Turkish officials signaled Tuesday they are prepared to send the army into northern Iraq if U.S. and Iraqi forces do not take steps to combat Turkish Kurdish guerrillas there - a move that could put Turkey on a collision course with the United States.
Turkey is facing increasing domestic pressure to act after 15 soldiers, police and guards were killed fighting the guerrillas in southeastern Turkey in the past week.
The US has approved of Israel's reaction to the capture of two of it's soldiers. So if Turkey decides to attack Kurdish Iraq, will the US will be equally supportive?
Of course not.
Another example of why the US has so many problems with the populations of the middle east. There are different rules in play, everyone knows it, and those who are hurt by this quickly grow to hate the referee who refuses to not play favorites.
So, as Hizbullah attacks Israel, and Israel kills hundreds of Lebanese civilians in return; As Iraq continues to fall into chaos, and the war in Afghanistan continues to heat up; The people of Turkey are wondering, can we attack Iraq for sheltering terrorist, the way Israel has attacked Lebanon, and they know that a different set of rules apply to them.
Aren't the politics of the Middle East fun.
Tags
Turkey Iraq Israel Lebanon Afghanistan
4 comments:
Wow! What a mess that whole thing is. But it may not be as bad as it all sounds. I think if Turkey coordinates with the US. Saying they are going to do this, its an as long as you let us know we will watch out for you. The US has fought these types of strategic battles. Border wars have gone on while the US has taken care of other regions. In fact the US may monitor it, and say call if you need help. They let the Border war with Iran go on during the first and the start of the second Iraq war. They just stay away while they do their business. The US doesnt get involved with everything, nor is the US into dictating how all other countries resolve their problems.
Politically the US can not allow Turkey to do anything.
The Kurdish areas of Iraq are the ONLY areas that has any stability at all, and the Kurds do support the Turkish Kurds involved in terrorism.
We will ask the Iraqi Kurds to make the Turkish Kurds play nice, but we will not allow Turkey to enter Iraq, and upset the only part of Iraq that has any stability.
Remember there are 2 major factions of Kurds in Iraq. At one time these two group were at war with each other. This could be a flash point that triggers a flare up in that conflict (some people will use any excuse) we want to make sure they stay togather and in our camp.
We tell Turkey to back off.
2 sets of rules in play again
John there are three major factions of Kurds in Iraq (and it might be more as kurds are tribal people). These groups will fight each other very shortly. The greater loss would be Turkey as a friend to the west. Remember it was the Turks who won the Korean war for America, just ask any south Korean. If you watched the world cup in south Korea you would have noticed the whole south Korean crowd waving the Turkish flag during the match between Turkey and South Korea, now thats gratitude. By the way there was no fanfare for the Americans, proof.
You are right there are a number of factions, but there are two major players the KDP and the patrotic union.
These two were actually engaged in a civil war in the mid 90s.
Over all I think the kurdish block in Parlament includes 4 or 5 parties, but the KDP and the PUK are the major players
and thanks for the visit and the contribution
John
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