التحرك
التركي نحو العراق؟
بقلم:
بيلين تورجيت
صحيفة
التايم الأمريكية - 25/5/2007
إن المشكلة الكردية لا تتركز في
شمال العراق أنها موجودة في
داخل تركيا وهذا ما ينبغي
التركيز عليه
A
Turkish Move Into Iraq?
Friday,
May. 25, 2007 By PELIN
TURGET/ISTANBUL
According
to its
Prime Minister
,
Turkey
may launch an attack on Kurdish guerrillas in
Iraq
,
despite likely
U.S.
opposition. After a bomb killed six people in the
capital of
Ankara
on May 22, many Turkish
officials are calling for retaliation against the
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which they blame for the
attack. The PKK, which has been fighting for Kurdish
self-rule in southeastern
Turkey
since 1984 and is based in the mountains of north
Iraq
,
has denied responsibility for the bomb.
Turkey
's
powerful military has frequently indicated its readiness
to launch a cross-border operation, but Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan has resisted — until now. Newly
under pressure from the secularist army over his party's
Islamic roots, Erdogan's thinking about military action
in
Iraq
has clearly changed, telling the ATV Turkish television
network that parliament would now approve a military
strike if the army sought it. "It is out of the
question for us to disagree on this issue with our...
soldiers," he said. He also indicated he would not
seek the
U.S.
's
approval, which has opposed Turkish intervention in
Iraq
.
"
Turkey
doesn't require permission from any country. Other
nations should in fact support us in this
endeavor," he said.
Keen
to avoid conflict in
Iraq
's
only consistently stable region, the
U.S.
has tried to contain Turkish frustration over a steady
trickle of casualties in southeastern
Turkey
—in
the latest violence, six soldiers were killed in an
ambush on Thursday—by backing a diplomatic force
involving
Ankara
,
Washington
and
Baghdad
. That initiative has not,
however, produced tangible results, and
Turkey
has accused the Iraqi Kurdish administration of giving
refuge to thousands of PKK guerrillas. "Going into
north
Iraq
would bring
Turkey
into a head-on disagreement with the
U.S.
,"
says Mehmet Altan, a newspaper columnist and political
analyst. "That could jeopardize
Turkey
's
stability and position in the region."
Always
a key behind-the-scenes force in domestic politics,
Turkey
's
military has gotten more involved in governmental
affairs recently. Last month it warned of possible
intervention if Erdogan posted foreign minister Abdullah
Gul, a devout Muslim, as
Turkey
's
next president, citing doubts over his secularist
credentials. The ensuing crisis forced the government to
back down and call early elections, now scheduled for
July 22.
Although
demands for military action are increasing, some caution
that
Turkey
should focus instead on better integrating its Kurdish
minority into society. "The military are putting
the pressure on the government" says Altan.
"But the Kurdish problem is one that needs to be
solved by democratic means, not military ones." As
part of its European Union accession bid,
Turkey
passed a number of reforms designed to improve human and
cultural rights for its Kurdish population, estimated at
20 million of
Turkey
's
total 71 million. But that process has stalled amidst
backlash from some European leaders opposed to
Turkey
joining the EU under any circumstances, and a related
rise of Turkish nationalism.
The
government recently refused to revise a rule requiring a
party to earn at least 10% of the national vote to land
any seats in parliament. That means Kurdish parties will
probably be shut out of parliament again in the July
elections: Although they garner majorities across
south-eastern
Turkey
,
they are not likely to get 10% nationwide. "As long
as real democratization is not achieved, military
operations will fail to reach their goal," says
Ragip Duran, a prominent author and analyst of Kurdish
issues. "More blood will be spilled. The Kurdish
problem is not based in north
Iraq
,
it's based in
Turkey
,
and that is what needs to be addressed."
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1625405,00.html
-----------------
نشرنا
لهذه المقالات لا يعني أنها
تعبر عن وجهة نظر المركز كلياً
أو جزئياً
 
|
