Turkish Invasion of Iraq "Less Likely"

From Military.com:

Turkey has shown "great restraint" in dealing with attacks on its soil carried out by Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) militants based in northern Iraq and the risk of a "major invasion" has diminished, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said in Brussels on Nov. 20.

Zebari was in Brussels to meet European Union officials in view of forging a trade and cooperation agreement between his country and the 27-member bloc.

Speaking ahead of a meeting planned for later on Tuesday with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, Zebari said his government was "working closely with Turkey" to find "a reasonable solution" to the crisis.

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Untying Turkey's head-scarf knot

From The Christian Science Monitor:

That strategic ally so vital to NATO; that bridge between Europe and the Middle East; that symbol of a relatively stable, secular democracy in a Muslim nation: Could Turkey now rupture over Islam's role in public life?
On Sunday, at least 700,000 protesters marched in Istanbul, insisting that Turkey maintain its secular laws and demanding the resignation of the government, which is led by the Islamic Justice and Development Party, or AKP.

Sparking the protest is the election of Turkey's president, who is chosen by parliament - which in turn is dominated by the AKP. At first the AKP prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, wanted the job. That met with a backlash from demonstrators and a warning from the military. Last week, the AKP foreign
minister, Abdullah Gul, became the party's official candidate - setting off Sunday's much larger protest and another military warning.

What's objectionable about these men? Their wives wear the head scarf, a sign of Islamic modesty.

The controversy stretches further than a piece of silk fabric, although the covering itself is no small matter. The strictly secularist Constitution forbids wearing a head scarf in a public building. The ban is thanks to the revered founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who also gave women the right to vote and changed the alphabet from Arabic to Roman letters.

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See also:
Time to start talking Turkey (dailynews.com)

ISTANBUL may be a far cry from the Vegas strip, but when it comes to politics, what happens in Turkey does not stay in Turkey.

In fact, this country could have a greater impact on the spread of Islamism and the direction of the war in Iraq than anywhere else.

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