We are this close to seeing the war in Iraq spread to the stable provinces of Northern Iraq, the ones where the Kurds reside:
ISTANBUL, Oct. 21 — At least nine Turkish soldiers were killed in fighting with Kurdish militants after midnight on Sunday [Ed. note: Other reports place the number of dead as higher (e.g., CNN), describe a separate bomb attack on a civilian bus which wounded from 8-12 people (and may have killed at least one person), and report on claims that Turkish soldiers have been taken hostage by PKK fighters], and more soldiers were reported missing, prompting Turkey’s prime minister to call an emergency security summit. The deaths dramatically increase the pressure on the government to launch a military offensive into Iraq. […]
The deaths came just four days after Turkey’s parliament voted to give Mr. Erdogan and his government full authority to send troops into northern Iraq where Kurds have hideouts.
At the time, Turkish officials emphasized that they did not intend to apply that authority immediately. Rather, security experts said the resolution would be used mainly to force the United States to act against the Kurdish militants, who attack Turkey from their bases in northern Iraq.
But Sunday’s death toll was high, according to preliminary accounts, and the government, now fully authorized for an offensive, will be under intense pressure to act.
Dear Leader (or his little storm trooperette) better put in some overtime this week getting the Kurds to reign in the PKK or as the proverbial phrase goes “there’ll be hell to pay.” Otherwise this year “Turkey” might be in the national news for something other than being the traditional main course at our Thanksgiving dinners.
“Dear Leader (or his little storm trooperette) better put in some overtime this week”
Can’t help ya. Got some brush to cut back on the ranch. Now, watch this drive.
Everything’s fine. Things in Iraq are getting better! The CNN for kids they show in mky son’s grade school classroom said so, so it must be true.
(Insert simmering rage here.)
I guess they have to start brainwashing kids very early on don’t they.
.
Turkey’s parliament, by a 507-19 vote on October 17, authorized a military raid into Iraq in an attempt to eliminate bases used by Kurdish militants.
The threat of military action has tended to overshadow the fact that economic ties between Turks and Kurds have been growing at a strong pace of late. Turkish companies, workers and goods have been flocking to a market enriched by 17 percent of Iraq’s oil revenues.
Stocked almost entirely with Turkish brands, up-scale Iraqi Kurdish supermarkets only differ from their counterparts north of the border in their taste for gaudy decoration. Once the preserve of two-storey family houses, the suburbs of Iraqi Kurdish cities are increasingly home to the high-rise blocks characteristic of Turkey.
“Turkey is by far and away our most important trading partner”, says Aziz Ibrahim Abdo, general director at the Ministry of Trade in the Iraqi Kurdish capital Erbil. “You can see that by looking around you.”
The statistics back him up too. In Erbil, 380 out of 500 foreign companies are Turkish. In Dohuk, a city further west, 65 percent of contracts worth US$350 million so far this year have gone to Turkish companies.
US-Turkish Relations in a Critical Phase
Read my earlier comment – So True!
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence.".
Outside the local city supermarkt I was approached by an Iranian refugee with a showmap of color photo’s of abuse by the Iranian Islamic regime. Three of his brothers were executed by hanging for political opposition. His organization is trying to raise funds for lawyers to defend imprisoned Iranians in an effort to avoid executions.
I talked to him for a while and he was very sympathetic. His project was an advocacy for human rights in the region. I wanted to get an honest answer from him on issues of many opposition groups funded and supported by the US government to overthrow the regime by violent means. So I specifically asked him: “Should the US attack Iran for sake of democracy?” He answer was a resounding: “No! In case of war the people will suffer tremendously. His organization wants to strengthen Iranians to overthrow the regime from within.”
SFVI – Foundation of Family Members of Iran
≈ Cross-posted from my diary — Minot AFB 70 Airmen Demoted ≈
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."