Critical codes of the ?ncirlik deal

The details of the ??ncirlik agreement? signed between Turkey and the United States are taking shape by the day.

The U.S. presidential envoy to the anti-ISIL coalition and the deputy assistant secretary of state, Brett McGurk, who I had a tête-à-tête with last Saturday, gave critical messages about the agreement which I shared in this column. McGurk is one of the two American officials who has carried out the anti-ISIL negotiations between the two countries.

Let?s keep on decoding his messages and the details of the ?ncirlik deal.

McGurk avoided answering a question of mine which I asked insistently: Had Turkey informed the U.S. government in advance of its airstrikes against PKK targets in northern Iraq?

I was able to receive the answer from a high-level Turkish official in Ankara. According to him, Ankara did not share this information with Washington in advance and informed the U.S. government in the aftermath of the air attacks just as it did with other countries and international organizations such as NATO and the United Nations.

The chronology which McGurk shared is critical. The American official said the negotiations between Turkey and the U.S. about opening up ?ncirlik airbase had been going on for nine months and that they concluded the talks on July 7 and 8. However, he added, the PKK began its attacks in Turkey afterwards. In line with his statement, the PKK announced the termination of the cease-fire on July 11.

This sequencing is critical due to two reasons. First of all, it falsifies the argument that Turkey started its anti-ISIL operation as a cover for its PKK attacks. Apparently Ankara agreed on the ?ncirlik deal before the PKK attacks started.

Second, this date reveals that Turkey...