Turkish General
Says He Is Not Bluffing
ANKARA, April 14, 2007 (AFP) -
Turkish threats of a military incursion into northern
Iraq to pursue Kurdish rebels represent a hardening line in Ankara amid
exasperation with US inaction against the militants and what it sees as growing
defiance of Kurdish leaders in control of the region, analysts say.
Army chief Yasar Buyukanit on Thursday became the first
such high-ranking military official to publicly argue for a cross-border
operation and ask for government permission to send troops to crack down on
bases of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in northern Iraq.
"If you ask me whether a cross-border operation is
needed, yes it is needed. It would be useful," Buyukanit told a press conference
here.
Indignation is Turkey is growing over Iraqi and US
failure to fulfill pledges to eradicate the PKK and recent Iraqi Kurdish
threats, said Serhat Erkman, an expert on the Middle East at the Ankara-based
think-tank ASAM.
"As a result, Turkish leaders have begun to stress more
openly the need to implement economic, political and 'other' measures, besides
diplomacy, to resolve the issue," he said.
Turkey charges that several thousand PKK rebels have
found refuge in northern Iraq where they enjoy unrestricted movement and obtain
weapons and explosives for attacks on Turkish targets in their 22-year struggle
for self-rule in southeastern Turkey.
Ten Turkish soldiers and 29 rebels were killed this
month -- in the heaviest fighting between the PKK and the army in a long time --
as the arrival of spring makes the mountainous crossing between Iraq and Turkey
more accessible to the rebels.
Ankara accuses Iraqi Kurds of tolerating and even
supporting the rebels.
Tensions between the two sides rose this week after
Massud Barzani, the head of the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq,
threatened to fan unrest in Turkey's Kurdish-populated southeast if Ankara
continues to oppose Kurdish claims on the oil-rich ethnically volatile Iraqi
city of Kirkuk.
Turkey claims that thousands of Kurds have moved into
Kirkuk to change its demography ahead of a referendum on Kirkuk's future status,
scheduled for the end of the year, and has called for the postponement of the
vote.
Ankara worries that Kurdish control of Kirkuk and its
vast oil reserves would embolden what it believes are Kurdish ambitions to break
away from Baghdad -- a prospect it fears could set up an example for Kurds in
adjoining southeast Turkey.
At Thursday's press conference, Buyukanit described
Barzani's words as unacceptable and implicitly accused the United States of
emboldening the Iraqi Kurdish leader. "We all know who has spoilt (Barzani),"
the general said.
"This was the first time in Turkish history that an army
chief has challenged the United States without giving names," said Sedat Laciner,
the head of the Ankara-based think-tank USAK.
"Turkey has long waited for the United States to do
something about PKK rebels, but Barzani's remarks were the last straw," he
added. "We are gradually moving towards a military incursion. Turkey is not
bluffing."
Washington opposes a possible Turkish incursion into
northern Iraq, which it fears would destabilise the relatively calm area, and
has instead argued for non-military means.
"Certainly that's an option that everybody should work
to avoid," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Thursday in response
to Buyukanit's remarks.
Dogu Ergil, a professor of political science at Ankara
University, described Washington's stance as an argument that no longer
convinces Ankara.
"It is a great contradiction that the United States,
which has invaded Iraq, tells Turkey that a military option is not such a good
idea," Ergil said.
There is a high possibility that Turkey could engage in
a cross-border operation after presidential elections in May, he added.
"Buyukanit has clearly underlined that Turkey is ready
to launch a large-scale operation in Iraq, no matter what the United States or
Iraqi Kurds say," he said.
