BY ZEYNEP GURCANLI
STAR- Columnist Zeynep Gurcanli comments on Turkish-US relations and Ankara’s policy towards Iraq. A summary of her column is as follows:
In the most concrete result of Foreign Undersecretary Ugur Ziyal’s visit to Washington last week, Turkey asked the US to take over control of our Habur border gate into Iraq from the Iraqi Kurds. Habur has been one of the most problematic subjects in Ankara concerning Iraq. Kurdish groups have started to exact a $100 ‘tribute’ from Turkish truck drivers wanting to pass through the gate. The aim of this was to gauge Turkey’s reaction to the Kurds’ efforts to establish domination over the region. The second problem concerning Habur occurred during Ziyal’s visit to Washington. This time an Iraqi Turkmen delegation became a crisis due to an ‘arbitrary decision’ by the Kurds. When Kurdish groups attempted to block the passage of this delegation, Turkey temporarily closed the Habur gate to trade. The Kurdish groups then waited for Turkey to react violently, but Ankara didn’t oblige. Ziyal brought up this issue under the category of ‘Iraq’s sovereignty’ during his contacts in Washington and suggested that the US take over the Habur gate. Stating that the same policies should apply to all of Iraq’s border gates so as to protect the country’s integrity, Ziyal said that Kurdish groups were coming up with arbitrary, biased, ad hoc policies. The good news is that the US warmly welcomed the idea of taking over the border gate.
Ziyal’s message is the first concrete sign of Turkey’s radical policy shift towards Iraq in the post-Saddam period. Ankara has been mired in ‘red lines’ and focusing on northern Iraq, but is now changing its tactics albeit with the same aim as always: protecting Iraq’s territorial integrity. Now, however, a policy of solving the problem through Washington is replacing that of putting pressure on the Kurds. Ankara is not only insisting that the US establish domination over all of Iraq, but also suggesting that the Kurds have a role in both northern Iraq and the new future central administration in Baghdad. Interestingly, the Kurdish groups reacted positively to this stance of Ankara’s, perhaps tactically, or perhaps because they understand that independence isn’t in the cards right now. Iraqi Kurdistan Democratic Party (IKDP) foreign policy chief Hoshyar Zebari told Reuters earlier this week, ‘I think we’ll give up many of the powers, the privileges and the freedoms we enjoy now as an almost semi-independent entity… [in return] for being re-integrated into the new Iraq.’ He also openly mentioned that the Kurds want to have a major role in the coming central administration.
Ankara is preparing to strengthen Turkey’s hand in Baghdad through economic steps. Ziyal’s suggestion to Washington that the US should channel part of its compensation to Turkey over Iraq into Ankara’s efforts to reconstruct Iraqi hospitals and schools in not only Mosul and Kirkuk, but all over Iraq, are part of this policy of ‘economic aid.’ For the first time in a while, Washington has once again started to refer to Ankara as a ‘strategic ally,’ and the reasons for this can be found Turkey’s policy shift over Iraq.
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION