Turkish warplanes bombed positions of suspected Kurdish rebels Wednesday, and the prime minister said preparations for parliamentary approval of a military mission against separatist fighters in Iraq were under way. A cross-border operation could hurt Turkey’s relationship with the United States, which opposes Turkish intervention in northern Iraq, a region that has escaped the violence afflicting much of the rest of the country. U.S. officials are already preoccupied with efforts to stabilize areas of Iraq outside the predominantly Kurdish northern region.…The military activity followed attacks by PKK rebels that killed 15 soldiers since Sunday and prompted Turkey’s government to push for a possible cross-border offensive against separatist bases in Iraq. Turkish Kurd rebels have been fighting for autonomy in southeast Turkey since1984 in a conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said preparations for a parliamentary authorization for a cross-border mission were under way, but did not say when the motion would reach the floor. The preparations "have started and are continuing," he said.
The other day, I was looking up "Kurds" because I kept hearing the name and realized that beyond a vague mental image of fermented milk, I knew absolutely nothing about them. What I found was that they are an ethnic group with their own culture that live in an area that covers Eastern Turkey, Northern Iraq, Northern Syria, and Western Iran. They are mostly Moslem, but are more an ethnic group than a religious group. They put the "ethno" in "ethno-sectarian" violence. That’s as far as I got. Today, I read this article. Just for kicks, I looked up a map of where the Kurds live and one of where the oil is. As usual, if it’s in the Middle East …
it’s got something to do with oil…
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