit, Turkey has already begun the process of increasing Kurdish cultural rights. Encouraged by its European Union accession negotiations, Turkey has passed laws giving Kurds the right to speak and publish in Kurdish and, to a more limited extent, to broadcast and teach Kurdish.

Recognizing minority rights has been a difficult accommodation for a state that is proud of the integration of its Kurds and their full participation in every aspect of society, including parliament and the cabinet. The Turkish state generally views all of its citizens simply as Turks and believes that recognition of ethnic differences would threaten the cohesion of its political life. On the other hand, by increasing Kurdish cultural rights, Turkey will give greater voice in government to its Kurds and dilute the appeal of the separatism advocated by the PKK.

For its part, the United States needs to avert a Turkish invasion of Iraq. It must throw its full weight behind efforts to eject the PKK from northern Iraq. Furthermore the United States needs to pressure Europe more energetically to block the transfer of funds to the PKK, which it has classified as a terrorist organization. It cannot rely on a tripartite commission to stop the next guerrilla war in the Middle East.

I'm suprised this isn't getting much press.. seems like yet another debacle that we've created in Iraq due to the Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld failures of forsight and planning.

I was of the opinion that really, the Kurd areas were some of the more peaceful and better secured areas of Iraq, but now it appears it's just as violent, killing civilians and staging attacks and raids... just inside of Turkey, rather than against US forces or other Iraqi's.

It seems like we should be making a bigger effort to encourage the Kurds to prevent the PKK (as the article suggests) from being able to use their territory, but if we do so.. do we risk starting off another civil war? Would they turn against other Kurds?

I'm really amazed at how much of a clusterfuck this has turned into, we should have carefully thought about all of the ethnic, religious, and sectarian issues that were obviously going to arise when Saddam or a strongman leader wasn't there to keep everyone in check.

Nonphixion · 09-24-2006, 07:10 PM

What about Turkey's Greece problem?

----

But ouch

"Turkey fears Kurdish irredentism coming from an independent Kurdistan. The Iraqi Kurds perceive a Turkish invasion as aimed at controlling oil-rich Kirkuk, thereby denying the Iraqi Kurds an economic base for their independence. Furthermore, Turkish intervention in Iraq would create a terrible precedent for Syrian and Iranian intervention in the Iraqi civil war."

Thorgrim · 09-24-2006, 08:21 PM

It's not getting much press because its complicated and the whole area is already complicated enough...

09-24-2006, 10:39 PM

Turkey is NOT pleased with the US action in the middle east. Not because they were against the initial invasion but because we've botched the post war plan so horribly. This is troubling considering Turkey has been a beacon of democracy in the middle east. Now their people and goverment is beginning to turn staunchly against the US

Thorgrim · 09-24-2006, 10:44 PM

Originally Posted by 6SpeedTA95

Turkey is NOT pleased with the US action in the middle east. Not because they were against the initial invasion but because we've botched the post war plan so horribly. This is troubling considering Turkey has been a beacon of democracy in the middle east. Now their people and goverment is beginning to turn staunchly against the US

They are still all talk IMO, they are patient and are willing to do these little skirmishes and maybe a minor quick invasion and run back...but like an occupation? oh they'll do it, but they'll wait until we leave...I don't think there is a serious chance they'd invade PPK territory in Iraq and occupy it while the US is there...

09-24-2006, 10:46 PM

Originally Posted by Thorgrim

They are still all talk IMO, they are patient and are willing to do these little skirmishes and maybe a minor quick invasion and run back...but like an occupation? oh they'll do it, but they'll wait until we leave...I don't think there is a serious chance they'd invade PPK territory in Iraq and occupy it while the US is there...

I dont think so either but the thought of losing an ally in that area is troubling.

Thorgrim · 09-24-2006, 10:50 PM

Originally Posted by 6SpeedTA95

I dont think so either but the thought of losing an ally in that area is troubling.

It's like Pakistan signing with the Taliban, we'll take one in the gut...the main thing is we haven't made a fuss about them launching attacks in US occupied territory, so its a quasi-bargain we've made

However I believe Turkey kept thinking the US was going to pull out and they could sucker punch our propped up government on our way out...at this level its interfering...but I don't see an alternative for Turkey other than more bold skirmishes...but really that'll just inflame the Kurds more...

SpicyMcVoodoo · 09-24-2006, 11:05 PM

Turkey probably doesn't want to invade either because they want to promote an image of stability so they're admitted to the EU, no?

motivez · 09-25-2006, 04:19 PM

Originally Posted by SpicyMcVoodoo

Turkey probably doesn't want to invade either because they want to promote an image of stability so they're admitted to the EU, no?

I would think, but I don't know anything about EU rules about stuff like that if it's considered "defense" of your soverign territory.

Maybe PetriW can provide some insight, I'll poke him about it later tonight.

SpicyMcVoodoo · 09-25-2006, 10:42 PM

Originally Posted by motivez

Maybe PetriW can provide some insight, I'll poke him about it later tonight.

wow, you just totally made it sound like you and petri are lovers.

Diamond Cross · 09-26-2006, 06:10 AM

This is one I've never heard of myself.

I don't agree that this is a problem that's been creatged by America. I believe that if we do more research into the problem that you'd find this has probably been going on since Saddam Husein took power, and quite possibly even before. The Kurds were oppressed under Saddam, and Saddam did make an effort to wipe them out in a war of genocide. In one infamous case Saddam chased 50,000 Kurds into Iran and even gassed them there.

However, the Kurds respect America and have always wanted to work with America in overthrowing Saddam, despite America's own poor treatment in abandoning them. America should work to prevent an invasion, and perhaps appeal to the Kurds to stop their own activities.

Another question is that is this just a group of Kurds splintering off from the rest or is it the majority of Kurds who have been doing this?

motivez · 09-26-2006, 02:22 PM

Can you provide some evidence about those beliefs about it going on?

Diamond Cross · 09-26-2006, 02:36 PM

Here's a timeline for you but it doesn't say anything about Kurds and Turkey but does have good info on Iraq's history with them:

frontline: the survival of saddam: the kurds: a chronology

And here's an article dealing with the Kurd's in Turkey:

The Kurds in Turkey

Excerp:

Modern Turkey's founder, Mustafa Kemal (better known as Atatürk--"father of the Turks"), enacted a constitution 70 years ago which denied the existence of distinct cultural sub-groups in Turkey. As a result, any expression by the Kurds (as well as other minorities in Turkey) of unique ethnic identity has been harshly repressed. For example, until 1991, the use of the Kurdish language--although widespread--was illegal. To this day, any talk that hints of Kurdish nationalism is deemed separatism, and grounds for imprisonment.

End Excerp

So you see this situation was not created by America.