TURKEY:THE VISIT of a senior US official to Turkey yesterday underlined growing tensions between Ankara and Washington over the duration and political underpinning of Turkey's week-long incursion into northern Iraq.
With the death toll since the February 21st start of Turkey's attack on separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants creeping towards 300, US defence secretary Robert Gates reiterated calls for operations to last no longer than "a week or two".
"A short time is a relative term," Turkish army chief Yasar Buyukanit riposted. "Sometimes this can mean a day and sometimes one year." Most analysts assume his brusque words were for domestic consumption, and expect the incursion to last another 10 days at most.
What could cause real friction between the two troubled allies, though, is their very different interpretation of the political measures backing up military action. Economic programmes and political outreach are "the only way to isolate terrorists . . . and provide a long-term solution to the problem", Mr Gates said yesterday, reiterating Washington's position since it began giving Turkey high-level intelligence support against the PKK last November.
With the US hard-pressed to balance alliances with Turks and Iraqi Kurds, Turkey's decision last week to invite Iraqi president Jalal Talabani to Ankara in March is an important step. Turkey has snubbed Mr Talabani since he came to power two years ago, largely because he is ethnically Kurdish. But it is far from clear whether the Turks have anything else up their sleeves.
Asked on Tuesday about the "comprehensive package" US officials have been demanding, foreign minister Ali Babacan said that "all aspects are already in action". Another senior government official was blunter, saying "there is no package now and no preparations being made to announce" one.
The fact is, analysts say, that Turkey's Islamic-rooted government's attitude towards the Kurdish issue has changed radically since it won more than 50 per cent of Kurdish votes in last summer's general elections.
AKP's victory marked the first time in two decades that Kurdish nationalist parties failed to win majorities in Kurdish areas.
In 2005, prime minister Tayyip Erdogan broke a taboo when he said the solution to the Kurdish problem lay in "more democracy and . . . prosperity". Kurds hoping for more cultural rights were soon disenchanted.
AKP's aim now, analysts say, is to win impoverished Kurds over via an efficient system of charities and donations, and few expect major political moves until local elections next year.
"The government has ambitions to sweep the board in the southeast so that it can then say 'we represent Kurdish demands'," argues Cengiz Candar, a prominent commentator. "It may well win. But the rest is fantasy. The Kurdish problem is an ethnic problem. Unless you accept it as such, it's not going to go away."