Guest
|
Turkey makes a plan for Iraq
By Kathleen Ridolfo
The Turkish government has formulated a contingency plan that would place at least 20,000 Turkish troops inside northern Iraq in an effort to prevent Kurdish leaders from changing the demographic structure of the highly contested city of Kirkuk, Turkish newspapers report.
The plan ostensibly calls for the reentry of Turkish forces into northern Iraq to rout out Turkish-Kurdish militants from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), and also calls for Turkish troops to prevent further Iraqi Kurdish migration to Kirkuk. The city has a large Turkoman (ethnic Turkish) population, and vast oil reserves.
Media reports in recent months indicate that large numbers of Kurds are migrating to the city. Kurds say that they were displaced under the Saddam Hussein regime and are returning to their rightful homes; Turkey claims that Iraqi Kurdish leaders Masoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani want to ensure a Kurdish majority in the city under the next census in order to claim it as rightfully theirs, and possibly seek its inclusion in a federal Kurdistan.
Barzani heightened Turkish concern over Kirkuk in recent weeks through a number of inflammatory statements that made clear that Iraqi Kurds seek the return of Kirkuk to Kurdistan. He told reporters in the Turkish capital on October 12 that Kirkuk has a Kurdish "identity" and vowed to fight any force that attempts to intercede in the issue.
According to news reports published in Istanbul dailies Cumhuriyet, Milliyet and Sabah between October 30 and November 1, Ankara's contingency plan was reviewed during a October 14 cabinet meeting attended by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Chief of General Staff General Hilmi Ozkok, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul and Turkish envoy to Iraq Osman Koruturk, among others. Milliyet reported on November 1 that the plan calls for the deployment of two army corps divisions to the area, including a 40,000-strong force to stand ready to enter northern Iraq on 18-hours notice. Those troops would first focus on PKK camps in the Qandil mountain range with the assistance of air support.
Turkish concerns over the presence of PKK militants in northern Iraq have been heightened by reports that Syrian and Iranian Kurds have joined Turkish Kurds in northern Iraq, Sabah reported on October 31. The daily claimed that the number of militants present there has increased dramatically from the 2,000 that fled across the Turkish-Iraqi border on the orders of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan four years ago. Sabah cited as "proof" the discovery of Syrian and Iranian nationals among those militants killed in clashes "over the past few days".
Cumhuriyet reported that the Turkish force would consist of 20,000 troops, and claimed that military forces have already begun their deployment toward the Turkish-Iraqi border. The daily also claimed that Turkey has received tacit approval from US officials to intervene in Kirkuk. Cumhuriyet also reported that the contingency plan was further discussed at a October 27 meeting between the Turkish National Security Council and the Turkish armed forces.
The newspapers' reports claim that Barzani and Talabani are operating under the false assumption that Turkey would not take action against the "Kurdization" of Kirkuk before the December 17 European Union summit, when Turkey will begin accession talks with the EU. But as Sabah contended: "There are national goals and causes that are more important than the EU...for Kirkuk is in fact not the heart of Kurdistan, but rather that of Turkey's Iraq policy."
It remains rather unlikely that the US has given any sort of tacit approval for a Turkish incursion into northern Iraq. While the dailies are correct in reporting that the US is perhaps wary of any demographic transformation of the city, it is a far stretch to assume that the US would permit Turkish troops to move deep into northern Iraq. Iraq's Kurds would interpret such as move as an invasion, and large-scale fighting would ensue. Baghdad would also not welcome such an incursion, since it would destabilize the whole of northern Iraq, which has experienced relative quiet since the fall of the Saddam regime.
However, it is clear that something is afoot in northern Iraq. An October 12 the Middle Eastern News Agency, MENA, report stated that Kurdish paramilitary forces were moving troops further north and digging tunnels and establishing military outposts near Dahuk, close to the Turkish border. The news agency said the new positions of these peshmerga would effectively give them control over the major land entry points along the border. Turkey has had a long-standing interest in Kirkuk because of its vast oil reserves, and Turkish leaders in 2003 attempted to claim a Turkish historical right to the city.
Copyright (c) 2004, RFE/RL Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington DC 20036.
|
Main Page
Log In
Register
Printable Version
Turkey makes a plan for Iraq - 
New Messages
No New Messages
Hot Topic w/ New Messages
Hot Topic w/o New Messages
Locked w/ New Messages
Locked w/o New Messages
Post New Thread