Promise unfulfilled

It is clear that the American troops won’t really withdraw and that actual dominance will remain in US hands. On the other hand, power should be handed over to the Iraqis. But which Iraqis? In the beginning, it was said that a state structure divided into 30 ‘provinces’ would be formed instead of a federation of three or four federal states based on ethnicity or religious sects. This was needed so as to reassure Turkey and Iran and to show that Iraq’s territorial integrity would be preserved. Plans called for elections via caucuses to form a national parliament. As a matter of fact, this process had already begun in some provinces with a Shiite majority. However, firstly the Kurds and everyone else in Iraq’s Governing Council objected to this model, and the occupiers were completely confused as what to do. The recent news shows that the Coalitional Authority led by Paul Bremer has decided to form a provisional government with less debate on its representative nature than the Governing Council and that the provisional government should run the elections. Washington, which is considering sharing this plan with the United Nations, is now seeking Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s support. In short, the Iraq campaign, which has reached a nadir on security doe to assassinations and attacks, is also now stuck into a swamp politically.

The part of this turmoil that concerns Turkey is that Washington’s promise to eliminate the PKK in the region is not being kept. Saying, ‘Don’t get involved. We can handle this,’ Washington was already delaying it. The excuse is that the US lacked sufficient forces in northern Iraq to conduct such an operation. It is unknown when and how it will provide forces. The truth is that such an attempt carrying the danger of turning into a guerilla war with great losses daunts the United States. Thus, the possibility that the occupying forces will withdraw from the country, leaving the PKK in that turmoil. I hope Turkey, which sees that the military job has again been left to itself, makes the necessary preparations.”