PKK offensive in Turkey?

[serious_fun]

What a bloody mess…

I predict that Turkish forces will continue to bomb Northern Iraq:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1689344/posts

…and to place special forces inside Iraq:
http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/english/4862793.asp?gid=74

How will this effect Turkey’s decision to provide (NATO) troops to the UN force in Lebanon? :s

[quote]ISTANBUL, Turkey (CNN) – A blast at the Turkish resort town of Antalya has killed at least three people and injured 18 others, police said, the fifth explosion to hit the country in less than 24 hours.

Authorities told The Associated Press they were looking for two suspects, indicating but not saying outright that Monday’s explosion was the result of a bomb.

The Antalya governor’s office told CNN Turk the cause of the latest explosion – near a building housing restaurants – was still under investigation.

Late Sunday, blasts along Turkey’s Mediterranean coast and in the commercial center of Istanbul left 27 people wounded, including 10 British tourists, officials said.

The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons, a group linked to the main Kurdish guerrilla group, the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, claimed responsibility for Sunday’s attacks.

On its Web site the group warned: “Turkey is not a safe country. Tourists should not come to Turkey,” according to the AP. It was not immediately possible to verify the statement’s authenticity.[/quote]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/08/28/turkey.blasts/index.html

[quote]…Turkish police arrested a man they said was plotting a further bomb attack in the city of Izmir.

The Turkish state news agency said the man was from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) separatist group. [/quote]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5293070.stm

[cake]

I don’t know how the PKK would benefit from this.
The turks now have an excuse to rampage and cleanse like they did in 95.

With the balkanization of Iraq on the cards and the Kurds having their own state maybe the Turks feel the need to kick some kurd arse.

Would the Turks carry out the bombings to blame on the Kurds? Of course they wouldn’t… But a WEBSITE claims the kurds did it. So they must have…

[king_wu]

must be alqeda muhomed jihod. they must have been targeting the 4 isrealis.

[TainanCowboy]

…huh?..what?..oh…you said PKK…nevermind.

[serious_fun]

[quote=“cake”]I don’t know how the PKK would benefit from this.
The Turks now have an excuse to rampage and cleanse like they did in 95.

With the balkanization of Iraq on the cards and the Kurds having their own state maybe the Turks feel the need to kick some kurd arse.

Would the Turks carry out the bombings to blame on the Kurds? Of course they wouldn’t… But a WEBSITE claims the Kurds did it. So they must have…[/quote]

yes - it seems strange that any Kurdish group would sanction such bombings within Turkey; they have a very strong voice for the first time in years. Perhaps this is a negotiating “wedge”? If the Kurds are given more power in the region and/or more money, then they can help to put an end to bombings? If so, then it is a nasty business.

But the Turks are pissed off - nationalist sentiment could help to bring an end to secular influence, even within the Turkish armed forces…in my humble opinion.

The PKK has come under pressure recently from Ankara, Washington and Brussels to end operations in northern Iraq. But the Kurds demand immunity for their fighters, a condition which Prime Minister Erdogan’s government refuses to meet. The flow of PKK guerrillas over the Iraqi border has strained Turkey’s relations with the US and Iraq, both of whom it accuses of not doing enough to crack down on the threat. Turkey has warned it has the right under international law to conduct incursions into Iraq if the attacks continue. The US, with more than 130,000 troops mired in conflict in Iraq, fears that such a move would complicate the volatile situation.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=704420

@TainanCowboy

…huh?..what?..oh…you said PKK…nevermind.

I searched the web hoping to find some funny link between the name Walther and Kurdish issues…and I ended up finding this piece about a Kurdish DJ in Germany! :s oh well…

http://www.kurdmedia.com/articles.asp?id=12978

[Doctor_Evil]

[quote=“serious_fun”]
I searched the web hoping to find some funny link between the name Walther and Kurdish issues…and I ended up finding this piece about a Kurdish DJ in Germany! :s oh well…[/quote]

Zoomed right by you, didn’t it?

carl-walther.de/englisch/index.html

“…Walther PPK, 7.65mm. Only three men I know carry that gun, and I’ve killed two of them…” - Former KGB agent turned arms dealer upon hearing British agent James Bond, 007, cocking the hammer on his issued Walther PPK.

[serious_fun]

[quote=“Doctor Evil”][quote=“serious_fun”]
I searched the web hoping to find some funny link between the name Walther and Kurdish issues…and I ended up finding this piece about a Kurdish DJ in Germany! :s oh well…[/quote]

Zoomed right by you, didn’t it?

carl-walther.de/englisch/index.html
[/quote]

hmmm…I still didn’t see any link between the name Walther and Kurdish issues. :s correct me if I’m wrong. But your posts are such fun to read! You are obviously a highly-educated and refined individual. thank you.

[serious_fun]

[quote=“serious_fun”][quote=“cake”]I don’t know how the PKK would benefit from this.
The Turks now have an excuse to rampage and cleanse like they did in 95.

With the balkanization of Iraq on the cards and the Kurds having their own state maybe the Turks feel the need to kick some kurd arse.

Would the Turks carry out the bombings to blame on the Kurds? Of course they wouldn’t… But a WEBSITE claims the Kurds did it. So they must have…[/quote]

yes - it seems strange that any Kurdish group would sanction such bombings within Turkey; they have a very strong voice for the first time in years. Perhaps this is a negotiating “wedge”? If the Kurds are given more power in the region and/or more money, then they can help to put an end to bombings? If so, then it is a nasty business.
[/quote]

But it may be more likely that the Anglo-Americans are pressing the Kurds to give up Kirkuk? These bombings are the nasty reminders to the “West” of what the Kurds could do if ignored this time?

I must admit that I didn’t think that the bombings in Turkey were a part of a proxy action which is using the Kurds…but according to this interesting essay: http://www.antiwar.com/orig/qadir.php?articleid=9629, the Barzani family is making another move…changing alliances to survive in the light of corruption charges?

http://www.kurdmedia.com/news.asp?id=11207

food for thought…

[Jaboney]

A Turkish friend tells me that there’s a lot of concern in Turkey over the offer of troops to help enforce the Hizbollah–Israel cease fire. The concern stems from the wording of the resolution, which runs, in part:

7. Affirms that all parties are responsible for ensuring that no action is taken contrary to paragraph 1 that might adversely affect the search for a long-term solution, humanitarian access to civilian populations, including safe passage for humanitarian convoys, or the voluntary and safe return of displaced persons, and calls on all parties to comply with this responsibility and to cooperate with the Security Council;

1. Calls for a full cessation of hostilities based upon, in particular, the immediate cessation by Hizbollah of all attacks and the immediate cessation by Israel of all offensive military operations;

Section 7’s got enough wiggle room (“that might adversely affect”) to allow for action to be taken against anyone rearming Hizbollah. Turkey’s got more reason than anyone–including the US–to want to see Iraq hang together… to see the Kurds yoked to Baghdad, that is. Ensuring that happens–so the story goes–may mean direct action to counter Iranian influence.

Personally, I don’t see that happening. Turkish popular opposition to Gulf War II was overwhelming despite the inducements offered and gov’t willingness to go along. Besides which, taking action against Iran to help stabilize Iraq, thereby keeping the Kurds from declaring independence, and from thereby destabilizing southern Turkey… too complicated, too many obstacles, too much that could go far too wrong.

But that’s one of the major worries in Turkey: getting sucked in, particularly if it happens when the Americans pull out.

[serious_fun]

[quote=“Jaboney”]A Turkish friend tells me that there’s a lot of concern in Turkey …

…(snipped by serious_fun)…

Section 7’s got enough wiggle room (“that might adversely affect”) to allow for action to be taken against anyone rearming Hizbollah. Turkey’s got more reason than anyone–including the US–to want to see Iraq hang together… to see the Kurds yoked to Baghdad, that is. Ensuring that happens–so the story goes–may mean direct action to counter Iranian influence.

Personally, I don’t see that happening. Turkish popular opposition to Gulf War II was overwhelming despite the inducements offered and gov’t willingness to go along. Besides which, taking action against Iran to help stabilize Iraq, thereby keeping the Kurds from declaring independence, and from thereby destabilizing southern Turkey… too complicated, too many obstacles, too much that could go far too wrong.

But that’s one of the major worries in Turkey: getting sucked in, particularly if it happens when the Americans pull out.[/quote]

good points. interesting perspective. That region is so very complex… byzantine actually. sorry - couldn’t resist that one…

[serious_fun]

[quote]Clashes with Kurds turn Turks against US
By Vincent Boland and Guy Dinmore
September 13 2006

Funerals for soldiers killed fighting Kurdish separatists have become a frequent sight on Turkish television in recent weeks.

The foreign ministry says 91 soldiers died in clashes with PKK rebels in the south-east in an upsurge of fighting in the first seven months of 2006.

Their funerals are not only public events for martyrs, as the dead soldiers are known, they are becoming the focus of growing anti-US sentiment.[/quote]

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/ec9c4e6c-42c4-11db-8dc3-0000779e2340.html

another wrinkle in the fabric of the region…it is in the interests of any number of groups to see a larger rift between the US and Turkey, is it not? Domestic politics within Turkey will demand even more action.

[quote]Countering the resurgent PKK is a big challenge for Yasar Buyukanit, the new, hardline chief of Turkey’s general staff.

The mounting death toll is also a political headache. A poll this week showed 74 per cent of the public believed Turkey was losing its battle with domestic terrorism.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister, is proving less than astute in his response.

Challenged recently by a member of the public about losses in the south-east, he said: “The military is not a holiday camp.” With more funerals of soldiers a virtual certainty, the remark could hardly have been moreinappropriate.[/quote]

[Jaboney]

Oh, this ought to be fun.

[quote=“CBC”]Kurdish rebels have taken several Turkish soldiers hostage in southeastern Turkey, the pro-Kurdish news agency Firat reported Sunday, quoting a separatist group.

The report from the Belgium-based agency follows a rebel attack on a military unit near Turkey’s border with Iraq, which killed 12 soldiers and injured 16 others.

News of the hostage-taking could not be independently confirmed.

The attack on the soldiers, blamed on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), was expected to increase pressure on the Turkish government to stage attacks against guerrilla camps in Iraq.

On Wednesday, Turkey’s parliament voted to authorize cross-border military raids over the next year targeting PKK rebels.[/quote]
When Hizbollah killed an Israeli troop and took a soldier captive, some saw that as justifying a new war on Lebanon (or on Hizbollah, in southern Lebanon if you buy that line). The US, UK, Canada… all lined up behind Israel. After all the lives lost and damage done, that soldier is still being held captive.

So, now what? Should Turkey invade Kurdistan, the one one relatively stable and somewhat functionally democratic region of Iraq?

[Gao_Bohan]

They may not have a choice. One of the foundations of the government’s legitimacy is its ability to effectivly combat the PKK. Since the legislature recently authorized cross-border attacks, I think a military response is inevitable.

[ac_dropout]

I guess cluster-f*ck is an understatement at this point…
Who’s arming the PKK anyways?