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U.S. faces obstacles as it seeks to ease tensions
with Turkey
7.8.2007 |
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August
7, 2007
WASHINGTON, -- Bush administration officials
see Turkey's recent election as an opportunity to
improve strained relations with an important ally,
but they face obstacles that may be beyond their
control.
The first is that Congress, led by opposition
Democrats, has a proposed resolution up for debate
that would recognize World War I-era killings of
Armenians as genocide — a view Turkey adamantly
rejects.
The other issue is in the hands of the Iraqi
government: A possible referendum on incorporating
the oil-rich city of Kirkuk into the autonomous
Kurdistan region in northern Iraq. Turkey opposes
the referendum, fearing it could boost Kurdish
separatists in Turkey, and sees it as another
example of U.S. policy gone awry in neighboring
Iraq.
"Turks would blame the U.S. for its failure to
prevent the referendum because they believe they
hold sway as the occupying power," said Bulent
Aliriza, the director of the Center for Strategic
and International Studies' Turkey research program.
The United States wants to strengthen ties with
Turkey, a strategically important NATO ally located
at the crossroads of Europe, the Middle East and
Central Asia. U.S. officials view Turkey, a secular
democracy with a majority Muslim population, as a
model for other nations.
But relations have been strained, largely over the
Iraq war. Turkey refused to allow U.S. troops to use
its territory to invade Iraq in 2003 and Turks
continue to oppose the war. A recent poll by the Pew
Research Center found the United States had only a 9
percent favorable rating in Turkey.
Turkey has criticized the United States for failing
to stop Kurdish guerrillas from the Kurdistan
Workers' Party, or PKK, in northern Iraq from
carrying out attacks in Turkey. Some analysts had
feared that Turkey might invade Kurdistan region
(northern Iraq) ahead of the July 22 elections, to
boost Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's
nationalist credentials.
But Turkey did not invade and Erdogan's Justice and
Development Party, or AKP, won an overwhelming
victory.
The U.S. believes the win provides an opportunity to
boost ties. Despite the party's Islamic roots,
Erdogan and other leaders are seen as open to closer
integration with the West and improving U.S.
relations.
"This is an optimal outcome," said U.S. Deputy
Assistant Secretary of State Matt Bryza in an
interview. "The AKP is a known quantity."
Some critics of the administration say the White
House needs to move urgently to repair relations
with Turkey.
"There has been massive policy neglect," said
Richard Holbrooke, former U.S. ambassador to the
United Nations under the Clinton administration.
Holbrooke, who is now supporting Sen. Hillary
Clinton's Democratic presidential bid, said that
Turkey should be treated as the most important
strategic ally in the region.
But, that may be difficult as congressional
Democrats push for the Armenian genocide resolution.
Historians estimate that up to 1.5 million Armenians
were killed by Ottoman Turks, an event widely viewed
by scholars as genocide. Turkey denies that the
deaths constituted genocide, saying the toll has
been inflated, and that those killed were victims of
civil war and unrest.
Turkish officials warn that if the resolution is
approved, they will shut down routes to Iraq from
Turkey that the U.S. uses to bring in most of its
military supplies.
The resolution has strong support in the House of
Representatives, but will hinge on whether Speaker
Nancy Pelosi and Chairman of the Foreign Relations
Committee Tom Lantos, both Democrats, bring up the
measure for votes. Both Lantos and Pelosi have
previously supported it, but are under intense
pressure from both sides.
They agreed to delay action on the referendum until
after Turkey's election, congressional aides said.
But the expectation in Congress is that it will
likely pass this year.
The other source of tensions is the Kirkuk
referendum, which the Iraqi constitution says must
be held by the end of the year.
Turkey fears it would be a step toward an
independent Kurdistan and could endanger ethnic
Turks who live in the region.
But last week, the leader of Iraq's Kurdish region,
Massoud Barzani, warned of a "real civil war" if the
central government does not hold the referendum. And
the U.S. says the decision is for the Iraqi
government to decide.
Analysts say that the U.S. could achieve goodwill in
Turkey by ordering military action against PKK
fighters holed up in remote mountainous territory.
But U.S. officials are reluctant to widen the Iraq
conflict, taking on new combatants and increasing
violence in what has been Iraq's most stable region.
Democratic Rep. Robert Wexler, who advocates close
ties with Turkey, said that U.S. military officials
have told him the U.S. is closer to moving against
the PKK.
"American and Turkish forces are cooperating to
counter the PKK in a more concrete way than they
were six months ago," he said. "Counterterrorism
operations and strategies are being employed." He
declined to elaborate.
AP
** Ankara is anxious to prevent the emergence of a
Kurdish state in Kurdistan region (northern Iraq),
fearing this could fan separatism among its own
large Kurdish population in southeast Turkey. Kurds
constitute about 20 percent of Turkey's more than 70
million people.
Kurdish politician says, Turkey is using a Kurdish
separatist PKK rebel group as an excuse to invade
Kurdistan region (Iraq) to prevent the establishment
of Kurdistan state in the Kurdish autonomous region
in (northern Iraq).
Ankara fears that if the oil-rich Kirkuk joins
Kurdistan region, the Iraqi Kurds will have the
economic foundation they need for an independent
state
**
Kurds are not recognized as an official minority in
Turkey and are denied rights granted to other
minority groups. Under EU pressure, Turkey recently
granted Kurds limited rights for broadcasts and
education in the Kurdish language, but critics say
the measures do not go far enough.
The use of the term "Kurdistan" is vigorously
rejected due to its alleged political implications
by the Republic of Turkey, which does not recognize
the existence of a "Turkish Kurdistan" Southeast
Turkey.
Others estimate over 40 million Kurds live in
Big Kurdistan (Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Iran, Armenia),
which covers an area as big as France, about half of
all Kurds which estimate to 20 million live in
Turkey.
Turkey is home to over 25 million ethnic Kurds, some
of whom openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK for a
Kurdish homeland in the country's mainly Kurdish
southeast of Turkey.
Before August 2002, the Turkish government placed
severe restrictions on the use of Kurdish language,
prohibiting the language in education and broadcast
media.
The Kurdish alphabet is still not recognized
in Turkey, and use of the Kurdish letters X, W, Q
which do not exist in the Turkish
alphabet has led to judicial persecution in 2000 and
2003
The Kurdish flag flown officially in Iraqi Kurdistan
but unofficially flown by Kurds in Armenia. The flag
is banned in Iran, Syria, and Turkey where flying it
is a criminal offence"
Southeastern Turkey:
North Kurdistan ( Kurdistan-Turkey)
wikipedia
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