TURKEY: Turks debate the chances of a move against Kurdish rebels after Erdogan-Bush meeting

Record ID: 217453

  • Title: TURKEY: Turks debate the chances of a move against Kurdish rebels after Erdogan-Bush meeting
  • Date: 6th November 2007
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) UNIDENTIFIED MALE ISTANBUL RESIDENT SAYING: "What should the government do? They should send a memo to the United States. Our people are dying. Why can America go into Iraq without asking anyone? Did America have a problem with Iraq? No. We have a problem with Iraq. Millions of people have died in Iraq and our young people are being murdered. Turkey s
  • Embargoed: 21st November 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Turkey
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVAJCDU3YTBTFOOW60AQVLRMO6J
  • Story Text: Turks react to news that U.S. President George W. Bush has told Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan that he is committed to countering the militants near the Iraqi border.
    U.S. President George W. Bush, facing Turkish threats of a military strike against Kurdish rebels in Iraq, told Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, on Monday (November 5) that he was committed to countering the militants and offered to share intelligence with Ankara.
    Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, who met Bush at the White House on Monday (October 5), has made clear he wants concrete action from Washington to combat the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, which has been launching attacks on Turkey from Iraqi soil.
    Ankara is impatient at what it considers U.S. and Iraqi foot-dragging over the threat from the Kurdish Workers Party militants and has massed 100,000 troops on the Iraqi border for a possible offensive.
    Bush is worried that any offensive could destabilize a part of Iraq that has so far escaped much of the violence plaguing other areas of the country. U.S. officials also worry that Turkish action could lead to a wider crisis in the region.
    Bush dismissed as "hypothetical" a question about the potential impact of a Turkish incursion.
    He said Erdogan had strongly urged the United States to work with Iraqi leaders to cut off money flows to the Kurdish rebel group.
    Erdogan gave little indication of his thinking regarding military action in northern Iraq, although he reminded Bush that Turkey's parliament last month had authorized the government to take action across the border "if necessary."
    At a separate appearance at the National Press Club later, Erdogan said he was "happy" with how the talks with Bush had gone.
    He seemed particularly pleased by Bush's labelling of the PKK as an enemy, a phrase U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had also used during a visit to Turkey last weekend.
    Turkish columnist Hasan Cemal believes the meeting has done away with the possibility of a large scale ground operation.

    "There isn't anymore, there is no possibility of a ground operation or a grand ground operation. There is no possibility at all. In the meantime they've had a kind of limited operation," said Cemal.
    In Turkey Tuesday's newspapers ran headlines which included one that read "Operation Announcement in Washington" and another that read "Be Patient, We Will Do This Together" after Bush referred to the PKK as a common enemy.
    Erdogan is facing strong public pressure to hunt down the Kurdish rebels after a series of attacks on Turkish soldiers in recent weeks. However, some of the pressure could be eased by the release on Sunday of eight Turkish soldiers.
    One Istanbul resident favoured a military incursion into Iraq to attack Kurdish rebels based there. "Our people are dying. Why can America go into Iraq without asking anyone? Did America have a problem with Iraq? No. We have a problem with Iraq. Millions of people have died in Iraq and our young people are being murdered. Turkey should do what they need to do," he said.
    In the mostly Kurdish southeastern town of Cizre, Cuneyt Yildirim was among those local residents to call for any operation plans to be halted.
    Yildirim said: "I don't think he (Turkish PM Tayyip Erdogan) got full support from the U.S. for a military operation. In fact there should not be an operation. Erdogan should focus on economic development not an operation."
    NATO-member Turkey is a crucial ally for Washington, which uses Incirlik air base to provide logistical support for its forces in Iraq.
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