Turkey Concerned on US, Iraq and KDP

Turkish Daily News
October 16, 2001
by SAADET ORUC 

Disgruntled over the ongoing internal debate in Washington concerning a possible attack on
Iraq, Ankara has been expressing its concerns at every opportunity both to the United States
and to Iraqi officials. 

Soon after Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit's remarks which he made on Sunday in an interview
with NTV's Ankara representative Murat Akgun, deputy prime minister Mesut Yilmaz, this
time, conveyed his worries. 

As Ecevit was warning that an attack against Iraq would harm Turkey, Yilmaz was
declaring his worries over the possibility of the spread of the operation into Iraq. 

The more it was obvious that Ankara opposed even the possibility of an attack against
Baghdad (with the frustration that in case of an offense over Iraq, the instability might be
taken advantage of by the Iraqi Kurds), the more diplomatic traffic on the issue was seen. 

No matter Turkish officials were evaluating the internal debate in Washington, (which was
launched by one group headed by Paul Wolfowitz, deputy undersecretary of U.S. Secretary
of Defense and another group headed by Secretary of State Colin Powell and the State
Department) as a game won by the moderate wing led by, efforts were accelerated, taking
the worst option into account. 

Diplomatic contacts 

According to foreign diplomats, Ankara assured Baghdad once more over its position that no
attack would take place from its territories, without any strong evidence confirming an Iraqi
link with the attacks. 

In close contacts with the United States, on the other hand, Turkish officials expressed the
Turkish position vis-a-vis Iraq. 

Messages given by the Iraqi Kurds have especially been seen as reflecting their nationalistic
approach more than ever, official circles say. 

It is noteworthy that the State Minister responsible for customs, Mehmet Kececiler, has been
complaining about the steps taken by the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) along the
Habour border gate and for ten days the diesel trade through the
KDP-controlled area was stopped, starting up a few days ago. 

The additional tax imposed by the KDP was the reason, which made the Turkish officials
angry, however business circles dealing with diesel trade in the region claimed there was
Considerable political reason behind the Turkish anger towards the KDP. 

The political position of the Massoud Barzani-led KDP, which was defined to be
nationalistic, was the main topic, raising eye brows in Ankara. 

Turkey has never forgotten the potential of a possible transmission between its
Kurdish-origined citizens and the Iraqi Kurds. 
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