The other nightmare was Iraq. This nightmare, which has psychologically tormented Ankara ever since Baghdad was weakened in the Gulf War, was the possibility that Iraq would be fragmented into pieces and that a Kurdish state would arise from the fragmentation. Today, Turkey is striving to get defeat these two nightmares despite all odds. The objective of the current democratic initiative is to eliminate the first nightmare. Making official contact with Iraqi Kurds, who have been ignored for a very long time, is being seen as a way to eliminate the second nightmare. Even though Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani was invited to Ankara as the “Iraqi president,” it was this critical step that kicked off the process. Ultimately, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu’s visit to Arbil and meeting with Kurdish leaders put an end to the old fear-based understanding and opened a new chapter. Most recently Interior Minister Beşir Atalay visited Arbil on his way back from Baghdad, where he took part in a trilateral meeting with US and Iraqi officials. The image of Atalay, the state minister coordinating the initiative prepared in order to overcome the first nightmare, during his meeting with Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani was evidence of how the two nightmares have become intertwined -- the once ignored Kurdish administration and lobbying efforts to finish off the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).The state minister was very hopeful about his meetings. He said a new period had started in the fight against the PKK, that concrete results would be seen in a very short time and that important developments were going to take place in the upcoming days in relation to Kandil and Makhmour. This is good news, and we hope that this happens soon.
But as these well-intentioned efforts continue, we should not forget that the problem is more complex than it appears; in other words, some people do not want Turkey, the region’s historically dominant power, to get rid of its biggest handicap that easily. After all, those who calmly analyzed the two nightmares knew that each one was under the influence of a different international center. According to this analysis, the US’ priority was the Kurdish structure in Iraq. Recall how Kurds that were left out in the open after Saddam Hussein’s sudden attack in 1996 were transported to the island of Guam. Recall how Vice President Joe Biden argued for dividing Iraq into three separate regions when he was a senator. Recall how Kurds expressed their gratitude to the US for their role in the Iraqi war and for the liberation of Kurds in advertisements.
Actually, Turkey made quite a contribution to the process with the role it played in Operation Provide Comfort. The Iraqi Kurds, which the US closely monitored, were never a top priority for Europe. According to the roles that were distributed, the PKK-Kurdish problem that was (put) in front of Turkey in the 1990s right when it was getting rid of the Cold War problem became mainly Europe’s concern.
If we look at the roles the two sides played in this fight, we can clearly see the contradiction. The US supported Turkey during this process by not refusing Turkey’s cross-border operation against the PKK, ensuring artillery support for Turkey via Israel, declaring the PKK a terrorist organization and by bringing Abdullah Öcalan in. It is due to this support that Noam Chomsky criticized the US. But during this process, the PKK mainly organized and obtained financing in Europe, found support from presidential spouses such as Danielle Mitterrand and was forcibly declared a terrorist group only after Sept. 11. Clearly it is difficult to speak about Washington when a center like Europe is in question. But can the vast differences in the approach to the Kurdish problem be ignored?
There is benefit in reconsidering from this perspective the massacre that took place in Reşadiye right when Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who started the process to normalize relations with northern Iraq and launched the initiative inside the country, was going to meet with President Barack Obama at the White House. Certainly Atalay must have strong intelligence on this topic, but it’s clear that there are some people who are not happy with the problem being solved through a trilateral mechanism in which they are not involved and who have connections to the PKK that transcend Öcalan as well. Is that too much of a conspiracy?
