General Yasar Buyukanit, the chief of the Turkish General Staff, has said the Turkish government's military operation against forces of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in late February had only taught them a "lesson". If in case of need, he added, there will be more such lessons to give them.
This constitutes the first of the public statements Gen. Yasar Buyikanit has made after Turkey's pullout of its troups from northern Iraq on February 29, which indicates that the military attacks on PKK "display only small part of a major operation". The Turkish security forces have assaulted and bombed strongholds of the PKK armed personnel with the use of fighter planes, according to Turkism media reports. So, factors for upheavals in the region are far from being eradicated.
What merits particular attention is that Chief of General Staff Gen. Yasar Buyukanit said "there was no outside influence" or pressures for their operations. His clarification, however, stunned media with doubts and surprises, and the conjecture was ascribed to US Defense Secretary Robert Gates' visit to the Turkish capital of Ankara on February 28, during which he prompted Turkey to halt its military actions in northern Iraq, but Turkish military was tough, saying that it had no timetable for its troop withdrawal.
Shortly afterwards, however, the Turkish General Staff announced in a statement on February 29 that the cross-border operation reached "its goal" and its troops have returned to bases in Turkey.
Despite the emphasis of Turkish military on its substantial outcome with military actions, media nevertheless acknowledged that the operation had not attained its anticipated objective. Moreover, relevant analyses hold that the PKK rebel group is thought to have anywhere around 2,000 to 3,000 well-trained armed personnel his in northern Iraq with their vitality remaining intact, not being sapped or undermined.
Turkey was considered a strategic U.S. ally to contain the expansion of the former Soviet Union in the Middle-East region during the era of cold war and, in the ensuing post-cold war period, its geo-strategic importance has been further hightened and upgraded. Turkey and the U.S. decided to forge their cooperative ties back in 1991 and later established their strategic partnership in 1999. To date, the country has been turned into another vital, forceful prop of the United States with its Middle East policy besides Israel. On the issue of battling against PKK, the US backing for Turkey is clear-cut and unequivocal, and this is the crucial criteria Turkey currently uses to test the American attitude toward it.
Meanwhile, the United States has all along worked to seek the balance in complex political factions in northern Iraq so as to retain the stability of Iraq, which is of vital importance to this sole superpower. With the rule or administration of the Kurdistan self-government, the situation there is now relatively stable.
In such circumstance, overall stability in the region will surely be in a mess if Turkey keeps up the war flames, and add variables to the Iraq situation that has already caused headaches to the U.S. Therefore, the U.S. only asked Turkey to hurl limited strikes, and Turkey will have a greater and more spacious room for maneuvering by following or compiling with the U.S. advice.
With regard to its strikes against the PKK, Turkey has pulled out its forces timely to the satisfaction of the U.S. and welcome of Iraq. Its military operation, as if with "a fine start and poor finish", has in fact retained the status quo for the time being, and this will sometimes definitely pose the best and most ideal option for Turkey.
By People's Daily Online and its author is Yang Jun
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article