WHILE VOTING ON THE MOTION
By Cuneyt Ulsever

Turkish Press
Oct 17 2007

HURRIYET- A motion to give authorization for a cross-border operation
into northern Iraq will probably be voted on and passed by Parliament
today, and it will be valid for one year. This is the right decision,
and to a great extent Parliament will reach a consensus. But after
the decision is made, the government, opposition and the Turkish
Armed Forces (TSK) should think things through with cool heads.

Concerning the terrorist attacks of the PKK, all the politicians,
military and civilian bureaucrats and intellectuals have to answer
two questions and also consider a key fact about the Armenian
resolution which was passed last week by US House of Foreign Relations
Committee. Those questions are as follows:

1. Who in the PKK made the decision to launch the recent attacks? For
example, could convicted PKK head Abdullah Ocalan have given orders
from Imrali island, where he’s incarcerated?

2. Why have there been so many attacks of late?

Moreover, people should abandon their narrow point of view that if the
US administration had wanted, it could have prevented passage of the
Armenian resolution, for they should remember that the administration
no longer has a majority in the US Congress. In addition, they should
consider that Democrats will do anything to make the Republicans look
weak, especially in the runup to the presidential and congressional
US elections just over a year from now. Let’s go further and predict
that the Armenian resolution will be passed by Congress this winter,
barring unexpected developments, and President George W. Bush has no
authority to veto it. The answers to those questions and reflections
on the resolution should lead us to conclude as follows: The last
thing that the Bush administration would want at this time is tension
in relations with Turkey.

Let me say it another way: whoever is influencing the terrorist PKK,
they want Turkish-US relations to falter at a time when the US has
started to plan its withdrawal from Iraq and thus when it needs Turkey
more than ever. Some people know very well that if Turkey goes into
northern Iraq before the meeting of countries neighboring Iraq in
Istanbul at the end of this month, this could prevent Turkey from
playing a dominant role in Iraq and thus in the Middle East. The same
people would be very glad if Turkey, bitterly disappointed by both
the European Union and the US, grew completely introverted.

As it doesn’t want to lose Turkey, the US administration should accept
these two points:

1. The US has messed up everything in northern Iraq, because not only
the Shiite and Sunni regions, but also northern Iraq is helpless.

2. The US has no right to ask Turkey to be patient. If the US doesn’t
want to be at odds with Turkey over northern Iraq, it should take joint
action with the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) against the terrorist PKK
in northern Iraq, and this action should have direct, concrete results.

Now it’s too late for more words. No ruling party in Turkey – even
if it came to power not with 47% of the votes, but 97% – could ask
the nation to be patient and wait yet again for the US to take action.

Washington has no right to ask anything of Ankara. What’s more, the
US administration should see that the latest PKK attacks were meant to
ruin US plans in Iraq. If Turkey is supposed to help the US get out of
the Iraqi quagmire, the US has to help Turkey get out of the PKK mess."

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress