December 24, 2007:
Over the past month
Turkey has conducted an interesting public debate over "psychological war"
against the PKK. Criticism of the "psychological campaign" has emerged in the
Turkish military. What the military means isn't just "information warfare," but
political efforts as well. At least one
senior Turkish officer said in early December that the PKK violates human
rights. Turkey takes the brunt of human rights criticism, while PKK leaders and
terror cadres largely escape criticism for brutality. The issue of democracy
and peace should also be on the political and "information" agendas. Turkey has
a functioning democracy; the military officers argued, the PKK is a
hierarchical, autocratic organization. The Turkish officer has a point. "Apo"
Ocalan structured the PKK as a Marxist guerrilla organization with the senior
leader a "cult of the personality" figure with absolute authority. Several
sharp Turkish media, military, and government people who've commented on this
issue suggested that since the early 1980s Turkey missed several opportunities
to change the political dynamic with the PKK. In retrospect, one of those
missed opportunities was framing the issue (particularly in Western Europe) as
a fight pitting a struggling, secular democracy against an armed Cold War-era
guerrilla organization with a Stalinist structure. Another missed opportunity
was taking a "federal" approach to Kurdish cultural issues an approach
Turkish Kurds have advocated for years. In the last five years increased
political campaigning in Kurdish areas by national parties (particularly the
AKP) has demonstrated that Turkish Kurds will participate in the democratic
process if they believe their issues and concerns will be addressed by the
national government.
December 23, 2007: Iraqi leaders
claimed that Turkey's recent series of air and artillery strikes in northern
Iraq have hit at least 37 villages. The attacks have forced approximately 500
to flee to refugee camps. At least four waves of air attacks have been
conducted so far.
December 22, 2007: The Turkish military
said that it intends to continue its "offensive operations" against the PKK,
both within Turkey and along the Turkey-Iraq border. The statement followed an
announcement that Turkish Air Force aircraft had bombed PKK positions in
northern Iraq. A PKK spokesman claimed that the air strikes did not cause any
PKK casualties.
December 21, 2007: Iraq's foreign
ministry has asked the Turkish government to "coordinate" with the Iraqi
government before launching attacks into northern Iraq. The statement said that
the Iraqi government understands that Turkey has legitimate concerns about
"terrorist activities" by the PKK. However, the attacks have harmed innocent
civilians.
December 18, 2007: The Turkish military
said that the United States had "opened airspace in northern Iraq" that allowed
Turkish warplanes to conduct bombing missions against PKK bases. U.S. Central
Command does control Iraqi air space, for all aircraft from UAVs to commercial
to military. The Turks claim that the act of opening air space to Turkish Air
Force warplanes means the U.S. "approves" of these operations. That isn't
necessarily the case, at least from an official diplomatic point of view, but
from a practical point of view, the claim has merit. The U.S. isn't going to
protect PKK bases it wants to see them removed from Iraq, though preferably by
political means. Besides, opening air space reduces the possibility of
collisions with coalition aircraft and commercial aircraft. The U.S. wouldn't
allow Iranian aircraft to conduct raids, though neither Iraq nor the U.S. has
tried to stop the Iranian military from launching artillery attacks on PJAK
positions in Iraqi Kurdistan.
Turkish troops launched an attack
against "Kurdish rebels" inside Iraq. Approximately 300 Turkish soldiers moved
about three kilometers into Iraq. The Turkish military said that the soldiers
were "reinforcements" for a Turkish unit already operating inside Iraq. Turkey
has around 1500 soldiers in northern Iraq and maintains a base in the town of
Bamerni (in Iraq near the Turkish border). The base has been there for a number
of years.
December 16, 2007: Turkish aircraft
bombed PKK positions in northern Iraq, in the Khandil Mountains. Turkish Army
artillery located near the town of Cukurca fired on targets in Iraq.
December 15, 2007: The United States
said that it wants to promote a dialog between Iraq and Turkey that leads to a
political solution of the PKK problem. The US commended the Iraqi government
for "taking positive measures" against the PKK, including measures to stop
financial support from reaching the organization.