Ankara should understand that military operation in Iraq "will even more destabilize the region"

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkey's intention of to conduct a counter-terror operation in Iraq stirs anxiety, First Deputy Chair of the Russian State Duma Committee for Foreign Affairs Leonid Slutsky said.



According to Slutsky, political and military leadership in Ankara should understand that a military operation in northern Iraq "will even more destabilize the region."



Turkey is playing an important role in southern Europe and, as Slutsky believes, if it resorts to exacerbating the conflict, it will face a dilemma: it can either stop assisting the U.S. military operation in Iraq or freeze all political contacts with United States. Moreover, Slutsky reminded, the Turkey-U.S. relations were spoiled by the decision of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee to recognize the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire.



"Starting from March 2003, when Iraq was struck by the U.S. and UK Armed Forces and their allies, the situation in Iraq and around it has been developing under the worst scenario. Ideas have been heard recently to divide Iraq into three parts, and, probably, it is the final goal of the operation in Iraq. There are no convincing proofs that Iraq was producing, storing or, moreover, using prohibited weapons," Slutsky emphasized, IA Regnum reports.



On October 17, the Turkish parliament approved the government's bill on a 1-year cross-border operation in northern Iraq.