Turkey and Northern Iraq on brink of war
With coverage of the Gonzales hearing and the Virginia Tech school shooting taking up the bulk of each news cycle, little has been spoken about what is now happening along the Turkey-Iraq border. The United States military and Turkey's motivation to join the European Union are the only barriers standing in the way of a military confrontation between Turkey and the Kurdish areas in Northern Iraq.
that its own Kurdish population will respond to calls for unity with Iraqi Kurds (PKK):
The US is on the brink of losing Turkey as astrategic partner. Three highly controversial issues are in play.First, the Armenian genocide resolution is now before Congress and isexpected to pass. Second, thanks to the passivity of US forces in Iraq,the PKK is secure in guerrilla encampments in northern Iraq.
The PKK is now carrying its fight the into Turkey from these camps,wile the US ignores pleas from Turkey to push the PKK out of northernIraq. Third, with US approval, the Kurds are pressuring Iraq'sgovernment to advance a Kirkuk status referendum, now scheduled forNovember 15; that would bring Kirkuk and its vast oil wealth underKurdish and PKK control.
When it comes to the rhetoric, Iraqi Kurds are fighting back. One member of the Iraqi parliament recently of trying to destroy Kurdistan.
People that have studied Iraq in academia, such as myself, had been warning the Administration that this conflict could break out. In fact, here are some previous articles where I warned that this could happen:
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