Turkey prepares to invade Iraq

Turkey’s prime minister announced today that he would launch an attack into Iraq “within a few days” if attacks by Kurdish militants against Turkey continue.

After meeting with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a press conference at Downing Street that his Government “cannot wait forever” for the raids by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) against his military to stop.

“We waited for 14 months for this mechanism to bear fruit, but it did not, and we cannot wait forever,” the Turkish Prime Minister said. “We have to make our own decisions.” These decisions would include “a military dimension.”

“Right now we are in a waiting stance, but Iraq should know we can use the (parliamentary) mandate for a cross-border operation at any time,” he said.
The mandate mentioned by Erdogan refers to a vote taken by the Turkish parliament last week, which overwhelmingly approved a motion to allow Turkey to launch raids into Iraq against Kurdish militants.

The odds are probably even as to whether Turkey will actually invade. Domestically, Erdogan is under serious pressure to stop the Kurdish incursions. But an invasion contains the risk of a regional war. A localized cross border raid may show the Kurds — and their American protectors — that the Turks are serious, and it may just end at that before everyone realizes that diplomacy is a saner option than bullets.

In any event, this latest twist in the Iraq saga highlights the insanity of a continued American presence. America makes nobody happy by staying: neither the Iraqis, the Turks (with whom America has a military alliance, through NATO), or the American public. The occupation of Iraq is a giant black hole sucking in American money, energy, and integrity. The longer America stays, the greater the damage.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007 at 9:45 pm and is filed under International Relations, Structure and System, The Middle East, World War III. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.