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Turkey to join attack on Iraq Beside Israel, there are no enthusiastic public supporters for the US-led war against Iraq within the region. The recent Arab League summit called for a "total rejection of the threat of aggression on Arab nations, especially Iraq." Despite the public resistance, the US continues to bring intense political and economic pressure to bear on its regional allies to support the war and participate in the invasion of Iraq. The most important prospective collaborator in the occupation of Iraq is its northern neighbor, Turkey. While no Arab leader would publicly stand for war on Iraq in Vice-President Cheney's failed diplomatic tour in March, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz's visit to Turkey in July has born fruit. Turkey fears the Iraqi Kurds will use an invasion of Iraq to consolidate their hold on the northern region's immense oil wealth and in so doing achieve independence. To offset Ankara's hesitations the Deputy Defense Secretary discussed writing off $5 billion in debt and gave an emphatic promise that the US would never support a Kurdish state. US opposition to Kurdish self-determination For the past fifteen-years the Turks have fought a counterinsurgency war against the Turkish Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) claiming 30,000 lives. A Kurdish state in northern Iraq would politically re-ignite the Kurdish aspirations for self-determination within Turkey. In a meeting with the Deputy Defense Secretary the Washington Post July 17, 2002 reports Turkey's military Chief of Staff, Gen. Huseyin Kivrikoglu, "questioned how the United States was planning to prevent the creation of a Kurdish state." In an interview with the Turkish daily Hurriyet Wolfowitz stressed "... we've been very clear that we are opposed to a Kurdish state in Iraq, and not only are we opposed to it, but we are actively working and thinking about how to make sure that it doesn't happen." The Washington Post article on Wolfowitz's visit concludes with a startling glimpse of the strategic discussions between the US and Turkey regarding the war on Iraq. "Turkey also warned that the oil rich areas of Mosul and Kirkuk in northern Iraq should not be put under the control of Iraqi Kurds... The areas are just outside the autonomous Kurdish zone." These towns are outside of the administrative boundaries of the Iraqi Kurdish provinces. As the southern rim of the Kurdish regions they have for decades been a source of conflict between Kurdish claims and those of the government of Iraq. Turkish control of these two key areas from the north would bring the entire Iraqi Kurdish region under Turkish rule. Under the US/UK northern 'no-fly-zone' Iraqi Kurdistan has functioned as an autonomous region. It is politically and regionally fairly equally divided between the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) around Irbil, and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) around Sulaymaniyah. Despite the UN sanctions on Iraq, the KPD has developed a lucrative trade in Iraqi oil brought by truck overland to Turkey. The PUK challenged the KPD monopoly of oil revenues in September 1997 igniting an open Kurdish civil war. Both the Baghdad and Ankara intervened on the side of the KPD to block a PUK victory. Turkey has no significant oil deposits and has benefited from the discount oil from Iraq, but for years Ankara has expressed growing concerns that continued oil revenues, estimated at more than a million dollars a day, provide the economic basis for a Kurdish state. It has recently announced that it is ending the relationship by prohibiting the oil trade with the Iraqi Kurds. 'Northern Iraq is under our safekeeping' Since the 1990 Gulf War, Turkish chauvinists have increased their claims for the return of the former Ottoman control over Mosul and Kirkuk, lost to the British in 1919. They also raise the defense of the national rights of the Iraqi Turkmen minority concentrated near Kirkuk. A leader of Turkey's largest parliamentary party, the Nationalist Action Party, recently called "for the declaration of an autonomous Turkmen region that would include Kirkuk." These noble ideals about the defense of national minorities in Iraq are intended to conceal the Turkish ambition to seize the oil-rich region Kirkuk and Mosul. Turkish military control of Kirkuk and Mosul will envelop the Iraqi Kurds, effectively choking off the emergence of a Kurdish state. On August 20 this sentiment was framed for the first time as official Turkish policy by Defense Minister Sabahattin Cakmakoglu's statement claiming "It is an area which had been forcibly separated, ...Northern Iraq is under our safekeeping." (AP August 23, 02) The Iraqi Kurdish leader of the KPD Masoud Barzani responded to the threat of Turkish military occupation of northern Iraq pledging to fight the Turks in Iraq and to turn the region into the Turks' "graveyard." The Turkish daily Milliyet August 22 warned the KPD leader that he "does not have the luxury to lose the support of Turkey." And pointing to Turkey's strong ties with Washington, "It would be very useful for the US to remind him of this again." The Turkish intervention in Iraq Those who doubt the likelihood of US support for Turkish military intervention in Iraq should consider two points: 1) Turkey's involvement would give the occupation forces in Iraq a multinational character. Turkey is currently providing troops in Afghanistan. The so-called "green helmets," because of Turkey's Islamic background, could similarly be given the label of "peacekeepers" in Iraq. A British and US occupation of Iraq will be greatly enhanced by Turkey's participation. 2) The US has an established record of supporting massive Turkish military incursions into northern Iraq in recent years. On December 31,1996 a US and Turkey agreement approved the further use of Incirlik airbase for the US and British patrols over Iraq on the condition that the stated mission of the "no-fly-zone" over northern Iraq be changed. Until then Operation Provide Comfort claimed a humanitarian mission of protecting the Kurds of northern Iraq. This was changed to Operation Northern Watch where the parameters of the new mission omitted any mention of protecting anyone. The new mission calls simply for the "containment" of Iraq. US support for Turkish invasions of Iraq In September of 1997, 15,000 Turkish troops crossed into Iraq supported with armor and helicopters against Kurdish separatists. Since then there have been repeated military incursions by Turkey of similar scale into northern Iraq. These violations of Iraqi sovereignty enjoy the aircover of the US and British warplanes from Operation Northern Watch. The Turkish moves against the Kurds in Iraq also have the diplomatic support of the US (See April 18, 2001, State Department press conference with the US Iraq Coordinator, Mr. Ricciardone). As of September 10, 2002 Reuters reports that 5,000 Turkish troops are currently deployed in Iraq. The Iraqi northern border has become a political fiction. The erosion of Iraqi sovereignty through the US and British control of its northern airspace and the Turkish interventions have effectively erased the internationally recognized border. Military intervention in northern Iraq is not a strategic option for Turkey. It is an established fact. What is debatable is the extent of the future Turkish military intervention in northern Iraq. An ethnic war for oil in Iraq A US attack on Iraq and a corresponding escalation of Turkish intervention in northern Iraq will initiate a new ethnic war in Kurdistan. The threats between Turkey and the Iraqi Kurdish leader continue to escalate. Turkish Prime Minister Ecevit stated this month, "Kurdish leaders in Iraq, especially Barzani, have airs of, 'Well, the United States will not abandon us.' This is very ugly and rocks our relations... It's impossible for us to stomach this." (Reuters, September 12) There can be no accommodation between the demands of the Iraqi Kurds and Turkey. Turkey's vital participation in the US attack on Iraq is conditioned on Washington promoting their interests alone. They insist the spoils of war on Iraq go to them, not the Iraqi Kurds. The stage is set for an ethnic war over the oil of northern Iraq. Bob Allen September 19, 2002 This article presents the views of the author alone, and is not necessarily those of Campaign to End the Sanctions. Attachment is PDF map of northern Iraq Campaign to End the Sanctions Philadelphia Pa 215 438 4181 endsanctions@cs.com _______________________________________________ Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk