[Ankara] Turkey is putting a brave face on the new U.S.-Iraqi security pact, but is seriously worried that the U.S. withdrawal will make it much more difficult to attack the Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq. The change in the balance of power in Iraq is unsettling for Turkey as it is already wrestling with its Kurdish problem on three fronts. Turkish security forces suffered two attacks in Hakkari and Diyarbakir last month when guerrillas of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) demonstrated far more prowess than they had been credited with. In the Constitutional Court, judges are considering the legality of the sole Kurdish party in parliament, the DTP. And in local elections due in March, the party of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is campaigning to unseat the DTP from the town halls of five provincial capitals. On Nov. 27, Iraq’s parliament approved a pact which provides for Baghdad taking control of Iraqi airspace as of January 1 and for all U.S. forces leaving the country by the end of 2011. The withdrawal could be expedited if president-elect Barrack Obama honors his pledge to pull out by May 2010. Read the full story… [1]