Middle East expert Rubin: Barzani and peshmerge fingerprints on PKK attack in Turkey

Hürriyet
http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/english/7697790.asp?gid=74&sz=47906


Middle East expert Michael Rubin of Washington, DC conservative think-tank, the American Enterprise Institute, has said that if it came down to the US choosing between "Ankara" and "Erbil," that Washington would choose Ankara as an ally.

Rubin criticized the Bush administration for its stance up until now on the PKK terror group, noting "....Since we have had all this intelligence, why weren't we sharing it with our NATO ally Turkey?" Rubin did add after that comment that he didn't believe Washington had much in the way of military intelligence regarding the northern Iraqi region.

Asked by reporters what he thought about why northern Iraqi leader Massoud Barzani had not taken action against PKK forces sheltered in northern Iraq, Rubin replied:
"I think Barzani is playing the Yassar Arafat card. He is both speaking with diplomats and ignoring terror. In the attack which took place on October 21 in Turkey, we see a very different tactical strategy being used by the PKK. The tactics in this attack appear to resemble some of the tactics being taught to the peshmerge in northern Iraq by US forces. Thus this big question emerges here: are the peshmerge playing a role in these PKK attacks? I think that there are definitely some ties here. Barzani ignored these attacks. And something must be done on this matter."


15 Kasım 2007