BY YILMAZ OZTUNA
TURKIYE- Columnist Yilmaz Oztuna comments on Washington’s stance on Iraq and what Turkey’s should be. A summary of his column is as follows:
The US had been eagerly waiting Ankara making a decision on Iraq troop deployment as soon as possible, but why has it changed its mind now? This might be a response to our keeping it waiting for months at Iskenderun Bay earlier this year. However, most probably it’s because of the objections voiced within Iraq. The US was unable to predict this or overcome it. It couldn’t foresee that the Iraqi people would want to continue the present anarchy.
The US doesn’t know the Asian continent or its people, so naturally now it’s in mired in mistakes. However, we shouldn’t pretend we can’t see the factors concerning us. In this space I’ve warned our Parliament many times that it should have requested permission and authority before the summer recess because it was obvious that the United Nations wouldn’t be able to stand the US’ pressure and give permission for troop deployment in Iraq. As a great many countries might be involved in this, the need for Turkish soldiers would decrease.
At the beginning of the war in Iraq, we said we didn’t want British soldiers in northern Iraq, and this was a harbinger of future difficulties. The bureaucracy has the ability to block the political will. In addition, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) doesn’t really want to send Turkish soldiers to Iraq. Obviously we’re acting confusedly over the Iraq issue. What will we do when the Syrian and Iranian issues are added to this? We will again follow developing incidents, but we won’t try to understand their underlying factors. However, clearly if the PKK tries to vex us, we won’t wait for any other country’s permission to enter Iraq.