Kurdistan: Birth of a Nation?

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Kurdistan: Birth of a Nation?

Postby Lernakan on Tue Jun 19, 2007 3:52 pm

Please post all articles regarding the Kurdistan and Kurds within this thread



Kurdish soldiers trained by Israelis

Video report: http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_5360000/newsid_5362100/5362148.stm?bw=nb&mp=wm

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Newsnight has obtained the first pictures of Kurdish soldiers being trained by Israelis in Northern Iraq, as well as an interview with one of the former commandos who carried out the work.

When the former Israeli special forces soldiers were sent to Iraq in 2004 they were told they would be disowned if they were discovered.

Their role there was to train two groups of Kurdish troops.

One would act as a security force for the new Hawler International Airport (near Erbil) and the other, of more than 100 peshmerga or Kurdish fighters, would be trained for "special assignments", according to one of Newsnight's interviewees.

Contractors

An Israeli security consulting form called Interop acted as the main contractor for the Hawler airport project and set up two subsidiaries (Kudo and Colosium) to carry out work in Iraq.

Kudo and Colosium described themseleves as Swiss-registered companies.

In addition to the training, Kudo provided quad bikes, communications equipment and security fencing.

One of the founders of Interop, and its Chairman until 2003, was Danny Yatom, a former Head of Mossad - the Israeli foreign intelligence service and now an MP.

He told Newsnight today: "I was not aware of what was done in 2004 and 2005 because I cut all contacts with the company when I entered the Israeli parliament in 2003."

During 2004-5, Interop and Kudo were run by Shlomi Michaels, a former head of Israel's counter-terrorist unit. Contacted by Newsnight, Mr Michaels declined to comment.

Special assignments

Newsnight was told by the Israeli interviewee involved in the training that senior Kurdish officials were aware of their nationality, but not the troops being trained.

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Iran and Turkey are concerned about a Kurdish state emerging in Northern Iraq

The sensitivities for the Kurdish authorities are serious, since their political enemies have long accused them of being in cahoots with Israel.

The Kurdish authorities have previously denied allowing any Israelis into northern Iraq.

The Israeli trainer says: "You know, day by day it's a bit tense because you know where you are and you know who you are. And there's always a chance that you'll get revealed.

"My part of the contract was to train the Kurdish security people for a big airport project and for training, as well as the Peshmerga, and the actual soldiers, the army.

"We were training them in all kinds of anti-terror lessons, anti-terror, security airport, training them with long rifles, pistols; telling them, teaching them tactics like shooting behind doors, behind barricades, shooting from the left, shooting from the right, shooting from windows, how to shoot first, how to identify a terrorist in a crowd.

"That's clearly special assignments. That's only training that special units get for special assignments.

"We crossed the border from Turkey and one of the intelligence officers passed us by, through the border, without stamping our passports.

"So you reckon that if two guys from the intelligence service knew we were Israelis and they saw our passports as well, the leadership knew as well - I mean their bosses, that's natural."

"The second Israel"

Khaled Salih, a spokesman for the Kurdistan Regional Government, says: "These are not new allegations for us. Back in the sixties and seventies we were called 'the second Israel' in the region and we were supposed to be eliminated by Islamist nationalist and now Islamist groups.

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"They look for internal enemies and we are the easiest to target. These kind of speculations have been around in the region for more than 30 years."

The Kurdistan region sits at a strategic crossroads. To the east is Iran, to the north-west Turkey. Both countries have significant Kurd minorities and are worried about a Kurdish state emerging in northern Iraq.

The authorities there have accepted that for now and that they must remain part of a federal Iraq.

As they develop their region, the Kurds have opened an international airport at Irbil (Hawler in Kurdish).

It now boasts dozens of international flights each week and it is at Hawler International that the Israelis began their work.

Strategic options

With Iran becoming Israel's principal enemy, there have been reports of Israelis using Kurdish areas of Iraq to increase its strategic options.

One constraint facing the Israelis, should they ever want to hit Iran, is distance. Most Israeli jets are short range and they have few in-flight tankers. Some studies have suggested that Israel could make refuelling stops at a modern airfield in Kurdistan.

If the Israelis ever planned to use Hawler airport as an emergency refuelling stop, it has now been compromised by Israeli press reports.

After finishing their training, Kurds sang their national anthem while marching behind one of the Israelis.

Israeli Government spokesman, Mark Regev, told Newsnight that the Investigations Division of the Israeli Ministry of Defence had passed the details of this case to the Israeli police to see if there had been any violation of export laws.

He added: "We have not authorised anyone to do any defence work in Iraq... If information is brought and there's clear evidence that people broke our law, of course I expect them to be prosecuted."

