Crimea Vote provokes fear of Domino Effect in Eurasia: Turkish FM

[unhappycamper]

http://www.juancole.com/2014/03/provokes-eurasia-turkish.html

Crimea Vote provokes fear of Domino Effect in Eurasia: Turkish FM
By Juan Cole | Mar. 17, 2014

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Sunday warned that Crimea’s referendum on seceding from Ukraine pose the threat of a “domino effect” in Eurasia.

Will Russia’s rush to referendum and the outcome affect other populations who want to secede, throughout the world? Will it destabilize the current world order?

Davutoglu likely had the Kurdish issue in mind. The some 2 million Kurds in northeast Syria have de facto seceded from Syria, and have fought off both regime troops and the guerrillas of the extremist Sunni Arab al-Qaeda affiliates. Their de facto secession has disturbed Turkey, which has a big Kurdish population of its own in the southeast, and which has fought Kurdish separatist guerrillas of the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) for decades.

The Kurds in northern Iraq likewise have a semi-autonomous statelet; Turkey now has good relations with that enclave, but there have been tension in the past, and Turkey certainly doesn’t want the Iraq model of ethnic conflict and separatism to spread to Turkey.

[lamp_shade]

1. Perhaps Texas is getting in line?

[newfie11]

2. Lol