Turkish Army sends 10,000 soldiers into Northern Iraq to pursue Kurds

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15390006

In retaliation to Kurdish attacks on Turkish Army, Ankara has decided to react in a big way.

Seems like invasions are becoming in vogue again.

On the other hand, Kurd hating is always in vogue, so it's pretty easy to get them to go hand in hand.

@OP, I linked a post about why the Kurds are attacking Turks, they are doing it because the Turks have politically isolated the Kurdish Workers Party.

No whey.

This is going to complicate things in the region... how is this new invasion going to affect the ongoing war in Iraq?

Oh shitballs.

It's my understanding that the northern, Kurdish area of Iraq (sometimes called "Kurdistan", iirc) was one of the most secure and prosperous areas of Iraq. Keyword, of course, being was.

It's also my understanding that the Kurds want to make their own small country from pieces of Iraq, Turkey and Syria, which of course none of those countries want. Turkey in particular recently had some election shenanigans where several Kurdish nationalists were elected, but then were disbarred on charges of terrorism or delayed from taking their seats.

Other than that, I don't know much about this. All I can think is, "son of a bitch, why couldn't they have fled across the border into SYRIA and been pursued by the Turkish military." Now that might have done some good, wheras I can't see anything good coming out of this.

Death, some of Kurdistan is in Iran too but most of Turkish Kurdistan is the oil rich region of East Turkey.

Very informative. Thanks to Whale for posting this in the protests thread, I'm reposting it here because it should be here.

So I was right, it is fairly analogous to the IRA in Ireland. Hell, the PKK seems to target the military much more than civilians, although it's likely because the military makes for relatively easy targets more than a concern over the morality of targeting civilians. Interesting, and sad since the article seems to indicate the political process is moving in the wrong direction.

I wasn't sure about Iran, although I figured as much. The Eastern Turkey part is obvious as that's the only part of Turkey that shares a border with Iraq and Syria and Iran.

Death, eh sorry didn't explain myself well. All of Turkey's oil reserves are in Turkish Kurdistan IIRC.

No wonder they aren't letting go.

There are better ways to negotiate your oil from the Kurds. Treating the Kurdish Turks like Turkish citizens and paying them fair prices for oil on their lands is one way. Not outlawing the fucking Kurdish language is another. I am not sympathetic to the Turkish Army here.

whyyyyy

Because whatever their cause, the Kurdish group involved is indiscriminate in who it attacks generally.

You would be if you were fighting for your homeland too.

Fuck turkey. Fuck NATO and the US government for supporting it.

^^^ Safer bet. Turkey is a Nato ally, gateway into the Near East and a recognized government.

Recognizing the PKK would be tantamount to a slap in the face to Turkey, and you can bet there would be political ramifications in doing so.

Doesn't mean I like it, though.

So now we can look forward to Iraq and Turkey going to blows, now...?

I hope so, maybe a major, costly, bloody war breaking out in the region would teach countries to stop using military power as a first choice.

...

Yea, right. People never learn, and Fallout is right - war never changes.

If Iraq, Syria, and Turkey descend into all-out war....yikes.

It would be a grade A clusterfuck.

As much as I support Kurdish independce, they have not being fighting the fight the proper way.

They have no other way they can fight - they've tried everything else, and it has failed.

They also primarily target military and significant political leaders, who are all fair game in a war.

edited 20th Oct '11 2:27:48 PM by Lessinath

Erock, they can't fight in anyother way because Turkey keeps banning the Kurdish Workers Party

Exactly. I thought everyone knew that.

Actually, looking at a list of recent attacks they seem to be targeting the military. This is likely because the Turkish military is a softer target than, say, the British military, but with that in mind, it's really more like a military conflict than terrorist action. Of course, I have very limited knowledge of this conflict.

Terrorist really, really does not need to become a word that means "anyone who is our enemy." Down that road leads to- well, it leads to exactly where Turkey is now; they've been misusing their terrorism laws as a weapon against Kurds and Kurdish activists.

Bring it to the UN.

Turkey is a NATO ally, at the very least the US would veto any sanctions against Turkey.

On the other hand, the EU could make dealing with the Kurdish issue a requirement for Turkey joining (hell, they may have already for all I know.) It's my understanding Turkey would like very much to join the EU.