The Turkish Dilemma: To Meet Or Not To Meet
Question over meeting with Kurdish leaders raises
tension in Ankara
Turkish
Zaman Feb 24, 2007
The difference in
viewpoints between the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) administration
and the military over whether or not talks should occur between Turkey, the
leaders of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of
Kurdistan (PUK) has widened. The topic was on
the agenda at Friday’s National Security Council (MGK) meeting in Ankara, where
military leaders and top-level administration members shared their respective
opinions. However, because it isn’t anticipated the government and the military
will come to an agreement on the controversial subject, it appears that the
question of whether or not to meet with Kurdish leaders will dominate the
agenda in Ankara for some time to come.
Before the MGK meeting
Friday even took place Prime Minister Recep Erdogan’s statements about the
possibility of meeting with Kurdish leaders had already stirred up debate in
Turkey. Chief of General Staff Gen. Buyukanit, ( military in charge of foreign
policy of the terrorist state of Turkey) upon his return from a visit to the US,
underlined that he did not support the idea.
“At this point, the PKK’s
strongest supporters are the two groups in the north of Iraq (Southern
Kurdistan). We know this to be true, as they do too. I do not have the authority
to put permission on anyone’s own desires. As a soldier, I will not meet with
these leaders, but as to whom the politicians decide to meet that is their own
business, although I don’t know what anyone could sit down and talk about with
people who support the PKK.”
A response to Buyukanit came
from Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, who said, “As it is, the military speaks
with its weapons; before it comes to that there is work that needs to be done by
politicians.”
Current Iraqi President
Jalal Talabani, the former head of the PUK who has wanted to come to Ankara on
an official visit for a long time, has not been given a date to do so by Turkish
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer.
It would also appear that
shifting views on whether to engage Kurdish leaders have also occurred within
the military itself. At an Oct. 29 reception at the Cankaya Presidential Palace
in 2005, Gen. Hilmi Ozkok, at that time leader of the Turkish Armed Forces,
noted: “Barzani was a tribal leader; that’s how we viewed him. But the situation
has changed. We need to accept this change. We also saw Talabani that way, and
now he’s the Iraqi president. And one day soon he may want to visit Turkey as
the Iraqi president. How will we behave on that day? If we recognize Iraq’s
legitimacy, we have to behave according to the changing conditions there.” The
shift in stance between Ozkok and his successor is quite visible when looking at
these statements.
Emre Taner, undersecretary
of the Turkish National Intelligence Agency (MIT), had gone in late October of
2005 to the Iraqi city of Selahaddin to meet with Barzani. A few days after this
visit, Barzani left for an official trip to the US, flying over Turkish
airspace, and even stopping for a rest at the politically symbolic Incirlik Air
Base. On Oct. 28, 2005, Barzani was received at the White House by US President
George W. Bush.
With a chasm developing
between administration and military viewpoints on how to approach dialogue, or
whether to approach dialogue at all, with Kurdish leaders in northern Iraq
(Southern Kurdistan), Gen. Buyukanit arrived at Friday’s MGK meeting fully
prepared, with a detailed report proving the relations between Kurdish parties
and the PKK.
Among other things, the
report detailed a private agreement over the northern Iraqi (Kurdish) city of
Kirkuk made between the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the KDP and PUK parties.
The report also touched on ongoing talks between these political parties and the
PKK as well as Talabani and Barzani’s efforts to protect high-level PKK members
(notably Murat Karayilan). Included were details about the hospital care
Karayilan and other PKK members had received in the region thanks to the general
protection being offered them.
