ANKARA, September
14, -- The decision by Kurdistan region president of
Iraq to ban the the Iraqi national flag and hoist
their own has increased disquiet in Turkey about the
prospect of a de facto Kurdish statelet on its
doorstep, diplomats and analysts here say.
With a large Kurdish population and a violent
separatist movement on its own territory, Ankara is
leery about any moves towards independence across
the border that might encourage Kurdish nationalists
at home.
"It is obvious that this incident constitutes a new
step towards Kurdish independence," said Sedat
Laciner, a specialist on the region at the Institute
for Strategic Studies in Ankara, of the flag ruling.
"Even if they have stepped back from their original
position, by provoking the controversy they have
succeeded in focusing world attention on their
emblem and their independence struggle," he said. |
 
Massoud Barzani, President of Kurdistan
Region in Iraq. The Kurdistan flag flown officially
in Iraqi Kurdistan, All Iraqi national flags used by
former Iraqi regime were dropped in Kurdistan region
from 1.Sep.2006 |
|
Reaction in Ankara has nonetheless been muted since
the president of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region,
Massoud Barzani, ordered earlier this month that all
offices and government institutions "hoist the flag
of Iraqi Kurdistan", though the decree touched off a
firestorm of controversy in Iraq itself.
"It is first and foremost the Iraqis that should be
worrying about this turn of events," was all that
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul would say in a
comment broadcast on television.
A Turkish diplomat who asked not to be identified
expanded on the minister's statement: "The Iraqis
must understand how dangerous it is for the unity of
their country to play with the national emblem."
Kurds in northern Iraq, recently unified under a
single leadership, already enjoy quasi-independence
under the protective umbrella of the United States,
much to the chagrin of Ankara, Laciner said.
Making a point of flying Kurdistan's red, white and
green banner emblazoned with a golden sun motif, he
added, is simply another part of their separatist
campaign.
In Laciner's view, Iraqi Kurds will never openly
declare independence for fear of provoking strong
reactions from the governments of neighboring
countries -- Turkey, Iran and Syria -- who worry
that such a step could stir unrest among their own
Kurdish minorities.
The Kurdish conflict in Turkey has claimed more than
37,000 lives since 1984 when the Kurdistan Workers'
Party or PKK, blacklisted as a terrorist group by
Ankara and much of the international community, took
up arms to fight for self-rule in the
majority-Kurdish southeast.
Despite its misgivings, Ankara opened up its borders
in 1991 to hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Kurds
fleeing Saddam Hussein's pogrom following the first
Gulf War.
Until the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, Turkey
had always considered northern Iraq to be part of
its backyard. Baghdad's grip on the region was
tenuous.
Turkish forces frequently carried out cross-border
raids against members of the Kurdistan Workers'
Party fleeing from Turkey into Iraq.
Recently, Ankara has seemed even more preoccupied by
Iraqi Kurds' alleged ambition to incorporate the
strategic oil city of Kirkuk within their autonomous
zone, fearing it could become the capital of an
oil-rich independent Kurdistan.
"We have to be very careful about what is happening
there," said the chief-of-staff of Turkey's army,
General Ilker Basbug.
Speaking to journalists in Ankara, the general
underlined what he described as Kurdish designs on
Kirkuk, and repeated Ankara's position that the
defense of the city's ethnic Turk minority was a
non-negotiable issue.
Ultra-nationalists in Turkey have called for
military intervention in northern Iraq to secure the
city, but the government has avoided evoking the
possibility since such action could put Turkey on a
collision course with fellow North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO) member the United States.
Iraq's Kurdish minority has enjoyed substantial
autonomy since Baghdad's defeat in the 1991 Gulf War
over Kuwait and strongly supported the 2003 US-led
invasion that unseated Iraqi dictator Saddam
Hussein.
Since Saddam's fall, Kurdish politicians have taken
part in national politics and put their historic
demands for independence on hold. But continuing
violence -- such as a bomb blast Tuesday that killed
10 people in Diyarbakir, the largest city in
Turkey's Kurdish southeast -- keeps separatist
tensions high.
AFP
The use of the term "Kurdistan" is vigorously
rejected due to its alleged political implications
by the Republic of Turkey, which does not recognize
the existence of a "Turkish Kurdistan".
Others estimate as many as 40 million Kurds live in
Big Kurdistan (Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Iran, Armenia),
which covers an area as big as France, about half of
all Kurds which estimate to 20 million live in
Turkey
The Kurdish flag flown officially in Iraqi Kurdistan but
unofficially flown by Kurds in Armenia. The flag is
banned in Iran, Syria, and Turkey where flying it is
a criminal offence"
Top |
® 