US in last-ditch effort to ease Turkish-Kurdish tensions
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Ankara fears creation of independent state across border
Washington’s special envoy attempts to calm the atmosphere as invasion looms
ANKARA: A US envoy was meeting Turkish officials and Iraqi Kurdish leaders in Ankara Tuesday in an 11th-hour attempt to ease tensions between the two allies ahead of a war on Iraq.
The special envoy to the Iraqi opposition, Zalmay Khalilzad, faced the tough task of heading off growing hostility between the two sides over the makeup of post-war Iraq, which has threatened to snag US military plans.
Ankara wants to send troops across its border into Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq, dreading that its worst nightmare an independent Kurdish state is in the making there.
“The aim of the talks is to agree on the principles for the future of Iraq. The territorial integrity of Iraq should be preserved and its future should be decided by all (ethnic) groups in the country,” a Turkish government source told AFP. “The situation is very sensitive.”
Representing the Iraqi Kurds in the talks were Jalal Talabani, the head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, and Nechirvan Barzani, a senior member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, whose factions share control of northern Iraq.
Also participating was Sanan Ahmet Aga, a representative of the Iraqi Turkmens, a community of Turkic origin, which Ankara would like to see obtain greater political influence in the region to counterbalance the Kurds.
The Iraqi Kurds have threatened to fight the Turkish Army if it intervenes in their region, which since the 1991 Gulf War has enjoyed de facto autonomy from Baghdad ironically thanks to Turkey’s agreement to host US warplanes enforcing
a no-fly zone over the region.
Washington has meanwhile warned Ankara against unilateral military action in northern Iraq, adding new strain to ties between the two NATO allies, which are already at odds over Ankara’s reluctance to allow US troops to deploy on its soil.
Any Turkish military role in northern Iraq should come in the broader context of US-Turkish cooperation against Baghdad, Washington said.
Bowing to pressure from Washington, Ankara signaled Tuesday that it was considering asking Parliament a second time to back US war plans. MPs rejected a first request on March 1.
“Turkey is already passing through a very difficult period in its foreign affairs,” the Radikal daily wrote, referring to the Cyprus conflict and setbacks in the country’s bid to join the European Union.
“It could be further isolated by the West if it enters northern Iraq against the will of the United States and unpleasant developments take place there,” the daily added.
The tensions stem from Turkish suspicions that the Iraqi Kurds will move towards formal secession in the event of a war, unrestrained by the US. Reeling from a 15-year Kurdish rebellion in its own southeastern region, Ankara fears a Kurdish state at its doorstep could reignite separatist violence at home.
The Iraqi Kurds, on the other hand, worry that Turkey may be planning to seize Mosul and Kirkuk, oil-rich regions which are currently under Baghdad’s control and to which the Kurds have historical claims.
Ankara denies that it harbors such ambitions but opposes Kurdish control of the oil resources, which could make an independent Kurdish state in the landlocked and mountainous area a viable option.
In Irbil, Kurdish commander, Feridoun Janrowey, said Kurds “would not welcome” Turkish forces that were not directly under US military command.
“There is no way we will allow independent Turkish forces … If needed, we would challenge them,” said Janrowey, one of the main Kurdish military planners. “We are opposed to any neighboring military in our territory,” Janrowey told The Associated Press.
Janrowey repeated assurances by other Kurdish leaders that they will not send forces into Kirkuk and Mosul when the war begins. But he said Kurdish militias “were always ready” to join the fight if needed.
Barham Salih, prime minister of the Kurdistan regional government, claimed last week that Iraqi forces had booby-trapped the oil fields in Kirkuk and probably elsewhere. Janrowey could not confirm the suspicions, but said intelligence reports showed Iraqi troops digging in near the oil complexes.
With war almost certain, many Iraqi Kurds have fled cities for villages in fear of missile or poison gas attacks. Janrowey said Kurdish forces had no special precautions against a chemical or biological strike.
“We don’t have gas masks like the rich armies,” he said. “We have always been willing to die for our land. We are prepared to do that now.” Agencies |
