Ankara Links Iraq Force to US Action Over Kurds

The US recently asked India, Pakistan, South Korea, and Turkey to deploy troops in Iraq. India and Pakistan declined, preferring to commit troops only under UN sanction. South Korea is still considering the request. But Turkey will commit only if there is a quid pro quo. Worried about the Kurdish secessionist movement and public approval, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants the US to round up Kurd recessionists in Northern Iraq. Members of the secessionist Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), which Turkey has been battling for years, often cross Turkey's border into Iraq eluding government crackdowns. With Turkey requiring a Kurdish addendum to their troop commitment, the US must weigh economics and politics. Would the benefit of Turkey's financial contribution outweigh co-opting one point of the war in Iraq: national self-determination for the Kurds? – YaleGlobal