WASHINGTON, — The Obama administration is consulting Congress on an unusual proposal to transfer U.S. Marine Corps attack helicopters to Turkey, U.S. officials said on Thursday, as Ankara tries to exact revenge for a major attack by Kurdish PKK separatists.Wow.
Turkey, a NATO ally, has been seeking AH-1 SuperCobra helicopters to replace those lost in its long struggle against separatist rebels from the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK.
Under the administration's plan, the Marines would get two new, late-model Textron Inc Bell AH-1Z SuperCobras in exchange for the three AH-1W aircraft that would be transferred to Ankara from current inventory, a congressional official said.
The officials declined to be identified because of the matter's sensitivity and because they were not authorized to speak on the record. The idea to take weapons from the U.S. arsenal was rare, they said.
The proposal has been held up amid lawmakers' questions about increasingly distant relations between Muslim-majority Turkey and Israel, a key U.S. ally, among other matters.
The AH-1W has sold previously for about $10 million. Turkey bought 10 of them in the 1990s. The larger, twin-engine AH-IZ may sell for about $30 million, according to industry sources.
Under the U.S. Arms Export Control Act, the executive branch must provide 15 days' formal notice to Congress before going ahead with significant arms transfers to a NATO partner. It was not immediately clear when such notice might take place,www.ekurd.net with informal congressional consultations continuing.
Turkey last week launched air and ground assaults on Kurdish militants in northern Iraq, vowing to exact "great revenge" after 24 Turkish troops were killed on October 19 in one of the deadliest Kurdish attacks in years.
The administration's proposal to transfer the helicopters pre-dates the October 19 attack on Turkish forces near the border with Iraqi Kurdistan region.
The United States and Turkey have a strong tradition of military cooperation, both bilaterally and inside the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Turkey agreed last month to host a powerful U.S.-supplied radar system to act as advanced eyes for a layered shield against ballistic missiles coming from outside Europe.
The AN/TPY-2 surveillance radar in Turkey will boost the shield's capability against Iran, which Washington alleges is seeking to build nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran denies.
Since August 17, Turkish jets repeatedly carried out air strikes against the Kurdish PKK separatist group's bases in Iraqi Kurdistan region, under justification of chasing elements of the anti-Ankara PKK, forcing large numbers of Kurdish citizens of those areas to desert their home villages, including an air raid that killed 7 Kurdish civilians in a village north of Kurdistan’s Sulaimaniyah city on August 21st.
Since it was established in 1984, the PKK has been fighting the Turkish state, which still denies the constitutional existence of Kurds, to establish a Kurdish state in the south east of the country, sparking a conflict that has claimed some 45,000 lives.
But now its aim is the creation an autonomous Kurdish region and more cultural rights for ethnic Kurds who constitute the greatest minority in Turkey, numbering more than 20 million. A large Turkey's Kurdish community openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK rebels.
PKK's demands included releasing PKK detainees, lifting the ban on education in Kurdish, paving the way for an autonomous democrat Kurdish system within Turkey, reducing pressure on the detained PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, stopping military action against the Kurdish party and recomposing the Turkish constitution.
Turkey refuses to recognize its Kurdish population as a distinct minority. It has allowed some cultural rights such as limited broadcasts in the Kurdish language and private Kurdish language courses with the prodding of the European Union, but Kurdish politicians say the measures fall short of their expectations.
The PKK is considered as 'terrorist' organization by Ankara, U.S., the PKK continues to be on the blacklist list in EU despite court ruling which overturned a decision to place the Kurdish rebel group PKK and its political wing on the European Union's terror list.
Copyright ©, respective author or news agency, Reuters | ekurd.net | Agencies
I don't know the politics of the area.
I thought the Kurds were our allies against Sadaam, and it would appear that in Turkey they're being abused.
Europe doesn't consider the PKK a terrorist group.
We do.
I like the idea of a State Dept purchase of two new AH-1Z's for the USMC but the politics of this really need to be sorted out before I jump for joy.
Something about this reeks, and I can't put my finger on it.
I think we should be setting a base up with the kurds. Imho I do jot believe what this administration is doing with turkey is right, the kurds have stood with us twice now and again we are going to let them down after they are finally making great progress.
ReplyDeleteyou're hitting on my gut reaction to all this. i'm gonna have to try to get up to speed on this Turk vs. Kurd issue...but it seems like we just supported all these middle east uprisings when we have one happening on the border and inside turkey that we're ignoring.
ReplyDeleteit can't be explained but the issues can be understood and i'm gonna get after them.
Sol, the issue has been the civil war thats been going on in Turkey on and off for years. Theres a huge kurdish population in north eastern syria, northwestern Iran and southern turkey. This is the major issue in Iraq if the kurds get alot of autonomy and they control major oil regions then the kurds in neighboring countries may want to join a new state (Kurdistan is one commonly used), and then you would see alot of problems. One of the key issues about turkey joining the EU was its suppression of the kurds, like not being able to use their language and such.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkey_%E2%80%93_Kurdistan_Workers%27_Party_conflict