"U.S. says working with Turkey to solve PKK "problem"
Egemen Bagis said the US must appreciate that Turkey was prepared to go into Iraq. VIA
David Morgan says in WPost:
The Pentagon said on Monday it is working with Turkey to resolve a "serious problem" posed by the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party, but declined comment on a media report of secret plans to stop rebel violence........
Bush's Turkish Gamble
The morass in Iraq and deepening difficulties in Afghanistan have not deterred the Bush administration from taking on a dangerous and questionable new secret operation. High-level U.S. officials are working with their Turkish counterparts on a joint military operation to suppress Kurdish guerrillas and capture their leaders. Through covert activity, their goal is to forestall Turkey from invading Iraq.....This is also covered in Telegraph: Turkey set to defy US and hunt Kurdish rebels
CS Monitor argues that Time to heal US-Turkey wounds. A cooperation against PKK will probably have a positive impact on Turkey and US relations. In already miserable level of relations, FM Gül had stated that US military corruption behind weapons in PKK's Hands a while ago. FP Passport blog declared that The Turks' business becomes everyone's business. Though, it seems to forget that Turkey would attempt to take care of her business herself but US doesn't want. And US intervention in the region leads to the increasing power of Kurdish guerillas...
However, this cooperation will probably not work. In tonight's prime time news, it is claimed that the WPost news was a leak by a "deep throat" whose clique is against the cooperation btw Turkey and US agains PKK...
In case of not cooperation, Turkey set to defy US and hunt Kurdish rebels...
Soner Cagaptay in his Wall Street Journal op-ed claims -in addition to some others- that AKP itself is the source of anti-americanism but Mr. Cagaptay's staunch anti-AKPism in many of his recent writings reaches to levels of nonsense, nothing more than showing varieties of resenment...
In the mean time, Turkish army chief says president must be secular and some secularist journalists attempted to portray this as another e-warning but his statement as far as I see does not stir much...
Where next for Turkey?
By Katinka Barysch and Charles GrantSome of Turkey’s critics say that it has no place in the EU because it is not a European country. Others criticise the quality of its democracy. The first group tends to focus on the Islamist philosophy of the ruling AK party, while the second group complains about the role of the armed forces in public life. The dramatic series of events in Turkey over the past four months should go some way towards reassuring both camps.....
In other developments:
CER Where next for Turkey? By Katinka Barysch and Charles Grant
Brookings Interpreting Turkey's Election Soli Ozel
‘Convincing’ Gül to withdraw means intervention in democracy by Prof. Dr. ÖMER ÇAHA
Following the July 22 election, some commentators and analysts underline that the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) should seek consensus in the election of the president and consider the views of the opposition parties on this matter....
What does Europe like about the AK Party?
The European media, which published absurd stories such as “Shariah supporters seized the government in Turkey” after the Nov. 3 elections in 2002, this time around clearly favored democracy -- the AK Party after the military’s intervention in politics on April 27.
Gül and after
There are two opinions in Washington about a military intervention in Turkey. First, one of the former US ambassadors to Ankara, Mark Parris, says, “It is difficult for them to risk such an intervention again.”
Gül doesn’t have the luxury to not be president
Those expecting Gül to renounce his candidacy for the presidency with maturity are either pretending or they are as naïve as a child.
The case for an ideology-free constitution
Debates regarding the need for a civilian constitution accelerated after Zafer Üskül, a professor of constitutional law and newly elected Justice and Development Party (AK Party) deputy, argued last week that a new constitution should be prepared, exclude Kemalist ideology and be a “colorless” one that does not impose any ideology on the country....
Washington Times What's on Turkey's mind? (By Tulin Daloglu)
