30/10/2013 00:00
TW
0

by RAY FLEMING
I T'S hardly surprising that the United States is in a state of panic over Turkey's plans to attack the PKK (Kurdish Workers' Party, a long-established anti-Turk guerrilla organisation operating from Northern Iraq) which has recently killed several Turkish soldiers and civilians. The Turkish government agreed to Washington's appeal for a delay “for a few days” but Prime Minister Erdogan made clear yesterday that he is sceptical about America's ability to restrain the PKK either directly or through the Iraqi Kurdish authorities. Indeed, Mr. Erdogan's conditions that the PKK should be expelled from Iraq, its camps closed and its leaders handed over, are unlikely to be met in “a few days”. It is therefore probable that the Turkish army will be given battle orders in the course of this week.

The consequences are unpredictable. Northern Iraq, the only peaceful part of Iraq since the US invasion, could be plunged into chaos and the supply routes which America uses for some 60 per cent of its military supplies could be cut.

More widely, the EU's membership negotiations with Turkey could be affected and the Turkish army's important role in Nato questioned.
Mr. Erdogan meets Gordon Brown in London today but is unlikely to be open to any plea for moderation. “We have rights under international law and we don't need permission from anybody”, he says.