LA Daily News - When it comes to invading Iraq, what would Ataturk do? - by Bridget Johnson
When it comes to invading Iraq, what would Ataturk do? - by Bridget Johnson
"I am not ordering you to attack; I am ordering you to die," Mustafa Kemal Ataturk is quoted as telling his troops in the 1915 battle of Gallipoli, in which British and French forces were prevented from taking Istanbul with heavy casualties. So seems the motto of Kurdish terrorists who keep ambushing Turkish soldiers on the Iraqi border, racking up a Turkish body count of 42 in the last month as well as kidnapping eight soldiers. The Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, has embraced a death wish. Tanks have massed along the Iraqi border, just waiting for the word go. On Oct. 17, the Turkish parliament voted 507-19 in favor of going into Iraq to rout the PKK. And just days ago, Gen. Yasar Buyukanit said, "We are determined to make those who cause this sadness grieve with an intensity that they cannot imagine. "You'd better believe the Turks. While in Baghdad and Washington, everyone is freaking out.
Note EU-Digest: Staunch opponents of terrorism like the US can't be hypocrites and the EU should not play the "Holy Saint". The Turks should be able to defend their country as anyone would. Go for it, Turkey. Its time to show the world that the legacy of Ataturk and secularism is alive and well in Turkey
Labels: Iraq, Kurdish PKK terrorists, Turkey
