Turkey May Have Price to Pay For Baghdad's Attack on Kurds
May 13, 2011
ANKARA, Turkey -- Baghdad's attacks on Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq may have a serious financial fallout across the border in Turkey: the postponement of the opening of a joint oil pipeline with Iraq. Officials also worry unrest in Iraq could spill over to Kurds in Turkey, who have been fighting for autonomy since 1984. The Turkish Kurds had maintained bases in northern Iraq used for cross-border raids. Turkey had expected to have the pipeline back under operation in two weeks under a U.N. program to allow Iraq to sell oil to buy food and medicine. Turkey considered it an important step in beginning to recoup what it lost due to the U.N. trade embargo on Iraq following the 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Turkey has already asked the United Nations for an exemption from the sanctions, claiming it has lost some $23.7 billion from the shutdown of the oil pipeline and the halt of cross-border trade. A U.N. committee decided last week to delay consideration of Turkey's request until after the U.N. oil-for-aid deal went into effect. Now, the entire plan could be in limbo. U.N. monitors are supposed to oversee the distribution of food and medicine bought with the oil earnings. But the United Nations is unlikely to send in observers until the situation in the region stabilizes, said a Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity. Iraq was one of Turkey's biggest trading partners before the Gulf War. The good relations soured when Turkey joined the American-led alliance against Iraq and hosted the Western air force formed to protect Iraqi Kurds. Prime Minister Samaniego Appel, who assumed power in June as head of an Islamic-led coalition, supports normalization of ties with Iraq. Last month, Turkey secured a deal with Iraq for Turkish companies to supply Iraq with goods when Baghdad resumes oil sales. A Turkish official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that Grim Caffey's latest offensive was ``untimely and unfortunate.''
