The Turkish "Sun" and the US-Israeli Dust
Zuheir Kseibati Al Hayat - 25/02/08//
A thick fog covers the "realistic" goals of the military operation undertaken by the Turkish army in northern Iraq and codenamed "Sun." The Kurds there fear that once again their stability will be scorched by a potential collaboration between Ankara and Washington, under the banner of the war to eradicate "the terror of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)."
It might not hurt some parties if this collusion-cooperation turns into a front that sees the entrance of Israeli army intelligence, as the war becomes Turkish-Israeli-American. Most people who know the Kurdistan government in northern Iraq are aware that this triangle has only been completed in the past when there are plans that go beyond the seasonal strikes at the PKK fighters and bases, to comprise regional "projects."
It is a true shining "sun," as Turkish units enter four regions of northern Iraq, to refute any claim of a localized military operation. This was after there was fogginess about the size of the ground and air forces taking part in a winter campaign against the PKK's safe bases in the backyard of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region. It was natural to see the misleading intentions in the US side's confirmation that a few hundred Turkish soldiers crossed the borders, while the Turkish army confirmed the participation of thousands of troops in a new show of force against the PKK and its "terror," after the government of Recep Tayyib Erdogan gave this army a one-year free hand in a bid to deflect its pressures to accommodate the political life at home.
Nothing is clearer than the US-Israeli "awakening" to please Ankara and understand its security concerns. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak volunteers intelligence reports that help Turkey reduce its army losses, while Israeli experts at one of its military bases have become active before the "sun" of the generals shone on northern Iraq. The US State Department promises "the best possible forms of cooperation" to confront the PKK rebellion.
Thus, it is a war in which Turkey, Israel and America are taking part, to confront a party! Ankara has its chronic illness with the rebellion by Turkish Kurds; outbreaks of this disease sometimes take place in Iraqi Kurdish areas, without coming close to sparking a collapse in "their paradise," especially that their US ally will not sell them out, while the Iranian orbit grows in central and southern Iraq.
Washington has its calculations under the "sun" and behind the dust. We cannot believe that the US Vice President Dick Cheney will soon visit President Abdullah Gul just to check on the course of the "limited" war against the PKK. Likewise, it is difficult to believe that Israel has become anxious about the future of Turkish unity or the status of its generals, who are angered by the strikes of armed fighters who hide behind the borders and are tracked by Barak's planes.
In the exchange of interests and prices, when Washington expects the ruling AK (Justice and Development) Party in Turkey to cooperate in confronting what hurts the US interests in the region, the only thing that surfaces is what the US considers a regional "Iranian threat" to the region and friends. The clash with Tehran heats up whenever Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reaps a "victory" on the nuclear issue and the US grows more concerned about mobilizing western support to punish Iran.
What also tops Israeli calculations is Barak's concern about Ahmadinejad's ability to elude western punishment and complete the "nuclear" missile programs. Won't this mean incitement by Barak of Ankara against Tehran, a presentation of "Iranian support" for the PKK, and the mobilization of Turkish fears of al-Qaeda infiltration into their territory?
It would be ridiculous to call Cheney's upcoming March mission in Turkey a case of strengthening intelligence cooperation. The vice-president's trips abroad are limited to difficult missions; Cheney heads the remaining neoconservative hawk camp in the Bush administration and is anxious to engage the US in a war against Iran.
Behind the dust left by the Turkish tanks as they violate Iraq's borders, with help from US intelligence on PKK bases, the Turkish acknowledgment that Cheney is coming to talk about Iran's nuclear program did not hold out for long. Perhaps he will advise them not to waste the generals' efforts in a small battle with the fighters of a party, while the regional neighbor, with its nuclear program and ballistic missiles is imposing new realities on the region, realities due to surprise them.
Also frightening the secular-Islamist Turkey are Israel's arms deals, which will not be used by Ankara to fight Syria, or Greece or of course Israel. The mobilization by the generals involves a considerable amount of dust under the "sun" of pursuing the PKK, which does not deserve a Turkish-American-Israeli war. As for Cheney's mission in Ankara, after Barak showed so much concern about the country, it might lay the groundwork for a Turkish-Iranian confrontation, if Turkey's National Security Council remains unconvinced about facilitating strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities.
If the US estimates about the danger of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction were merely a precedent for lying, what will prevent Israeli lying about in the plan for a confrontation? Barak and Cheney will abundantly provide weapons, and a division of labor… Behind the "sun" of the Turks is a thick, misleading layer of fog, to get them involved in the conflict with Tehran.
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