'Turkey may Move in if Civil War Breaks out in Iraq'- Zaman.com

INTERNATIONAL'
02.27.2006 Monday - ISTANBUL 19:43

'Turkey may Move in if Civil War Breaks out in Iraq'
By Foreign News Desk, Istanbul
Published: Monday, February 27, 2006
zaman.com

As the civil war discussions caused by the Shiite-Sunni tension in Iraq continue, the New York Times (NYT) wrote that Turkey might enter Iraq in an effort to protect Turkmen in the north if civil war breaks out.
A possible civil war in Iraq, wrote the paper, may spread across the region and might end up in the disintegration of Iraq.
In an op-ed written by Steven Weisman, it is said that neighboring countries would side with groups in Iraq, Shiites might be supported by Iran, and Sunni countries like Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Kuwait would feel a need to defend Sunnis or to form buffer zones for themselves along the borders of Iraq.
Turkey might also feel compelled to move in to protect Iraqi Turkmen against the formation of a Kurdish state in the north, the article read, defending that the Shiite population in Lebanon, Kuwait and especially Saudi Arabia could easily revolt.
According to the New York Times, such a regional conflict could take years to end, and could force the redrawing of border.
Not all experts on Iraq think that a break out of civil war would necessarily draw in other nations and included the US former Ambassador to Ankara Morton Abramowitz’s view that “Turks might be tempted to intervene, especially if a Kurdish state were set up in the north.” Turkey would also reportedly not want to alienate members of the European Union and would be cautious in this case.