Analysis on Turkey's

artappraiser — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 16:13:11 +0000

In reply to Turkish troops enter northern Iraq in pursuit of Kurdish rebels

Analysis on Turkey's situation by M K Bhadrakumar @ Asia Times Online & Rediff blogs– October 19, 2011:

Erdogan hurries home from the ‘Arab street’

Turkish leader Recep Erdogan is facing the toughest political challenge of his career as prime minister since he came to power in March 2003...

....Turkey’s backing for the Syrian opposition has alienated both Damascus and Tehran, which otherwise have shared concerns on the Kurdish question that also affects them and ought to have been Ankara’s ‘partners’. (Iraq also opposes a ‘regime change’ in Syria.) Besides, Tehran is annoyed that Turkey is allowing the US missile system to be deployed in Malatya in central Anatolia. Indeed,Turkish-Israeli ties are under strain and Tel Aviv is no longer sharing intelligence with Ankara on the Kurdish insurgents.

In sum, Turkey is pretty much isolated in the region. So, Turkey needs to fall back on the US’s political support for its invasion of Iraq, but Washington will be hard-pressed to nod public approval. The European Union is also highly unlikely to be supportive of the Turkish offensive as there is widespread sympathy toward Kurdish separatism in the European opinion. The annual EC report on Turkey last week criticised Turkey on the Kurdish problem....

dagblog - Comments for "Turkish troops enter northern Iraq in pursuit of Kurdish rebels"

Analysis on Turkey's