Nine months ago, it seemed impossible that the complicated and seemingly intractable quagmire in Iraq could get any worse. The United States was dealing with resilient Sunni insurgents, an often intransigent Shi'-ite dominated government and dangerous meddling from neighboring Iran. The Kurdish north, however, was relatively stable and successful. Today, even that area has become a worrisome trouble spot, as the U.S. enters into even more turbulent geopolitical waters that could possibly lead to conflict with Turkey, a nation that we have long considered one of our few solid allies in a hostile and politically volatile region.

The situation began with the activities of the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK), a militant Kurdish extremist group that has long terrorized Turkish institutions. The PKK claims a right to set up a Kurdish nation in the majority Kurdish eastern portion of Turkey. The PKK: mostly has found refuge in the semi-autonomous region of northern Iraq where the Kurds hold power, and has begun to use their new home base to attack the Turks from across the border, resulting in several ambushes in which many Turkish soldiers have been killed. The Turks, in response to these attacks, have punitively raided villages with a strong PKK presence near their border and have begun preparations to stage raids against the PKK in Iraq as well. The most recent of these steps towards large incursions is a bill passed by the Turkish parliament giving the military the go-ahead for such operations.

The government of Turkey has responded to this development through diplomacy, also most prominently by asking the U.S. to prompt the Iraqi government to rein in these militants. These more diplomatic and peaceful measures have paid off in some respects. The government of the northern region of Iraq recently raided the party offices of the PKK and has adopted a policy that condemns their activity. But, the Turks have found these small efforts unsatisfactory, citing the fact that many of these government officials are paying lip service to the central government's decrees and are making superfluous displays of combating these militants, while they secretly support them and their actions against Turkey. Recently, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey made a last appeal to the U.S. , saying that Turkey expects terrorists to be taken care of and that he has high expectations for the job the U.S. will do in going about this task.

With public outcry over the PKK running high in Turkey, these words can be seen as nothing less than an ultimatum to the U.S. The Bush administration is being asked to use their troops, or any troops for that matter, to control the PKK or to be ready for a Turkish invasion of the northern region. This ultimatum is somewhat untenable for the U.S. because it is undeniable that the American military in Iraq does not have enough spare troops to send to the northern region. The chances of increasing American pressure on the Iraqi government can also be seen as futile since Kurdistan is essentially an autonomous political entity. Indeed, the country was able to decide its own affairs even under the Saddam Hussein regime.

Thus, only two possible responses to this potentially catastrophic Turkish ultimatum remain. One is to use diplomatic pressure to get the Turkish government to quiet down, and the other is to acquiesce to, and possibly help coordinate, a Turkish invasion of the northern territory so that it would be as painless as possible for Iraq and the non-extremist Kurdish citizens of that region.

The first solution, though the one that would possibly prevent violence, is clearly inferior. The U.S. must secure goodwill in Turkey because we need Turkey's help in other unstable parts of the region, particularly Iran. We also need to retain the use of Turkish supply routes to our forces in Iraq. The prevention of any serious action against the PKK could only cause greater Turkish public outcry against the U.S. and would perhaps cause the Turkish government to turn its back on the U.S., entirely. Also, it would be hypocritical for a government like the U.S. to tell another country not to use well- deserved force against a terrorist element that threatens its populace. And finally the fact remains that even this diplomatic pressure by the U.S. might not match up to the extreme domestic pressure that the Turkish government feels to invade. American opposition could result in the Turkish government invading Iraq against the will of the U.S., possibly sparking armed clashes with an ally.

Therefore the only logical and correct decision for the Bush administration to take is to help coordinate Turkish action against the PKK that would be effective but involve only a limited amount of force. Only in this way could the U.S.save Iraq from this external threat. By resolving this looming crisis in a relatively clean manner, we can at least free the Iraqi central government to deal with the extremely complicated situation already present in the rest of the country. If we fail to act intelligently, an international, inter-ethnic conflagration will further roil a country that has already seen more loss and tragedy than any nation deserves.