Tainted by PKK (Turkey claims PKK has US tanks)

[Flabbergasted]

This is three weeks old but fairly obscure. I couldn't find it at DU.

http://washingtontimes.com/article/20071002/EDITORIAL/110020007/1013


Tainted by PKK
By Tulin Daloglu
October 2, 2007

snip

Meanwhile, when Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited New York last week, he was asked about reasons for anti-Americanism in Turkey. "e have found U.S.-made heavy artillery — such as tanks and cannons — in the PKK camps," he said. Yet, there is no evidence that the PKK, Kurdish separatist terrorists, are attacking with tanks and cannons. But Mr. Erdogan's claim forces to light the question of whether Turkey's refusal to give the United States a northern front into Iraq and American inaction against the PKK are causing Turkey to re-evaluate its NATO membership.

snip

Turks question whether the NATO alliance benefits their country. Last week, Gen. Ilker Basbug, the Turkish Land Forces commander, summarized the situation, saying, "The developments in Northern Iraq have given political, legal, military and psychological strength to Kurds living in the region as they have never had or experienced before. We must be careful about the developments in Northern Iraq, as they may give some of our citizens a feeling of belonging to this region."

U.S. policies with regard to the Iraqi Kurdish leadership have created a greater threat to Turkey's national security than the PKK — and Turks see U.S. inaction as tantamount to an endorsement of Kurdish nationalism.

snip

Turkey has traditionally been, along with Israel, the most loyal U.S. ally in the region. But compare U.S. support of Israel — a non-NATO member country — in the war against Hezbollah last year. U.S. officials refrained from criticizing Israel, whose military operation killed many Lebanese civilians, and Congress affirmed Israel's right to self-defense when Hezbollah attacked it from Lebanon. But when Eric Edelman, the under-secretary of defense for policy, secretly briefed some members of Congress about "

lans for a covert operation of U.S. Special Forces helping the Turks neutralize the PKK," someone leaked it to Robert Novak and prevented it from happening. Even further into the irony, while there is all opposition against a Turkish cross-border operation — with serious warnings of possible repercussions of the United States, the EU and NATO actions, the Independent, British paper, reported on Sept. 12 that "General Petraeus strongly implied that it would soon be necessary to obtain authorization to take action against Iran within its own borders, rather than just inside Iraq."

Tuncer Kilinc, a retired general and a former secretary of the national security council, was a lone voice a few years ago when he said that Turkey should consider abandoning its efforts to secure EU membership and pursue alternative alliances with countries such as Russia and Iran — even if it meant losing its membership in NATO.

[Ian David]

1. We lost TANKS??

Then again, the article is from The Moonie Times.

[Flabbergasted]

2. No we gave them tanks.

[Ian David]

3. Fortunately, Turkey has never committed Genocide, or else I'd be concerned.

:sarcasm:

[rucky]

4. I told them not to leave the keys in the tank! n/t