Ertugrul Ozkok: July 22nd anxiety
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Temmuz 26, 2006 13:37
Turkey's Ambassador to Baghdad, Aydin Tercan, sent a note last week to the Turkish Foreign Ministry revealing that he had met with Iraqi President Talabani in Talabani's Baghdad office on July 22. Pay attention to the date here: July 22.
The same day that US President George W. Bush called Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan from his farm. On the same day, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had called Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul. Washington is clearly anxious about something. On the same day, Bush calls Erdogan, Rice and Gul speak by phone, and Tercan is called to Talabani's Baghdad offices.
According to some of the news printed after the Talabani-Tercan meeting, Talabani gave this message to Tercan to deliver to Ankara: "It will be very bad if Turkey enters Iraq." Talabani of course would not support a Turkish intervention in Northern Iraq. So there is really nothing surprising in hearing that he would stress this to Tercan. But the real reason for this meeting was to in fact give a series of messages that would work to impede Turkish actions in this direction.
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The Turkish Foreign Ministry's interpretation of Talabani's messages to Tercan is as follows: The Iraqi government will stop the PKK's actions in Northern Iraq. Some of the PKK leaders will be left without power. All of the PKK bureaus in Northern Iraq will be closed.
Well, this is what Talabani says, but what does Barzani think of this all? Talabani addressed this question too in his diplomatic note, saying "We have met with Barzani on these questions, and agreed. Soon you will see concrete evidence of this." Still, the Turkish Foreign Ministry knows that these messages all come from Talabani, and not Barzani. After all, it was only recently that Barzani told a MIT (Turkish Intelligence Agency) agent that "the period when a Kurd would shoot a Kurd is over."
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Some of other official minutes from a meeting which have been now archived by the Turkish Foreign Ministry officials, with the intent of placing in front of US authorities as reminders later, are from Gul's meeting with US Secretary of State Rice. Rice, at the time, told Gul that the US would be making "major efforts" against the PKK presence in Northern Iraq.
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In short, I guess you could say that an alarm was sounded Saturday (July 22) between Baghdad and Washington, and from Bush's farm in Texas. And so, this question comes to mind: What was it exactly that sparked this "major" alarm? The answer to this question was contained yesterday in a column written by Fatih Cekirge. What Cekirge wrote, albeit in a guarded manner, was that some elite Turkish forces have already entered Northern Iraq, and have made preparations. This, in turn, has shown the international world Turkey's seriousness and determination on this subject.
Well, it looks as though Turkey's end of the message in all this has been received. It is in Barzani's and Talabani's best interests anyway to get along well with Turkey in this region. It is also to Turkey's advantage. And it would help no one to ruin the "historical agreement" that we see being built currently between the leadership of Iraq and Ankara on this subject.
According to some of the news printed after the Talabani-Tercan meeting, Talabani gave this message to Tercan to deliver to Ankara: "It will be very bad if Turkey enters Iraq." Talabani of course would not support a Turkish intervention in Northern Iraq. So there is really nothing surprising in hearing that he would stress this to Tercan. But the real reason for this meeting was to in fact give a series of messages that would work to impede Turkish actions in this direction.
*****
The Turkish Foreign Ministry's interpretation of Talabani's messages to Tercan is as follows: The Iraqi government will stop the PKK's actions in Northern Iraq. Some of the PKK leaders will be left without power. All of the PKK bureaus in Northern Iraq will be closed.
Well, this is what Talabani says, but what does Barzani think of this all? Talabani addressed this question too in his diplomatic note, saying "We have met with Barzani on these questions, and agreed. Soon you will see concrete evidence of this." Still, the Turkish Foreign Ministry knows that these messages all come from Talabani, and not Barzani. After all, it was only recently that Barzani told a MIT (Turkish Intelligence Agency) agent that "the period when a Kurd would shoot a Kurd is over."
*****
Some of other official minutes from a meeting which have been now archived by the Turkish Foreign Ministry officials, with the intent of placing in front of US authorities as reminders later, are from Gul's meeting with US Secretary of State Rice. Rice, at the time, told Gul that the US would be making "major efforts" against the PKK presence in Northern Iraq.
*****
In short, I guess you could say that an alarm was sounded Saturday (July 22) between Baghdad and Washington, and from Bush's farm in Texas. And so, this question comes to mind: What was it exactly that sparked this "major" alarm? The answer to this question was contained yesterday in a column written by Fatih Cekirge. What Cekirge wrote, albeit in a guarded manner, was that some elite Turkish forces have already entered Northern Iraq, and have made preparations. This, in turn, has shown the international world Turkey's seriousness and determination on this subject.
Well, it looks as though Turkey's end of the message in all this has been received. It is in Barzani's and Talabani's best interests anyway to get along well with Turkey in this region. It is also to Turkey's advantage. And it would help no one to ruin the "historical agreement" that we see being built currently between the leadership of Iraq and Ankara on this subject.