BY MUHARREM SARIKAYA
SABAH- The meeting hosted by the General Staff which started yesterday in the military academy carries the theme of `New dimensions of security and international organizations.' Well-regarded international speakers addressed the changing nature of terrorism. They underlined that energy and the economy are new elements of the threat. We journalists aren't interested in these issues, however. At the first break of the first session, we pounced on Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, the chief of General Staff, and asked him questions about a possible operation into northern Iraq, which led to debates over who should greenlight such an operation: the government or the military? In light of the remarks of Buyukanit and others I spoke to, I can say that the possibility of an operation into northern Iraq before the end of September or beginning of October is quite low. Why?
The following remarks of a well-known general, which were also touched upon by Gen. Buyukanit, suffice to understand: `The political object is the goal, war is the means of reaching it, and the means can never be considered in isolation form their purposes.' Thus, the government doesn't believe that it can reach a political goal with such an operation ahead of next month's general elections. The military, on the other hand, doesn't intend to deviate from the legal order. As Gen. Buyukanit stressed yesterday, they don't want to apply to the government with a written statement about a cross-border operation without political goals set before them and without planning the use of force. In this respect, we asked Buyukanit yesterday the reason for the recent military buildup along the Iraqi border. He denied the presence of a buildup, saying these were just preparations for the spring fight against domestic terrorist attacks. Warning that such news reports are making people anxious and building expectations, he also explained that the images of land cruisers and cannons at the border seen recently on TV are just troops returning to the region after withdrawal to the western regions due to winter.
In sum, the General Staff is unable to act by itself without written instructions from the government.