Brinkmanship and the Second Choice

I have posted several links to different articles in the ECN about the situation between Turkey and Iraq. The PKK is seen as terrorist by the government of Turkey so much that they voted to authorize military action inside Iraq. This is strangely similar to what the US Congress did back 2003. May on the left have commented that they did so because they thought it was a negotiation tactic and it was in a sort. When you negotiate like that though, you have to make sure that it isn’t an empty threat. I have no doubt for Turkey, it also was not an empty threat. They even punctuated the fact by a limit incursion in to Iraq. When negotiation have gone this far, there is only two outcomes. The first being war, an option nobody wanted. The second outcome is only possible is when two mature nation understand that war is the worst option. Turkey understands that as well as the US and both are working to find a reasonable course of action.

WASHINGTON: President George W. Bush pledged Monday to increase intelligence cooperation with Turkey in its fight against Kurdish rebels, hoping to head off any significant Turkish military operation in Iraq.

The Kurds are the wild card in Iraq since they are essentially isolationist from the rest of the Muslims in the region. They want to have a lot more control of their destiny then they have ever had before. They don’t quite have what they want under the new Iraqi Constitution but it is enough that they are willing to work at keeping it for now.

To avoid war, the Kurds have to continue to see that what exists isn’t worth losing. If this is the truth;

Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) denied in a joint official statement supporting the Turkish Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

"We in the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) are strongly denying these groundless statements of supporting the PKK, asserting that we are looking forward to bolster ties with Turkey", the joint statement said.

Then all side can approach the PKK as terrorist and resolve this without a full scale war.