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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sully- who wrote (123291)	1/16/2004 9:11:47 AM
From: FaultLine	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Hello wstera 02, Most people [are]...unable to achieve enough emotional detachment from their own political passions to see the world as it really is A difficulty indeed. Brooks issues a broad-based indictment. Do you have any helpful advice on how to "see the world as it really is"? How is one to achieve "awareness"? And, how does one know when he's actually "got it"? --fl@knowledgecomesbutwisdomlingers.com

To: Sully- who wrote (123291)	1/16/2004 3:15:40 PM
From: GST	Respond to of 281500

Turkish Army Flexes Muscles on Iraq, Cyprus 1 hour, 3 minutes ago By Asli Kandemir and Zerin Elci ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey's powerful military flexed its muscles Friday, saying an ethnic-based federation in neighboring Iraq (news - web sites) would be "difficult and bloody" and slamming U.S. forces there for failing to clamp down on Kurdish rebels. At a rare news conference, a top general also said the military backed a peace deal for Cyprus before the split island joins the European Union (news - web sites) in May, but warned this would be hard. "If there is a federal structure in Iraq on an ethnic basis, the future will be very difficult and bloody," General Ilker Basbug, the number two at the General Staff, told reporters, adding that a federation based on geography would be better. Basbug was speaking 10 days before Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan goes to Washington for talks with President Bush (news - web sites), seen focusing on Iraq, Cyprus and international security. Ankara has patched up relations with the United States since its parliament voted against letting U.S. forces attack Iraq from Turkish soil last year, and U.S. troops are currently being rotated in and out of Iraq through a base in Turkey. Democratic reforms have started to curb the power of the Turkish military, which has staged three coups and effectively forced an elected government from office as recently as 1997. But tensions between the fiercely secular generals and Erdogan's government, which has its roots in political Islam, are often bubbling below the surface. Iraqi Kurds won autonomy in northern Iraq after the 1991 Gulf war. Now Kurdish leaders want to cement that autonomy under Iraq's new political system, while Arab and Turkmen residents bitterly oppose any such plan. NATO (news - web sites)-member Turkey fears Kurdish autonomy in Iraq could stir up similar aspirations among its own Kurdish minority, and has warned it would intervene if Iraqi Kurds declared independence. The United States has said the decision on a new political framework for the war-torn country rests with the Iraqis. MORE ACTION ON PKK Basbug also said the United States was not doing enough to wipe out Turkish Kurd rebels of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) -- named on Washington's list of terrorist organizations -- who use Iraq as a base for cross-border attacks into Turkey. The conflict has killed more than 30,000 people in the past two decades, although violence has ebbed since the 1999 arrest of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan. "The U.S.'s fight against the PKK is not meeting our expectations in the current situation," Busbag said. "Our view is that the United States must start some military actions against the terror group within a short space of time." Basbug was talking after Turkish markets had closed. But the lira currency weakened in international trade following the general's unusually overt criticism of Washington. "The Turkish military seem to be setting out their stall ahead of the...meeting between Erdogan and Bush," Bear Steans analyst Tim Ash said in a research note, adding that the comments would ruffle feathers at the Pentagon (news - web sites). Basbug said the military was working closely with the Turkish Foreign Ministry on Cyprus, where Turkey keeps at least 30,000 troops to back the self-declared Turkish Cypriot state. The island has been split since Turkey invaded the island in 1974 following a Greek Cypriot coup backed by Greece. Turkey's political leaders and top brass are due to meet next Friday to finalize a new policy on Cyprus, aimed at working for a peace deal by May. Ankara fears lack of a solution could endanger its hopes of joining the EU, but analysts say there is a chance hard-liners in the military could derail the process. Basbug, seen as a relative moderate on Cyprus, said: "We aim for a solution in Cyprus before May 1 but a lasting solution takes a long time and is difficult." story.news.yahoo.com