The main reason for the US's decision to stop giving Ankara this kind of intelligence, which is known as actionable intelligence, was Turkey's grave human rights violations in killing many civilians at the same time.Now, during a meeting between Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and US President George W. Bush on Monday in Washington, it was understood that the US has decided to resume providing actionable intelligence to its NATO ally Turkey to help it pursue the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) terrorists hiding in northern Iraq.
By announcing this additional intelligence support the US was trying to avert a possible all-out Turkish military incursion into northern Iraq that would have resulted in, among other things, complications for the US's combat efforts in Iraq.
"Good, sound intelligence, delivered on a real-time basis using modern technology will make it much easier to deal effectively with people [PKK] who are using murder as a weapon to achieve political objectives," Bush said after he met with Erdoğan in the Oval Office.
According to both Western and the Turkish intelligence sources, Bush's statement indicated that the US would be giving Turkey actionable intelligence, rather than the data it has provided in recent years, the usefulness of which Turkey has long questioned.
This new cooperative strategy represents narrowing of the scope of the operations Turkey will carry out in northern Iraq. However, Prime Minister Erdoğan stated after his talks with Bush that Turkey still reserves the right for a major cross-border operation into northern Iraq.
This cooperation also means that Turkey will use such intelligence very quickly to hunt down PKK members -- especially its PKK leadership -- in northern Iraq while strictly avoiding any harm to civilians. Prime Minister Erdoğan emphasized several times during statements after his meeting with Bush that the target will only be the PKK and not civilians. Erdoğan's reassurances are understood to have stemmed from several concerns raised by the US regarding the possibility of a limited Turkish entry into northern Iraq. However, Erdoğan was also seeking to assure the US that the Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga forces would not be targeted.
Several recent statements from Turkish state actors, including members of the military, that identified Massoud Barzani, the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the head of the Kurdistan regional administration, as a major source of support for the PKK's continued survival in northern Iraq -- allegations that are true enough -- have been cited as a proof of Turkey's real motives in northern Iraq. Remarks from retired Gen. Edip Başer in an interview with CNN Türk in March have also been used to cast doubt on Turkey's motive. Gen. Başer said that Turkey's primary strategic goal was the prevention of the establishment of a Kurdish state in northern Iraq rather than the fight against the PKK.
But while it is essential for Barzani to stop giving support to the PKK, it is also important that Turkey continue to use the diplomatic tools it has been utilizing in the past several weeks to also force the northern Iraqi leadership into constructive cooperation against the PKK. Bullying will only result in more aggression.
It is now clear that if the US's actionable intelligence support is used for purposes other than the targeting of the PKK, then the US will stop its cooperation with Turkey. If Turkey does not want this to happen, then Turkish state actors should also attach the utmost importance to proving to those concerned that Ankara has finally decided to render the PKK ineffective.
