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Turkey threatens invasion of Iraq
By Becky Kallemeyn
Guest Writer
FILE PHOTO
Kurdish fighter of the Iraqi Kurdistan Democratic Party, just south of the Turkish-Iraqi border.
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Turkey expressed a sincere interest this past week in deploying troops to neighboring Iraq to engage Iraqi Kurds in conflict. This has been met with tremendous concern from several European countries, as well as the United States.
Turkey’s readiness for warfare is based on a fear of Iraqi Kurds’ increasing independence, which could encourage the Kurdish minority in Turkey to secede as well. It also anticipates a possible refugee crisis in which thousands abandon Iraq, in fear of Saddam Hussein, to cross into Turkey.
Iraqi Kurds fear Turkey is only concerned with keeping them in subjugation, and are well prepared to defend themselves from Turkish military involvement. An Iraqi policeman stationed a few miles from the Turkish border troops explained that he had cold and clear orders to resist and fight the Turks. When asked if he would defend the station in a near-hopeless assault of waiting Turkish army tanks, the young man replied, "I am ready to sacrifice."
American troops are being filtered into Iraqi-controlled territory in small groups, helped by Kurdish guerrillas. Europe and the United States fear a conflict between Turkey and Iraqi Kurds will set off heated disputes between rivaling Kurdish factions, inevitably jeopardizing the security of American troops in the area. Officials of each have applied steady pressure to Turkey, pushing it to hold back its troops.
To stay on good terms, President George W. Bush has granted Turkey a $1 billion aid package as part of the United States’ supplemental war budget, a step down from the original $6 billion offer. The former offer took place before the Turkish government denied American troops of 62,000 access to Turkish roadways and bases.
To express their opposition to Turkish involvement in Iraq, France, Germany and Belgium all opposed further NATO military aid to Turkey, contending to do so would undermine the United Nations’s actions against war in Iraq. On Saturday Germany threatened to no longer participate in NATO surveillance flights protecting Turkish airspace. These surveillance flights took place at the request of the United States a few weeks ago, out of concern for a possible Iraqi attack on Turkey. Germany’s involvement was reluctant to begin with; German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer made the country’s new position clear when he said, “If Turkey becomes involved in the war then it’s a new situation for us, and it would cause the removal of German soldiers from the AWACS aircraft.” In response to concerns that this would conflict with Germany’s commitments to NATO, Defense Minister Peter Struck said, “If Turkey becomes an active party to war then our alliance obligations no longer apply. That is a different situation.”
The European Union, although not withholding its planned financial aid to Turkey in assisting it to attain E.U. membership, warns that possible Turkish involvement in Iraq could threaten its candidacy for a position.
As of Sunday, British Defense Minister Geoff Hoon reported 1,500 Turkish troops in Northern Iraq, whose purpose was to protect the Turkish border. Chief of staff of Turkish armed forces General Himli Ozkok confirmed this, but did not detail the number of troops or type of equipment the troops are using.
Ozkok relieved US and European officials on Wednesday when he announced that Turkey would not send troops into Iraq. “This is not our war,” he stated. “This is not our mission.”
Ozkok reserves the right to deploy further troops if warfare is initiated by Iraqi Kurds, or in case of a refugee crisis. He expressed his opinion during his speech: “I have difficulty understanding those who claim there is a threat to them across the ocean. When Turkey says the same threat exists on the other side of its border, this is found to be unbelievable.”
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