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/n ... 363116.stm
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Postby Lernakan on Wed Jun 20, 2007 10:04 pm

Բաց նամակ Եզդիստանի ինքնավար միավորի մասին
Գրել է ՀԱՄ

20-06-2007


Բաց նամակ
ՀՀ ԱԳՆ նախարար Վարդան Օսկանյանին
ՀՀ-ում ԱՄՆ, Ռուսաստանի Դաշնության, Իրանի և Սիրիայի դեսպաններին,
ՄԱԿ, ԵՄ և ԵԱՀԿ կառույցներին



Հարգարժան պարոնայք

Վերջերս Հյուսիսային Իրաքում 24 եզդիների դաժան կոտորածը, շարունակական սպանություններն ու ահաբեկումները և դրանց նկատմամբ տիրող անտարբերության մթնոլորտը վկայում են այն մասին, որ եզդի ժողովրդի ֆիզիկական անվտանգությունը չի ապահովվում Իրաքյան կառավարության կողմից: Ելնելով տվյալ իրավիճակից` նաև հիշեցնելով այն մասին, որ եզդի ժողովուրդը ցեղասպանության է ենթարկվել Թուրքիայի կողմից ու այդ պատճառով ցրվել է աշխարհով մեկ, փաստում ենք, որ եզդիական ինքնատիպ էթնոսը, հին հավատքն ու մշակույթը այսօր վտանգված են:
Եզդիներին ապահով զարգացման միակ նախապայմանը համարում ենք Եզդիստան բարձր ինքնավարության օժտված միավորի ստեղծումը Հյուսիսային Իրաքում, եզդիների պատմական հայրենիքում, որտեղ բնակվում են ավելի քան մեկ միլլիոն եզդիներ: Շատ եզդիական աղբյուրներ հավաստում են, որ Իրաքի քուրդ նախագահը ճիշտ չի վերաբերվում Իրաքի եզդի հատվածին, կրոնական-իսլամական հանգամանքներից ելնելով, քանզի ավելի շատ հակված է Քրդստանի իսլամական պետություն ստեղծելուն:
Մենք հավաստում ենք, որ մեր կոչը Եզդիստանի ինքնավարություն ստեղծելու վերաբերյալ ուղղած չէ Իրաքի արաբ ժողովրդի դեմ, որի պայքարը օտարերկրյա զավթիչների դեմ կրում է արդար բնույթ եւ մենք արդեն հայտնել ենք մեր համակրանքը արաբների ազատագրական պայքարի վերաբերյալ:
Կոչ ենք անում Հայաստանի կառավարությանը` ավելի գործնական հանդես գալ եզդի ժողովրդի շահերի պաշտպանի դիրքերից միջազգային ատյաններում` աջակցելով ՀՀ եզդիական համայնքի` այս նպատակին ուղղված քայլերին: Նաև պահանջում ենք այն միջազգային կառույցներից, որոնք զբաղված են Իրաքի ժողովրդավարացումով, հանդես բերել իրական ժողովրդավարական կեցվածք և լրջորեն մտահոգվել Եզդի ժողովրդի ֆիզիկական անվտանգությամբ, և անհապաղ միջազգային հարցերի օրակարգ մտցնել Եզդիստանի հարցը:
Մենք սա կարևորում ենք հատկապես, քանի որ փորձ է արվում ստեղծել Քրդստան պետություն` մասնատելով Իրաքը և հարևան երկրները: Նախատեսվում է, որ այդ Քրդստանի մեջ է մտնելու նաև Արևմտյան Հայաստանը, ուստի սա պետք է մտահոգի նաև մեր իշխանություններին:



Հայ Արիական Միաբանություն
20.06.2007թ.
www.ArmenianHighland.com

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Postby Lernakan on Wed Jun 20, 2007 10:23 pm

June 20, 2007

Turkey: Into the Iraq Quagmire?
by Hilmi Toros

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ISTANBUL - Turkey is beefing up military preparedness against Iraq-based Kurdish rebels as a prelude to a possible cross-border incursion that is opposed by the United States, the European Union, and the Iraqi government.

Three Turkish provinces bordering Iraq have already been declared "special security" zones, limiting civilian access in the wake of an increase in bomb blasts in urban areas, including Ankara and Istanbul, and attacks on the military. Although no one has claimed responsibility, official and public condemnation goes to Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) insurgents slipping in from Iraq.

In addition, troops and military hardware are being amassed in the rugged and impoverished southeast, in the country's Kurdish-populated areas.

The daily newspaper Milliyet also reported Saturday that Turkish troops were already shelling PKK rebels in frontier areas within Iraq.

So far, despite public outcry for a decisive move against an estimated 3,000 secessionist PKK rebels holed up in Iraq, there has been no major incursion.

But it has not been ruled out. And if it happens, it may have serious consequences for Turkey, Iraq, and beyond.

Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, chief of staff of Turkey's powerful military, announced publicly in April that a cross-border operation is feasible – even advisable – if the government gives the go-ahead.

The government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, facing opposition from allies abroad and with national elections July 22, took a softer line and said decisive action is needed against Kurdish rebels within Turkey before venturing into those holed up in Iraq. He did not exclude an eventual military expedition into northern Iraq.

But the government of the Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) may not have its way even if it has 353 members in the 550-seat parliament.

"Extra-parliamentary" power – particularly the military and public opinion – has its say, too, as evidenced recently. Erdogan, once a firebrand Islamist, withdrew his possible candidacy for the president following mass protests against the move, organized by the secular establishment.

Then, when the ruling-AKP-nominated Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, also a former Islamist, for the presidency, the military weighed in with a sudden midnight announcement seen as being against Gul's candidacy. It warned against the encroachment of Islamic values in a secular republic.

Gul's candidacy failed to obtain the required parliamentary majority, and a constitutional amendment is pending to have the people, rather than parliament, elect the next president.

This time, despite moderation by the prime minister, retired generals and opposition parties are appearing on TV talk shows, urging tough military action against PKK rebels, including a foray into Iraq.

Funerals for fallen soldiers often turn into protests against the government for its perceived soft stand.

In another move independent from the government, the military has urged "mass reaction" by the public against PKK terrorism. A series of public demonstrations are scheduled in coming days.

What is at stake?

While incursion into Iraq to chase PKK rebels will certainly calm the Turkish public, it may also backfire – and any apparent success may be more damaging in the long run, according to some analysts.

Prof. Sedat Laciner, head of the independent International Strategic Research Organization (ISRO), a Turkish think-tank, questioned the wisdom of a possible large-scale move into Iraq in a report that has become the subject of national debate.

"It may irreversibly push Turkey away from its domestic and foreign objectives [economic growth and EU membership], and events could get out of hand once they begin," he told IPS.

He said a cross-border operation could result in the death of a "few hundred terrorists," but also pave the way for recruitment of many more insurgents.

Laciner does not rule out the possibility that Turkish troops chasing PKK rebels may be opposed by Iraqi Kurds and even the U.S. military. The Kurds in Iraq are the main allies of the United States in a splintered Iraq: they sided with the U.S. invasion, while the Turkish parliament refused to let the U.S. open a front from its territory in the war against Saddam Hussein.

Turkey is irked that the United States, its erstwhile NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) ally for over 50 years and now with a dominant voice in Iraq, is not firm enough in pushing the central Iraqi government or the local Kurdish administration to move against PKK rebels.

Prof. Ilter Turan, former rector of Istanbul's Bilgi University and a vice president of the International Political Science Association, told IPS that Turkey and the United States will find a way that could satisfy both parties, such as a limited military operation by Turkey.

According to Laciner, a full-scale Turkish military action in Iraq before the July 22 election is unlikely, but he expects Turkey to move in to establish a "buffer zone" before the summer is out, even if opposed by the United States.

The EU and the Iraqi government have also come out against any Turkish military involvement in Iraq beyond what is already known: the presence of some 2,000 Turkish troops on the Iraqi side of the border in an arrangement made with Saddam Hussein in 1997.

While the current focus is on PKK (listed by Turkey, the United States, and the EU as a terrorist organization), there exists a larger "Kurdish problem." Turkey, Syria, and Iran also have sizable Kurdish minorities and have experienced occasional flare-ups of ethnic tensions.

The Laciner report also says that if any Turkish military action goes beyond flushing out PKK rebels to involve fighting with Iraqi Kurds, it may lead to pan-Kurdish solidarity that could spell trouble for Turkey, Syria, and Iran, as well as Iraq. The main Turkish concern is that a strong Kurdish entity in northern Iraq, including an independent one in case of an Iraqi meltdown, could embolden its own Kurds to seek similar status.

Kurdish population in the region is estimated at 24 million, with 12 million in Turkey, 4 million in Iran, and 2 million in Syria. Iraqi Kurds claim a population of 5 million.

If there is a Turkish military foray into Iraq, Turkey's powerful Business and Industry Association warned of serious economic consequences, while Moody's Corporation said the country's credit rating could take a tumble.

Laciner estimates that financial losses from a large-scale military operation, apart from military expenditure, could range from $1 billion to $10 billion, depending on the flight of foreign capital from Turkey.

(Inter Press Service)

Source: http://www.antiwar.com/ips/toros.php?articleid=11162
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Postby Armanen on Sat Jun 23, 2007 2:48 am

Guns and votes

Jun 21st 2007 | BATMAN AND DIYARBAKIR
From The Economist print edition


Pre-election tension is rising among the Kurds of Turkey's south-east

A GOLD-PLATED pistol in one hand, worry beads in the other, Hazim Babat sits at the foot of the mountain range that separates Turkey from Iraq and contemplates war. He is the chieftain of the Babat clan, which is fighting alongside the Turkish armed forces against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) separatist guerrillas.

