To Honor Jesus Christ, Glorify God, Encourage Believers, & Warn All
Est 11-30-2003 Chg 05-03-2008
 

This information is offered with the hope that YOU can come to KNOW the Lord personally.

How can two erstwhile allies [Turkey and the US], cooperative in so many areas, go to war? At the moment, there is certainly a war of words. A BBC survey indicates Turkey is now the most anti-American nation on earth. In this atmosphere, no monstrous act is considered beyond America or its Israeli partner in crime who are even compared to the German Nazis. Columnist Arnaud deBorchgrave says some Turks may be outvenoming Osama bin Laden.

Real life has contributed to this startling shift of opinion. Turks, like many others, strongly opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq and suspect U.S. plans for the region. They are particularly uneasy over the growing separatism of Kurds in northern Iraq. This, in turn, could enflame the already restive Kurds within Turkey. What, they ask, is the U.S. up to?

The Kurdish question is central, says Sabri Sayari, director of the Institute for Turkish Studies at Georgetown University. Turks believe the United States has failed to suppress the anti-Turkish rebels operating in northern Iraq.

“I think Turkish sentiment has to be explained in the context of what is happening in Iraq,” he said.  “Obviously, the war in Iraq has not been popular in Turkey for a variety of reasons, especially the situation in northern Iraq with the growing power of the Kurds and the general instability that has engulfed a neighboring country.”

Henry Barkey, professor of international relations at Lehigh University, says there is Turkish concern of spillover. A separate Kurdish entity in Iraq could revive the separatist movement in Turkey.

“There is an enormous fear in Turkey, a paranoia if you want, that events in Iraq will propel Kurds in Turkey to seek the same thing,” noted Mr. Barkey.  “I think this is overly exaggerated. The Turkish Kurds have had problems with the Turkish government and the Turkish elite, but they are part of a very vibrant economy and a very vibrant society, which is on its way to become a member of the European Union a decade and a half from now.”

For this reason, says Professor Barkey, Turkish Kurds have little incentive to imitate Iraqi Kurds. But they understandably resent the condescending way they are often treated in Turkey. That needs to change, says Professor Barkey. 

Underlying U.S.-Turkish tensions is the growing presence of Islam. When the current Islamist government took over in Turkey, Washington at first responded positively, says Professor Sayari.

“The US has been pretty much in support of Turkey's experiment with a party that originates from the Islamist movement,” he added.  “When it initially came to power in 2002, this party was viewed as something that would prove that Islam and democracy are compatible and there should be no clash of civilizations. So the US was upholding Turkey as a kind of model in a way.”

But Washington cooled, particularly over Turkey's refusal to let U.S. forces invade Iraq from its territory.

Even so, says Professor Barkey, U.S. actions hardly excuse the constant anti-American drumbeat of Turkish politicians and journalists. Nothing Washington says is believed:

“When you have serious newspapers publishing articles about the United States having a secret weapon that makes earthguakes and that Istanbul is the next target,” he explained.  “When you have newspapers that publish all kinds of scurrilous articles about the United States, that is more worrisome. The problem is that some Turkish politicians have joined the fray and have accused the United States of genocide and all kinds of other activities in Iraq.”

Kurdish leaders Jalal Talabani and Massoud Barzani termed a proposition put before them recently by the heads of the Turkomen community “ extremely interesting and worth pursuing.” The pursuit has gained headlong momentum.

DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s sources reveal that Saad e-Din al-Kidj, chairman of the Turkmen Supreme Council essentially proposed the introduction of self-rule for the Turkoman homeland of Turkmeneli which abuts and often overlaps the Kurdish region and the oil-rich lands of northern Iraq (See attached DEBKAfile Special Map) and promises it will act as a buffer between Kurdistan and other parts of Iraq.

The Turkomen, predominantly a Muslim Turkic nation, represent Iraq’s third ethnic minority, whose interests and safety are closely protected by Ankara.

The plan for Turkomen autonomy has come up before. In 2002, about a year before the US-led invasion of Iraq, CIA agents and undercover US troops floated the proposal while preparing the military and intelligence infrastructure for the war in the autonomous Kurdish region. The heads of the far larger and more powerful Kurdish community angrily rejected the plan as a political and security threat to their interests.

But much has changed in three years. Suddenly an autonomous Turkoman belt along their southern border looks to the Kurds like an asset to be welcomed - a shield against any Arab military threat from the south and east and a better-than-good insurance policy against Turkish military steps to stop the Kurds’ advance toward independence and domination of the mixed town of Kirkuk. Irbil is already rubbing its hands at the prospect of bilateral economic and military cooperation with Ankara.

So keen are Talabani and Barzani on the Turkomen independence scheme that they have counter-offered the Turkomens a 25% share in the oil revenues of Kirkuk. This offer was made without a by-your-leave from the interim government in Baghdad headed by Iyad Allawi and certainly not from the post-election administration due to rise.

... Ankara has been informed that the Kurds will pocket 75% of the northern oil revenues and grant the Turkomen 25% to support their self-ruling enclave.

This deal augurs a reshaping of the map of northern Iraq. The Turkomen strip runs transversely from Tel Afar near the Syrian border in the west up to a point south of Kurdish Halabja near the Iranian border to the east. Its population, estimated at between two and three million, centers on the two main towns of Tel Afar and Kuz-Khrumatu.

The oil receipts will finance a new army whose Turkish officers will supply the weapons and training.

This will be the first time in modern history that the Turks will have gained a military foothold in northern Iraq in a region that commands the Sunni Triangle north of Baghdad.

Ankara will have no more need to establish a military presence in northern Iraq. It will have under its command 50-60,000 Turkomen troops, which the Turks and the Kurds are certain will be fully trained and combat-ready much sooner than the Iraqi army the Americans are building further south. This army will be backed by the 100,000-strong Kurdish army.

...

By the end of this year or early 2006, the central government in Baghdad may therefore find itself staring at an army of 160,000 trained soldiers to the north. This force, not subject to the federal government’s orders, will be the best trained and disciplined of any force in the country.

...

the [Kurds] reckon that if the Turkomen expand into all parts of Kurdistan and are awarded equal rights, they will sink a part of their share of oil profits in Kurdistan and so invest in independent Kurdistan’s development and prosperity.

This week, therefore, Kurdish leaders invited all the Turkomen driven out of Kirkuk (where they used to account for one-third of the population) to return and reclaim their property with Kurdish government’s guarantees for their safety.

In a few short weeks, the seedlings of two independent non-Arab Iraqi states have begun sending out strong shoots.

CIA’s Goss Reportedly Warned Ankara Of Iranian Threat

Goss is said to have asked for Turkey’s support for Washington’s policy against Iran’s nuclear activities, charging that Tehran had supported terrorism and taken part in activities against Turkey.

Goss also asked Ankara to be ready for a possible US air operation against Iran and Syria.

Iran appears to be rushing to a conflict with the West. The main question is what is motivating President Ahmadinejad to such recklessness?

• Historical:Confederacy with Shiite Iraq is a historic opportunity after 1,000 years of domination from Sunni Arabs and Ottoman Turks.
• Political:Ahmadinejad was hired by Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei torevive the declining Islamic Revolution. Creating an external enemy would help galvanize his position over the more liberal pro-reform faction.

• Economic:Control of 50% of the world’s oil reserves greatly benefits Iran

• Military: Iran has tens of thousands of special ops forces in Iraq and a million forces on the border. UK and US forces could be significantly outnumbered and overrun with assistance from Syrian and internal insurgent Iraqi forces.