EDITORIAL: U.S. Action Needed to Prevent Turkish Invasion

By Staff Editorial

Staff Editorial
Oklahoma Daily ( U. Oklahoma )

(U-WIRE) NORMAN, Okla. — Concrete steps are needed to rein in the growing conflict between Turkey and Kurdish guerrillas in northern Iraq before it spirals out of control. According to the Pentagon, more than 60,000 Turkish troops are massed on the Iraqi border, foreshadowing a possible cross-border incursion, which the Turkish parliament authorized last week. The threat of a Turkish invasion comes after a series of attacks by the rebel Kurdish Workers’ Party, which the United States considers a terrorist organization. The attacks culminated Sunday when PKK guerrillas crossed into Turkey, killed 12 soldiers and reportedly captured eight more. The United States opposes a Turkish incursion and opened a diplomatic “full-court press” Monday, according to a State Department spokesman, amid fears a cross-border offensive would fan the flames of Kurdish separatism and further destabilize the region. The “full-court press” may be too little, too late, however, as developments on the ground seem to point toward war. The Bush administration did not appear to take the threat of Turkish action seriously earlier this week when Defense Secretary Robert Gates casually dismissed the idea of an imminent Turkish invasion. Although the administration has roundly condemned the PKK and its attacks on Turkish soil, it will take more than rhetoric to defuse the current situation. Turkish demands are clear. American forces, in concert with Iraqi troops, must confront the PKK rebels in Northern Iraq. Committing U.S. troops to fight in northern Iraq may prove difficult, given how thin they are stretched in the country. But action is needed to prevent the country from splintering farther apart.

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