RE: http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,156137,00.html

So, why not give the Kurds autonomy? Is compromise too much to ask? Turkey has vast regions of unpopulated territory. Use it to strike a deal!

Kurds have been pushing for autonomy since the end of WWI. Roughly the southern third of Turkey is densely Kurdish populated and the top 1/3 of Iraq is densely Kurdish populated as is a slice of eastern syria and western iran (or is it the other way around? )

It's a land thing. Nobody wants to give up what they have and what is politically recognized. However, Eastern Europe underwent a sort of rezoning after the Soviet Union broke up.

Establishing an autonomous Kurdistan could happen; but, unfortunately, for now, the Kurds are quite literally in between a rock and a hard place (Turkey and Arabs). Both ethnicities have extemely racist social policies against Kurds. The attitudes have to change before the boundaries can. And, change is not something the mid-east is, generally, open to.

Meet the Turk!

Gunsmomke6, Nam 65-66, Garry Owen, Sir

"There once was a country called 'Kurdistan' "

What a great place for a U.S. forward base !

The Kurds are going to have to take the land,
nobody's going to give it to them ever!!

I agree with you, what I don't understand is where are all the people screaming for the Kurds to have their own homwland like we see with the Palastinian people.

quote:

Originally posted by GroovyLady:
Kurds have been pushing for autonomy since the end of WWI. Roughly the southern third of Turkey is densely Kurdish populated and the top 1/3 of Iraq is densely Kurdish populated as is a slice of eastern syria and western iran (or is it the other way around? )

It's a land thing. Nobody wants to give up what they have and what is politically recognized. However, Eastern Europe underwent a sort of rezoning after the Soviet Union broke up.

Establishing an autonomous Kurdistan could happen; but, unfortunately, for now, the Kurds are quite literally in between a rock and a hard place (Turkey and Arabs). Both ethnicities have extemely racist social policies against Kurds. The attitudes have to change before the boundaries can. And, change is not something the mid-east is, generally, open to.

The PKK are commies anyway. We should let the Turks smoke them out, they'll be a future problem anyway.

I agree with this new "Surge" thingy. They should have more of these surges.

But all jokes aside, it's a he said, she said garbage fight...

quote:

Originally posted by snyper42:
"There once was a country called 'Kurdistan' "

What a great place for a U.S. forward base !

I thought that one started "There once was a man from Kurdistan..."

Hmmm, they are hitting near Zahku(o). Habr Gate used to be a big entry point for truck traffic going into Iraq. I'll bet the proximity of the strikes is making DoD a little edgy.

just wait till those helos meet the MANPAD!!
just waiting for the news and hope it comes soon. The turks are just a bunch of stinkin racists anyway. The PKK says :bring it on" cuz they know Turk soldiers will die 10:1 over PKK members.

quote:

Originally posted by L0A1:
I agree with you, what I don't understand is where are all the people screaming for the Kurds to have their own homwland like we see with the Palastinian people.

Generally speaking, the people clamoring for a Palestinian homeland are Arabs. Historically, Arabs do not care for Palestinians. The Palestinians have always been ugly red-headed step children. The Kurds have been treated the same way by the Arabs. The difference is, the land that would be used to create a Palestinian homeland is occupied by jews while the land that would be used to create a Kurdish homeland is occupied by moslems. The Palestinians are just and excuse to beat up on Israel.

I agree with you taxmanJim.

In the "game" of getting rid of the Jews from the region known as Israel or "Greater Palestine" (as it's referred to in most Arab text books) the Kurdish plight is worthless to pan-Arabic nationalism.

The Palestinian "chess piece" is much more valuable.

Hey, who's kidding who, the Turks want the oil fields just like our oil companies, and political families in the Oil Business. Therefore, I'm in favor of bombing Turkey back to the stone age! How dare they compete with us for the Oil Fields? Loosers!

I'm still hung up on the other day, i.e., the only way to wipe our debt out to China is to bomb them too! If you can't pay off your debt, destroy them! Hell, I love the middle east logic, lets just bomb everyone! NOOOOO WAIT, that's our logic. Damn this whole thing of LOGIC is soooo confusing, maybe we should ask Hillary.

We'll tell our grand children, the gen made us dooo it. For those who don't know, the Gen is a evil spirit that lives in the ground that causes people to do bad things, according to the Koran! In my own 'case' it was the "GIN" that made me do it, namely a clear liquid of 40% alcohol.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: DanDaily,

yea turks have a long history of oppressing the kurds....

I've had an opionion on this topic for years now. I think we should wash our hands of Iraq, and simply let Turkey annex it. Iraq is going to need a very brutal hand to manage it. Saddam proved that. And being Turkey is an ally, who better. Especially because I think they'd be more then happy to take it, take care of the terrorists there, and manage the newly aquired territories oil. They wouldn't have qualms using that oil to pay for their war. "Bush was going to do the same thing before the invasion". But, I guess its not politically correct. He may be guilty about taking us there to revenge his Pa.. If he wanted to get rid of terrorists he'd of invaded Afgan. and Packastan.

quote:

Originally posted by 5862695:
I've had an opionion on this topic for years now. I think we should wash our hands of Iraq, and simply let Turkey annex it. Iraq is going to need a very brutal hand to manage it. Saddam proved that. And being Turkey is an ally, who better. Especially because I think they'd be more then happy to take it, take care of the terrorists there, and manage the newly aquired territories oil. They wouldn't have qualms using that oil to pay for their war. "Bush was going to do the same thing before the invasion". But, I guess its not politically correct. He may be guilty about taking us there to revenge his Pa.. If he wanted to get rid of terrorists he'd of invaded Afgan. and Packastan.

We can't use Iraqi oil to pay for the war because we "liberated" Iraq instead of "conquering" it. Oddly, the newly liberated Iraqis don't want us to take their oil money.

quote:

Originally posted by TaxmanJim:

We can't use Iraqi oil to pay for the war because we "liberated" Iraq instead of "conquering" it. Oddly, the newly liberated Iraqis don't want us to take their oil money.

bet the iraqis are gonna be soooo impressed with the long term contracts signed on their behalf by the reconstruction authority. any bets on how long it takes the iraqi gov't to start reneging on them once they get the usa out.