PanARMENIAN.Net
The Kurdish issue is Turkey’s problem number one
If invasion of Northern Iraq is not carried out, it will mean that
Redgep Erdoghan managed to ignore the Turkish General Stuff.
09.08.2007 GMT+04:00
The Turkish Parliamentary elections are over and during 45 days,
according to the Constitution, the Prime Minister Redgep Erdoghan must
form the Cabinet. `The plans of the winning Justice and Development
Party are rather prospective: having an income of $10 thousand per
head, continuing reforms on the country’s way to democracy, to take
measures for getting rid of ethnic nationalism,’ quotes newspaper
Hurriyet from the Prime Minister’s speech.
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ But the most important thing that Erdoghan must
decide as soon as possible is the Kurdish problem, and in this case he
may face opposition from General Stuff, whose aim has been invading
North Iraq for a long time. It should be reminded that Turkey has been
announcing about its readiness to carry on military operation in North
of Iraq, where according to the military men about 3.000 Kurdish
militants rest, if the Iraqi government and the US occupation forces
do not take effective measures against the separatists. In answer to
it the USA and Iraq spoke of inadmissibility of Turkish army’s
invasion of Northern Iraq and warned against the possible abrupt
destabilization of the situation in the region. Meanwhile the
representatives of Bush Administration together with the
representatives of Turkish government work on a secret military
operation plan for suppressing Kurdish separatists’ movement and
taking their leaders.
The US Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Eric Edelman held a
confidential briefing on this issue for a number of members of the US
Congress. Edelman informed them that the US will assist the Turkish
armed forces in neutralizing the leaders of the separatist Kurdistan
Workers Party. The representative of the Ministry of Defense assured
the legislators that he is quite certain in their success and in case
of need the special operation may be kept in secret or even denied. If
Iraq is not able to take measures against the terrorists from
Kurdistan Workers Party, Turkey could carry out an international
operation,’ writes Washington Post. At the same time the former US
Ambassador to Ankara Morton Abramowitz thinks that the situation on
the border is fraught with dangerous tension.
However the visit of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to Ankara
seems to have had some positive results. According to the Iraqi
official representative Ali al-Dabbaga, Kurdistan Workers Party is a
terrorist organization and Iraq is ready to cooperate with Turkey in
this matter. In fact this is what happened – Turkey and Iraq signed a
protocol about joint resistance to Kurdistan Workers Party in Northern
Iraq, at that Erdoghan said that Turkey doesn’t intend to upset the
territorial integrity of Iraq. `We give much importance to the
territorial integrity of Iraq and are for finding a peaceful
resolution to all its problems by the help of negotiations,’ said
Erdoghan. According to the document, the parties have agreed upon
accelerating the preparations of the agreement on cooperation in fight
against the international terrorism.
In its turn, Nuri al-Maliki once again confirmed that the Iraqi
authorities consider Kurdistan Workers Party terrorist
organization. `We agree with Turkey in the issue of fighting terrorism
and we are for close cooperation in this sphere,’ he said.
If invasion of Northern Iraq is not carried out, it will mean that
Redgep Erdoghan managed to ignore the Turkish General Stuff, which
plays a very, if not the most important role in Turkey’s home and
foreign policy. This role, by the way, is approved by the
Constitution, in spite of the `extenuating’ Article which was
suggested under the pressure of the EU, allowing the impeachment of
the government if it `acts against national interests of Turkey’. In
the new edition it is said that the General Stuff `may’ in case of
need. But the truth is though, that the military men are not likely to
pay any attention to such cosmetic improvements if necessary.
«PanARMENIAN.Net» analytical department