10 March 2008 | Ilnur Cevik

President Talabani is in Ankara. However, his visit is not a state visit but a working visit. This is so simply because he is a Kurd. Turkey has to get rid of this Kurdish phobia if its wants to solve its own Kurdish problem.

Former President Ahmet Necdet Sezer refused to invite President Jalal Talabani to Ankara during his tenure. At the time we said this was because Talabani was a Kurd and some circles in Turkey suffer from a serious Kurdish phobia.

Late last year Abdullah Gul was elected president to replace Sezer and Ankara announced Talabani was welcome to visit Turkey. The official invitation for the visit was extended about two weeks ago and Talabani is now in Turkey.

However, he is not coming here under ideal circumstances. His visit has been marred because Turkish officials could not welcome Talabani with state protocol and had to name the trip a "working visit." If Talabani was a Sunni or a Shiite leader his visit would be labeled "official" and he would have been properly welcomed.

The military rebuffed the visit and did not even want to send its guard of honor to greet Talabani. So no red carpet treatment�

Why is this so? It is because there is still a strong anti-Kurdish lobby in Turkey which shuns any kind of opening with the Kurds.

They do not know that for weeks Talabani is being criticized in the Kurdish media as being too soft on Turkey. They say Talabani has not properly condemned the Turkish land and air incursions into northern Iraq against the PKK targets. Some ven say Talabani's people ion northern Iraq helped Turkish forces. Talabani has asked to visit the mausoleum of Ataturk despite some serious objections from the Kurds.

It seems some people do not understand that this attitude against the Kurds of Iraq also deeply hurts the Kurds of Turkey. It also strengthens claims by some Kurds that they are third class citizens of the Turkish Republic.

Talabani is a statesman and believes even in the most adverse circumstances you have to push forward and create conditions to improve ties between Iraq and Turkey as well as between Iraqi Kurds and Ankara.

Turkey has to get over this Kurdish phobia and face the realities. President Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan understand this necessity but they cannot overcome the obstacles created by certain circles in Turkey.