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Kurds demand U.S. defense 19.10.2007
By Sharon Behn |
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October
19, 2007
Kurdish leaders said yesterday the United States is
obliged by a U.N. resolution to defend them in the
event that Turkish forces invade Kurdistan region
'northern Iraq' in pursuit of members of a Kurdish
rebel movement.
They also said they will continue to sign oil
contracts with international companies while
awaiting passage of an Iraqi oil law, despite
objections from Baghdad and the State Department.
"The U.S. forces are mandated by the United Nations
to protect Iraq's sovereignty and defend Iraq's
people," said Qubad Talabani, the Kurdistan Regional
Government's representative in Washington.
But Mr. Talabani, who was accompanied by the head of
the Kurdistan government's foreign relations
department, said he is worried the United States
might not fulfill that commitment.
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Qubad Talabani is representative of the Kurdistan
Regional Government (KRG) to the United States |
"We would like stronger reassurances by the United
States that they would defend the Iraqi people, be
it in the south, north or center, if they were
threatened in any way," Mr. Talabani told editors
and reporters at The Washington Times.
The officials likely referenced Security Council
Resolution 1546, which gives multinational forces in
Iraq the authority "to take all necessary measures
to contribute to the maintenance of security and
stability in Iraq."
In an accompanying letter, then-Secretary of State
Colin L. Powell said the international force will
"undertake a broad range of tasks to contribute to
the maintenance of security" in Iraq.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said at a later
press conference that the United States wants to
help end a wave of attacks inside Turkey, but there
is a lack of solid information as to where the
Kurdish rebels operate from.
Kurdistan claims the Kurdish Workers Party, or PKK,
has splintered into a number of factions and that
the militants staging attacks in Turkey are based in
that country. The Turks claim the PKK — identified
by the United States as a terrorist group — is
operating from bases in northern Iraq.
"We want to help the Turks with the PKK," said Mr.
Gates. "We recognize that Turks are being killed by
this organization.
"It is partly a matter of intelligence and how
specific the information we can get is. I think that
if we were to come up with specific information,
that we and the Iraqis would be prepared to do the
appropriate thing."
Frustrated by constant PKK attacks, which have left
40,000 dead in the last 20 years, Turkey on
Wednesday authorized its troops to cross into
northern Iraq to hunt down the militants. Thousands
of Kurds took to the streets yesterday to protest
that decision, the Associated Press reported.
Ankara called on the United States to defuse the
situation by detaining and extraditing PKK members
from northern Iraq. But the United States has a very
limited military presence in Kurdistan because of
the relative security and stability in the region.
A State Department official said there has been no
formal request from Turkey to arrest PKK members and
noted that Washington has encouraged Turkey and Iraq
to cooperate on the issue.
Mr. Talabani and Falah Mustafa Bakir, foreign
relations minister in the regional government,
warned that the economic and political haven that
Kurdistan has provided in Iraq easily can be
disrupted if Turkey invades.
"There will be dire consequences. This is the only
safe and secure part of Iraq that is supporting the
U.S. efforts," said Mr. Talabani, who is the son of
Iraqi president Jalal Talabani.
www.ekurd.net
Mr. Bakir said 80 percent of the large-scale
investment in Kurdistan comes from Turkey, and that
there are between 200 and 300 small, medium and
large Turkish companies working in Kurdistan's
public and private sector.
Any military incursion would probably cause those
investors to leave, he said.
With its own government, security forces and
controlled entry points, Kurdistan has pushed
forward with its economic development while avoiding
most of the ethnic, sectarian and criminal conflict
that is killing thousands elsewhere in Iraq.
On Sept. 8, the regional government signed a
production-sharing agreement with a subsidiary of
Hunt Oil Co. of Dallas and Impulse Energy Corp. to
explore for oil in the Kurdistan region of Duhuk.
The deal was criticized this week by the State
Department.
"Hunt Oil has been advised of U.S. policy urging
companies not to sign oil contracts with the
Kurdistan Regional Government until [an Iraqi]
national oil law is passed, as well as the potential
political and legal risks inherent in such a
contract," spokesman Tom Casey said Tuesday.
But Mr. Talabani said Washington cannot expect
Kurdistan just to sit on its hands. "Why should we
be put on hold? This is a success story for Iraq.
The United States should be pleased," he said.
He said his government will continue to sign
contracts with any American companies that are
interested. Kurdistan is "open for business," he
said.
washingtontimes com
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