FORMER AMBASSADOR URGES US TO MULL AIR STRIKES ON PKK

Umit ENGÝNSOY
WASHINGTON – Turkish Daily News
July 26 2007

Armenian genocide bill, Iraq, Iran top troubles risking US-Turkish
ties, Abramowitz says Morton Abramowitz, a former U.S. ambassador
to Ankara, urged the United States to consider air strikes against
the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party’s (PKK) targets in northern
Iraq as a last resort to put an end to the group’s presence inside
Iraqi territory.

In an interview with the Turkish Daily News, Abramowitz qualified the
PKK threat emanating from northern Iraq as one top problem facing the
U.S.-Turkish relationship in the wake of Turkey’s general elections
last weekend, which gave another five-year mandate to Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdoðan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP).

More than 100 people have been killed in Turkey in PKK attacks since
the spring. Ankara’s repeated calls on the United States and Iraq
to act decisively against the PKK have so far produced no visible
results, prompting warnings that the Turkish military might resort
to unilateral military action inside Iraqi territory.

Turkey’s military and diplomats also accuse Iraqi Kurds of providing
the PKK with safe haven, arms and logistics.

Abramowitz, presently a senior fellow at the think tank Century
Foundation, called on Washington to tell Iraqi Kurds to limit the
PKK’s activities or capture some of its leaders and cooperate with
Ankara to prevent the terrorists’ infiltration into Turkey.

"If this doesn’t happen, the United States should consider using its
air power to help destroy the PKK and its infrastructure in Iraq,"
he said.

But he said the U.S. government was not acting with a single voice
and that there might be major differences within the U.S. military.

Iraqi Kurds should act:

In any case Abramowitz, who was the United States ambassador to
Ankara during the 1991 Persian Gulf war, became the first former
senior U.S. official to urge Washington to mull military action
against the PKK.

But his motive is differs from nationalist groups in Turkey who also
advocate military measures to fight the PKK.

Abramowitz believes the Kurdish region in northern Iraq is a success
story, which should continue to live. He urges Iraqi Kurdish leaders,
and particularly Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdish regional
government, to engage in much-needed good relations with Turkey.

"The U.S. government must convince Barzani that even though his people
sympathize with the PKK’s cause, cracking down on the PKK is in Iraqi
Kurdish interests," Abramowitz also said in an article on the Web site
of Foreign Policy magazine. " ‘Iraqi Kurdistan’ may be booming now,
but its economic and political success is at risk if Turkey takes
military action."

He told the TDN that he does not "absolve" Turkey’s Kurdish policies,
which he believes are not bright.

Abramowitz says Turkey should decide how to deal with Iraqi Kurds
other than to ignore their political existence, and more importantly,
review its policies about its own Kurdish problem.

More troubles ahead:

Mark Parris and Marc Grossman, two other former U.S. ambassadors to
Ankara, also told the TDN this week that the United States should
take decisive action against the PKK without further delay.

Matt Bryza, deputy assistant secretary of state for European and
Eurasian affairs, said here Monday that there was "a shift of mood
in Washington" on the PKK matter, implying that the U.S. would soon
take new measures. But he did not elaborate.

Abramowitz said the most urgent issue threatening U.S.-Turkish ties was
a resolution pending in the House of Representatives, which calls for
the recognition of World War I-era Armenian killings in the Ottoman
Empire as genocide. He said the bill was very likely to pass in the
House floor after Congress August recess.

He said the relationship could also suffer more damage because of
differences on Iran, which the United States accuses of seeking to
obtain nuclear weapons.

Abramowitz warned that a recent preliminary agreement signed by Turkey
and Iran on natural gas cooperation, if it went forward, might prompt
U.S. sanctions on Ankara.

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