EU warns Turkey not to send troops to Iraq..

[James_F]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2881939.stm

OK so will Turkey turn east or west?

[gcutler]

Turkey really wants to be a member of the EU but is having a hard time being voted in, their decision here will announce wheither they have given up on attempting membership.

[James_F]

Well the Military never really cares about what the politicians think. It is going too be a really tough decision...

[RichW]

Turkey also fears the establishment of a Kurdish Nation after the fall of Iraq. One has to remember that Iraq is largely a "fabricated country" whose borders were determined by European powers and not those of the indigenous people. Several times throughout the 20th centrury, the had been promised a homeland. I suspect that they look forward to one now.

[James_F]

Why just because we gave the Israelis one? ;)

[RichW]

Seriously, yes... and because the former USSR got carved up into individual countries as well. And then there is Eastern Europe and the former Jugoslavia.

It is not unlikely that we will see three separate countries try to emerge from Iraq: a Kurdish state, a Shi-ite Moslem state, and a smaller Iraqi state. This was actually the fear of George the Elder which was one of the reasons we never "finished" the Gulf War. It would be the Balkan problem all over again.

[James_F]

But at some point cutting countries up doesn't help anyone. The Kurdish state might get some oil, but I doubt any neighboring country would let the ship it.