For years the Babats hunted PKK militants in Iraq with the help of Peshmerga warriors from the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) from northern Iraq, led by Massoud Barzani. “The PKK slaughtered our women, our babies, they are going to pay the price,” vows Mr Babat.

But times have changed and the Kurds are beginning to unite, wherever they live. Nowhere is this truer than in northern Iraq where, with American support, as many as 4m Kurds have come closer to achieving full-blown independence than ever before. Mr Barzani, who runs the Kurdish-controlled enclave, declares that the days of Kurdish fratricide are over. He refuses to let Turkish soldiers overrun his territory in order to attack the PKK. “Turkey's real problem”, Mr Barzani opined recently, “is that the Kurds exist at all.”

Despite its repeated calls for cross-border action against the PKK, the army's real target may be the quasi-independent Kurdish state in northern Iraq. The generals see an independent Kurdish state as an existential threat because it would stoke separatist passions among Turkey's 14m-odd Kurds. They are “willing to prevent its emergence no matter the price”, asserts Ibrahim Guclu, a veteran Kurdish politician. “Yet the harder they push, the closer together they drive the Iraqi and Turkish Kurds,” he adds.

Mindful of America's opposition and of Kurdish votes, Turkey's mildly Islamist prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has ruled out any incursion, at least before the general election on July 22nd. Yet Turkish forces continue to mass along the Iraqi border. The beefed-up army presence is palpable in Sirnak, one of three border provinces in which no-go “security zones” have been declared. Turkish soldiers in armoured personnel-carriers point guns at passers-by. Attack helicopters clatter overhead. In the regional capital of Diyarbakir, your correspondent counted no fewer than nine F-16 fighter jets screeching towards Sirnak within the space of 20 minutes. The PKK is hitting back, murdering soldiers and civilians alike.

Ayla Akat, a human-rights lawyer who is standing for election in Batman for the pro-Kurdish Democratic Turkey Party (DTP), concedes that the violence is fuelling anti-Kurdish feelings throughout Turkey. She points to the attempted lynching this month of two Kurdish seasonal workers in the western province of Sakarya. Yet if the government were to accept the PKK's demands to ease restrictions on the Kurdish language, offer amnesty to PKK fighters and allow their leaders to seek asylum in Europe, “the Kurdish problem would be solved”, she says. “Is anyone talking about independence?”

In 2005, emboldened by the European Union's decision to open membership talks, Mr Erdogan explored a possible deal that would accommodate the Iraqi Kurds too. But he was forced to back off under pressure from the army. In the same year Mr Erdogan became the first Turkish leader ever to admit that the state had made “mistakes” in dealing with the Kurds. His words cemented his Justice and Development (AK) Party, whose Islamic credentials play well with millions of pious Kurds, as the DTP's main rival in the south-east.

“My people are going to vote for Erdogan because he wants the European Union, and EU membership is the panacea for separatism,” says Cemil Oter, a tribal leader who has lost 40 men to the PKK. But hopes of membership are fading as EU bigwigs, led by France's new president, Nicolas Sarkozy, lobby against Turkish entry. EU-inspired reforms that helped to win Turkey its prized date for membership talks are being quietly rolled back.

The effects are being felt in Diyarbakir, where a local mayor and his entire council were barred from office last week for using Kurdish as well as Turkish to communicate with their constituents. Abdullah Demirbas had already annoyed the authorities by erecting a monument in memory of Ahmet Kaymaz, a Kurdish lorry driver, and his 12-year-old son, who were gunned down outside their home in the town of Kiziltepe in 2004 on the grounds that they were “terrorists”.

All four members of the special forces who were implicated in the killings were exonerated by a court in April, proving that “there is rarely justice for the Kurds”, says Tahir Elci, a lawyer who defended the Kaymaz family. Mr Elci is now facing up to three years in prison for criticising the court. Meanwhile, reports of torture have risen sharply, because new regulations allow detainees to be denied access to a lawyer during the first 24 hours of interrogation by police.

All these things help to swell PKK ranks. The trouble is that the rebels' new tactics—setting off landmines and planting explosives—have caught the army off guard. Abdullah Gul, the Turkish foreign minister, revealed last week that security forces seized two tonnes of plastic explosives smuggled by the PKK from Iraq in 2006 alone. Mr Gul said that “making compromises over democracy in the name of fighting terrorism” was “a trap that should not be contemplated”. But with each Turkish soldier killed fighting the PKK, Turks' enthusiasm for democracy, and for the EU, gets harder to preserve.
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Postby ARMENIA on Mon Jul 02, 2007 8:21 pm

IT'S TIME FOR THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION TO PUT TURKS IN THEIR PLACE
Rauf Naqishbendi

American Chronicle, CA
http://www.americanchronicle.com/art...rticleID=31090
July 1 2007

A friendship between America and Turkey has been a liability for
America since the beginning, due to Turkey's notoriously dirty
human rights record. During the Cold War Turkey's strategic location
propelled America to seek a close relationship with Turkey.

