It might be unintentional, but Turkish soldiers get killed by the PKK nonetheless. From Turkey’s perspective it does not matter much whether the arms are sold intentionally or unintentionally to the Kurdish workers organization. The result is the same: Turks die.

Jeez. I wonder how many Kurds, errr, sorry “mountain Turks” you have spoken to. I have absolutely little to no sympathy for the PKK, but let’s not all pretend the Turks are innocent angels in this particular scenario. They have been ruthlessly brutalizing the Kurds in all sorts of various ways, ya know, little things like destroying entire villages, mass murder, rapes, torture, the fun kind of stuff, for the better part of 80 years.

Perhaps when the Turks actually start behaving in a more civilized manner towards their own citizens, especially the minorities within their borders, then I will actually give a shit about what weapons the PKK have supposedly gotten from America. As it stands, they deserve each other and were made for each other.

This is a major problem which has to be solved. It should also encourage the US to – finally – take the threat the PKK poses to the stability in the region seriously.

The Turks want Kirkuk and Iraqi Kurdistan. They believe that it is a Turkish province that belongs to them. The PKK is a beautifully convenient scapegoat for them to use as a pretext for them to chase the “terrorists” all the way into Northern Iraq. All they’re looking for is the right opportunity. The threat doesn’t really come for the PKK, but from the Turks themselves and their enormous paranoia. Perhaps you should pay more attention to what the nationalists and even some of the Islamists are actually saying.

Thanks for checking up on that. To be honest, I am not quite sure what happened to it either. I did some editing to make it a bit more clear (as per your suggestion) but now it isn’t on the main page. Whatever the case, I may repost it later today if it doesn’t show up. Sorry about the confusion!

What no one will address, when we leave the Iraqis need heavy weapons to defend themselves. Will the US deny the Iraqis armor, artillery and attack helicopters because we can’t trust them to use the weapons against each other and US TROOPS?

Actually, no one who is noticed by the MSM has addressed this, but Robert Dreyfuss, writing in the Washington Monthly discusses exactly why we should not arm them:

Although battle lines are hardening and militias on both sides are becoming self-sustaining, the civil war is limited by physical constraints. Neither the Sunnis nor the Shiites have much in the way of armor or heavy weapons — tanks, major artillery, helicopters, and the like. Without heavy weaponry, neither side can take the war deep into the other’s territory… Shiites may have numbers on their side. But because the Sunnis have most of Iraq’s former army officers, and their resistance militia boasts thousands of highly trained soldiers, they’re unlikely to be overrun by the Shiite majority. Equally, the minority Sunnis won’t be able to seize Shiite parts of Baghdad or major Shiite cities in the south. Presuming neither side gets its hands on heavy weapons, once you take U.S. forces out of the equation the Sunnis and Shiites would ultimately reach an impasse.
neither Shiite Iran nor the Sunni Arab countries would likely risk a regional conflagration by providing their Iraqi proxies with the heavy weapons that would enable them to wage offensive operations in each other’s heartland… The only power that could qualitatively worsen Iraq’s sectarian civil war is the United States. Washington continues to arm and train the Shiites, although so far it has resisted Maliki’s pleas to provide Iraq’s Shiite-led army and police with heavy weapons, armor, and an air force.

Regards, Cernig

Regards,
Jeb