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Turkey struggles against the changing times

By Bashdar Ismaeel - posted Monday, 29 October 2007


Turkish-US Ties Under Strain

Whilst the frequent failed promises by the US administration to deal with the PKK hardly helped, two events that arguably swayed Turkish political opinion and deep-rooted anxiety into overdrive.  Firstly, their disappointment over a US Senate motion, referred to as the Biden-Brownback amendment, to push through the break-up of Iraq into three federal entities; and secondly, their downright anger over the passing of a non-binding resolution by the US House Foreign Affairs Committee to officially recognise the Armenian massacre between 1915-1923 under Ottoman rule as genocide.

This created uproar in public, political and military circles alike, with Turkey swiftly condemning the resolution and warning President Bush of the massive ramifications that this would have in their relationship and their logistical support of US troops in Iraq, if it was formally passed.

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The changing face of the political and strategic makeup of the Middle East has rocked Turkey’s once unbreakable alliance with the US, which reached its a peak at the time of the Cold War. Now, the US has greater priorities and faces its gravest danger in the form of terrorism. The global aspects and wider implications of their foreign policies are more important than any relationship with a single country.

Iraqi Kurds By-Passed

The region and the international community are now watching Turkey’s next steps closely. What is clear is that any hasty or controversial adventure by Turkey that goes beyond the remit of a limited incursion may well result in a major backlash.

The Iraqi Kurds fully appreciate that for their long-term prosperity and survival they must cooperate very closely with Turkey. However, even they are feeling increasingly undermined by the actions of regional powers and the insistence of Turkey in by-passing them in negotiations with the Iraqi government.

A recently signed security deal between Iraq and Turkey by-passed the Iraqi Kurds, with the Baghdad government insistent that all elements of national foreign policy must be channelled through them.

Despite the rhetoric of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki however, there is nothing that Baghdad can do in the Kurdish region. There is no Iraqi Army in Iraqi Kurdistan and no sense of bending backwards to fight their ethnic brethren to satisfy the vain nationalist  desires of a neighbouring country who even refuses to acknowledge them as a credible entity.

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PKK - A Terrorist Issue or a Kurdish Problem

It is ironic that Turkey sees the PKK as a terrorist threat and not as a Kurdish problem.

The PKK is simply the fruit from the seeds of problems that were sown decades previously in the aftermath of World War One. Unless the root of these problems are addressed, the branches may be cut but they will only grow back at a more vicious rate. If the PKK as an organisation could, hypothetically, be eradicated altogether, there is no guarantee that another Kurdish off-shoot will not arise by next year.

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About the Author

Bashdar Pusho Ismaeel is a London-based freelance writer and analyst, whose primary focus and expertise is on the Kurds, Iraq and Middle Eastern current affairs. The main focus of his writing is to promote peace, justice and increase awareness of the diversity, suffering and at times explosive mix in Iraq and the Middle East.

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