Mehmet Y. Yilmaz: With bombs blasting, we can't wait until it suits America to act
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Mayıs 24, 2007 14:44
In the wake of the Ankara bombing which cut short innocent lives, Turkey is obliged to review its relations once again with the US and Northern Iraq. In article published in the Defense and Air Force magazine this week, General Yasar Buyukanit talks about the roots of the terror wave we find ourselves in.
The war in Iraq and local Kurdish groups have given safe shelter to PKK groups in Northern Iraq, and have made Turkey an easier target to attack. The US, which has invaded both Iraq and Afghanistan in its "preventitive war against terror" has used both open and secretive threats to keep us from invading Northern Iraq to root out the PKK there. They are doing this in order to keep their allies, the Kurds, from becoming angry. This is all partially a result of our own government's lack of effective policy on Northern Iraq.
But this struggle cannot be engaged in simply by giving America empty warnings and statements. And the fact that diplomacy won't help solve the problem was highlighted in the removal of former General Edip Baser from his position as official "Special Representative on Struggle Against Terror."
Turkey must show to both the US and the Northern Iraqi Kurds that it is decisive on this matter. With bombs going off in our cities, we cannot sit around and wait until it suits Washington, DC and Barzani to act.
But this struggle cannot be engaged in simply by giving America empty warnings and statements. And the fact that diplomacy won't help solve the problem was highlighted in the removal of former General Edip Baser from his position as official "Special Representative on Struggle Against Terror."
Turkey must show to both the US and the Northern Iraqi Kurds that it is decisive on this matter. With bombs going off in our cities, we cannot sit around and wait until it suits Washington, DC and Barzani to act.