BY ALI BAYRAMOGLU
YENI SAFAK- Columnist Ali Bayramoglu comments on the prospect of Turkish troop deployment in Iraq. A summary of his column is as follows:
The short-term interests of nations may sometimes come together, despite clear differences in their long-term plans. This is how they come to cooperate notwithstanding a concealed state of mutual conflict. Such is the current course of Turkish-US relations. Ankara’s sensitivities in northern Iraq, its anxiety over a Kurdish stronghold in the region, its counterbalancing Turkmen policy and the will to sustain its military presence there – all these are the basic contours of Ankara’s official northern Iraq policy. Yet, the region’s reins are in the hands of a US unable to hide its uneasiness with the Turkish policy and certain of our controversial moves there. Nowhere was this clash of interests between the two countries more evident than in the recent Sulaimaniya incident.
However, the US invasion forces in Iraq are now in a difficult situation, unable to restore order and losing more and more soldiers to guerrilla attacks every day. Thus, the Bush administration has opted to establish an international stabilization force and asked Turkey to contribute its troops. Ankara sees this as an opportunity to realize its short-term interests such as mending relations with Washington and becoming part of the equation in postwar Iraq, the north in particular. Now is time for Turkey and the US to sit down and talk to each other concerning their respective fundamental interests in Iraq. As a matter of fact, after returning from Washington Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul told reporters that Turkey sending troops to Iraq would be useful but that if it happens, they would not serve as a mere ‘police force.’
We have to realize one thing: Deploying troops in Iraq would be wrong both in principle and in practice. In principle, it would be joining ranks with an invasion force. And in practice, it would be nothing more than a desperate attempt to become part of the equation. First of all, Turkish forces moving beyond the lines drawn up by the US would be quite impossible, as that would constitute a challenge to the US’ broader designs for the region. Moreover, no one can guarantee that a international stabilization force deployed in Iraq won’t turn into a tool effectively stoking the Bush administration’s arrogant attitude and ambitions. Within such a framework, the goals Turkey has its sight set on seem very hard to achieve. In other words, under these circumstances Turkish forces in northern Iraq cannot curb US-backed Kurdish rule.