Iraq reacts sharply to Turkish incursion threat

[TexasLawyer]

Source: Daily Star / Lebanon

Iraq reacts sharply to Turkish incursion threat
Speakers of Parliament, kurdish assembly lash out at proposal for raid on 'rebels' in north

Compiled by Daily Star staff
Saturday, April 14, 2007

The speakers of both the Iraqi Parliament and Iraq's Kurdistan assembly described a call by Turkey's top general for a cross-border military operation as a "dangerous escalation," warning Ankara against interfering in the country's affairs. The warning came as the European Commission urged Turkey and Iraq to settle differences peacefully.

On Thursday, General Yasar Buyukanit, head of Turkey's military General Staff, said a military operation in northern Iraq would aim to crush Turkish and Kurdish rebels hiding in the area. He said he had not asked Parliament to authorize any such operation.

"The threats by are a dangerous escalation that we take very seriously," Adnan al-Mufti, speaker of Iraq's Kurdistan Parliament, told a news conference in Irbil. "We hope that reason will prevail in taking decisions, because any military intervention will complicate matters more and will shape a threat to the Iraqi people."

The escalation came after Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani said in a television interview last week that Iraqi Kurds would interfere in Turkey's mainly Kurdish cities if Ankara interfered in northern Iraq.

<snip>

Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=81422

[BushOut06]

1. If Iraq attacks Turkey, aren't we contractually obligated to defend Turkey?

Wouldn't that be a hoot.

[daleo]

2. Turkey is a member of NATO

So NATO would have to defend Turkey. Then the NATO part of the U.S. military would have to attack the Iraq part of the U.S. military, I guess.

[BushOut06]

3. I would almost enjoy seeing that happen

Can you just imagine the cluster-fuck that would cause, if Turkey did get involved in Iraq? Seriously, practically everything that people warned could happen is actually happening! It's not like we didn't predict civil war in Iraq, a prolonged insurgency, and the conflict spreading to other neighboring countries.

[Kool Kitty]

5. You're right.

And the horrible spill-over begins.

[IndianaGreen]

4. Turkey has the right to defend herself against Kurdish terrorist attacks

launched from Northern Iraq. Many Turks, civilians and military, have been killed by the Kurdish terrorist group PKK. Iraq's Maliki government has done nothing to stop Kurdish terrorists operating within Iraq, and Turkish patience is at an end.

[never cry wolf]

6. Pandora's Box

We have opened it... I fear it is much more than stirring a hornets nest...