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Acquiescence to Turkish Incursion May Signal Change In Bush Policy

A condemnation of the Turkish military incursion into Iraq will not come from the United States, reported French daily Le Figaro today. At a news conference in Baghdad U.S. Secretary of State said stopping the PKK is in the common interest of the United States, Iraq and Turkey. Le Figaro said Pentagon refused to comment on the Turkish military operation, but made it clear that it would continue to provide "information" to Ankara.

According to some analysts this may signal a change in President Bush’s Middle East policy who has often been criticized for the alienation of Turkey, once the U.S.’s biggest strategic partner in the region. In 2003 the newly elected Turkish Parliament refused passage to U.S. troops for the Iraq operation, forcing the Pentagon to change its war plans. Former Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld made no secret of his resentment for the Turkish decision that had "caused U.S. casualties." Relations between the Pentagon and Turkish Military hit its lowest point in July 2003 when U.S. troops and Kurdish militia attacked and took prisoner 11 Turkish military observers in the Northern Iraq town of Suleymaniye, an event referred to as "The Sack Incident." Although an apology was issued by a local military commander, Rumsfeld refused to apologize to the Turkish Government.

At the centre of the U.S.-Turkish alliance is the U.S. Air Force base of Incirlik near the city of Adana in southern Turkey, a deployment centre for operations in the Middle East, Caucasus and Central Asia. When Turkish media discovered last July that the U.S. had been building a massive air field at the town of Erbil in Northern Iraq a Turkish columnist declared "Our Strategic Partnership Is Over." It is not a secret that many high-ranking Turkish officers are talking about military cooperation with Iran and Russia, once Turkey’s arch enemy.

Turkey recently angered Washington when it made a deal to buy Iranian natural gas instead of product piped in from Central Asia by U.S. companies.

If the U.S. gets out of Iraq, which is highly unlikely any time soon, a landlocked Kurdistan with hostile neighbours in every direction wouldn't be of much strategic use.

In an interview with the Paris daily Le Monde Political Science Professor Bertrand Badie of the Ecole de Science Politique said that the formation of a China-Russia-Iran political-military block is a possibility, hinting at a realignment of powers that the U.S. may be concerned about.