TURKEY SHOULD NOT ADD FUEL TO THE FIRE

Gulf News, United Arab Emirates
Oct 15 2007

Hot heads in Ankara need to cool down. They could very well be on
to another regional conflict whilst another ugly one has yet to
be sorted out. Turkish troops continue shelling Iraqi border areas
where Turkish Kurd rebels have reportedly set up bases. The Turkish
government is also seeking a parliamentary approval for a military
incursion into northern Iraq, where an estimated 3,500 rebels of the
separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) are based.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said political pressure,
mainly from close ally the United States, would not deter Ankara from
sending troops into northern Iraq as he believes Turkey has no other
option to resolving the issue militarily because neither Washington
nor Baghdad are helping out.

Turkey has not bothered to explore "other options" and will shoot
itself in the foot if it continues to pursue a military solution.

Ankara should remember that none of its military offensives over
the past decade in Iraq has succeeded in eliminating the rebels. Why
would another one be any different?

On the contrary, the political efforts being invested by the Turkish
government in the past three years to win the hearts and minds of
its Kurdish minority in the southeast will be doomed if the military
campaign becomes again "the" option to resolve a complicated issue.

The Iraqi government is facing its first real test of regional politics
in the post-Saddam era. It walks a fine line as its foreign policy
is mostly defined by the US. The perplexity stems from the fact there
was no significant provocation from the PKK to the national security
of Turkey. The odds are that Ankara is using the Kurdish issue to hit
back at its Nato ally for the recent vote by Congress to recognise
the genocide of Armenians in the early 20th century. And Iraq is being
used again to settle regional scores. And that is dangerous for both
Turkey and its Arab neighbour.