Turks, U.S. Agree Plan to Tackle Kurd Rebels (in N. Iraq!)

[Barrett808]

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey and the United States have agreed an action plan to banish the threat of Turkish Kurdish rebels based in camps in northern Iraq, a Turkish official said on Thursday after talks with U.S. officials.

Turkey has called on Washington to take concrete action to deal with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants, also known as Kadek, as it considers asking parliament to send troops to Iraq to help keep the peace there.

"We have agreed on an action plan with the United States to eradicate PKK/Kadek from northern Iraq," Turkish foreign ministry official Nabi Sensoy told an Ankara news conference after the talks.

Turkey stations thousands of troops just inside northern Iraq in a controversial deployment designed to stop hundreds of PKK militants from launching attacks on Turkish soil.

...

"We are very clear about this: PKK/Kadek is designated by the United States as a terrorist organization. There is no place in Iraq for PKK/Kadek," he said.

(more)

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?storyID=3546261

[Nottingham]

1. So is Turkey invading Iraq??

cause it looks like it to me! :bounce:

[Barrett808]

3. Apparently not

A U.S. official said earlier on Thursday that Ankara had pledged to refrain from unilateral military action in northern Iraq in return for $8.5 billion in loans for its frail economy.

Looks like we bribed them not to.

[saigon68]

4. Its like defecating in a clothes basket in the front closet of your house

And then trying to ignore it.

Prediction--- another front in the war, is starting.

And according to the history I have read, this is a blood feud that has been going on for hundreds of years.

[Nottingham]

2. Ok Wait aminute Bush wants Turkey to kill the NIraqi's

What about the Kurds??

:bounce:

[Capt_Nemo]

5. BFEE - screwing Kurds since 1988

[Emboldened Chimp]

6. They are going to "eradicate" the Kurds

Sounds to me like a joint operation: we supply air support while the Turkish troops get them on the ground.

And while we're on the subject, since when have the Kurds been labeled terrorists? Weren't we brokering deals with them before and during the war?

[Wwagsthedog]

8. Turks are trained eradicators

Just ask an Armenian

[NYC]

16. "Eradicate" seems to be the key word in this article.

"We have agreed on an action plan with the United States to eradicate PKK/Kadek from northern Iraq," Turkish foreign ministry official Nabi Sensoy told an Ankara news conference after the talks.

What does it mean to "eradicate" people?

[Barrett808]

7. Oh, hell, this is a dupe

continue discussion here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=144141

[Barrett808]

9. Wait! I posted 8 minutes before NNN

Heh.

[leftchick]

10. someone enlighten me here please!

I just heard a looney wingnut on tv give the, now so old it smells "saddam gassed the his own people" line justifying the invasion/occupation of Iraq (since we can't find the ever elusive WMD)
Aren't these gassed people the Kurds in the north? If we are helping Turkey eradicate these same Kurds, now WTF is that about? Is this what is known as freeper logic? :crazy:

[Barrett808]

12. Yes, same Kurds

Although the PKK are "terrorists", from the Turkish perspective. This is really just an extension of US policy -- the Turks have always been free to kill as many Kurds as they like. Even Saddam was welcome to kill as many Kurds as he could gas, up until 2 August 1990.

[Aidoneus]

13. not the same

though Turkey has used chemical gasses, phosphorus bombs, and napalm in their suppression of North Kurdistan--all generously donated by their US-backers in addition to the conventional weapons used to kill Kurds as well (tanks/helicopters and such), though I'm not sure where they got the bulldozers to destroy hundreds of Kurdish villages, maybe the same place the Israelis get them..

A map of North (Turkish-occupied) Kurdistan & South ("Iraqi"/"Iranian") Kurdistan is it:
http://www.xs4all.nl/~tank/kurdish/htdocs/facts/map.html

The rebel Kurdish civilian area that was mainly hit with the Iraqi chemical gasses is right on the Iranian border where the "N" letter is on the map (contemporarily ruled by Kurdish Islamic parties, at the time of the bombings it was ruled by political/militia groups that were allied to Iran during the Iran-Iraq war). It was rumoured that Turkey also used chemical weapons in pursuit of north Kurdish/PKK rebels semi-recently (within the last 5-10yrs) in their attacks on PKK bases in "Iraqi"-Kurdish lands.

Short lesson: "Iraqi" Kurds=good, "Turkish" Kurds=terrorists. Actually, for quite some time there was no such thing as a "Kurd" in Turkey, they were referred to by the US-backed rightwing chauvanist state as "Mountain Turks", their language banned, their culture essentially illegal.. but, Turkey is an ally so such unsavory facts are never mentioned in the propaganda recitals justifying US aggressive wars.

This may be referred to as targetting "North" Kurdish rebels, but this is probably the start of another US government abandoning the Kurds when they stop being strategically convenient--they really should learn their lessons, maybe ask the natives of this continent what an agreement is worth, and stop trusting US governments..

[leftchick]

14. thank you both Aidoneus and Barrett!

I remember in the run-up to the invasion the continued warning from many sides on the left of the potential cleansing of the Kurds from the Turks when they get involved. Apparently they were very right and this is it, with the help of the old USofA. Totally fucked! :(

[Barrett808]

17. Check out Kani Xulam's latest speeches

Moving and eloquent, as usual.

http://kurdistan.org/Current-Updates/index.html

[LevChernyi]

19. nothing new about that at all..

Even after we started pretending to care that Saddam gassed Kurds, we were simultaneously increasing funding every year (they get more the more brutal they get in a year, tells you much about our generous "foriegn aid" program") to the Turkish military to carry out their slaughters.

See they used to be "good Kurds" if they were in Iraq and "terrorist Kurds" if they were in Turkey, but apparently they have all gone back to "bad Kurds" now with the possible exception of Iranian Kurds who seem to be invisible but would likely become "good Kurds" if American-Iranian relations devolve as seems likely.

[bluedog]

11. Kurds

Is this the same group that "Saddam gassed his own people clan?

[tom_paine]

15. "We have found the base where your rebel friends are."

--Grand Moff Cheney

[saigon68]

18. AND ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US

-- general sanchez (Idiot Commander of all guys with guns on (our side) in Iraq-Nam)