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The Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA), DC
Dec 30 2007
Fundamental Interests
For the past several days, Turkey has been conducting air strikes
against the PKK in the mountains of northern Iraq, using intelligence
provided by the United States. It is worth a look at the sequence of
events in U.S.-Turkey and U.S.-Kurdish relations.
Relations between the United States and Turkey have been rocky since
the accession to power of the AKP government and its refusal to grant
the United States permission to enter Iraq from Turkish soil,
complicating the early stages of the war. In addition, Turkey's
decision not to join the coalition minimized its impact on political
and military arrangements in the north after Saddam's fall. On the
other hand, Turkey has permitted the United States to resupply the
troops, and is today the largest investor in Northern Iraq, wedding
itself to the forces of stability and free markets in the
mainly-but-not-only Kurdish area. At the same time, Congressional
flirtation with a resolution on Armenian history infuriated the
Turks, and Iraqi Kurdish failure to deal with remnants of the PKK
living in the mountains of the north - and receiving support from
Iran, which holds the back end of the mountains -infuriated them
more.
The PKK, the Kurds and the government of Iraq all seem to believe
that the American commitment to securing Iraq's borders would ensure
that Turkey would absorb cross-border PKK terrorism without response.
Not so. Dozens of soldiers and civilians have been killed inside
Turkey and Turkey has indeed gone after the perpetrators. The Iraqi
government has pronounced itself `outraged.' An adviser to Prime
Minister al-Maliki, said, `We deplore the interference in our
territory... we want to solve this problem through peaceful
negotiations and diplomatic means.'
It may, in a backhanded way, be a good thing that the Baghdad
government finds itself defending, at least rhetorically, its
northern province and northern citizens - the Shiites and Sunnis have
had trouble figuring out where Kurds belong in the new Iraq. But the
Iraqi government should first `deplore' terrorism that takes place
from its territory, not Turkey's response.
The PKK is to the Kurdish people what Hamas, the PIJ and the PLO are
to Palestinians. They are the terrorist wing of people who have
grievances - some of which are legitimate and some of which are not;
some of which can be resolved politically and some of which cannot be
solved at all. Diplomacy is the art of managing what can be managed,
but nothing can be managed as long as people and their
representatives protect and support terrorist organizations.
The United States and Turkey have fundamentally compatible interests
in the broader region and American intelligence support for Turkey
was right and necessary. At the same time, as Israel has learned with
its Gaza experience, air strikes alone will not solve the problem.
The United States should be ready to step in with multiparty
diplomacy, but only when the ground rules are understood - the PKK
cannot be party to any talks and the talks will be for the purpose of
figuring out how to close off support of the PKK and providing
additional stability for the countries of the region.
http://www.jinsa.org/articles/articles.html/func tion/view/categoryid/650/documentid/4007/history/3 ,2359,650,4007
Dec 30 2007
Fundamental Interests
For the past several days, Turkey has been conducting air strikes
against the PKK in the mountains of northern Iraq, using intelligence
provided by the United States. It is worth a look at the sequence of
events in U.S.-Turkey and U.S.-Kurdish relations.
Relations between the United States and Turkey have been rocky since
the accession to power of the AKP government and its refusal to grant
the United States permission to enter Iraq from Turkish soil,
complicating the early stages of the war. In addition, Turkey's
decision not to join the coalition minimized its impact on political
and military arrangements in the north after Saddam's fall. On the
other hand, Turkey has permitted the United States to resupply the
troops, and is today the largest investor in Northern Iraq, wedding
itself to the forces of stability and free markets in the
mainly-but-not-only Kurdish area. At the same time, Congressional
flirtation with a resolution on Armenian history infuriated the
Turks, and Iraqi Kurdish failure to deal with remnants of the PKK
living in the mountains of the north - and receiving support from
Iran, which holds the back end of the mountains -infuriated them
more.
The PKK, the Kurds and the government of Iraq all seem to believe
that the American commitment to securing Iraq's borders would ensure
that Turkey would absorb cross-border PKK terrorism without response.
Not so. Dozens of soldiers and civilians have been killed inside
Turkey and Turkey has indeed gone after the perpetrators. The Iraqi
government has pronounced itself `outraged.' An adviser to Prime
Minister al-Maliki, said, `We deplore the interference in our
territory... we want to solve this problem through peaceful
negotiations and diplomatic means.'
It may, in a backhanded way, be a good thing that the Baghdad
government finds itself defending, at least rhetorically, its
northern province and northern citizens - the Shiites and Sunnis have
had trouble figuring out where Kurds belong in the new Iraq. But the
Iraqi government should first `deplore' terrorism that takes place
from its territory, not Turkey's response.
The PKK is to the Kurdish people what Hamas, the PIJ and the PLO are
to Palestinians. They are the terrorist wing of people who have
grievances - some of which are legitimate and some of which are not;
some of which can be resolved politically and some of which cannot be
solved at all. Diplomacy is the art of managing what can be managed,
but nothing can be managed as long as people and their
representatives protect and support terrorist organizations.
The United States and Turkey have fundamentally compatible interests
in the broader region and American intelligence support for Turkey
was right and necessary. At the same time, as Israel has learned with
its Gaza experience, air strikes alone will not solve the problem.
The United States should be ready to step in with multiparty
diplomacy, but only when the ground rules are understood - the PKK
cannot be party to any talks and the talks will be for the purpose of
figuring out how to close off support of the PKK and providing
additional stability for the countries of the region.
http://www.jinsa.org/articles/articles.html/func tion/view/categoryid/650/documentid/4007/history/3 ,2359,650,4007