Turkey Signals It's Prepared to Enter Iraq - by Louis Meixler
Turkish officials signaled Tuesday they are prepared to send the army into northern Iraq if U.S. and Iraqi forces do not take steps to combat Turkish Kurdish guerrillas there - a move that could put Turkey on a collision course with the United States. Turkey is facing increasing domestic pressure to act after 15 soldiers, police and guards were killed fighting the guerrillas in southeastern Turkey in the past week. "The government is really in a bind," said Seyfi Tashan, director of the Foreign Policy Institute at Bilkent University in Ankara. "On the one hand, they don't want things to break down with the United States. On the other hand, the public is crying for action."
EU-Digest: "Why should there be a double standard in combating the PKK or Hezbollah and Hamas? The answer to this confusion is simple - The US protects the Kurds because they are the only real allies they have in Iraq, and for this reason Kurdish terrorist groups,like the PKK, are allowed to operate freely from the Kurdish safe-haven there. But what would happen if Turkey goes for the prize and puts Kirkuk under their control? The US will get very upset, but has their hands tied. The Europeans will certainly voice some cosmetic diplomatic protests, but in secret probably will embrace Turkey for the oil reserves they would bring into the EU sphere of influence. Some European politicians are now even saying: "the Middle East is in the backyard of Europe, so why should the US be the only country to have a Monroe doctrine? The availability of large reserves of oil certainly is a great incentive?
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