Why now?

BY FERAI TINC
HURRIYET- This week’s tripartite meeting between Turkey, the US and Iraq indicated that the requests, which Turkey has long been uttered for a long time, are taken seriously. A Turkish diplomat describes this development as follows: ‘A solution for all the problems shouldn’t be expected from this meeting. This is impossible. However we shouldn’t forget that the process towards the seizure of Abdullah Ocalan was also a difficult one.’
A committee representing the Iraqi administration attended the meeting for the first time. The decisions taken at this meeting indicates a new period. A promise wasn’t given, but a process has begun against the PKK. Promising that the Iraqi National Security Authority will patrol the northern Iraq and the efforts for extraditing arrested PKK terrorists to Turkey shows that there is a development. It is important that the Iraqi authority, which also represents the Iraqi Kurds, attends the meeting.
Turkey is expecting an active attitude from the US and insists on an operation against the PKK. The meeting in Ankara shows that the US is starting to take action against the PKK. Turkey has long complained about PKK activities in northern Iraq, but why is the action taken now?
The elections in Iraq are very important for the US presence in Iraq. It is also not certain what these elections would bring. What about the process after the elections? It is full of dangers. These elections will determine the new members of the Iraqi National Council who will prepare the Iraqi Constitution. Would there be a conflict between the Kurds, Arabs and the Turkmen? Would this lead to a civil war?
While a new period is approaching, Washington’s relations with Ankara are in such a critical process that they wouldn’t endure a crisis. I think the answer to the question of why now lies in this.