US Turkey ties face crisis over PKK in northern Iraq

As Juan Cole mentions on his blog. This could become another front in the Iraq war. The US has turned over security to the Kurds in the area as if washing its hands of the issue. THere are reports that Iran is shelling some areas as well since Kurdish rebels use border areas as a base to attack inside Iran. I wonder if the US black ops are actually supporting that.


US ties face second crisis over Iraq
Military-to-military and political ties between NATO allies Turkey and the US reached a historic low level on March 1, 2003, when the Turkish Parliament rejected a motion to allow US troops to launch a second front from Turkish soil during the US invasion of Iraq.




Since then, relations between the two militaries in particular have witnessed normalization, even if they are not yet completely back on track.

But the increased potential for the Turkish military to invade northern Iraq to crush Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) terrorists has restarted the infliction of serious damage on Turkish-US military ties, say well-informed Western sources.

A Turkish invasion of northern Iraq, the only quiet part of a country in which US-led coalition forces have been engaged to halt fierce sectarian violence, would mean for Turkey, in the words of a Western military analyst, "Goodbye to the US and to the EU, which Turkey seeks to become a member of, as well as goodbye to billions of dollars coming into Turkey helping the recovery of its fragile economy."

Senior US sources are quoted by Western military analysts as saying that Turkish-US ties have been going through a dangerous and sensitive time as the Turkish military has created the potential to invade northern Iraq. On June 3 US Defense Secretary Robert Gates cautioned Turkey against sending troops into northern Iraq, as it has threatened, to hunt PKK terrorists.

According to Western military sources, with the Turkish military's possible invasion of northern Iraq, Turkish-US relations have been going through one of the worst times of their history, with such an invasion constituting the biggest threat to furthering instability in Iraq in particular and in the Middle East as a whole. The same sources quoted senior US officials as believing that the military is hiding behind the government by urging it to make a political decision for the invasion. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, meanwhile, says that if a written request is made by the military, Parliament would consider it.

The politicians, preparing for early general elections on July 22, do not seem keen to allow the military to invade northern Iraq, believing such a move would create serious turmoil for the region -- triggering Iran and Syria to follow suit -- for Turkey's relative stability. A statement made by Chief of General Staff Gen. Yaşar Büyakanıt on Thursday during a reception at the Finnish Embassy, saying that the "the Turkish soldier is not a neighborhood bully. There is need for a political directive [for a cross-border operation]," has at least signaled that the military will not invade northern Iraq without permission.

Büyükanıt made those remarks upon questions over the latest press reports that the Turkish military had entered northern Iraq to prevent PKK terrorists from infiltrating Turkey from safe havens located in the neighboring country. The invasion reports were denied by Turkey, the US and the Iraqi Kurds.

Soon after his remarks during the Finnish Armed Forces Day, the General Staff released a statement on its Web site, at midnight on Thursday, vowing to give the necessary response to PKK terrorists, hours after the terror organization detonated a roadside bomb in southeastern Turkey, killing three Turkish soldiers and injuring six other people.

The attack on Thursday evening occurred in an area that the Turkish military had declared a “temporary security zone” amid concern that it might stage a large incursion into Iraq to pursue PKK terrorists.

The General Staff statement also called on the nation to show its reaction. There was the “expectation [on the part] of the Turkish Armed Forces that the Turkish nation will show its mass reaction to resist in the face of these terrorist actions.”

The military said the country’s national and unitary structure was in danger and that escalating attacks have shown the real aim of the “separatist and racist terrorist organization.”

Meanwhile, a Turkish invasion of northern Iraq, stated the Western military analysts, may lead to the official declaration of a Kurdish state in northern Iraq, something that Turkey is adamantly against.

During a visit to Greece in April of this year Gen. Büyükanıt, in response to a question, stated that it was impossible for them to accept a new state established on its doorstep.

Psychological warfare

As a Turkish invasion in northern Iraq is possible, part of the TSK’s reactions, which included building up forces on the Iraqi border coupled with statements saying that military intervention is an option to stop the PKK terrorist infiltration into the country, has been a psychological war the military has launched, recalled a retired Turkish general.

“I believe that Turkey can only solve the PKK problem inside Turkey by also addressing the region’s economic and social problems. The military has been pursing a policy of escalation by exerting pressure on the US (to do something against the PKK in northern Iraq), on the Kurds and on the government. It may not in the end use force through the invasion of Iraq but could succeed in persuading the Kurds and the US in particular to do something against the PKK, such as cutting off logistics in the region,” said the same source.

Through the psychological warfare, the TSK also wanted to retain their favor with the public, the majority of whom believes, albeit wrongly, that an invasion of northern Iraq will reduce considerably the PKK threat.

Hot pursuit and buffer zone

Though Turkey, the US and Iraqi Kurdish leaders denied a major invasion into northern Iraq by the Turkish military, sources in the region told Today’s Zaman that hot pursuit operations, with around 10 Turkish soldiers in each case, have been taking place on-and-off inside northern Iraq in about a 15 to 20-kilometer zone.

This is coupled with mortar shelling by the Turkish soldiers inside northern Iraq from within Turkey.

Over speculation that the Turkish military may set up a buffer zone inside northern Iraq in areas bordering Turkey, Western sources stated that the US in particular would not allow Turkey to do that as it would be similar to an invasion of a sovereign state.

Some Turkish officials have said that if troops stage a major incursion into Iraq, they might set up a buffer zone in Iraq to try to stop terrorist infiltration.