BY CUNEYT ARCAYUREK
CUMHURIYET- The most controversial issue of recent months has recently heated up. Some think that the government has woken up from a deep slumber. Sources from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) claim that the government has started to work to get Parliament's approval for a possible cross-operation. Are things really like this, or what's the real situation?
There's been no reaction against a possible operation from soldiers, the main opposition party, or the public. If we remember how Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul hadn't considered such an operation and many times said they wouldn't seek Parliament's approval, why did the government see it necessary this time to seek approval?
Do Gul's remarks that a cross-border operation could be carried out before July 22 general elections indicate that they've decided to take one? However, AKP sources say that parliamentary approval would get the public's attention and boost the AKP's chances in the elections. They see this national cause as a way to win over votes.
Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal has already said that his party's deputies would attend a special Parliament session to support a motion to greenlight an operation. However, he added that his support would be conditional on the government using its authority after getting Parliament's approval.
Baykal is right to put forth this condition, as the government is being criticized for its passive stance towards the terrorist PKK in northern Iraq, and it has started to consider a motion in order to rebut these accusations.
If Erdogan and Gul foresee an operation before the elections, they could use another route to avoid having to call Parliament back to get its approval. Article 92 of the Constitution gives the government the authority to carry out a cross-border operation without such approval.
But only a determined government ready to carry out an operation despite US opposition could decide to use this method.
The northern Iraqi Kurds don't want US forces to withdraw from the country, as they see these forces as their insurance against Turkey. At every opportunity they say that Washington is their friend.
We can't say that a cross-border operation would proceed as it would have had it been held four or five years ago. On the expanding enemy front, there is the terrorist PKK, Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani, and Baghdad, which will support them by saying that Turkey attacked its lands, with the US behind them!
This government has an uninspired foreign policy, is unable to persuade the US, and is looking at a cross-border motion as a political tool. The question is, how far will it go?