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| A military truck carries a tank toward the Turkish-Iraqi border. Turkey says it is may need to go into Iraq to attack a Kurdish
militant group that recently killed 30 Turkish soldiers and civilians. Burhan Ozbilici/AP |
Turkish ire may affect Iraq war
Congressional committee this week said Turkey was guilty of 'genocide' against Armenians.
from the October 12, 2007 edition
Page 2 of 3
Turkish troops into Iraq?
This week Turkish units have begun deploying along the border, as the Turkish media speaks of a possible incursion of 15,000 soldiers and even creation of a buffer zone 10 to 20 miles deep inside Iraq.
But Turkey has been here before, during an estimated 24 previous cross-border operations against the PKK in the 1980s and 1990s. The two largest took place in 1995 and 1997, the latter with 50,000 troops, but the PKK remained.
The Turkish military is "very well aware of the pros and cons of a cross-border operation into northern Iraq, and everybody knows it wouldn't be an easy task to step there because you could have some losses, you could have some terrible results – you never know," says Metehan Demir, a military specialist in Ankara with the Sabah newspaper.
"When you go there, you will not only be facing the PKK. You don't know what the peshmerga [Iraqi Kurdish militias] will do; you don't know how the Americans will contribute to the peshmerga or PKK behind the scenes," says Mr. Demir. "These are real concerns in the Turkish capital."
A mechanism created in August 2006 to defuse a crisis and prevent a Turkish incursion has brought few results.
President Bush appointed retired Gen. Joseph Ralston, a former NATO supreme allied commander, to be his envoy to counter the PKK. But his mission has been fraught with frustration and his resignation was confirmed this week.
General Ralston's Turkish counterpart was fired several months ago after making comments critical of the US, and in tough words published this week, he said anyone who did not help Turkey fight terror was also guilty.
Effects of US 'genocide' bill
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