Despite fierce U.S. opposition and appeals from the Iraqi government, the Turkish parliament voted on Wednesday to allow military strikes against Kurdish separatists in northern Iraq.

The approved government motion, which sought a one-year authorization for one or more incursions into Iraq, leaves it up to Ankara to determine the timing and scope of the military operation.

However, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan stressed that parliamentary approval would not mean immediate military action against the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has been fighting for Kurdish self-rule in southeast Turkey since 1984.

Despite Erdogan’s comments, which signals that there could be still room for diplomacy, threats of a major offensive in northern Iraq put further strain on Turkey’s already tense relations with the United States, which wants to avoid destabilizing the one area of Iraq that has been relatively peaceful since the 2003 invasion.

Ankara accuses the U.S. and Iraqi Kurdish forces in northern Iraq of providing safe haven and military support for an estimated 3,000 PKK rebels, and not doing enough to stop cross-border attacks. On the other hand, U.S. commanders and Iraqi Kurdish officials say they are doing all they can to crack down on PKK rebels.

According to Reuters, a Turkish incursion would cause deep dismay among Turkey’s Kurds. Rizgin Birlik, a local leader of Erdogan's ruling AK Party, said there was widespread opposition in the southeast to any military operation, partly because a large number of Kurds on the Turkish side of the border have relatives in Iraq. "Kurdish people have suffered a lot. We haven't been able to find peace. Everyone in the region is uneasy with the thought of the troops going in," he said.

Turkish warplanes and artillery are reportedly already targeting PKK camps in northern Iraq. According to the Christian Science Monitor, Turkish units began deploying along the border earlier this week. Turkish media also speculates that any possible incursion would involve more than 15,000 soldiers. Some reports even said that Turkey would create a buffer zone 10 to 20 miles deep inside Iraq.

Mateen, a 50-year-old Kurdish Iraqi, told the BBC: “I am 40-50km (25-30 miles) from the Turkish border. I could hear the shelling from Turkey earlier this week and it was heavier than ever. It's been going on for a few months,”

“There is great concern here locally about what Turkey is doing. This is the only secure region in Iraq. Tens of thousands of refugees have come here from other parts of the country, from Mosul, from Baghdad. So, if there is any incursion from Turkey, it will mean the whole country will be in turmoil.”

Mateen also believes that Ankara is using the PKK as an excuse to invade northern Iraq. “Turkey has other agendas … It’s against any Kurdish entity coming into existence, even inside Iraq… The main reason why Turkey is doing this now is to disrupt next month's Kurdish referendum in Iraq.”

In Washington, President George W. Bush said the United States was "making it very clear to Turkey that we don't think it is in their interests" to send troops into Iraq.

Ironically, President Bush said that “There's a better way to deal with the issue.”

But the U.S. has lost its leverage with Turkey due to a U.S. congressional committee’s approval Wednesday of a resolution branding the 1915-17 Ottoman massacres of Armenians as “genocide“, a bill that Turkey strongly rejects.

"If you add an Armenian genocide bill onto this ongoing turmoil over the PKK attacks, it will be terrible for Turkish-American relations,” says Metehan Demir, a military specialist in Ankara with the Sabah newspaper.

Reacting to the “genocide” bill, Turkey threatened its NATO ally to block access to a military airbase crucial to re-supplying U.S. occupation forces in Iraq.

U.S. administration officials and Turkish politicians say that 70 percent of the U.S. military's air cargo destined for Iraq transits through the U.S. air base at Incirlik in eastern Turkey.

"Our most reliable resource of unfettered intelligence that is helping us in the Middle East comes through Turkey," Rep. David Scott (D) of Georgia says.

Rep. Dan Burton (R) of Indiana agrees, describing the “genocide“ bill as “crazy.”

"We're in the middle of two wars and we've got troops over there that are at risk, and we're talking about kicking the one ally that's helping us over there in the face."

According to Bulent Aliriza, a Turkey analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, the United States has “"been caught between their tactical alliance with the Kurds in Iraq, and their strategic alliance – at least what it used to be – with Turkey.”

"The reality is that the U.S. relies to an incredible extent on the Iraqi Kurds … and any meaningful action by the Turks would annoy the Iraqi Kurds and change the balance in Iraq against the U.S. in this war," says Aliriza. "The worst thing that could happen, from the point of view of the [White House] is for the Turks to intervene, creating an even bigger mess in Iraq."

PHOTO CAPTION

PKK fighters in northern Iraq (file photo)

Source:Aljazeera.com