Turkey's Prime Minister Pressured to Invade Iraq

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is under heavy pressure from the country's military to allow an invasion of northern Iraq. Over the weekend, separatist Kurdish guerrillas killed 13 Turkish soldiers in an attack — the most casualties sustained by the Turkish army in nearly a decade. Kurdish separatists frequently cross into southeastern Turkey to conduct attacks and then retreat to bases in Iraq.

The Guardian reports that Erdogan called an emergency meeting of national security chiefs, which some described as a war council. It is widely known, however, that the prime minister doesn't think an invasion will work. Turkey's military conducted several sorties into Iraq in the '90s that had little impact on guerrilla activity. The United States also strongly opposes an invasion because "it would immensely complicate the US campaign in Iraq and destabilize the only part of Iraq that functions, the Kurdish-controlled north."

Despite his own feelings and U.S. pressure, Erdogan still faces a growing call for an invasion. As Time notes, "The top-selling daily Hurriyet ran a banner headline Monday saying, 'This warrants going into [Iraq].'"

On Monday, the U.S., in an effort to help forestall an invasion, urged the Iraqi government to move against the Kurdish separatists. CNN reports that Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a longtime Kurdish leader, said Sunday that the idea of a separate Kurdistan is unrealistic. "I don't think that Turkey or Iran or Syria will accept this, so, we must be realistic," Talabani said. "Now the interests of the Kurdish people are in the framework of a united, democratic, federative Iraq."

Update: The New York Times reports that Erdogan has given the go-ahead for a possible cross-border operation to hunt Kurdish separatists. The statement came after today's meeting of senior security officials.

9:46 AM ET | 10- 9-2007 | permalink