US TRIES TO STOP TURK INCURSION OF IRAQ
By Matthew Lee
Associated Press
Monday October 22, 2007 8:16 PM
WASHINGTON (AP) – The United States has opened a "diplomatic full
court press" to keep Turkey from invading northern Iraq, an incursion
that could further destabilize Iraq and the region.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other U.S. officials implored
Turkish and Iraqi leaders to work together to counter the threat from
the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the State Department
said on Monday as Turkish troops headed toward the border.
Tensions soared after a weekend ambush by rebel Kurds killed 12
Turkish soldiers and left eight missing. Word from Iraqi President
Jalal Talabani’s office that the PKK would announce a cease-fire was
met in Washington with little enthusiasm. Officials cautioned that
a temporary truce would not resolve Turkey’s long-standing concerns
about the group, which the U.S. designates as a terrorist organization.
As part of the diplomatic offensive, Rice called Turkish Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the leader of Iraq’s Kurdish region, Massoud
Barzani, on Sunday to press the U.S. case for restraint from Turkey and
action from Iraq against the Kurdish militants, department spokesman
Sean McCormack said.
He said Washington would not object to the Iraqi government pressing
the PKK for a truce but stressed that "any sort of actions that they
may take cooperatively with the Turkish government or on their own
to prevent terrorist attacks should in no way prejudice the long-term
solution, that is to get rid of the PKK."
At the same time, Rice told Erdogan that "we do not believe unilateral
cross-border operations are the best way to address this issue,"
according to McCormack.
"In our view, there are better ways to deal with this issue," he said,
stressing the U.S. regards the PKK as a terrorist organization. "We
think the best way to do this – and that is to address the PKK threat –
is for the Turks and the Iraqis to work together to mitigate it and
eliminate it."
Rice also told Barzani that Iraqi authorities needed to take action
against the PKK either on their own or with the Turks, McCormack said.
As Rice was speaking to Erdogan and Barzani, the U.S. Ambassador
to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, was making similar points in Baghdad with
Talabani – himself a Kurd – who ordered the PKK to lay down their
arms or leave Iraq, and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite.
McCormack said he expected the White House, possibly President Bush,
to follow up the Rice and Crocker conversations with Turkish and
Iraqi officials.
"From our perspective this is a diplomatic full-court press," he said.
"We want to see an outcome where you have the Turks and the Iraqis
working together and we will do what we can to resolve the issue
without a Turkish cross-border incursion."
However, he acknowledged that U.S. influence with NATO ally Turkey
was limited, particularly after a House committee passed a resolution
describing the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Armenians during
the waning days of the Ottoman Empire as a "genocide," infuriating
Ankara, which has threatened repercussions.
"It makes it harder," McCormack said, referring to the resolution.
Speaking in Ukraine, Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Sunday said a
major Turkish incursion into northern Iraq would hurt the U.S. effort
against the insurgency in Iraq and would further complicate the
administration’s efforts to persuade the full Congress not to pass
the Armenia genocide resolution.
Erdogan said he had told Rice in their conversation that Turkey
expected "speedy steps from the U.S." in cracking down on Kurdish
rebels and that Rice had asked "for a few days" from him.
McCormack declined to comment on what Rice had meant by asking for
"a few days."
Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said his country will pursue
diplomacy before it sends troops across the rugged frontier.
Sunday’s ambush outraged an already frustrated Turkish public and
demonstrations erupted across the country while opposition leaders
called for an immediate strike against rebel bases in Iraq, despite
appeals for restraint from Iraq, the U.S. and European leaders.
It occurred four days after the Turkish Parliament authorized the
government to deploy troops across the border in Iraq, amid growing
anger in Turkey at perceived U.S. and Iraqi failure to live up to
pledges to crack down on the PKK.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
