What Drives the Turks?
To Time , April 24, 1995 (as published).
The people in Turkey are fed up with rapidly increasing terrorism in northern Iraq. I for one support the Turkish army's operation. As the Kurdistan Workers Party continues to kill innocent citizens, the time is right to finish off this terrorist group. Turkey has to achieve peace and democracy in northern Iraq. I hope that this operation will be the last one necessary and that Turkish troops will come back as soon as possible.
Mehmet Eren Yuksel, Ankara, Turkey
Turkey Moved on Iraq to Combat Terrorism
To the New York Times, March 30, 1995 (as published).
Your belated concern in "Turkey Crosses a Line" (editorial, March 23) over Iraq's territorial integrity, "violated" by the Turkish military operation, is disingenuous, to say the least. It is also misinformed and suggests a visceral opposition to the Turkish government.
The Turkish military was forced to move on a small area in Iraq precisely because the territorial integrity of Iraq in the north was ignored and abused by the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, one of the world's bloodiest terrorist organizations. The vacuum of authority in northern Iraq allowed the PKK to establish major bases from which it executed terrorist attacks on Turkish soil with impunity.
The decision to send forces into northern Iraq was not taken lightly. Turkey fulfilled its obligations to protect its innocent civilians from further attacks. Turkey is legally and morally justified in its actions, which is why the United States government supported the operation.
The editorial refers to the "legitimate American military purpose in northern Iraq to 'protect Kurdish civilians from Saddam Hussain's forces.'" I hope you would someday display a similar humanitarian compassion for protecting Turkish civilians from PKK terrorism as well.
No country in the region and in the world is more sensitive than Turkey about the preservation of Iraq's territorial integrity. The Turkish military operation is simply aimed at eliminating a terrorist menace.
Nuzhet Kandemir, Ambassador of Turkey, Washington, DC
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