’We’ll support you but request the PKK in return’

This time Gül is visiting the Iraq of the Iraqi people and not the American version. Every authority you talk to says; "We have our country back. We are the owners from now on not the Americans." A totally different atmosphere is present in the capital of the country.

Even President Talabani says; "Even to tour around in this country as the president I need to get permission from the American commander. I could not make visits outside the country if the commander did not approve of it."In this regard, the visit by Gül is very important to the Iraqis. We are not that much aware of it but the perception of Turkey in this country is very healthy. The refusal of the bill before the invasion and the attitude afterwards has pleased the Iraqis very much. There will be a series of precautions taken not only politically but also economically. There is effort spent on forming new and special mechanisms to sell the newly found natural gas reserves to Europe via Turkey and to pave the way for Turkish contractors to build up the country.

Will Barzani be able to come for Gül?

I suggested that Gül, during his visit, make a gesture and land in Arbil, the capital of the northern Iraq Kurdish administration, even if it was only for a few hours. I said that this would be an extremely important gesture to show that Turkey wants to make peace in this way. It didn’t work this time.

I asked why. President Gül answered on our way to Baghdad:

"To tell the truth, this visit was supposed to be longer. Kirkuk, Najaf, Basra, Mosul and Arbil were to be included. But because of security reasons the Iraqis and Americans said they would not be able to organize such a broad visit. We are content with only Baghdad. We will make a broader visit in the future," he said.

It was expected that Barzani would come to Baghdad to see Gül. Barzani with great possibility won’t come to Baghdad. But the reason is not that he does not want to meet with Abullah Gül. Barzani has daggers drawn with Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki. And Abdullah Gül on his way to Baghdad did not insist on this matter. He understated, "We’ll meet when the time comes."

President Gül makes his first formal Turkish presidential visit to Baghdad, the first in 33 years. The last one was in 1976 by President Korutürk. Gül said; "With this visit we openly show that Turkey gives the greatest support to Iraq. It is a sign for us supporting Iraq’s territorial integrity and stability with its neighbors." President Gül clearly stated that the hidden side of this visit is the Kurdish issue. In his responses to questions from journalists he stated the following important politics:

"Just as much as we support Iraq’s territorial integrity authorities of the northern Iraq Kurdish administration need to support us in Turkish territory against the PKK terror. This terror has to stop now. Everybody needs to do some accounting and act accordingly. We perceive Kurds in the north as our relatives and siblings. But at the same time the organization’s camps are up in the North. I mean they too have certain responsibilities. Everybody should do their own accounting and take steps to end this terror. We are entering a new period. Kurds in northern Iraq have clearly seen what it means to win or lose Turkey. They have understood that the PKK terror is a component that creates a rift between us and have started to act. I hope they continue with this attitude."

If I were to summarize Gül’s words, I’d say he wants to get this message across: "We are supporting you in your territorial integrity and expect you to hand over the PKK."

Apparently the most important part of Gül’s visit is to eliminate the PKK.

Back in Baghdad after 7 years

For a long time I have been uneasy about it. In the past and especially before and after the first Gulf war (1991) I used to visit Baghdad quite often. Saddam Hussein was for us journalists a dictator who attracted our attention very much. Especially after I had a chat with him on 32.Gün during the war I had an advantage of knowing him personally and I used to take Iraq’s pulse.

The Iraqi always gave me an impression of a sad society.

Can you imagine only 14 million people who sit on the world’s greatest petroleum reserves and own an incredible natural beauty? This means it is a society that has everything to be happy about. But a dictator who ruined all this enrichment and comfort, who started an 8-year war with Iran, who went to Kuwait and drew the whole world toward him. He ended up being executed and was saved, in my view. But the 14 million people have suffered starvation for generations and were killed. One person has played with the faith of millions.

Baghdad was perceived as the pearl of the region. I believe that the American invasion has harmed this dear country even more than Saddam did. Pandora’s Box has been opened and the spirits are widely spread. But these spirits, contrary to spirits that we know, emerged for revenge and horribly shed blood. We watched it on TV together. Iraq was a blood bath. Al-Qaeda brought its own warriors and carried out its own fight here.

The Shiite, waiting for many years, has gored themselves with a sword thinking the time has come. The Sunni revolted in order to catch one end of the administration they had let slip away. Heads were cut off in front of TV cameras É the number of people killed in suicide bombings exceeded hundreds of thousands É it attacked calling for politics, Islam and jihad.

This bloody revenge has lost its speed nowadays and we have entered a period of dressing wounds. I will inform you about my impressions after I take a tour around the city, of course É but this much I can say I have not found my old Baghdad.