The New Anatolian, Turkey
Jan 29 2007
Turkish army’s and govt’s Washington visit and balances
Cem Sey29 January 2007
Next week Washington will witness a wave of high level visitors from
Turkey. Both Yaşar Büyükanıt, the Chief of the General
Staff, and Abdullah Gül, the Foreign Minister, will be in Washington.
At the same time there are several problems on the agenda of both
countries. Most of them defined from the view of Ankara: Kurdistan
Workers’ Party (PKK) in Northern Irak, Kirkuk and the Armenian
problem.
In Turkey there may be clarity on these questions. At least the
public majority seem to share the same ideas in these areas:
`PKK has to be eliminated militarily, Kirkuk should never be part of
a Kurdish entity, and the US Congress shouldn’t pass any resolutions
claiming there has been genocide against the Armenians.’ This may be
the summary of these `clear’ ideas in the Turkish public.
Seen from outside none of these `clear ideas’ seem so clear.
Americans -and even the Europeans- understand that the existence of
PKK just behind the border is disturbing Turkey. The Americans have
in Irak other problems to deal with though and don’t need more of
them. This dilemma binds their hands in terms of military action
against the PKK. Not only that they cannot fight the PKK, but they
also are not able to tolerate any Turkish military operation, because
their only real ally in Irak are the Kurds. The Kurds in Irak are
very suspicious about any Turkish military actions on their soil.
Probably therefore the US diplomacy tries to bring Turkish and
Kurdish officials together to work out this problem. Which in turn is
seen in Ankara as a delaying tactic?
Kirkuk is definitely an Iraqi city. Therefore Turkey is not really in
a position to influence the decisions and it seems to almost
everybody in the world normal, that this question should be dealt
with, as it is foreseen in the Iraqi constitution. The US would
listen to Turkey. Even the Iraqis could listen, what Ankara has to
say about Kirkuk. But nobody believes that Turkey could and should do
more than telling its opinion. But Turkey says in fact nothing.
Ankara is just warning or sometimes even threatening. What Turkey
wants in Kirkuk to happen, is -at least for the public- not clear.
The Armenian question is only in Turkey a question. Every where else
not only the politicians but also the public believe that there has
been a genocide against Armenians in Anatolia. This is not new and
will not change in the future. Even if some day a historian committee
assembles the result will not really be different. Therefore outside
Turkey not condemning the genocide is seen as a big courtesy to
Turkey, which is becoming disturbing over time.
So one can say that nobody really understands what Turkey wants.
In all of these problems Turkey can and has to take some steps
forward to change the political climate in which it operates.
Further reforms to ease future steps in the PKK issue -like preparing
a sincere amnesty for PKK members and cutting down the 10 percent
hurdle in the election laws, and so allowing the political entities
preferred by the Kurdish part of the population to enter the Turkish
parliament- would change the mood of all other parties involved.
Turkey very often states that it has severe national interests in
Kirkuk. This phrase alone doesn’t persuade anybody to think about
other steps than applying the Iraqi constitution. If Ankara wants to
stop these developments, it has to explain, what these interests are
and has to find any other logical reason than stopping the emergence
of a Kurdish political entity in the region.
And in the Armenian question Turkey has to move forward again.
Pragmatic politicians and diplomats know that you have to talk to
your foes to solve the problems you have with them. Thus, Turkey has
to begin talks with Yerevan to open the border. It is the negotiation
table, where you mention your conditions. If Turkey can bring itself
to take this step, then the international community will be truly
shocked. Because nobody believes that Turkey can talk to Armenians.
Everybody believes it is the denial policy, what prevents Turkey
negotiating with its difficult neighbor.
Next week Gül and Büyükanıt will not be able to change anything
seriously unless they have some kind of pragmatic approaches to
present. I doubt it very much.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
