Kurds rule out U.S. support in case of Turkish incursion into Kurdistan

[sabra]

Source: Voice of Iraq

Arbil, Jun 7, (VOI) – Political analysts and observers have disagreed on the U.S. stance if Turkish troops make incursions into Iraq's Kurdistan region to chase members of the Kurdistan Labor Party.

In an exclusive statement to the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI), Adnan al-Mufti, the head of the National Council of Iraq's Kurdistan, said "The United States is a friend of both the Kurdistan and Turkish people. It seeks to establish peace in the region and solve all problems peacefully. I do not think that U.S. policy contradicts the interests of the Kurdistan people."

Ruling out the possibility that the United States will allow Turkey to make incursions into the Kurdistan region, al-Mufti stated "It is in U.S. interests that Turkish interference does not negatively affect the already complex Iraqi issue."

Arguing that Turkish military interference will complicate the Iraqi situation and exacerbate Iraq's internal problems, al-Mufti described the deployment of Turkish troops along the Turkish-Iraqi borders as "unjustifiable," noting that any form of interference in the region's affairs "will influence the already tense Turkish-Iraqi relations."
Turkish troops are currently massing along the Turkish-Iraqi borders at a time when Turkish generals are pushing for a military operation in Iraq's Kurdistan region to eliminate the Kurdistan Labor Party, one of the strongest opponents of the Turkish government.



Read more: http://66.111.34.180/look/english/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrArticle=47734&NrIssue=2&NrSection=4

[SteppingRazor]

1. The story and the headline say two different things:

from the story: "Ruling out the possibility that the United States will allow Turkey to make incursions into the Kurdistan region, al-Mufti stated "It is in U.S. interests that Turkish interference does not negatively affect the already complex Iraqi issue."

That doesn't sound like he has ruled out U.S. support of the Kurds. (Or is the headline referring to U.S. support of Turkey? Either way, it's pretty shoddy writing on the part of the copy editor, or whomever they have doing their headliens.)

[sabra]

2. it is an Iraqi media source, so the headline may be lost in translation?

[SteppingRazor]

3. Yeah, it's Iraqi.

So, granted, there might be some translation problems. Hell, they do a better job of English than I would of Arabic!

[bemildred]

4. Yep, what he actually said indicates an expectation the US will defend Kurdistan.

Against the Turks.

[cliss]

5. What's your opinion?

I wonder if the US will defend the Kurds against any kind of attack by Turkey. The only thing I've heard recently is Sec. Gates coming out and warning Turkey, "Don't come in to Iraq".

Seems the Turks didn't listen though, because there have been alleged reports of Turkish troops coming in, about 50,000 strong. So much for the "fear" factor. Maybe the Turks know we're a little "tied up" in Baghdad?

It's an interesting point: would the US defend the Kurds? As if we're not ensnared enough, just with the Shi'as and the Sunni's battling it out, and we're in the middle. Throw in a few Mercenary armies which are supposedly on our side. Even if we wanted to, could we intervene?????

It's a recipe for complete and total disaster.

[bemildred]

6. I don't think so.

If I had to hazard a guess, I would expect a sort of "deer in the headlights" reaction from the US, cognitive disconnect, for some time. And then we decide to screw the Kurds again. On the other hand, it is quite possible that the Kurds will give a good account of themselves on their own turf, as long as they can solve their logistics issues so as to be able to continue. The assumption that the Turks will be able to kick the Kurds ass convincingly seems "unproven", somewhat like the recent assumption that the Israelis were going to kick Hizbullah's ass. It's Kurdish territory after all, and they have had decades to get ready, and it's not flat country.

If Iran and/or Syria, which also have Kurdish issues, were to get involved too, it gets even more messy and unpredictable.

"Combat creates clarity", or whatever that quotation is.

[burrowowl]

10. Turkey belongs to NATO

Will Bu$hCo fire against them. Besides those pesky Kurds don't want to give up their oil to OIL Corporations.
This is getting interesting and our GIs are caught in the middle, not good!

[bemildred]

11. The BushCo effort will be focused entirely on the PR aspects of it.

Several new photo ops with good production values will be forthcoming, as soon as they get the results from the focus groups.

[DrDebug]

12. Turkey is much too strong and powerful

Before the start of the Iraq war they were given billions in aid to keep out of the war, but I guess that Turkey is not satisfied.

The Turkish army is the second largest in NATO with 1,043,550 troops (http://www.unhcr.org/home/RSDCOI/3c1622484.pdf) and the same sophisticated weapons thanks to NATO. Even though the US army is larger it cannot deploy the amount of troops, Trukey can because they will be fighting from their home country and that the scary part of it, Turkey is the strongest and biggest bully in the region.

We've already seen with Cyprus that Turkey had no problem attacking their fellow NATO member Greece and was allowed to do so as well. This could be another Cyprus because Turkey is not entirely satisfied with the current Iraq strategy and proposes a Kurdistan under Turkish rule and the Americans can have the remaining region Baghdad and Basra. The area used to be part of the Ottoman Empire so it was part of their empire and big oil won't complain either.

I think the US will simply ignore what is going on and if Turkey presses on, you might even see press releases like: "Turkey Joins The Coalition Of The Willing With 200,000 Troops And Will Be Securing Kurdistan."

[bemildred]

7. Bomb kills 3 Turkish soldiers in newly declared 'security zone' near Iraq

Welcome to Iraq ...

ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) - Turkey's military command declared its "unshakable determination" early Friday to defeat Kurdish separatists hours after a roadside bomb killed three Turkish soldiers and wounded six.

The attack Thursday evening occurred in one of several "temporary security zones" that the military had just declared along the Iraq border during its campaign against the guerrillas.

Authorities blamed the Kurdish rebels for the blast, which came amid increasing activity by Turkish troops along the frontier that has fed concerns the army might stage a large-scale offensive against rebel bases in the predominantly Kurdish region of northern Iraq.

Turkish leaders say guerrillas cross into Turkey to stage attacks in their recently escalated fight to win autonomy for southeastern Turkey, where ethnic Kurds make up much of the population.

http://www.mytelus.com/ncp_news/article.en.do?pn=world&articleID=2694559

[cliss]

8. I just saw this on Yahoo News, came running back

to the DU.
= = = = = = = = = = =
Crisis ready to blow

OK: I'm getting ready to bet my next paycheck THIS is the NEXT powder keg, ready to blow. this might just blow first.
= = = = = = = = = = =
I just checked the Swedish newspapers, and this is what they have to say:
"Just how many troops is not known. Now, it seems that there is much more intensive fighting; among other things the PKK allegedly just shot down a U.S.-built Black Hawk helicopter in northern Iraq.

On Wednesday, there was a funeral for 7 turkish troops who were killed during a PKK attack in the city of Pulumur in the Tunceli Province. The next day, 6 Turkish troops were injured when their Jeep drove over an IED road bomb in the vicinity of Diyarbakir.

=====================
THE PKK took down a Black Hawk helicopter?????
=====================

I onsdags begravdes sju turkiska soldater som dödades under en PKK-attack i staden Pulumur i provinsen Tunceli. Dagen därpå sårades sex turkiska soldater när deras jeep körde över en fjärrutlöst vägbomb i närheten av Diyarbakir.

[bemildred]

9. Gee, who could have predicted this? nt