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Iraq
Turkey Says U.S. Will Make Iraqi Kurds Quit Oil City
2003-04-10
Turkey expressed alarm over the seizure of the northern Iraqi oil city of Kirkuk by Kurdish peshmerga fighters on Thursday, but said Washington had promised to order them out within hours. The Kurdish takeover created the risk of a confrontation with Turkish troops that could disrupt U.S. operations. But Ankara has said it is ready to risk U.S. fury by sending in its troops if it feels U.S.-backed Kurds might use the oil center's wealth to seek an independent state, rousing Turkey's own Kurds.
That's not something we want to see. But it's not something Turkey wants to do, either. Not at all...
The Iraqi Kurds, trying to calm Turkish fears, deny they plan to use the confusion of postwar Iraq to try to carve out a state based on the northern oilfields and said they want a federal Iraq within existing borders.
Post-war Iraq is going to have a federal-type government, and the Kurds are going to get their due. I think the U.S. has pretty much decided to look out for them, since they've been the faction that's been allied with us from the start. They might leave Kirkuk today, but next year they'll be back, and Turkey can go whistle.
Posted by:Anonymous

#3  Dear Turkey,

We lost interest in your opinions when you decided to haggle for more money in order to allow us to remove the regional problem on your border. You've seen what the American military can do, don't push us into carving Kurdistan out of SouthEast Turkey.
Posted by: Anonymous   2003-04-10 14:26:10  

#2  Dear Turkeys:
(Sorry, Murat, don't mean any personal insult, I'm referring to your government.)
Your standing to complain about anything the Kurds do south of the dotted line marking the Turkey-Iraq border expired when you voted not to let the 4th ID use Turkey as a staging area. Actions have consequences, you know.
Love,
Uncle Sam
P.S. -- About that aid package . . . maybe Mr. Chiraq can help you out. After all, you scratched his back, so he's obligated to scratch yours.
Posted by: Mike   2003-04-10 11:44:28  

#1  These Kurds have some nerve trying to prosper. What!!!! they have electricity, piped water and a free media. What next, education for all children. Turks won't be satisfied until the Kurds are sent back to the 9th century.
Posted by: rg117   2003-04-10 09:48:57  

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