CIAO DATE: 09/2008
October 2007
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
On October 21, Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) operatives carried out an attack from northern Iraq into Turkey, killing twelve Turkish soldiers. This incident followed the killing of more than thirty people in recent weeks, including an incident in which the PKK pulled a dozen civilians off a public bus and shot them. The Turkish public has responded to the attacks by calling for incursion into northern Iraq to eliminate PKK camps there.
Exacerbating these developments is the October 10 House Foreign Affairs Committee vote in favor of the Armenian Genocide Resolution (AGR), which recognizes the deportation of Ottoman Armenians during World War I as genocide. Regardless of its intent, the AGR could hold a number of negative consequences for U.S.-Turkish relations. In addition to diplomatic tensions, the committee's action may jeopardize U.S. efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, increase the likelihood of a Turkish incursion into northern Iraq, and increase the prospects of Turkish-Iranian rapprochement.
Resource link: PolicyWatch #1293: The PKK and the Armenian Genocide Resolution: U.S.-Turkish Relations at a Critical Juncture [PDF] - 13K