As the Turkish government shows interest in the territory of northern Iraq, it is worth noting that this fits a pattern. Here is a snippet from what I wrote in "Hot Spot: Turkey, Iraq, and Mosul." Middle East Quarterly, September 1995, pp. 65-68:
Unnoticed by the international media, a brief controversy flared up in the Middle East during early May 1995, when Turkey's President Süleyman Demirel gave several interviews with Turkish journalists in which he called for a change in Turkey's borders with Iraq. While the controversy quickly disappeared, it raised an issue that could return...
And so, the incident apparently came to an end, at least temporarily. But nothing was actually resolved and the Mosul issue could flare up into a crisis, especially if the Iraqi government continues to weaken. (March 31, 2003)
