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--- Begin Message --- -Caveat Lector- Turkey's Wrong Turn
By WILLIAM SAFIRE
New York Times, March 24, 2003
WASHINGTON -- As several American "big birds" flew in from the West to airfields in the zone we protect in Iraqi Kurdistan, a freedom fighter turned to a Kurdish friend: "I have been a pesh merga for 25 years," he said. "I always dreaded the sight of aircraft because they brought death to our people. This is the first time I have seen an air force on our side."
The transports arriving at the rate of four a day carry U.S. forces as well as loads of weapons to enable Kurds to follow up on our air and missile strikes at Ansar and Qaeda terrorists. Together with the 70,000 Kurdish warriors who call themselves the pesh merga, "those who face death," the U.S. troops being inserted daily are early elements of what will become the northern front.
The missions of these coalition forces are to prevent Saddam from torching the Kirkuk-Mosul oil fields and to engage Iraqi troops that would otherwise join the defense of Baghdad. Top Baath Party leaders tell my Kurdish friends that Saddam's strategy is to use guerrilla tactics to give France and Russia two weeks to negotiate a truce.
Such delaying tactics are helped by Turkey's foot-dragging. The new, Islamic-influenced government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan transformed that formerly staunch U.S. ally into Saddam's best friend.
The main reason Turkey now permits U.S. overflights is that we have demonstrated our capability of doing it the long, hard way, from the west through Jordan. For that, we owe King Abdullah plenty; we owe Mr. Erdogan nothing.
Before that, Ankara Islamists kept allied supply ships floating off Turkey's shores, while those politicians dickered over the price of a transit toll. Six billion cash plus 10 billion in loan guarantees wasn't good enough in that time-consuming bazaar. We had to send our ships around to Kuwait, lengthening the war and causing more allied and Iraqi casualties.
Adding diplomatic insult to this military injury, Turkey massed 40,000 troops on its border with Iraq, hoping to grab the oil fields of Kirkuk if Iraqi Kurds rectified Saddam's ethnic cleansing by daring to return to their homes.
The Turks' excuse for seizing today's moment of liberation to bite off a rich chunk of their neighbor is this: they insist that Iraqi Kurds plan to set up an independent state, which would then supposedly cause Turkish Kurds to secede and break up Turkey. That's strictly Erdogan's cover story for an oil grab, undermining the coalition's plans for an Iraq whole and free.
Even America's severest critics recognize Turkey's move as venal: pacifist Germany just threatened to remove its crews from the Awacs sent to Turkey by NATO that we arranged to protect the Turks from any wartime backlash. Thus has the novice wheeler-dealer in Ankara succeeded in alienating both the trans-Atlantic coalition of the willing and old Europe's union of the unwilling.
The Turks also came up with a "humanitarian" reason for crossing their border: to block an expected wave of Kurdish refugees again running from Saddam's vengeance. They would be running from an attack by Saddam's troops invited by Turkey's refusal to permit passage by allied troops.
Few are willing to denounce the new government of Turkey for this betrayal because wartime is not the best time. Last week, Colin Powell, biting his tongue, observed patiently that Ankara had yet to "operationalize" overflights. Gen. Tommy Franks also walked on eggs, noting that incursions by Turkish troops were by "very light formations."
Barham Salih, an Iraqi Kurdish leader who spoke to me yesterday from Sulaimaniya, also was conciliatory: "Erdogan had been badly advised, before his election, that America could not topple Saddam without Turkey. We do not forget that Turkey provided the airfields for the no-fly zone that protected Kurds for a decade." However, Salih pointedly noted that "Kurdish forces in Iraq are part of the coalition, effectively under U.S. control. And we are not asking for money; we are calling for freedom."
Fortunately, President Bush sent a firm message to troublesome Turks: "We expect them not to go into northern Iraq." Maybe, after undermining the genuine friendship between Turkey and the U.S. by helping Saddam make the war longer and bloodier, Islamist politicians and secular generals in Ankara will agree to fulfill Bush's expectation.
_______________
Ankara denies reports its troops are entering Iraq
Frank Bruni NYT
International Herald Tribune, March 24, 2003
CIZRE, Turkey -- The Turkish military has issued a formal denial of news reports that Turkish troops have entered northern Iraq in defiance of American requests that they stay away..
Iraqi Kurdish leaders also say that there had not been any incursion of Turkish troops into northern Iraq since the American military strikes on Iraq began, and they warned Turkey that such a move could lead to violence between the troops and Iraqi Kurds..
"I can confirm to you that no Turkish troops so far have entered or been deployed into our areas," said Hoshyar Zebari, a senior official of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, at a news conference Saturday afternoon in the northern Iraq city of Arbil..
The arrival of such troops, Zebari said, might set off "uncontrolled clashes between the population and the Turkish Army.".
