I have no idea what is happening in turkey. Main stream media is trying to change the subject and ignore this issue.
If Turkey is really waiting for something from the US and if US policy seems to be against any action. Soon I predict Turkey will be in turmoil. I have nothing against Turkey, but if I was CIA and my mandate is to follow foreign policy I will just make it basically impossible for Turkey to proceed.
I'm likewise a new poster who has followed the Turkey/PKK conflict for a good number of years and have friends in both Istanbul & Ankara and even addressed University groups on a variety of subjects.
At this stage of the game, Erdogan has had a productive visit with Bush, and the 8 soldiers that had been held captive by the PKK forces have since been returned.........only to be slapped with charges by Ankara for their alleged 'failure to follow orders' which is a rather vague means of holding them for further interrogation. Meanwhile, the rescuers, members of the opposition party, are also being viewed with a great deal of suspicion.
The deal struck with the USA and the Kurd regime currently in power in Northern Iraq is a promise for the USA to deliver intel to the Turks and the Kurd's have promised to aggressively assist in flushing out the PKK forces which have been playing cat & mouse over the border. The tactic is similar to that of the Taliban who do the same thing between Afghanistan and Pakistan. That's yet another potential imbroglio in the works as Bhutto gins up the crowd against Musharraf. But that's drifting into another subject.
The troop count of 100,000 is accurately stated. However, there's a few twists to this entire story which reminds me of Sudetenland, the tipping point for WWII. For those of you who have no clue about this, it's a simple enough story. Sudetenland was engineered to make it appear that enemy forces had attacked a German unit.....in fact, the enemy forces were a ruse, they were themselves Germans. That gave Germany sufficient means to "retaliate" and is how WWII was started.
Skip forward to the present. Erdogan and Gul were, at first, denied the Presidency & Prime Minister positions, in fact, the Turkish military had made veiled threats to keep them out of office. Ultimately, the parliament finally turned the situation over to the public for a vote. Turkey is fiercely loyal to their legendary Ataturk. You dare not say anything against him and he is revered as a near deity.
The Turks do not want an Islamic government, preferring at all costs to remain secular. The suspicion was that Erdogan and Gul would lead the country into Islamic Sharia law and there was a great effort to influence voters against them, huge demonstrations and protests in Ankara and Istanbul. But Erdogan & Gul were swept into office much to the dismay of many upper crust Turks.
There's nothing more important to Turks today than preserving old hatreds toward the PKK, perhaps justifiably. The PKK is regarded as a terrorist fringe of the Kurdish population and has a nasty track record.
But it was only moments after Erdogan & Gul were, albeit reluctantly, into power that the PKK suddenly resurfaced.
I will leave it to your collective imaginations to recognize why Erdogan is now enjoying high approval ratings, including from those who most adamantly opposed him.
That's all, folks.
ff but:
