Dive into the archives.
- Turks Enter Iraq Again
I noted a few days ago that Turkey was preparing for further incursions into Iraqi Kurdistan as well as anti-PKK operations at home. BBC has just reported that Turkish troops have entered Iraq
Turkish forces have crossed into Iraq to launch an operation against Kurdish rebels said to be sheltering there, the Turkish military says.The Turkish [...]
- Back to Iraq?
FP Passport notes an article in the Turkish news regarding military preparations for further strikes within both Iraqi Kurdistan and Turkish Kurdistan.
The TSK is currently developing its strategy for the operation, which will most likely be launched in the middle of March. The ground operation is planned to be the final strike against the terrorist [...]
- PKK in Kansas Update
As as a follow up on my previous post on rumors that the PKK is moving to Nagorno-Karabagh, Jamestown has a new article on the same subject that is well worth reading.
Reviving a Forgotten Threat: The PKK in Nagorno-Karabakh
By Anar Valiyev
The decades-long war between the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Turkish army has [...]
- Helping Both Sides?
Today’s German Tagesschau hints at something (German link) I’ve also been wondering, namely, why the Turks are claiming such wild success having deal “strong blows” and stood up against terrorists when almost nobody has been killed and no proof has been given that anything of value was hit.
It is one thing for the Kurds [...]
- On the edge
Via The Memri Blog
The text says “Northern Iraq”
- Turkey Looking to Iran
Disappointed with the weak show of support from America and Europe, Turkey is now looking further east for support for its planned operations in Iraq. And they need look no further than Iran, also battling its own Kurdish independence movement. Al Jazeera reports that the foreign ministers of Iran and Turkey are increasingly expressing their [...]
- Turkish Options
As the Turkish-Iraqi tensions rise and small scale cross border operations begin, let’s examine Turkey’s situation and options at the moment.
First of all, much fuss was made about the recent weak agreement between Iraq and Turkey which did not include an allowance for Turkish troops to cross into Iraq in so-called “hot pursuit” operations against [...]
- What You Won’t Find in the Petraeus Report
While pundits, bloggers, politicians and hacks conjecture as to the contents of the Petraeus Report coming out tomorrow, I’m confident about what you won’t find. While progress has been made in al-Anbar which is sure to be the focus of the report (as President Bush’s recent visit to the region assured), the unsung success is [...]
- Recipe for Trouble
According to American Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker, the referendum on the status of Kirkuk will likely be delayed.
“There is a general realization out there that, as a practical matter, it is going to be very hard to stick to the original timetable,” US Ambassador Ryan Crocker told Reuters in Baghdad late on Thursday.”The timetable [...]
- Friedman backs Chirol’s Plan
From July 3rd’s NYT, Thomas Friedman writes:
If the surge fails to pave the way for a Sunni-Shiite power-sharing agreement in Iraq, then we have to remove our troops from their areas and relocate them to the border to contain their civil war. But we should also talk to the Kurds about setting up a base [...]
