Fatih Altayli: Can U.S. war against PKK?

“U.S. wants Turkey to withdraw her military presence from Northern Iraq and leave the fight against PKK to U.S. If American forces had the necessary capability to make it, it would be a very positive development for Turkey. But the issue is not, as it is seen. Turkish commanders who have fought in the region for years, think that even if she has good intentions, U.S. will not keep her promise. “According to final reports, there are around 6 thousand PKK militants in the region. They are mostly hiding in the Kandil Mountain, but they can move very fast and cross to Iran or hide in the settlements on the north of Iraq. It is very difficult for U.S. to determine their places or to monitor them. Even if U.S. finds their place with developed monitoring systems, it is impossible for her to remove them with air operations because the target is very small. U.S. should use her commandos rather than regular forces in such a fight, but the disadvantages are that they do not know the region well, they have no knowledge of the local language and U.S. has no strong intelligence web in the region. “American soldiers will also have difficulty in differentiating peshmerges from PKK militants and therefore they may damage the local people by mistake. U.S. can not use peshmerges against PKK because peshmerges do not fight at night and they can not continue an operation for a long time. “For these reasons, our commanders, who have knowledge about the region; believe that U.S. is insincere in her offer. They say that the main aim of U.S, which could not succeed in its operations against Al-Qaeda although she worked together with Afghan units in Afghanistan, is to take Turkey out of the region. The best for Turkey is to leave the region, but without leaving any threat behind.”