| Submit your comments on this article |
| Iraq |
| Iraqi Kurds call on Turks to seek 'peaceful' means against rebels |
| 2007-10-18 |
| Kurdish officials warned on Wednesday that any Turkish incursion into northern Iraq would threaten the relative stability of the region and called on Ankara to seek peaceful means against violence from separatist rebels. The Turkish parliament authorized the military to carry out a cross-border offensive against Kurdish rebels in Iraq. But an incursion was not expected immediately as Turkey came under increasing pressure from Washington and Baghdad to use restraint. Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh, a Kurd, urged Turkey not to resort to the military offensive. "We call upon our neighbor - Turkey - that they should be very careful not to push this situation beyond the brink," Saleh told Britain's More4 news. "This will be disastrous for Iraq. This will be disastrous for the region as a whole and no one will escape the consequences." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #13 Incidentally, those happen to be oil producing areas. I still say we help. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2007-10-18 22:53 |
| #12 More Kurds in IRan than Syria. More in Turkey than anyplace else. Modern day Turkey;s boundaries are an accident of the Ottoman empire. The SE 1/3 of Turkey is ethnically Kurdish majority, as are the eastern mountains until you get to the Armenians, Georgians and Azerbaijanis. Thats hwy the Turks are worried. Were the Kurds to really organize and arm, they coudl rip a large chunk of Turkey away. Same goes for NW Iran. Incidentally, those happen to be oil producing areas. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2007-10-18 20:00 |
| #11 The US should have gotten the PKK to move to Syria and act against the Syrians long ago (acting against the government, not the civilians so they could be real freedom fighters rather than terrorists). It would have helped ease tensions with the Turks while applying pressure in Syria which can use all the pressure we can apply. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2007-10-18 17:04 |
| #10 Turkey doesn't want Kurds with oil money. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2007-10-18 16:04 |
| #9 Aren't there Kurds in northern Syria. Maybe Turkey is afraid of being carved up on the eastern and northern borders, so to speak. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2007-10-18 14:57 |
| #8 It's hard to tell if there's a real problem with PKK in Iraq (they're there, for sure, it's a question of magnitude), or if this is Turkey afraid of an independent or autonomous Kurdistan, or this is judt Turkey looking to annex Kirkuk. |
| Posted by: Mike 2007-10-18 10:34 |
| #7 If the Kurds want to act like a state, they need to eliminate the terrorists in their midst. The same reasoning should be applied to Muslims in general. |
| Posted by: SR-71 2007-10-18 08:51 |
| #6 Terrorism is just an extremely vile tactic of war. The real fight is for America to decide whether to bring industrial scale terror to muslims. |
| Posted by: ed 2007-10-18 07:10 |
| #5 Think about what? Define the US "fight against terror" than. |
| Posted by: Solomon 2007-10-18 05:43 |
| #4 Moderate Abu Mazen, 2x4. |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2007-10-18 04:52 |
| #3 No, Solomon. Think about it. That's all. |
| Posted by: twobyfour 2007-10-18 04:34 |
| #2 Hehehe, maybe it's only a fight against terrorism when terrorism is against US interests. |
| Posted by: Solomon 2007-10-18 04:11 |
| #1 What's so bad about Turkey killing a bunch of terrorists and terrorist-harboring sympathizers? How will it be bad for Iraq and the region for them to be taken out? I must be missing something here because the simple answer that I see seems too good to be true. |
| Posted by: gorb 2007-10-18 02:57 |