Thankfully, all that changed when the Iron Curtain fell pronouncing
Turkey a triviality. Moreover, the Iraq War has proved Turkey's
uselessness to America. While the Turks continue their human rights
abuses and threaten to cause trouble in Iraq, the Bush administration
has not put the Turks in their place, as justice demands.

Since the Iraqi Liberation mission, Turkey has been opposing the notion
of an independent Kurdistan, fearing that once the Kurds in Iraq are
free and democratic, their counterparts on the other side of the border
will demand the same. Clearly they are of the opinion that, in order
for the Turks to justify their violation of Kurdish human rights in
their country, Kurds ought to be abused everywhere in the world.

It is bewildering why America would want to support and befriend a
regime such as Turkey's with all their atrocities against humanity, not
only against Kurds but also Serbs, Greeks, Assyrians and Armenians. The
United States' apathy is overwhelming; for decades they have generously
provided assistance to Turkey without considering the country's human
rights record. Common sense and common justice has been rare with
American leaders regarding their relationship with Turkey. Think of
the Armenian genocide committed by Turks, yet America ignored the
plight of Armenians demanding Turks to acknowledge their atrocities.

And reaching the height of absurdity, American leaders and politicians
have been calling Turkey a great democracy in the Middle East,
in order to justify the United States' immense support of Turkey,
citing the Turkish elections and constitution as proofs.

While it's true that election is a vital pillar of democratic
establishment which reflects fair representation, and fair
representation requires a sound and moral constitution; these pillars
of democracy need to be genuine, otherwise their casual application
will weaken the foundation of the institution. A constitution is
vital to democracy, but it needs to be moral and apply consistently
to every citizen. But Turkey's constitution excludes all non-Turks
who live in Turkey by a simple declaration that all citizens of
Turkey are Turks. This is a moral predicament since one third of
Turkey's population is Kurds, and there are also Arabs, Assyrians
and Armenians. Where is justice and morality in a constitution that
is privileging one portion of the population and demonizing the rest?

Turkey has been a violent country for decades as the Kurdish rebel
P.K.K has been fighting for an equitable system of justice and
equality for all. During this period Turkey's rulers usually have
been civilians on the surface, but military at heart. Thus the rule
of army and violence has made democracy in Turkey scarce, for under
the rule of army and bloody violence there is no democracy.

Additionally, Turkey is not a pristine democracy; rather, it is a
corrupted country with bribery, favoritism and cronyism ubiquitous.

These attributes encumber the glory of democracy, and go against
its true essence. As one can see, these arguments contradict any
proclamation that Turkey is a democracy. If anyone claims that it is,
that person either does not have a true knowledge of Turkey or does
not understand the true meaning of democracy.

President Bush would display a new degree of enlightenment if he were
to address the prime minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan in his
next visit to Washington as follows:

"Mr. Erdogan, we have heard enough of your exploitation of the Kurds,
and your opposition to the inspiration of the world's biggest nation
without statehood to obtain their independence. I feel compassion for
the Kurds because of what they have suffered in your country; we let
your leaders be as intolerant as they desired for a long time. We
lavished you with monetary, political and military assistance,
and you utilized it as fodder for your prejudice and pride. These
are unfounded in today's world and are just relics of your past. We
have gone as far as arguing the case for your membership in the EU,
even though we knew your nation doesn't resemble Europeans.

You know it has been an established tradition of our presidency for the
US president not to apologize, and I shall not violate this tradition,
but were I permitted to break that tradition, I would proffer the
Kurds in your country an earnest apology for our support to your
government and that of your predecessors that they have turned to
abuse against the Kurds.

The Kurds have been our faithful ally in our war against Saddam and
terrorism, and America is looked upon as respectable and popular among
the Kurdish; on the other hand, the degree of anti-American sentiment
amongst your people is shamefully high. Therefore, we are not going
to forsake our faithful friends, the Kurds, to please an old friend
who has proven perfidious.

A free and independent Kurdistan is imminent for it is the will and
determination of the Kurdish nation. The will of a nation is impassable
and neither you nor anyone else can hinder it. That leaves you with no
choice but to accept and put aside your bigotry towards the Kurds. A
free and independent Kurdistan will be beneficial to you and your
people, therefore I ask you not to merely tolerate it but rather
to welcome it wholeheartedly. I will join you and your people in
celebrating the birth of a free and independent country, Kurdistan,
with its waving flag visible from your border. We should let this
new nation prosper and bloom; we should all help these great people
who are good friends of ours. I assure you, they too will be yours.

