-Caveat Lector-
Begin forwarded message:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: March 23, 2007 10:46:12 AM PDT
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: All War on the Quiet Front
US struggles to avert Turkish intervention in northern Iraq
--Ankara claims Kurdish rebels preparing attacks
--Operations could wreck American peace strategy
Simon Tisdall in Ankara
The Guardian (UK), March 23, 2007
http://www.guardian.co.uk/turkey/story/0,,2041022,00.html
The US is scrambling to head off a "disastrous" Turkish military
intervention in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq that threatens to
derail the Baghdad security surge and open up a third front in the
battle to save Iraq from disintegration.
Senior Bush administration officials have assured Turkey in recent
days that US forces will increase efforts to root out Kurdistan
Workers' party (PKK) guerrillas enjoying safe haven in the Qandil
mountains, on the Iraq-Iran-Turkey border.
But Abdullah Gul, Turkey's foreign minister, MPs, military chiefs
and diplomats say up to 3,800 PKK fighters are preparing for
attacks in south-east Turkey - and Turkey is ready to hit back if
the Americans fail to act. "We will do what we have to do, we will
do what is necessary. Nothing is ruled out," Mr Gul said. "I have
said to the Americans many times: suppose there is a terrorist
organisation in Mexico attacking America. What would you do?... We
are hopeful. We have high expectations. But we cannot just wait
forever."
Turkish sources said "hot pursuit" special forces operations in
Khaftanin and Qanimasi, northern Iraq, were already under way.
Murat Karayilan, a PKK leader, said this week that a "mad war" was
in prospect unless Ankara backed off.
Fighting between security forces and Kurdish fighters seeking
autonomy or independence for Kurdish-dominated areas of south-east
Turkey has claimed 37,000 lives since 1984. The last big Turkish
operation occurred 10 years ago, when 40,000 troops pushed deep
into Iraq. But intervention in the coming weeks would be the first
since the US took control of Iraq in 2003 and would risk direct
confrontation between Turkish troops and Iraqi Kurdish forces and
their US allies.
Several other factors are adding to the tension between the Nato
partners:
--The firm Turkish belief that the US is playing a double game in
northern Iraq. Officials say the CIA is covertly funding and arming
the PKK's sister organisation, the Iran-based Kurdistan Free Life
party, to destabilise the Iranian government.
--US acquiescence in plans to hold a referendum in oil-rich Kirkuk
in northern Iraq. Turkey suspects Iraqi Kurds are seeking control
of Kirkuk as a prelude to the creation of an independent Kurdistan.
--Plans by the US Congress to vote on a resolution blaming Turkey
for genocide against the Armenians in 1915. Faruk Logoglu, a former
ambassador to Washington, said that if the resolution passed,
relations "could take generations to recover".
--Record levels of Turkish anti-Americanism dating back to 2003,
when Turkey refused to let US combat forces cross the Iraq border.
The US is already fighting Sunni insurgents and Shia militias.
Analysts say a surge in violence in northern Iraq, previously the
most stable region, could capsize the entire US plan. But pressure
on the Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is also
growing as a result of forthcoming elections.
Military intervention was narrowly avoided last summer when he said
that "patience was at an end" over US prevarication.
Now conservatives and nationalists are again accusing him of not
standing up to Washington.
"If they are killing our soldiers ... and if public pressure on the
government increases, of course we will have to intervene," said
Ali Riza Alaboyun, an MP for Mr Erdogan's Justice and Development
party. "It is the legal right of any country to protect its people
and its borders."
US support for Iranian Kurds opposed to the Tehran government is
adding to the agitation.
"The US is trying to undermine the Iran regime, using the Kurds
like it is using the MEK [the anti-Tehran People's Mujahideen],"
said Dr Logoglu. "Once you begin to differentiate between 'good'
and 'bad' terrorist organisations, then you lose the war on terror."
But he warned that military intervention might be ineffective and
could be "disastrous" in destabilising the region. A recent
national security council assessment also suggested that senior
Turkish commanders were cautious about the prospects of success.
Daniel Fried, assistant secretary of state, said last week that the
US was acting to assuage Turkish concerns. "We are committed to
eliminating the threat of PKK terrorism in northern Iraq," he said.
General Joseph Ralston, the US special envoy dealing with the PKK
issue, was less upbeat, admitting that "the potential for Turkish
cross-border action" was growing. "We have reached a critical point
in which the pressure of continued [PKK] attacks has placed immense
public pressure upon the government of Turkey to take some military
action. As the snows melt in the mountain passes, we will see if
the PKK renews its attacks and how the Turkish government
responds ... I hope the Turks will continue to stand by us."
But a Milliyet journalist, Kadri Gursel, said: "The US attitude has
really pissed off the government and the army. The US really
doesn't understand how exhausted and fed up they are."
---
U.S. BACKS BRITAIN OVER IRAN SEIZURE OF NAVY PERSONNEL
2007/3/24
WASHINGTON, Reuters
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/latestnews/2007324/45058.htm
The United States backed Britain's demand for the immediate release
of 15 British Royal Navy personnel seized by Iranian forces on Friday.
Britain, Washington's chief ally in the Iraq war, said the incident
took place in Iraqi waters, where its forces had searched a
merchant ship as part of routine boardings carried out with U.N.
permission.
"We support the British demand for the safe return of their people
and equipment," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told
reporters as a diplomatic crisis flared amid already heightened
tensions over Iran's nuclear program.
White House spokesman Tony Snow took a more cautious stance over
the Iranian seizure, saying only that U.S. officials had been in
touch with the British about it.
"We are keeping watch on the situation," he told reporters in
Washington.
Britain's Foreign Office summoned Iran's ambassador and demanded
the safe release of the 15.
The incident took place a day after Iran launched a week of naval
war games along its coast, including the narrow northern reaches of
the Gulf which control access to the vast oil reserves of Iraq,
Iran and Kuwait.
Oil prices rose by about 1 percent to above $62 a barrel over
concern that the incident could escalate and perhaps disrupt
shipping from the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway for exports from
Saudi Arabia.
The United Nations Security Council is expected to vote on Saturday
on a resolution to impose new sanctions against Iran over its
refusal to halt uranium enrichment.
Britain's Defense Ministry said the 15 had just finished inspecting
a merchant ship when their two boats were surrounded by Iranian
vessels and escorted into Iranian waters.
Iranian officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
(Additional reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky)
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