The New Anatolian

OPINION

Friday 21st of November 2008 02:58:54 AM GMT+2

So what did the visit of Talabani achieve?

Talabani has seen that there is strong resistance in some very important circles against any dialogue with the Iraqi Kurds as long as the PKK issue is unresolved. Yet, the fact that Talabani managed to come to Ankara is a success on its own.

Ilnur Cevik

14 March 2008

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ilnurcevik@yahoo.com

President Jalal Talabani came to Ankara for a "working" visit and saw for himself the mood in Ankara.

He saw that while the government and President Abdullah Gul are enthusiastic about enhancing relations with Iraq and establishing some form of dialogue with the Iraqi Kurdish leadership there are still serious obstacles for any meaningful dialogue.

Talabani has seen the general mood of the Turkish people and has seen the climate is still rather chilly for the Kurds in Ankara. He has told a group of journalists during the visit that Turkey has to prepare its public opinion for steps to be taken on the Kurdish issue and on the dialogue with the Iraqi Kurds.

Talabani has seen that the military is in no mood to look kindly to a dialogue between the Iraqi Kurds and the Ankara administration. It will not block such a dialogue but when the military does not contribute to such a process progress will be limited.

The military did not look kindly to the visit of Talabani thus it was not an official visit and ended up as a working visit. The military did not want to bring out its guard of honor and military officials avoided all official functions that Talabani attended.

Talabani wants Nechirvan Barzani (the prime minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq) to visit Turkey. He says Massoud Barzani dearly wants to normalize ties with Ankara. Talabani says Turkey should forge some form of dialogue with the Kurds.

So something has to change in Turkey. But how? There is talk that Turkey and Iraqi Kurds will try to mend fences through low level contacts. Secret diplomacy is talked about. But all this is behind closed doors and may well be sabotaged.

Talabani says Turkey has to solve the PKK issue through a new approach. He says neither the Americans nor the Iraqis can defeat the PKK in the mountains. He does not oppose the Turkish incursions but feels they will not get far. So PKK remains an obstacle in relations.

On Kirkuk Talabani feels a referendum is still too far away. He says the Iraqi Kurds and the Arabs are at odds and there are no real preparations to hold the referendum in June. So Kirkuk which is another reason to anger Turkey can be shelved.

Despite all this, the visit of Talabani can be regarded as an over all success simply due to the fact that the visit has taken place and both Turkish and Iraqi officials have decided to deepen and enhance relations in all fields.

Talabani says Iraq has earmarked 25 billion dollars for investments in 2008 and Turkey can get a major share. Iraq also wants to ship its natural gas to Europe via Turkey. This means building pipelines. Iraq wants all forms of cooperation and Turkey is ready for it. Turkey is hoping to open a consulate in Basra which will please the Shiite…

Turkish-Iraqi relations will be on the right track if the PKK problem can be put away…

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