THE THUNDER OF TURKISH WAR DRUMS
Foreign Correspondent, Canada
Oct 29 2007
The current crisis between Turkey and the Kurds has been building
up for decades. In recent weeks, Turkish-Kurdish tensions burst into
flames. Marxist-nationalist PKK guerillas fighting for an independent
nation for Turkey’s 20 million or so Kurds killed a score of Turkish
soldiers and captured eight. Hundreds more Turkish soldiers have
been killed in eastern Anatolia by increasingly effective Kurdish
fighters known as `pesh-merga,’ who have been receiving more and
better weapons from fellow Iraqi Kurds. Fiercely nationalist Turks
demand their armed forces invade Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish mini-state
to destroy PKK bases. The Turks have massed 100,000 troops and armor
on their mountainous border with Iraq.
Limited Turkish air attacks and ground probes inside Iraq began last
week. A decade ago, I covered the brutal guerilla war in the hills
of bleak, windswept Eastern Anatolia between Kurdish PKK guerillas
(Turks brand them `terrorists’) and the Turkish Army. At the time,
the world ignored this ugly conflict in which 35,000 people had by
then died. I came away torn by sympathy for both sides in this tragic
conflict. No one should be surprised by this crisis. Critics long
warned the US invasion of Iraq would inevitably release the genii of
Kurdish nationalism. Creation of a virtually independent, US-backed
Kurdish state in northern Iraq was certain to provoke a violent
reaction by Turkey. Ankara has warned for a decade it would never
tolerate creation of an independent Kurdish state in northern Iraq
which it fears would quickly spark demands by Turkey’s restive Kurds
for their own state. Washington has been piously urging `restraint’
on Turkey, a key US-ally. By contrast, after two Israeli soldiers were
captured last year in a routine border clash with Hezbullah guerillas,
the White House gave Israel a green light to bomb and invade Lebanon,
killing over 1,100 civilians and caused $4 billion of damage. This
crisis is a huge mess for all concerned. Turkey provides 70% of
air-delivered supplies to US forces in Iraq and allows US military
aircraft to use its airspace. Turkey also quietly allows Israel certain
overflight rights, which may eventually include the right to launch
an air blitz against Iran through Turkish air space.
Israel’s recent air attack on a mysterious Syrian building was
flown over Turkish territory. Turkey’s military approved the Israeli
overflight; its civilian government knew nothing about the attack
until afterwards. Meanwhile, anti-Americanism is peaking in Turkey.
Turkey’s powerful army and civilian government make conflicting
policies. Turkey’s popular democratic government wants no part of
America’s war in Iraq and is loathe to attack Iraq, fearing getting
embroiled in the US-created debacle. But Turkey’s powerful military
establishment, a state within the state with very close links to the
Pentagon and Israel, is pressing for an invasion of Iraq. Iraq’s Kurds,
America’s only ally in that strife-torn nation, discreetly back the
PKK, and are working for fully independent Kurdish state.
The Kurdish mini-state in northern Iraq is already de facto
independent, with its own government, finances, army, and flag. The
feeble US-installed regime in Baghdad has almost no influence over
the Kurds, even though its president, Jalal Talabani, is also one of
the two senior Kurdish leaders. Turkey’s government must respond to
surging public outrage, but fears major military action in Iraq will
foreclose its hopes of getting into the European Union, and put it
on a collision course with the US in Iraq. Interestingly, US forces
in Iraq have turned a blind eye to the PKK’s operations there and
to its cross-border attacks into Turkey. Israel, which has its eye
on Mesopotamia’s oil, is secretly backing Iraq’s Kurdish mini-state
and hopes one day to build an oil pipeline from Iraqi Kurdistan
to Haifa, either via Jordan or through a splintered Syria – which
is also high on Israel’s hit list. But Israel is also a close ally
of Turkey’s right-wing generals who hate Kurds as much as their own
democratic government led by able PM Recep Erdogan. The Israelis are
thus caught in the middle of the Turkish-Kurdish conflict, just as
they were recently during the bitter dispute between Turkey and the
Armenians. A new danger looms. The US invasion devastated Iraq and
effectively split into three pieces – fulfilling the first step in
Israel’s grand strategy of fragmenting Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria.
Iraq’s Mosul oil region, which formerly belonged to the Ottoman
Empire, is a mere 119 kms from Turkey’s border. Kirkuk is only a bit
further. After World War I, the British Empire grabbed this oil-rich
region, cobbling together the unnatural state of Iraq to safeguard
the oil. If Iraq slides further into the abyss, Turkey and Iran
may partition Iraq. Today, Turkey has no oil. Its fragile economy
is hammered by having to earn US dollars to buy oil. But if Turkey
repossessed Iraq’s northern oil fields, this nation of 70 million
with 515,000 men at arms would become an important power that would
reassert traditional Turkish influence in the Mideast, Balkans,
Caucasus, and Central Asia. `Pan-Turanism,’ the idea of spreading
Turkish influence from its eastern border across the Turkic lands of
Central Asia to the Great Wall of China remains dear to the hearts of
many Turkish nationalists and far rightists. Iraq’s huge oil reserves
are a big temptation Ankara cannot ignore. After all, if the US can
invade Iraq for oil, why not neighboring, ex-owner Turkey?
Meanwhile, Washington mutters about launching attacks on PKK, which it
also brands `terrorists.’ But with the glaring double standards typical
of US Mideast policy, Washington closes its eyes – and may be secretly
arming- Iraqi Kurds who are attacking Iran. Turkey insists it is
fighting `terrorism’ and has every right to strike into Iraq to protect
its national security – one of President George Bush’s justifications
for invading Iraq. This Kurdish fracas comes just as Vice President
Dick Cheney and President George W. Bush are fanning hysteria over
Iran and threatening war. Their latest claim: Iran `might’ have nuclear
knowledge, so is a world danger. Welcome to Washington’s new bogeyman:
`thoughts of mass destruction(tmd’s).’ Throw in the growing crisis
in key US ally Pakistan, and we face one unholy mess.
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