KurdistanObserver.com
You Cannot Keep The Pressure On The Kurds By Making So Much
Noise
Ilnur Cevik
29 June 2007
The New Anatolian
ilnurcevik@yahoo.com
Turkish officials are playing domestic politics… Foreign
Minister Abdullah Gul has told CNN-Turk TV that he does not rule out an air
strike against the PKK hideouts in northern Iraq. He also says no one should
rule out the possibility that the Parliament can convene before the July 22
elections and give permission to the military to launch a cross border operation
into Iraq…
We like Abdullah Gul very much but unfortunately what he says is as remote a
possibility as him becoming a president in the future… What he is doing is an
amateurish way of trying to court the Turkish voters.
What is sad is that General Yasar Buyukanit, the powerful military leader of
Turkey, is also playing politics when he says a cross border operation is needed
and that it will be successful. He is actually sending messages to the Turkish
public inn a bid to undermine the government…
What Gul does not understand is that the outgoing Parliament will not convene so
easily from now on even for a national cause. We only have 23 left for the
elections so it would really be naïve to expect the Parliament to take a
decision for a cross border operation.
Hitting northern Iraq may well win the Justice and Development (AK) Party some
votes but that too would be an empty gesture because all we would be doing would
be to would be to satisfy our ego but little else. We would spend millions of
dollars to bomb some rugged mountain areas in northern Iraq (Southern Kurdistan)
while the PKK would simply flee to safety.
If Gul thinks he can bomb the whole of the Iraqi Kurdish mountains then of
course this is something else.
On the other hand Chief of Staff Gen. Buyukanit is also saying things which may
sound very strong to people but in essence are rather hallow.
He says we have to go into northern Iraq and adds he feels we will be
successful. However, then he says this will not finish off the PKK presence in
northern Iraq but will deal a severe blow to the terrorists…
Any operation with all its risks short of finishing off the PKK should be
unacceptable not only for the Turkish public but also for the military.
So it is really meaningless to do all this saber rattling for an empty cause. If
we really want to do something we should do it silently by hitting the PKK
through covert operations inside Iraq instead of making so much noise. Are we
capable of doing this? If not we could take some lessons form Israel…
You cannot keep the pressure on the Kurds by making so much noise.
