Turkey's top military
commander has vowed to forcefully counter any attempts at the division of
Turkey. "As long as the dynamic forces exist, those who dream of dividing
Turkey will wake up to a nightmare," Büyükanıt told a meeting of Turks
living in the United States during a visit.
"They will get their lesson. We must have
faith in this. No one can dare to divide Turkey." Büyükanıt did not name any
specific sources threatening the division of Turkey but his comments were
interpreted as targeting the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and
Iraqi Kurds. The PKK has bases in the mountains of northern Iraq and Turkey
is pressing the United States and Iraq to take measures to deal with the
problem.
The government has recently intensified it
rhetoric, saying Turkey might consider a cross-border operation into Iraq if
its demands for action against the PKK go unheeded.
Ankara is also worried about the fate of
Kirkuk, the disputed oil-rich city in northern Iraq which is home to an
ethnically-mixed population of Turkmens, Kurds and Arabs. Turkish officials
say a referendum on status of the city, slated for the end of this year,
should be postponed because Kurds have migrated to the city over the past
few years in what Ankara sees as a systematic effort to change the
demographic structure of Kirkuk ahead of the vote.
Büyükanıt said the problems of the PKK
presence in Iraq and the issue of protecting Iraq’s territorial integrity
were interrelated. He added Turkey should go ahead with a “consistent and
future-looking” policy while it deals with those problems.
The top military commander was expected to
raise Turkey’s concerns with the situation in Iraq in talks with US Vice
President Dick Cheney and Stephen Hadley, the national security advisor for
President George W. Bush.
Büyükanıt’s visit to the United States
comes just days after Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül voiced Turkish concerns
during a week-long visit. The United States has appointed a special envoy in
charge of coordinating US efforts to counter the PKK threat, but Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan expressed unease about the measure, saying it
has not produced visible outcomes.
Serious threats
In a speech frequently interrupted by cheers, Büyükanıt also reiterated that
Turkey was faced with serious problems and threats stemming from instability
in its region, citing the volatile situation in Iraq, the Caucasus and
Cyprus.
“As I said before, the Republic of Turkey
has never faced threats, risks and difficulties of this magnitude since
1923,” the date of the republic’s founding, said Büyükanıt. “Turkey has
never had that many problems at the same time since its founding.”
He urged the nation not to lose faith. “We
have fears that we need to overcome. Who can divide Turkey?” he said.
He also said Turkish democracy and
secularism would remain intact. “Turkey is a democratic, secular and unified
state. There is and will be no power that can change this.”
Büyükanıt is also expected to raise the
issue of an Armenian resolution in the US Congress in his talks with US
officials. The House of Representatives is expected to vote on the
resolution soon which urges the US administration to recognize Armenian
genocide claims.
He said the resolution saddened Turkey but
added that he would not start a “polemic” by pledging retaliation. “We as
the Turkish Armed Forces do not talk like that. We work together with the
United States,” he said. “But I believe the citizens of the United States
would avoid moves that would hurt Turkey.”
