US reaction muted on Turkish 'incursion'

With Turkish officials now denying an 'incursion' in the North, one thing is still on my mind: what part does the U.S. play in the incursion matter? We know, for example, that Turkish-U.S. relations have been frosty in the past and that Turkey has sometimes used its airspace for U.S. carrots. Is this a break from the U.S. and is Turkey starting to go it on its own?

First of all, I'm not sure 'incursion' is the right word for this ordeal on Iraq's northern border but it does appear that some cross-border pursuit has been at the heart of the matter. In any case, the military build-up of Turkish forces on the border is not 'news' per se. Any observer of regional reports will have noticed these types of movements since at least the Iraq invasion in 2003. When the U.S. moved into Iraq, Turkey responded likewise by bolstering its border presence as a reaction to Kurds and the PKK crossing the border. So, the current U.S. surge would be met with a similar response since Turkey's fears remain the same.

One Turkish international relations expert, Prof. Melih Can (Today Zaman) is of the opinion that Turkey wishes to assert itself more in the region -- going even so far as calling this move a "heightened regime/system" (Turkey is coming into an election soon) and debates about "Turkey's new role within the Middle East, and within this parameter, a new state formation and doctrine," are coming to the fore. Essentially this indicates to me that Turkey is trying to break from the U.S. and there is much debate in Turkey about doing this.

In other words, Turkey is taking its own course towards Iraq as the U.S. struggles on. With this, The New York Times seems to suggest surprise at Turkey's move into the north:

"Iraqi and American officials got a jolt late in the day when reports emerged suggesting that Turkish forces had begun a long-threatened incursion into northern Iraq to hunt Kurdish guerrillas who stage attacks inside Turkey." (my emphasis)

"The U.S. supports Turkey's fight against PKK. Every country holds the right to protect its citizens from terror. We ever so often talk to Iraqi officials to prevent attacks to Turkey and to avoid northern Iraq from becoming a terror base."

If its about the war on terror, any action is defensible. U.S. and Turkey have worked closely together in the past but some change seems to be on the horizon. There might even be some new policy dictates coming out of Turkey to change tack with the U.S. In any case, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan continues to deny any 'incursion' and makes it clear that such a move would require parliamentary approval.

The fact of the matter is there were movements from Turkey into Iraq – the size of which might just be a precursor for bigger change towards Iraq from Turkey. It appears to me that Turkey might be taking its own course and the U.S. continuing to struggle in Iraq with the 'surge' musters up a baffled reaction. Add to this the current powerlessness of the U.S. that has descended on the region with this statement:

"Sometimes I think that in the U.S. we're looking at Iraq right now as though it were the last half of a three-reel movie. For Iraqis, it's a five-reel movie and they're still in the first half of it. I don't see an end game, as it were, in sight," -- U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker