Turkey Can't Beat
PKK Rebels in Iraqi Kurdistan by Acting Alone, U.S. Says
By Ed Johnson and Mark Bentley
Oct. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Turkey's military can't crush Kurdish militants by acting
alone and must cooperate with Iraq and the U.S., the State Department said, as
the parliament in Ankara prepared to vote today on authorizing a raid into
northern Iraq.
"The only result of a unilateral action will probably be to allow the PKK to
continue to operate,'' spokesman Tom Casey told reporters in Washington
yesterday. "The way to really make progress in the fight against PKK terrorism
is for there to be cooperative action.''
Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi held emergency talks with Erdogan
yesterday in the Turkish capital, Ankara, and called for greater diplomatic
efforts to address the issue.
Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh warned that unilateral action by
Turkey could have "very grave consequences,'' the British Broadcasting Corp.
reported on its Web site.
"If Turkey as a neighbor of Iraq allows itself the right to intervene militarily
in Iraq, what is there to prevent other neighbors from intervening,'' the BBC
cited him as saying in an interview yesterday.
Turkish Raids
Turkey, with the second-largest army in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization,
sent troops into northern Iraq in pursuit of PKK rebels several times in the
decade before the U.S.-led war to oust Saddam Hussein in 2003. It has stopped
short of an incursion since the U.S.-led invasion, instead attacking PKK units
as they have entered Turkey.
There is a "common will'' among lawmakers to sanction an incursion, Erdogan said
yesterday. Parliament will convene at 3 p.m. today for the vote.
Crude oil rose above $88 a barrel for the first time in New York yesterday on
concerns a Turkish attack may disrupt shipments. Iraq has the world's
third-largest oil reserves.
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.
House Vote
At least nine U.S. lawmakers have since withdrawn their support for the
resolution. A separate group of Democrats will publicly urge House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi today to reconsider her pledge to have the House vote on the resolution
before the end of the year.
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.
U.S. Dilemma
A Turkish attack would put the U.S. in a difficult position, Ham said. Turkey is
a ``highly valued NATO ally,'' although the U.S. is also committed to Iraq's
sovereignty and its right to protect itself, he added.
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.
Erdogan's plan, which requires the backing of a simple majority of lawmakers in
Turkey's 550-seat parliament, is supported by the main opposition Republican
People's Party and Nationalist Action Party. The measure would empower Erdogan
to order a military strike within a maximum period of one year.
To contact the reporters on this story: Ed Johnson in Sydney at ejohnson28@bloomberg.net
; Mark Bentley in Ankara at mbentley3@bloomberg.net .
