Saturday, March 8, 2008
PKK
This article is about the recent increase in the Turkish offensive against the PKK. Basically, Turkey has invaded northern Iraq, but the Iraqi government is okay with it, as long as it only lasts a couple of weeks and they don't go deeper than 20 miles into the country. Turkey wants to eradicate the PKK from the northern Iraqi mountains once and for all. This seemed like a joke to me at first, but after reading the article, I feel the Turks will probably be more successful than I originally thought. Apparently, most Iraqi Kurds have stopped supplying the PKK with weapons and information. With the public tide turning against the PKK in Iraq and with Turkish soldiers supplied with western military equipment and intelligence, the Turks are on good ground relative to the PKK. This reminds me of the recent turning of the tide against the FARC in Colombia. It seems that these people want stability and are turning against terrorists who get in the way. Iraqi Kurds are more autonomous than perhaps ever before, and they don't want to lose their new position. Although some could argue they are informally losing the independence they have by allowing Turkey to violate Iraqi sovereignty, I think Kurdish cooperation is actually wise. They gain international status because the Turkish government is working with them--instead of in spite of them--and they can get rid of a terrorist organization which has--to many people--attached a negative connotation to their ethnicity.
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I don't know that it's entirely a distaste of the PKK that is really driving the different actors' motivations here. Turkey obviously has an extreme hatred for the PKK and seeks to eradicate them. However, the other actors seem like they're simply being permissive of Turkey taking these actions, rather than truly supporting Turkey's actions. In the case of the US, I think our war on terrorism has made it difficult for us to refuse Turkey's methods and, especially, motives. In the case of Iraq, the government is struggling so much with terrorist problems that it can hardly do much to fight off an invading army without the support of the US. Finally, in the case of the Iraqi Kurds, I think they realize their semi-autonomous group realizes they do not even remotely have the power to stop Turkey, especially without US or Iraqi backing. So everybody, except Turkey, is pretty much content with sitting on their hands because of the nature of the enemy.
It's interesting how often the U.S. finds itself trying to get along with two sides in an international dispute (i.e. Israelis-Arabs, China-Taiwan) Our desire would obviously be for the Turks to be nice to the Kurds, the Turkish Kurds to be happy citizens, the Iraqi Kurds to gain peacefull autonomy, the Iraqi government to resolve all disputes, and all terrorist forces to die in a hole somewhere. This isn't likely, but just the fact that rhetoric is being moderated enough to allow for the Turkish incursion is heartening. Hopefully the attacks will be quick and successful, and allow the U.S. to rebuild some bridges with Turkey.
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