Turkey's military is responsible for any outcome in northern Iraq
Military leaders should realize that it is hard to convince the Turkish public opinion that the Americans had nothing to do with ending the ground offensive against the PKK in northern Iraq last week. The military has to keep a brave face an continue its fight against the PKK terrorists in northern Iraq.
The day the government authorized the military to undertake military operations in northern Iraq the sole responsibility for the air and land raids against the PKK targets fell upon the Turkish Armed Forces.
It was the military that decided when, how and where the operations would be conducted and for how long. Of course it is only normal in a democracy that the military would inform the government of what it is planning and doing but the way the operations were handled and how they were executed became the sole responsibility of the military leaders.
So when Chief of Staff General Yasar Buyukanit says only the military decided on when to end the land incursion into northern Iraq he is right. The civilian government had nothing to do with the actual decision to end the military operations and withdraw from northern Iraq…
Yet, when the news came prematurely on Friday morning that the land incursion had ended abruptly and that the Turkish forces were being withdrawn form northern Iraq military commentators, all of them ex-generals, were unanimous in saying the Turkish Armed Forces would never do anything like this especially after statements on Thursday that the Turkish forces would stay in northern Iraq as long as necessary and that Turkey would not bow to Americans requests to end the incursion as soon as possible.
The military commentators said if the military had decided to withdraw its forces form northern Iraq this was not on the will of the military but it would have been imposed on the army by the civilian rulers.
Yet, Buyukanit has now openly denied them. So much so for the credibility of the ex-generals who are paraded on TV as experts and sources close to the current military leadership.
However, what now remains in the air is whether the pullout had anything to do with US pressure.
If you make a survey in Turkey we are sure that a majority of the respondents will say definitely the Americans had something to do with the pullout. So when Buyukanit says if anyone proves the Americans had anything to do with the ending of the land incursion on Friday he will quit his military uniform he may not really make such a positive impact to convince the Turkish masses.
When U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates came to Turkey he asked Turkey to cut the operations as short as possible. The U.S. did not want to antagonize the Iraqi Kurds more than necessary and thus while trying to appease Ankara with helping for an effective fight against the PKK Washington also wanted to keep the Kurds happy to a certain extent.
But when Gates made his statements Turkish leaders Buyukanit who leads all military decisions was very clear in saying Turkey would only end the operations on its own free will. But when the operations were halted the next day and the forces where withdrawn it was natural that such speculations would surface.
The U.S. will not block any future operations provided they are limited to relatively small military operations and do not seem like a massive invasion of Iraq. Now the military has to keep a brave face and continue its fight against the PKK in northern Iraq.
