TMCnet News
The fire in Iraq and Turkey(Turkish Daily News Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)Milliyet daily's Taha Akyol mentioned two huge fires that threaten to engulf the region and the world. One is the ethnic and religious upheaval in Iraq and the other is the growing threat of the clash of civilizations. The columnist says Turkey is being set seen as the example necessary to eliminate both threats. He describes the clashes in Iraq, gradually moving towards a civil war, as the more immediate threat to world peace. The failure to include the Sunni Iraqis in the defense and security establishments of the country prevented a deal between the Sunnis and the Shiites, Akyol says. He adds that the Sunnis continued their terrorist attacks while Shiites did not want to share their newly won powers with the Sunni minority. Al Qaeda utilized the opportunities provided by the division and as a result pulled the trigger for the civil war by recently attacking a Shiite shrine, the columnist says. Akyol also quotes United Nations representative John Pace, who said: "Armed gangs employed by the Iraqi Interior Ministry, which is dominated by Shiites, are kidnapping hundreds of Sunnis every month and murdering them." He says the solution to these problems is far from easy because Shiites don't want to let go of their hard-won power, while Sunnis can't come to grips with the loss of their dominance in the country. The government is trying to resolve the differences between the sides by meeting all of the parties involved, Akyol says, adding that international pressure to force the sides to work with each other might be a solution. Akyol notes that if the fire in Iraq is not extinguished it may grow to include the entire region. |