Help please!, cause i'm international relationship challenged

[fgarvb1]

Why has Turkey invaded northern Iraq to keep the kurds from forming an independent state, if that is what they have in mind?

I trying to ask what is it to them? no matter what the kurds do?

I heard it on the news...and i'm lost.

Are we going to end up fighting turkey?

 

[HeavyStick]

Turkey does not want the Kurd's to have their own country, in the aftermath of this war.

 

[LukkyKnight]

There are kurds on both sides of the border, and they are sort of... well, let's say "oppressed" in Turkey presently. So, if they get to feeling empowered, ya know, the stability of the Middle East could be threatened.

 

[Spinaroonie]

Turkey does not want an independent Kurdish state.

The Kurds have always felt threatened by Turkey (they said that if the US were to position troops in Southern Turkey that it'd be a bigger threat to them than Saddam has every been. Fearing an invasion, Turkey voted not to the stationing of US tropps). Turkey also has to fear that in the state of land-grabbing that the formation of an independant Kurdish state, that the Kurds will push boundaries a la Israel/Palestine, which would create much turmoil. Also an independant or US-sponsored Kurd state would be dangerous to Turkey as it would provide an organization to the Kurdish people - one in which they could form an Army and attack Turkey.

Despite these feelings, a large number of Kurds live in Turkey... I think that's pretty much a choice between one enemy or another.

 

[fgarvb1]

There has to be more to it than that.

They just invaded a foreign country in the middle of a war with out joining either side and under no UN rules at all...none.

This could be trouble.

 

[Spinaroonie]

There has to be more to it than that.

They just invaded a foreign country in the middle of a war with out joining either side and under no UN rules at all...none.

This could be trouble.

It's a moment of opportunity. Joining in with the US forces would mean that they'd have to divert troops to accomplish other goals (Saddam). Going in independantly allows their full force to keep the Kurds down.

(As for UN rules, look who they took a cue from)

 

[fgarvb1]

It's a moment of opportunity. Joining in with the US forces would mean that they'd have to divert troops to accomplish other goals (Saddam). Going in independantly allows their full force to keep the Kurds down.

(As for UN rules, look who they took a cue from)

Are the kurds in trouble with the UN for making weapons of mass destruction and killing off other people as well as anybody they don't like and invading other countries?

 

[morninggirl5]

Turkey is afraid that the Kurds in Iraq will join the Kurds in Turkey and try to create a Kurdish state from the lands they know live on. Turkey is saying that they are not invading, but rather they are providing humanitarian aid so they will not be overrun by refugees from Iraq.

One of the promises the US had to make to Turkey before they would in any way support the war was that the borders of Iraq would be the same after the war.

 

[fgarvb1]

Turkey is afraid that the Kurds in Iraq will join the Kurds in Turkey and try to create a Kurdish state from the lands they know live on. Turkey is saying that they are not invading, but rather they are providing humanitarian aid so they will not be overrun by refugees from Iraq.

One of the promises the US had to make to Turkey before they would in any way support the war was that the borders of Iraq would be the same after the war.

Oh.

Ok.

I hope they don't feed them bullets!

 

[HeavyStick]

Turkey has been in and out of Iraq at times. If they have a mission this time, it'll be very interesting to see the outcome.

 

[patient1]

The Kurdish lands are on the borders of Iran, Iraq, Turkey & Syria.
They are perhaps the second largest ethnic group in the world without a country (after the gypsies).

When the Shaw ruled Iran, we supported the Kurds in Iraq.
When Iran fought Iraq ( the infamous chemical weapon war) they got driven out. They've been pushed around a lot, & would like the safety of their own place.

The Turks would consider them terrorists, & probably view it like us going into Afghanistan to get outlaws.

While there was a wave of Kurdish refugees moving into Turkey during Desert Storm, there are none that I know of this time.
The Kurds are actually advancing against Saddam in hopes of recovering some of the cities in the northern oil region from which they were "Cleansed".

 

[patient1]

I just learned that Turkey could have as many as 40,000troops
inside Iraq in as little as 48 hours.

The race is on.


Or should I say racism?