ATAA President's Letter to the Washington Post

July 31, 2007

To the editor of  The Washington Post (letters@washpost.com)
Re:“Bush’s Turkish Gamble” (Op-Ed July 30, 2007.  Page A15)
[Word Count:  218]

Robert Novak dances around a critical distinction, that which separates terrorists from ordinary law-abiding civilians.  Those whom Novak calls Kurdish guerillas, and the presumed targets of the allegedly approaching “secret operation,” are in fact hard-core terrorists, warlord chieftains of the PKK (lately calling itself Kongra Gel), a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization.  This designation, pursuant to section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, is neither, new, nor secret, nor controversial. The State Department calculates that the PKK has the blood of 30,000 victims on its hands, the majority of them innocent Kurds.     

One marvels at Novak’s newfound squeamishness toward the eradication of terrorists, especially those that target a NATO ally that has made itself the chief supply and logistics conduit for U.S. operations in Iraq.  Terrorists ought to have no haven. Permitting our handy friends in Northern Iraq to abide a terrorist presence in their midst should not be a condition of their continued cooperation.  The stunned and surprised lawmakers about whom Novak reports already know that Iraq has been an object lesson in the law of unintended consequences. Getting rid of the PKK in northern Iraq is a risk surely worth taking to secure a peaceful future in Iraq, and more importantly Turkey’s continued strategic partnership.

Nurten Ural
ATAA President