Rauf Naqishbendi is a contributing columnist for Kurdishmedia.com and
American Chronicle and has written Op/Ed pages for LA times. He has
just completed his first novel The Garden Of The Poets and through
his literary agent seeking publication. Rauf Naqishbendi is a software
engineer in San Francisco Bay Area.
"Keep us highlanders and we will keep you"
ARMENIA
 
Posts: 13
Joined: Tue Jun 05, 2007 5:38 pm

Postby Armanen on Mon Jul 16, 2007 6:34 pm

DIYARBAKIR, turkey, July 13 (Reuters) - turkey’s army has boosted troop levels in the southeast to more than 200,000, most of them stationed along the border with Iraq, security sources told Reuters on Friday.

The unusually large-scale buildup, which includes tanks, heavy artillery and aircraft, is part of a security crackdown on Kurdish rebels hiding in southeast Turkey and northern Iraq, said the security sources, who declined to be named.

NATO member turkey has refused to rule out a possible cross-border operation to crush Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels, despite opposition from the United States and Iraq…

BTW:The u.s. has 160,000 troops engaged in the entire country. turkey has 200,000 on just the border between itself and Iraq. Think about that.
Armanen
 
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Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2007 6:13 am
Location: Arnor

Postby Armanen on Thu Aug 02, 2007 6:53 am

TURKEY AND USA WORKING OUT SECRET PLAN AGAINST KURDISTAN WORKERS' PARTY

PanARMENIAN.Net
31.07.2007 14:57 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Representatives of US administration together with
representatives from Turkish government are secretly working out a
secret military operation aimed at suppressing the movement of Kurdish
separatists and capturing their leaders, Washington Post reports.

"Last week US Undersecretary for Policy at the Pentagon Eric
Edelman held a confidential briefing on this issue for a number
of congressmen. According to US legislation the presidential
administration must inform members of Congress about such initiatives.

Edelman told them that the US Special Forces will assist Turkish
servicemen to neutralize the leadership of the separatist Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK).

The Pentagon's representative assured congressmen that he is sure
in success, and in case of necessity it will be possible to hide the
realization of a special operation against Kurds and even to deny it,"
the newspaper reports.

Turkish authorities have repeatedly assured on their readiness to
carry out a cross-border operation into northern Iraq if the Iraqi
government and US armed forces don't take effective actions against
PKK fighters who are hiding in the north of the country.

At the same time official Ankara states that Turkey does not have
any claims on territories of other countries.
It's a custom of the human condition for the masses to remain ignorant. It's what they do. In fact, that IS how "the peace" is kept. Whatever democracy we have here is a spectator's sport.
Armanen
 
Posts: 179
Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2007 6:13 am
Location: Arnor

Postby Armanen on Mon Aug 06, 2007 8:36 am

The Geopolitics of Turkey

STRATFOR
First reported: July 31, 2007 17 58 GMTAugust 05, 2007 Sunday
By George Friedman

Rumors are floating in Washington and elsewhere that Turkey is
preparing to move against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), an
anti-Turkish group seeking an independent Kurdistan in Turkey. One
report, by Robert Novak inthe Washington Post, says the United States
is planning to _collaborate_
(http://www.stratfor.com/products/premiu ... d=3D293143)
with Turkey in suppressing the PKK in northern Iraq, an area the PKK
has used as a safe-haven and launch pad to carry out attacks in
Turkey.

The broader issue is not the PKK, but Kurdish independence. The Kurds
are a distinct ethnic group divided among Turkey, Iran, Iraq and, to a
small extent, Syria. The one thing all of these countries have agreed
on historically is they have no desire to see an independent
Kurdistan. Even though each has,on occasion, used Kurdish dissidents
in other countries as levers against those countries, there always has
been a regional consensus against a Kurdish state.

Therefore, the news that Turkey is considering targeting the PKK is
part of the broader issue. The evolution of events in Iraq has
created an area that is now under the effective governance of the
Iraqi Kurds. Under most scenarios, the Iraqi Kurds will retain a high
degree of autonomy. Under some scenarios, the Kurds in Iraq could
become formally independent, creating aKurdish state. Besides facing
serious opposition from Iraq's Sunni and Shiite factions, that state
would be a direct threat to Turkey and Iran, since it would become, by
definition, the nucleus of a Kurdish state that would lay claimto
other lands the Kurds regard as theirs.

