A RESOLUTION TOO FAR?
By Lindsay Beyerstein
In These Times, IL
Oct 17 2007
U.S.-Turkish relations, already strained by the war in Iraq, are
being tested further by the controversional congressional resolution
recognizing the 1915 genocide of Armenians.
Photo: A young Armenian girl puts roses near skulls of Armenian
nationals, victims of the 1915 killings, inside a church in Antelias,
Lebanon.
The Turkish government is expected to grant parliamentary approval
for military incursions into Northern Iraq today, ostensibly to pursue
fighters from the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK), separatist guerrillas
who use Iraqi Kurdistan as a base from which to harass Turkish troops.
Both the U.S. and the Iraqi governments are alarmed that a unilateral
display of force by Turkey could destabilize Northern Iraq, which
has remained relatively peaceful, thanks in large part to cooperation
between Iraqi Kurds and U.S. forces. A Turkish attack could alienate
the Iraqi Kurds and further dim the prospects for the U.S. occupation
of Iraq.
Turkish forces have been massing on the border and firing into Iraqi
territory for some time now. The Turkish government has also authorized
force against PKK guerillas in the past, but not attacked.
If Turkey attacks the PKK in Iraq, some U.S. observers will undoubtedly
blame the House Resolution 106, acknowledging the Ottoman Empire’s
genocide of the Armenian people during and after the First World
War. More than 1.5 million Armenians were killed and many more were
forcibly deported by Ottoman Turks during that era. Turkey acknowledges
that mass killings took place, but denies that there was a systematic
attempt to exterminate the Armenians as a people.
Introduced on January 30, the non-binding resolution passed the
House Foreign Affairs Committee last week with a vote of 27-21. The
passage of the bill sparked outrage from Turkey, which summoned its
ambassador home for "talks." Turkish President Abdullah Gul warned
that this resolution could seriously damage U.S.-Turkish relations.
However, support for the resolution is faltering in advance of a full
House vote tentatively scheduled to take place before Thanksgiving.
Seven representatives who initially voted for the resolution rescinded
their support on Monday. On Tuesday, at least four more followed
suit. As of Wednesday, the bill has only 215 co-sponsors, down from
236 at the start of the year. President Bush, Secretary Rice, and
high-ranking U.S. diplomats have moved quickly to assuage Turkey,
but their efforts have done little to quell the ire of Turkish
parliamentarians who are poised to authorize a military attack.
Alienating Turkey could have other serious logistical consequences
for the occupation as well. Turkish officials have threatened to
disrupt supply operations routed through Turkey or even kick the
United States military out of key bases.
Seventy percent of the air cargo destined for the U.S. military in
Iraq goes through Incirlik Airforce Base in southeastern Turkey.
Incirlik became the major cargo hub for the U.S. occupation force in
Iraq in mid-2005. C-17s ferry general cargo from Charleston, S.C.,
to Incirlik for distribution to multiple areas in Iraq. Using the
Incirlik base allows the Air Force to move more cargo with fewer
planes. U.S. Forces also obtain a significant share of their water
and fuel through Turkey, and one of the key commodities that pass
through Incirlik is additional armor for vehicles.
"Perhaps the least expected short-term consequence of Operation Iraqi
Freedom (OIF) was a serious aggravation in US-Turkish relations,"
wrote Barak A Salmoni, an assistant professor of national security
affairs at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School. Salmoni was writing in
2003, but four years later the strain between Turkey and the United
States has proven to be anything but short-term.
Turkish leaders were reluctant participants in the 2003 invasion.
Prior to the invasion, the U.S. officials put heavy pressure on Turkey
to allow the use of its airbases and territory. Despite generous
promises of foreign aid and military support, the Turks were hesitant
to collaborate in the invasion of a neighboring Muslim country that
had not made hostile overtures towards Turkey.
Large-scale public opinion research by the Pew Global Attitudes
Project shows that Turkish support for the United States began to
erode long before the genocide resolution. In December of 2002, 83
percent of Turks opposed using force to remove Saddam Hussein from
power. In 2003, 71 percent of Turks told Pew researchers that they
were either very worried or somewhat worried about the United States
as a military threat. In 2006, only 12 percent of Turks reported a
positive view of the United States, down from 30 percent in 2002,
and 52 percent in 1999-2000, Pew reports.
The conflict between Turkey and the PKK isn’t new, either. More than
37,000 people have been killed in this conflict since 1984. The PKK
declared a 5-year unilateral ceasefire in 1999, but resumed hostilities
against Turkey in 2004. On October 7, the PKK launched the deadliest
attack on Turkey in years, killing 13 soldiers.
The timing of the genocide resolution may have exacerbated preexisting
tensions, but the underlying conflict is far more serious and
longstanding. Removing Saddam Hussein and giving the Iraqi Kurds a
semi-autonomous state created a safe-haven for PKK guerillas. Iraqi
Kurds are unwilling to oppose the PKK because they hope to use the
guerillas as a bargaining chip to force Turkey to recognize Iraqi
Kurdistan as an independent state. Now that the PKK guerillas have
stepped up their attacks on Turkey, there is increasing domestic
pressure on the Turkish government to take action where the United
States will not.
The recent controversy over the House resolution to acknowledge the
Armenian genocide overshadows a much deeper problem. Neither the
Turkish leadership, nor the Turkish people supported the U.S. mission
in Iraq. The current Turkish crisis is just one of the intractable
problems that the United States faces as a result of its own unilateral
incursion.
Lindsay Beyerstein is a National Political Reporter for In These
Times.com, who also works as a national correspondent for Raw Story
and as a metro reporter for Chelsea Now. Her work can also be read
at her blog, Majikthise.
382/a_resolution_too_far/
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
