MILLIYET- Columnist Sami Kohen comments on Turkey’s stance on the northern Iraq issue. A summary of his column is as follows:
Turkey’s possible intervention in northern Iraq is one of the hot issues which recently leapt to the top of both our domestic agenda and that of the world at large. A quick glance at the foreign press will find many articles and commentaries about Turkey’s possible military intervention in the region.
Meanwhile, many prominent US politicians, from the president himself to the secretary of state, have recently warned Turkey not to send its troops into northern Iraq. They are trying to prevent Turkey from conducting a ‘unilateral’ military operation. Furthermore, the EU countries along with Russia and the Mideast countries have also voiced their concerns about Turkey’s stance on the northern Iraq issue. They are all fearful that our country might try to take advantage of the Iraq war to attain its ‘secret’ goals in the region. Thanks to past statements by certain official or even unofficial sources arguing that Turkey has historical claims to the area, these countries believe that Turkey might even try to occupy the region. Furthermore, recent statements and reports that Turkey would consider the establishment of a Kurdish state in northern Iraq as a ‘casus belli’ and would never even allow a federation to be formed in the region have only exacerbated these suspicions.
Speaking on behalf of the government, Justice Minister Cemil Cicek yesterday stated that Turkey has never had imperialist or ulterior motives concerning northern Iraq. As a matter of fact, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul also recently stated that Turkey’s reason for entering the region would be to provide Iraqi refugees with humanitarian aid, underlining that Iraq’s territorial integrity should be protected and the country’s oil resources be shared by all the Iraqi people.
The message that the AKP government is trying to convey to these countries is that Turkey emphatically does not have any colonialist or imperialist goals, stressing that fears about Turkey’s possible intervention in the region are laughable and baseless.
In order to be more persuasive, Turkey has to clarify its long-term northern Iraq policy. The world believes that Turkey wants to undermine the authority of Kurdish groups in the region. The world doesn’t consider Turkey’s opposition to the establishment of a federation to be justifiable. Does Turkey really intent to intervene in northern Iraq if such a federation is established? This point should be clarified. In brief, the Turkish government should develop more detailed, realistic strategies on this issue and present more persuasive arguments to the world.
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION