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SOURCES: GlobalSecurity.org; CIA; ESRI /AP |
Turkey's raids against Kurdish rebels unsettle Iraq
Turkish soldiers crossed the border Tuesday into northern Iraq in the latest strike against Kurdish rebels.
from the December 19, 2007 edition
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President Abdullah Gul said Tuesday that Turkey's aims were limited to attacking the PKK: "There are no other goals. Iraq is Turkey's neighbor and we want to save the Iraqis from this trouble of terror."
The Turkish General Staff denied Iraqi Kurdish claims of civilian casualties, saying in a statement about the Sunday airstrikes that "targets were determined after a meticulous assessment and they were not in areas inhabited by civilians. Claims that civilians were killed serve the PKK."
The recent attacks struck a raw nerve in northern Iraq. Thousands have demonstrated in recent months against Turkish military actions and accused Ankara of wanting to occupy Kurdish lands.
"Turkish troops committed an atrocious crime against innocent civilians and violated Iraq's sovereignty," said KRG President Massoud Barzani, whom Turkish generals accuse of harboring the PKK. Mr. Barzani, who refused to meet Rice on her visit to Iraq, said the US should fulfill its "moral and legal commitment to protect the country's sovereignty and defend the Iraqi people."
The scale of the Turkish incursions could further undermine any political deal-making between Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Shiite led-government and minority Sunni factions, and exacerbate hostilities between Iraqi Kurds and the central government in Baghdad.
Already, tensions are high over disagreements about the proposed oil law and contracts the Kurdish government signed with foreign oil companies.
"There is a feeling among a lot of Kurds that the Maliki government is ready to give the Turks all the help they need to bomb locations in Kurdistan," says Sarkot Hama, a human rights activist reached by phone in the northern Iraqi city of Sulamaniyah.
He says anger is growing over the widespread belief that civilians – and not PKK fighters – were targeted by Turkey. "The general consensus is that the Maliki government could care less about the feelings and interests of Kurds," says Mr. Hama.
In the northern Iraqi city of Arbil, magazine editor Nawzad Bolous predicts that tensions will rise: "The feeling on the street is that we must not just sit back idly while this is taking place. There is anger towards US forces. People feel they gave the green light to the Turks to bomb."
Both Iraqi and US officials are urging Kurdish restraint.
"I don't think it matters if it is 300 or 30,000 Turkish troops involved in a cross-border operation that is accompanied by airstrikes; it has the same effect," says Mr. Phillips. "It will radicalize the Turkish Kurds and drive a huge wedge between the KRG and Turkey, making future cooperation impossible.
"The missing link in [Prime Minister] Erdogan's approach is his failure to reach out to [KRG President] Barzani and make Barzani a partner in solving the PKK problem."
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees said Tuesday that 300 families had been forced to flee the weekend shelling of 10 villages. "Winter conditions have set in and living conditions are very harsh," the UNHCR said in a statement from Geneva Monday.
• Some material from the Associated Press was used in this report.1 | Page 2
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