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Turkish General Warns US Over Ties
The Los Angeles Times
By C. ONUR ANT
Associated Press Writer
6:09 AM PDT, October 14, 2007
ISTANBUL, Turkey - Turkey's top general warned that ties with the
U.S., already strained by attacks from rebels hiding in Iraq, will be
irreversibly damaged if Congress passes a resolution that labels the
World War I-era killings of Armenians a genocide.
Turkey, which is a major cargo hub for U.S. and allied military forces
in Iraq and Afghanistan, has recalled its ambassador to Washington for
consultations and warned that there might be a cut in the logistical
support to the U.S. over the issue.
Gen. Yasar Buyukanit told daily Milliyet newspaper that a
congressional committee's approval of the measure had already harmed
ties between the two countries.
"If this resolution passed in the committee passes the House as well,
our military ties with the U.S. will never be the same again,"
Buyukanit was quoted as saying by Milliyet.
"I'm the military chief, I deal with security issues. I'm not a
politician," Buyukanit was quoted as saying by Milliyet. "In this
regard, the U.S. shot its own foot."
About 70 percent of U.S. air cargo headed for Iraq goes through Turkey
as does about one-third of the fuel used by the U.S. military there.
U.S. bases also get water and other supplies carried in overland by
Turkish truckers who cross into Iraq's northern Kurdish region.
In addition, C-17 cargo planes fly military supplies to U.S. soldiers
in remote areas of Iraq from Incirlik, avoiding the use of Iraqi roads
vulnerable to bomb attacks. U.S. officials say the arrangement helps
reduce American casualties.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has "urged restraint" from Turkey
and sent two high-ranking officials to Ankara in an apparent attempt
to ease fury over the measure which could be voted on by the House by
the end of the year.
Buyukanit's remarks were published a day after a visit by Dan Fried,
assistant secretary of state for European affairs, and Eric Edelman,
who is the undersecretary of defense for policy.
"Secretary of State Rice Condoleezza Rice asked us before we came here
to express that the Bush administration is opposed to this
resolution," Edelman said Saturday.
At issue in the resolution is the killing of up to 1.5 million
Armenians by Ottoman Turks. Many international historians contend the
World War I-era deaths amounted to genocide, but Turkey says the mass
killings and deportations were not systematic and that many Turkish
Muslims died in the chaos of war.
The congressional resolution comes as the Turkish parliament debates
authorizing a military campaign into northern Iraq to root out rebels
who seek a unified, independent nation for Kurds in the region.
U.S. officials have urged Turkey not to send troops and appealed for a
diplomatic solution with Iraq. The Kurdish self-rule region in
northern Iraq is one of the country's few relatively stable areas and
the Kurds here are also a longtime U.S. ally.
A Kurdish rebel commander on Saturday said Turkey would face a long
and bloody conflict if it launched a large-scale offensive in northern
Iraq.
Speaking to The Associated Press deep in the Qandil mountains
straddling the Iraq-Turkish border, some 94 miles from the northern
Iraqi Kurdish city of Sulaimaniyah, Murat Karayilan, head of the armed
wing of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, warned that an eventual
Turkish incursion would "make Turkey experience a Vietnam war."
The PKK has been fighting for autonomy in southeast Turkey since 1984.
The conflict has claimed tens of thousands of lives. Turkey says the
rebels use Iraqi Kurdish territory as a safe haven. Iraqi and Kurdish
authorities reject the claim.
* __
Associated Press writer Yahya Barzanji in Iraq's Qandil Mountains
contributed to this report.
Source: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/wire /sns-ap-turkey-us,1,113172.story?coll=sns-ap-world -headlines&ctrack=1&cset=true
The Los Angeles Times
By C. ONUR ANT
Associated Press Writer
6:09 AM PDT, October 14, 2007
ISTANBUL, Turkey - Turkey's top general warned that ties with the
U.S., already strained by attacks from rebels hiding in Iraq, will be
irreversibly damaged if Congress passes a resolution that labels the
World War I-era killings of Armenians a genocide.
Turkey, which is a major cargo hub for U.S. and allied military forces
in Iraq and Afghanistan, has recalled its ambassador to Washington for
consultations and warned that there might be a cut in the logistical
support to the U.S. over the issue.
Gen. Yasar Buyukanit told daily Milliyet newspaper that a
congressional committee's approval of the measure had already harmed
ties between the two countries.
"If this resolution passed in the committee passes the House as well,
our military ties with the U.S. will never be the same again,"
Buyukanit was quoted as saying by Milliyet.
"I'm the military chief, I deal with security issues. I'm not a
politician," Buyukanit was quoted as saying by Milliyet. "In this
regard, the U.S. shot its own foot."
About 70 percent of U.S. air cargo headed for Iraq goes through Turkey
as does about one-third of the fuel used by the U.S. military there.
U.S. bases also get water and other supplies carried in overland by
Turkish truckers who cross into Iraq's northern Kurdish region.
In addition, C-17 cargo planes fly military supplies to U.S. soldiers
in remote areas of Iraq from Incirlik, avoiding the use of Iraqi roads
vulnerable to bomb attacks. U.S. officials say the arrangement helps
reduce American casualties.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has "urged restraint" from Turkey
and sent two high-ranking officials to Ankara in an apparent attempt
to ease fury over the measure which could be voted on by the House by
the end of the year.
Buyukanit's remarks were published a day after a visit by Dan Fried,
assistant secretary of state for European affairs, and Eric Edelman,
who is the undersecretary of defense for policy.
"Secretary of State Rice Condoleezza Rice asked us before we came here
to express that the Bush administration is opposed to this
resolution," Edelman said Saturday.
At issue in the resolution is the killing of up to 1.5 million
Armenians by Ottoman Turks. Many international historians contend the
World War I-era deaths amounted to genocide, but Turkey says the mass
killings and deportations were not systematic and that many Turkish
Muslims died in the chaos of war.
The congressional resolution comes as the Turkish parliament debates
authorizing a military campaign into northern Iraq to root out rebels
who seek a unified, independent nation for Kurds in the region.
U.S. officials have urged Turkey not to send troops and appealed for a
diplomatic solution with Iraq. The Kurdish self-rule region in
northern Iraq is one of the country's few relatively stable areas and
the Kurds here are also a longtime U.S. ally.
A Kurdish rebel commander on Saturday said Turkey would face a long
and bloody conflict if it launched a large-scale offensive in northern
Iraq.
Speaking to The Associated Press deep in the Qandil mountains
straddling the Iraq-Turkish border, some 94 miles from the northern
Iraqi Kurdish city of Sulaimaniyah, Murat Karayilan, head of the armed
wing of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, warned that an eventual
Turkish incursion would "make Turkey experience a Vietnam war."
The PKK has been fighting for autonomy in southeast Turkey since 1984.
The conflict has claimed tens of thousands of lives. Turkey says the
rebels use Iraqi Kurdish territory as a safe haven. Iraqi and Kurdish
authorities reject the claim.
* __
Associated Press writer Yahya Barzanji in Iraq's Qandil Mountains
contributed to this report.
Source: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/wire /sns-ap-turkey-us,1,113172.story?coll=sns-ap-world -headlines&ctrack=1&cset=true