browneyedgirl wrote:
Seems to be a religious conflict.
It maybe just "saber rattling", but the Turks are highly pissed.
I don't quite understand the history of this "feud", maybe someone who understands religious issues could enlighten me about this.
Absolutely not a religious conflict at all. Turkey is overwhelmingly a Muslim nation, and the Kurds are also Muslims.
And there is no feud between Turkey and Iraq. Read the article a bit more carefully and it shows the Turks are keen to respect Iraq's integrity.
The PKK (a terrorist organisation made of Kurdish seperatists) have been attacking Turkish troops and positions in Turkey, and base themselves in Northern Iraq. Since the situation is a mess up there anyway, they blend in without much difficulty.
Turkey has lost 15 troops in the past couple of weeks and basically is tired of it. They're going in.
Here's the interesting part. The USA has Turkey as an important ally in the region, but the Kurds offered valuable help during the 2003 invasion (they hated Saddam too). So basically, the USA can't really say anything to anyone here. Yes, the PKK is recognised as a terrorist organisation both in the US and EU, but the majority of Kurds do support them. So the US is caught between two 'allies' of theirs now.
Turkey has wanted Iraq or America to clamp down on the PKK. None of this has happened, so they've decided to act unilaterally. But action could destabilise northern Iraq, which is pretty peaceful compared to the rest of the country, so that also plays a role.
An interesting conundrum, and I will be keeping a close eye on these developments.