As far as I can tell kurds are being bribed with as much of Iraq as they can pacify. I think the long-term aim is for Turkish kurds to move into a 'welcoming' Iraq, there's a chance this is co-ordinated. Encouraging Kurds to see their future in Iraq and America as their protector against Turkey.
Turkey Says Troops Crossing Into Iraq, WTF is going on?
Devrim wrote:
jef costello wrote:
I think the long-term aim is for Turkish kurds to move into a 'welcoming' Iraq, there's a chance this is co-ordinated.Jef, I think that this is a bit improbable. There are about 20 million kurds in Turkey.
Devrim
Good point, I meant more the militant ones who could make much better territorial gains in Iraq. If there ever is a conflict with Iran they could stand to make massive gains there too.
I'm probably still being unrealistic.
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Encouraging Kurds to see their future in Iraq and America as their protector against Turkey.
I think there's the kernel of what's going on here. The US definately doesn't want to see the PKK or any other NLF group rise up to challenge them. To co-opt the Kurds into thier camp and in opposition to the NLF's might be a possible strategy of state building in Iraq.
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Iraq says sees no sign of incursion by Turkish army
Wed 6 Jun 2007 17:39:06 BST
(Updates with fresh quote, Rurkish official)BAGHDAD, June 6 (Reuters) - Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said on Wednesday there was no evidence that Turkish troops had crossed the Iraqi border to launch a military operation against Turkish rebels hiding in the mountains. http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/CrisesArticle.aspx?rpc=401&storyId=L06746666
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Turkey denies major incursion into N.Iraq
06 Jun 2007 21:00:28 GMT
Source: Reuters
ANKARA, June 6 (Reuters) - Turkey denied a report on Wednesday it had launched a major incursion into northern Iraq to crush Kurdish rebels, but a military source said troops had conducted a limited raid across the mountainous border.
The U.S. government has urged Ankara to be cautious, fearing conflict in what has been one of the most stable areas of Iraq.
Turkey's Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul told reporters: "There is no incursion into any other country at the moment."PKK military commander Bahouz Ardal said the reports had been planted to test public reaction to any such a move.
"These reports are a test balloon from the Turkish army ... to calm internal Turkish opinion, which is expecting a move against the PKK, and test the reaction of the United States, Iraq and Kurdish parties and the PKK," he said by telephone. http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L06930995.htm
This is the most recent information that I'm finding. Can this be a cover up and intentional disinformation, or is Bahouz Ardal correct that this is "a public test"?
This is bizarre! Truly bizarre!
This is some additional information: http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=113425
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An over-the-border operation’ but up to what point? (2)
by
Assoc. Prof. MELİH CAN*
The rising tension between Turkey and the US regarding a possible military operation by Ankara into northern Iraq, in concert with the stance adopted by Washington on this matter, is literally inviting Turkey to make an over-the-border move.No matter how often the US may assert that “Turkey should not use force in or try to enter northern Iraq,” the fact is, the new US strategy for the region, implemented according to its “Greater Middle East Project,” makes such a move by Turkey, along with all the developments that may accompany it, inevitable. What the US really wants is escape from the unsuccessful atmosphere in Iraq, as well as from the position it has fallen into with Iran, and it also wants to bring a new order to its relations with Turkey.
An interesting document that is mentioned here is "Greater Middle East Project". I'm unfamiliar with it, and will try to research it when I have time next week. Does anybody know anything about it?
Some further quotes of note:
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Turkey’s role in particular has played a part in this disappointment. For this reason, the US wants to see Turkey, which it now considers one of the main reasons for its lack of success in the region, punished. Thus the US aim in this sense is to create new instability and a new clash zone, this time using Turkey.
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The US, through new Turkish-Kurdish clashes, hopes to see:
1. Ethnic clashes and divisions in the region;
2. Competition and clashes throughout the region, but centered on northern Iraq;
3. A lightening of the responsibilities on US forces in Iraq, putting Turkey instead in the “invader” role, bringing Iraqi resistance fighters up against Turkish, rather than US, soldiers;
4. Iran, which lies between Turkey and the Shiite resistance fighters, enter into conflict with Turkey;
5. An elimination of the warmth felt for Turkey in the Sunni Islamic world, especially among Arabs;
6. A blow to the alliance created between Turkey-Syria-Iran which is based on opposition to the “Kurdish State”; 7. A distancing of Turkey from its independent policies, instead placing Turkey back on its own trajectory; and
8. The realization of a new “Turkey project” in accordance with Washington’s own plans.
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the fact is that flames in Turkey’s current domestic situation are being fanned, while certain factions do more than expected of them. In terms of the new US Middle East strategy, one of the most basic characteristics of this strategy is the emergence of new clash areas from North Africa to Palestine and from Lebanon to Afghanistan. The main goal of this new strategy is to see the Middle East broken into smaller pieces, and to strengthen American hegemony and Israeli security by ensuring smaller costs and fewer losses.All of which is why the US is trying to play out this new strategy over the national dynamics of the countries in the Middle East, aiming to achieve this new goal by bringing the countries in the region up against one another. This is an approach which has already begun, with clashes between different terrorist groups, clashes between states, and even clashes between domestic political rivals. To wit, we see the clashes taking place in Lebanon, the ongoing and heightening clashes between Hamas and El Fatah in Palestine, and even the recent provocation in Ankara.
With Turkey at the center of the new US strategy, it is joined also by countries like Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Pakistan and even Jordan. As far as the US is concerned, Turkey and Iran are the most difficult of these nations to deal with, as they both lie as barriers between the US and the regional authority, even the global leadership, it desires. The current situations in Turkey and Iran both have the potential to affect US aims over the middle and long term as far as both Russia and China are concerned.
I see that Can is illustrating the US strategy as a form of divide and conquer, and they reap the spoils.
I read some speculation that the Turkish incursion are efforts by the US to pressure Kurdistan over the city of Kirkuk, which is an immediately contentious issue over which many parties have declared that the finalization of oil laws is impossible until there is a resolution at Kirkuk. I think this may be one of the more important aspects of the Turkish intervention.
What's the news on this? Is this an escalation of the inter-imperialist rivalry between the EU, Russia, and the USA? Am I reading too much into this action, but what is going on with Turkey defying the USA and invading the only "stable" part of Iraq?
The contradiction here, as I see it, and I could be wrong, is that the USA may be brought in to defend the Kurds against Turkey, as they need the Kurds to maintain whatever state they have in Iraq. Anybody else have any ideas?