U.S. Allies III: Turkey 

U.S. Allies III: Turkey

The government of Turkey has succeeded in getting parliamentary approval to send troops into Iraq. A similar proposal, strongly supported by both the Turkish and U.S. governments, was turned down by the parliament at the onset of the U.S. invasion.

Opposition to the move from Iraq's IGC and a wide coalition of Moslem countries here. More background here.

There have been demonstrations within Turkey against deployment in Iraq: see here. This led to a witty comment by Jeff Taylor on the Hit and Run site, something like: we can all be thankful that pre-emptive war has stabilized the entire region.

Very few details have been announced officially. Apparently 10,000 Turkish troops will be deployed. There has been a virtually independent Kurdistan in northern Iraq since the early 90s (thanks to a U.S.-imposed no-fly zone), and there has been criticism that Turkey wants to control at least part of Kurdistan--particularly the oil-rich city of Kirkuk. Apparently in response, the U.S. has said Turkish troops will operate in the central part of Iraq, not the Kurdish north.

Ralph Peters bitterly criticizes the U.S. decision to welcome Turkish troops into Iraq. (Link will degrade).

"Certainly, there is nothing wrong with rebuilding a working relationship between the United States and Turkey. But Iraq is the wrong place to do it.

"No troops from neighboring states should be allowed to meddle in Iraq, but we would be better off with Iranian troops than with Turkish forces.

"The administration is even dishonest about Kurdish 'terrorists.' The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) has, indeed, engaged in terrorist actions against Turkish targets in the past. But if there ever was a case of freedom fighters using terror as a tool, it's the PKK. And, in recent years, the PKK has changed its practices. Its members are not innocents, but neither are they the bloody-handed murderers Ankara declares them.

"By far the worst acts of terror in the struggle of Turkey's Kurds for elementary rights were committed by the Turkish military, not by the PKK. Anatolian Kurds remain a brutally oppressed people whose plight cries out for justice.

"It appeared that Iraqi Kurds, at least, had found their long-awaited champion in America. Our defense of the Kurds and our support for their self-liberation were wise and moral actions. And the Kurds continue to yearn for constructive friendship with America. They know that no one else has the power - or the potential selflessness - to protect them.

"But this is a terribly discouraging week for all Kurds. They know too well what disasters could follow a Turkish occupation of any part of Iraq.

"Even Iraq's American-backed Governing Council has protested the deployment of Turkish troops. Washington's response has been to tell them to shut up.

"Doubtless, Bush's enforcers will bully most of the members of the council into accepting Washington's will. But our actions make a mockery of the values we have professed to the Iraqi people."

Peters' most depressing message is that Turkey always appeared to like working with Saddam--especially when it came to oppressing Kurds. If Turkish troops become a presence in the Sunni parts of Iraq, this may be an opportunity to work with Baathists and try to restore the old regime.

Timothy Noah in Slate has been offering updates on what he calls the "Kurd Sell-Out Watch" for months. He always says the Kurds in Iraq have been the most pro-American, or the most consistently pro-American, of all the disparate groups in Iraq, yet the Bush Administration acts like it would readily sell the Kurds out for any kind of two-bit deal with Turkey.

Noah points out that in fact 4,000 Turkish troops are already in Iraqi Kurdistan, and they refuse to leave. Some of them were arrested by U.S. forces for "reportedly plann[ing] to assassinate the Kurdish governor of Kirkuk." Turkey has not confirmed that the new troops will only be deployed around Sunni-dominated central Iraq, and indeed they have indicated clearly that they will take part in joint operations with the U.S. against the PKK in Kurdistan. It also seems that the only way for Turkish troops to get to central Iraq is through Kurdistan.

Glenn Reynolds looks for the good news in this story. Turkey must think the U.S. is going to win; otherwise why be so eager to get in on the operation? In response to one of his readers, he even hints, perhaps jokingly, that this is all part of a U.S. effort to have the Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) taken seriously; members of the IGC have been quoted extensively on this story.

Turkey is perhaps the most Westernized and modernized of all the Moslem countries. It is not an "Arab" country, which may help. I have still not read nearly enough about the Arabs, the Turks, the Middle East, The Persian Gulf, Central Asia, etc. I was struck recently by a comment James Q. Wilson made in an article some time ago: Turkey made strides to becoming modernized many decades ago; but it required a "strong man (Ataturk)," indeed a kind of Oriental despot, to achieve this. I linked to this article in an update to an earlier
post.

I guess all sane people in the West want NATO to expand to include former enemies or problem areas--countries that were formerly behind the Iron Curtain, above all. The long-running project to make Turkey (which has been in NATO for years) as much as possible a part of Europe seems to be related to this goal.

It is easy to find discussions on the web of human rights abuses by Turkey throughout the 90s--especially committed against Kurds, and in Cyprus. There has been progress in parliamentary democracy and rule of law for most people, but the security forces have had something of a free hand with people who are classified as enemies. In particular, suspects could be detained without charges.

That is supposed to be changing, as Turkey tries to carry out the reforms that are seen as necessary for it to join the European Union.

Thanks to a reader for noting that Turkey has recently received more then $8 billion, yes billion, from the U.S. Ted Kennedy has called this a "bribe" to get Turkey to do more to help the U.S. in Iraq.