Boiling Turkey awaits Rice in Ankara

Despite promises and assurances, the US has done nothing to weed out cadres of the outlawed Turkish Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) taking refuge in north Iraq. "The PKK is the thorn in Turkey's foot, and it needs to be taken out," said an expert, adding, "There's no other way to move forward on US-Turkish relations." Preston Hughes, a retired US Army colonel and Turkey expert, said the US approach on the PKK "has caused bitter frustration and even anger at the highest levels" in Turkey.

Turkey is rightly worried that Iraqi Kurds, emboldened by their recent election performance and with a decade long experience of near-autonomy, could declare, if not independence, full autonomy, especially if there is continued confusion and chaos in Baghdad.

Many Turks believe that some in the Bush administration may not try to block an independent Kurdistan, especially if the whole Iraq misadventure unravels. Israelis have already conveyed this assessment to the Americans, according to investigative journalist Seymour Hersh. While a "solution" of Iraq breaking into three parts (Kurdish, Sunni and Shi'ite) has been openly discussed as a possibility in US media and think-tanks, it has been whispered that Israel might not be averse to an independent Kurdistan, with US acquiescence, if not support. Turkey has asked Israel to keep its hands off Kurdish northern Iraq, where it was training peshmargas (paramilitaries) for operations against neighboring countries, especially Iran and Syria.

If Kurds take over Kirkuk, which sits atop billions of barrels of oil, then some experts believe that Turkey might make a go at it alone in northern Iraq, or if there is a civil war centered on Kirkuk between the Kurds, the Arabs and the Turkmens. Turks are also worried about neighboring Iran. Every other day someone or another in the US talks about a US or Israeli attack on suspected Iranian nuclear facilities. What a mess it would then to add to Turkey's doorstep in the east.

Asia Times

story is NOT funny though

Cute headlines are very chic.

Turkey is a democracy and they love freedom how could anything go wrong?

OK, that was bad. For the freepers who did not get it, "HUngary" as in the country.

Preferably red china...

thank you.

greese upchucks

Just another miscalculation by the self-RIGHTeous morons in the WH.

...why is my stomach growling?

I will not hold my breath as Condiment Rice takes off for Turkey to "smooth things over". She will sit there, and nod her head, and smile every once in a while, but not too often, or she'll give the impression that she's stupid (wouldn't want to give that impression now, would we?)

Prime Minister Gul and Erodan Tayyip will take turns yelling at her, with beads of sweat building on their foreheads. She'll look at one, and then the other, and nod some more, and reassure them that "we're looking into it".

The Turks will be ready to come unglued over the situation of the Kurds. This is a ticking time bomb, with the fuse burning.

Stupid Bush sends a woman, when it's a well-known fact that muslims really don't like dealing with women when it comes to politics and government.

So she'll fly back home, make an appointment to have her nails done, and nothing will get accomplished.

But the best thing on the menu is "Condi's Own Words." Chow down Condi.


Love Condi - soooo moral!

1//KurdishMedia.com 03/02/2005

http://www.kurdmedia.com/news.asp?id=6198



DISGRUNTLED TURKEY AWAITS RICE WITH GROWING CONCERN OVER IRAQ



ANKARA, Feb 3 (AFP) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrives here at the weekend facing the tough task of allaying Turkish fears that an independent Kurdish state -- Ankara’s long-standing bete noire -- is taking shape in Iraq as Washington turns a blind eye.

Ties between the two NATO allies have failed to fully recover since hitting an all-time low prior to the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, when Turkey stunned Washington by denying it access to its territory to mount an attack on Iraq from the north.

Analysts fear new tensions may be now looming, with Ankara increasingly frustrated over what it sees as US reluctance to rein in Kurdish moves to take control of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk in northern Iraq as part of a suspected plot to break away from Baghdad.

"The issue of northern Iraq is of vital importance for Turkey. The Americans say they understand Turkey but when it comes to action on the ground there is no reason for trust," said Bahadir Koc from the Ankara-based ASAM think-tank.

Independence-minded moves in northern Iraq, Ankara fears, will embolden separatism across the border in southeastern Turkey, where a Kurdish rebellion has already claimed some 37,000 lives.

(SNIP)


As the Kurds braced for large political gains, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan slammed the United States this week, charging that "forces who say they came to the region to bring democracy have preferred to remain indifferent to anti-democratic ambitions."

He warned that "any step taken without consideration for Turkey’s rights will yield no result other than fanning the fire in the region."

(SNIP)


2//KurdishMedia.com, UK 03/02/2005

http://www.kurdmedia.com/news.asp?id=6195



NEW FREEDOM IN KURDISH AIR

By Aaron Glantz



KIRKUK, Feb 3 (IPS) - Two members of Kurdish parties are touring a soccer stadium turned refugee camp on the southern outskirts of Iraq’s northern oil-rich city Kirkuk on a sunny morning. They are carrying a petition asking Kurds whether they want ethnic federalism in Iraq or Kurdish independence.

The politics of freedom is very much in the air. Kurdish parties are already hinting that they have won a victory in local council elections. And already they have begun to make noises about independence.

Ahmed Hassen Aziz, like everyone else in the camp, wants an independent Kurdistan.

”I feel that Kurds were under oppression,” he said, ”and I felt the discrimination of the former regime. Now I’m stamping my hand for Kurdistan. This way we will reach our potential and have all our rights as Kurds in independent Kurdistan.”

This is the third time since the start of the U.S. occupation about two years ago that Kurds have launched a petition drive for independence. On the other two occasions, more than 1.5 million Kurds stamped their thumb-print to separate from Iraq, but the impact on overall political dynamics was minimal.

This time, however, the situation is different. Because Kurdish refugees were allowed to vote in last weekend’s election, Kurds were doubtless able to carry a strong majority of the vote.

Now, the local government plans to organise a referendum on inclusion of oil-rich Kirkuk under the authority of Iraqi Kurdistan -- a move bitterly opposed by the city’s Arab population, which boycotted the election in protest.

(SNIP)