It is precisely that result that American officials fear, and they have repeatedly urged the Turkish government not to allow new troops into northern Iraq, where Turkey has maintained a small military presence for years..
Turkey has deployed thousands of troops along the border between Iraq and Turkey, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of Cizre. Late Friday, the Turkish foreign minister, Abdullah Gul, said that some of them would enter Iraq, although he did not say when..
The reason, he said, was to prevent terrorist activity in Turkey. He said Turkish Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq had taken part in bloody clashes in southeastern Turkey during the 1990s that left tens of thousands of people dead. "Turkish troops will go in," Gul said in Ankara. After that statement, there were conflicting reports about whether the troops had already gone..
Military sources said that 1,000 to 1,500 Turkish soldiers had moved into northern Iraq from the Turkish town of Cukurca, well east of Cizre, in a corner of Turkey near both Iraq and Iran. But both Turkish government officials and aid organizations that are keeping a watch on the border said they had no evidence of that..
People in northern Iraq said they had not noticed such a movement of troops, and people in the area of Turkey between Cizre and northern Iraq said they had not seen the soldiers near Cizre cross the border..
The confusion continued throughout the day and into Saturday night..
A statement released by the Turkish military acknowledged news reports of troop movements into Iraq and said: "The reports are not true.".
Asked about Turkish movement into Iraq, General Tommy Franks, who leads the coalition forces, said at a news conference: "I believe that the Turkish formations that we see in northern Iraq are very light formations. We see them move in and out of Turkey.".
But he added that there was "continuing discussion" about how much Turkish activity was acceptable, adding, "I guess I would say that that's sort of above my pay grade."
The British defense secretary, Geoff Hoon, described what he called a limited incursion of Turkish troops into Iraq, a border policing operation that he told reporters in London was not cause for concern..
On Thursday, the Turkish Parliament it also authorized Turkish troops to enter Iraq if it was deemed necessary.
________________________
BBC News online
24 March, 2003
Turkey border tension mounts
Turkey says deployment will help refugees
The prospect of thousands of Turkish troops entering Iraq moved closer on Monday, despite the starkest warning yet from the US to Ankara not to proceed with the plan.
US President George W Bush said the US was making it "very clear" to the Turks that they should not cross the border.
But Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in a nationwide television address on Sunday, made clear that he was planning to go ahead with the deployment.
"The heroic Turkish Armed Forces, the guarantor of peace at all places and at all times, will once again extend their hand to those in need of help," Mr Erdogan said.
"The presence of Turkish soldiers in the region will be an element of security and stability for Turkey and the region."
He said the deployment would aid refugees and safeguard Turkish security.
Mr Erdogan also said an agreement had been reached with the US - an assertion which Washington has not confirmed.
However, the BBC's Nick Thorpe, on the Turkish-Iraqi border, says a possible compromise may be emerging, under which the Turks would advance no further than 20 kilometres (13 miles) into Iraq.
Analysis: Turkey's border tensions
Senior Turkish military figures, including chief-of-staff General Hilmi Ozkok, were travelling to the border region on Monday to meet Turkish military commanders.
The BBC has learnt that more than 10,000 Turkish troops have moved to the border area.
As the tension mounted, the US special envoy to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, was due to hold talks later on Monday with the Turkish Government.
Despite US assurances that it can control events in the north, the issue remains highly sensitive for Turkey. It fears that moves towards an independent Kurdish state in Iraq could spark fresh turmoil in its own Kurdish-populated areas.
BBC correspondent Jonny Dymond says that, despite denials from Ankara, there is little doubt that Turkish forces have infringed the Iraqi border in recent days.
Small numbers of Turkish troops have operated in northern Iraq since the 1990s, targeting Turkish Kurd rebel groups, but reports in the past week suggested that 1,500 extra troops had been deployed to prepare the way for an even bigger force.
The US has finally abandoned plans for its own land-based invasion of northern Iraq, after months of negotiation and confusion ended in approval only for an air corridor.
US equipment, which had had been sent to Turkey and the eastern Mediterranean for use in the abortive northern front, were reportedly being withdrawn on Monday to begin the long journey to the southern front.
Motives challenged
A member of the Turkish parliament, Emin Shirin, told the BBC that his government would "judge what is necessary for the security of Turkey".
"[The Americans] are forgetting our concerns. We are talking about hundreds of thousands of people who could possibly immigrate. I don't think we can trust the Americans on this matter," he said.
He also challenged the US to explain its U-turn on whether a Turkish deployment was desirable.
"About two weeks ago, [the Americans] were completely in agreement to move into Iraq together with us," Mr Shirin said.
"All of a sudden after the Turkish parliament decided to deny the resolution to open the northern border... they find a Turkish presence in the north unacceptable."
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