TURKISH ASSEMBLY APPROVES POSSIBLE IRAQ INCURSION
By Mark Bentley
Bloomberg
Oct 17 2007
Oct. 17 (Bloomberg) — Turkish legislators authorized the use of
military force against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq, a step that
may further damage Iraqi security and disrupt oil supplies.
The assembly in Turkey’s capital Ankara backed the motion by 507
votes to 19, Parliament Speaker Koksal Toptan told lawmakers today.
The measure allows Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to authorize
one or more military assaults within a year.
Erdogan is threatening to direct an attack against members of the
Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, saying U.S.-led forces failed to
control about 3,500 militants sheltered in Iraq’s north. The PKK has
fought a two-decade war of independence from Turkey at the cost of
almost 40,000 lives.
"The U.S. must realize the seriousness of this situation and Turkey’s
determination to root out terrorism," said lawmaker Sadullah Ergin,
speaking to parliament on behalf of Erdogan’s governing party. "Iraq
has become a stomping ground for terrorists."
The U.S. has urged Turkey to stay out of the oil-rich region,
a relatively calm area of the country, as American forces seek to
reduce violence between ethnic Shiite and Sunni Muslim militants in
other parts of Iraq.
President George W. Bush re-emphasized American efforts to persuade
Turkey to exercise restraint in dealing with Kurdish rebels launching
attacks from the mountainous border area in northern Iraq.
"We don’t think it’s in their interest to send more troops in,"
Bush told reporters in Washington today.
`Threats Not Useful’
Turkey, with the second-largest army in NATO, sent troops into northern
Iraq in pursuit of PKK militants several times in the decade before
the U.S.-led war to oust Saddam Hussein in 2003. It has halted such
assaults since the U.S.-led invasion, instead attacking PKK units as
they have entered Turkey.
The PKK is designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the
European Union.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki phoned Erdogan today to appeal
for more time to deal with the PKK, saying Iraqi forces could join the
Turkish army in a military operation against the group "if necessary,"
CNN Turk television reported.
"Threats are not useful," Barham Salih, the Kurdish Deputy Prime
Minister of Iraq said in London today. A Turkish raid "will
have serious implications for Iraq, Turkey and for our bilateral
relationships. It will not be helpful to anybody," he said at a news
conference at Chatham House, a London-based consultant that advises
European governments on foreign policy.
NATO Urges Calm
Turkey should seek to "remain calm" in the face of PKK attacks, North
Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer
told President Abdullah Gul in a telephone conversation today, CNN
Turk said.
"The Iraqi government should be given a chance to prevent cross-border
terrorist activities," Iraqi Vice-President Tareq al-Hashemi said in
Ankara after meeting with Erdogan.
Crude oil rose to a record $89 a barrel in New York after the
Turkish vote.
Crude for November delivery rose 87 cents, or 1 percent, to $88.48
a barrel at 11:24 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures
reached $89, the highest since the contract was introduced in 1983.
Prices are up 50 percent from a year ago. This is the seventh straight
daily gain.
"Oil supplies are very tight — Saudi Arabia can barely fill up any
capacity constraints from Iraq," said Fadi Hakura, an analyst at
Chatham House.
Kirkuk Pipeline
Iraq’s oil-rich city of Kirkuk is located about 100 miles (160
kilometers) from the border with Turkey. Iraq exports a portion of
its oil via a 600-mile (965 kilometer) pipeline stretching from Kirkuk
to Turkey’s Ceyhan port.
Erdogan’s government asked parliament to approve the incursion after
more than two dozen soldiers and civilians were killed over the past
two weeks in attacks blamed on the PKK.
Turkish companies started pulling workers out of northern Iraq ahead of
today’s vote in parliament and the rival Nationalist Action Party urged
Erdogan’s government to widen the attack on the PKK to include fighters
loyal to Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani, Vatan newspaper said.
Relations between the U.S. and Turkey, both NATO allies, worsened
last week after a U.S. House of Representatives committee passed
a resolution labeling the World War I-era killing of Armenians by
Ottoman Turks as genocide. Turkey withdrew its ambassador to Washington
in protest.
Pentagon Planning
The Pentagon is drafting plans for alternate supply routes into Iraq
in the event Turkey closes its airspace to the U.S. because of the
resolution, a senior military official told reporters yesterday.
The U.S. military is "looking at a broad range of options" it could
pursue if Turkey cuts air and ground access, said Lieutenant General
Carter Ham, the director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
according to the American Forces Press Service. "That is prudent
military planning."
Seventy percent of U.S. air cargo into Iraq goes through Turkey,
including almost all of the new vehicles containing heavy armor to
protect against roadside bombs, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said
Oct. 11.
A Turkish attack would put the U.S. in a difficult position, Ham
said. Turkey is a "highly valued NATO ally," though the U.S. is also
committed to Iraq’s sovereignty and its right to protect itself,
he added.