This is one of the reasons Turkey was unwilling to participate in the
U.S.

invasion of Iraq. The Americans grew close to the Kurds in Iraq during
Operation Desert Storm, helping augment the power of an independent
militia, the peshmerga, that allowed the Iraqi Kurds to carve out a
surprising degree of independence within Saddam Hussein's Iraq. The
Turks were never comfortable with this policy and sent troops into
Iraq in the 1990s to strike against the PKK and pre-empt any moves
toward more extensive autonomy. Before the war started in 2003,
however, the Turks turned down a U.S. offer to send troops into
northern Iraq in exchange for allowing the United States to use
Turkish territory to launch into Iraq. This refusal caused Turkey to
lose a great deal of its mobility in the region.

The Turks, therefore, are tremendously concerned by the evolution of
events in Iraq. Whether northern Iraq simply evolves into an
autonomous region ina federal Iraq or becomes an independent state as
Iraq disintegrates is almost immaterial. It will become a Kurdish
homeland and it will exist on the Turkish border. And that, from the
Turkish point of view, represents a strategic threat to Turkey.

Turkey, then, is flexing its muscles along the Iraqi border. Given
that Turkey did not participate in the 2003 invasion, the American
attitude toward Ankara has been complex, to say the least. On one
hand, there was a sense of being let down by an old ally. On the other
hand, given events in Iraq andU.S.

relations with Iran and Syria, the United States was not in a position
to completely alienate a Muslim neighbor of Iraq.

As time passed and the situation in Iraq worsened, the Americans
became even less able to isolate Turkey. That is partly because its
neutrality was important and partly because the United States was
extremely concerned about Turkish reactions to growing Kurdish
autonomy. For the Turks, this was a fundamental national security
issue. If they felt the situation were getting out of hand in the
Kurdish regions, they might well intervene militarily. At a time when
the Kurds comprised the only group in Iraq that was generally
pro-American, the United States could hardly let the Turks mangle
them.

On the other hand, the United States was hardly in a position to stop
the Turks. The last thing the United States wanted was a confrontation
with the Turks in the North, for military as well as political
reasons. Yet, the other last thing it wanted was for other Iraqis to
see that the United States would not protect them.

Stated differently, the United States had no solution to the
Turkish-Kurdish equation. So what the United States did was a tap
dance -- by negotiating a series of very temporary solutions that kept
the Turks from crossing the line and kept the Kurds intact. The
current crisis is over the status of the PKK in northern Iraq and, to
a great degree, over Turkish concerns that Iraqi Kurds will gain too
much autonomy, not to mention over concerns about the future status of
the oil-rich city of Kirkuk. The United States may well be ready to
support the Turks in rooting out PKK separatists, but it is not
prepared to force the Iraqi Kurds to give them up. So it will try to
persuade them to give them up voluntarily. This negotiating process
will buy time, though at this point the American strategy in Iraq
generally has been reduced to buying time.

All of this goes beyond the question of Iraq or an independent
Kurdistan.

The real question concerns the position of Turkey as a regional power
in the wake of the Iraq war. This is a vital question because of
Iran. The assumption we have consistently made is that, absent the
United States, Iran would become the dominant regional power and would
be in a position, in the longterm, to dominate the Arabian Peninsula,
shifting not only the regional balance of power but also potentially
the global balance as well.

That analysis assumes that Turkey will play the role it has played
since World War I -- an insular, defensive power that is cautious
about making alliances and then cautious within alliances. In that
role, Turkey is capable of limited assertiveness, as against the
Greeks in Cyprus, but is not inclined to become too deeply entangled
in the chaos of the Middle Eastern equation --and when it does become
involved, it is in the context of its alliance with the United States.

That is not Turkey's traditional role. Until the fall of the Ottomans
at the end of World War I, and for centuries before then, Turkey was
both the dominant Muslim power and a major power in North Africa,
Southeastern Europe and the Middle East. Turkey was the hub of a
multinational empire that as far back as the 15th century dominated
the Mediterranean and Black seas. It was the economic pivot of three
continents, facilitating and controlling the trading system of much of
the Eastern Hemisphere.

Turkey's contraction over the past 90 years or so is not the normal
pattern in the region, and had to do with the internal crisis in
Turkey since the fall of the Ottomans, the emergence of French and
British power in the Middle East, followed by American power and the
Cold War, which locked Turkey into place. During the Cold War, Turkey
was trapped between the Americans and Soviet s, and expansion of its
power was unthinkable. Since then, Turkey has been slowly emerging as
a key power.

One of the main drivers in this has been the significant growth of the
Turkish economy. In 2006, Turkey had the 18th highest gross domestic
product (GDP) in the world, and it has been growing at between 5
percent and 8 percent a year for more than five years. It ranks just
behind Belgium and ahead of Sweden in GDP. It has the largest economy
of any Muslim country -- including Saudi Arabia. And it has done this
in spite of, or perhaps because of, not having been admitted to the
European Union. While per capita GDP lags, it is total GDP that
measures weight in the international system. China, for example, is
109th in per capita GDP. Its international power rests on it being
fourth in total GDP.

Turkey is not China, but in becoming the largest Muslim economy, as
well as the largest economy in the eastern Mediterranean, Southeastern
Europe, the Middle East, the Caucasus and east to the Hindu Kush,
Turkey is moving to regain its traditional position of primacy in the
region. Its growth is still fragile and can be disrupted, but there is
no question that it has become the leading regional economy, as well
as one of the most dynamic. Additionally, Turkey's geographic position
greatly enables it to become Europe's primary transit hub for energy
supplies, especially at a time when Europe is trying to reduce its
dependence on Russia.

This obviously has increased its regional influence. In the Balkans,
for example, where Turkey historically has been a dominant power, the
Turks have again emerged as a major influence over the region's two
Muslim states -- and have managed to carve out for themselves a
prominent position as regards other countries in the region as
well. The country's economic dynamism has helped reorient some of the
region away from Europe, toward Turkey. Similarly, Turkish economic
influence can be felt elsewhere in the region, particularly as a
supplement to its strategic relationship with Israel.

Turkey's problem is that in every direction it faces, its economic
expansion is blocked by politico-military friction. So, for example,
its influence in the Balkans is blocked by its long-standing friction
with Greece. In the Caucasus, its friction with Armenia limits its
ability to influence events.

Tensions with Syria and Iraq block Syrian influence to the south. To
the east, a wary Iran that is ideologically opposed to Turkey blocks
Ankara's influence.

As Turkey grows, an interesting imbalance has to develop. The ability
of Greece, Armenia, Syria, Iraq and Iran to remain hostile to Turkey
decreases as the Turkish economy grows. Ideology and history are very
real things, but so is the economic power of a dynamic economy. As
important, Turkey's willingness to accept its highly constrained role
indefinitely, while its economic -- and therefore political --
influence grows, is limited. Turkey's economic power, coupled with its
substantial regional military power, will over time change the balance
of power in each of the regions Turkey faces.

Not only does Turkey interface with an extraordinary number of
regions, but its economy also is the major one in each of those
regions, while Turkish military power usually is pre-eminent as
well. When Turkey develops economically, it develops militarily. It
then becomes the leading power --in many regions. That is what it
means to be a pivotal power.

In 2003, the United States was cautious with Turkey, though in the
final analysis it was indifferent. It no longer can be
indifferent. The United States is now in the process of planning the
post-Iraq war era, and even if it does retain permanent bases in Iraq
-- dubious for a number of reasons -- it will have to have a regional
power to counterbalance Iran. Iran has always been aware of and
cautious with Turkey, but never as much as now -- while Turkey is
growing economically and doing the heavy lifting on the Kurds. Iran
does not want to antagonize the Turks.

The United States and Iran have been talking -- just recently engaging
in seven hours of _formal discussions_
(http://www.stratfor.com/products/premiu ... d=3D292898)
. But Iran, betting that the United States will withdraw from Iraq, is
not taking the talks as seriously as it might. The United States has
few levers to use against Iran. It is therefore not surprising that it
has reached out to the biggest lever.

In the short run, Turkey, if it works with the United States,
represents a counterweight to Iran, not only in general, but also
specifically in Iraq.

>From the American point of view, a Turkish invasion of northern Iraq
would introduce a major force native to the region that certainly
would give Iran pause in its behavior in Iraq. This would mean the
destruction of Kurdish hopes for independence, though the United
States has on several past occasions raised and then dashed Kurdish
hopes. In this sense, Novak's article makes a great deal of sense. The
PKK would provide a reasonable excuse for a Turkish intervention in
Iraq, both in the region and in Turkey. Anything that blocks the
Kurds will be acceptable to the Turkish public, and even to Iran.

It is the longer run that is becoming interesting, however. If the
United States is not going to continue counterbalancing Iran in the
region, then it is in Turkey's interest to do so. It also is
increasingly within Turkey's reach. But it must be understood that,
given geography, the growth of Turkish power will not be confined to
one direction. A powerful and self-confidentTurkey has a geographical
position that inevitably reflects all the regions that pivot around
it.

For the past 90 years, Turkey has not played its historic role. Now,
however, economic and politico-military indicators point to Turkey's
slow reclamation of that role. The rumors about Turkish action against
the PKK have much broader significance. They point to a changing role
for Turkey -- and thatwill mean massive regional changes over time.

© Copyright 2007 Strategic Forecasting Inc.
It's a custom of the human condition for the masses to remain ignorant. It's what they do. In fact, that IS how "the peace" is kept. Whatever democracy we have here is a spectator's sport.
Armanen
 
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Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2007 6:13 am
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