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Iraqi Kurdistan seen to hold key to PKK
crisis
26.10.2007
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October
26, 2007
BAGHDAD, -- Iraq's Kurds, not Baghdad, hold
the key to defusing the crisis over the Kurdish-PKK
armed revolt against Turkey as the two states try to
find a formula to avert a military strike, analysts
and MPs said.
A high-level delegation from Baghdad on Friday held
talks with Turkish leaders to prevent a military
incursion into Iraq, but analysts said an active
role was needed from Iraqi Kurdish leaders.
The Iraqi delegation which has two members from
Iraqi Kurdistan region two Kurdish parties said it
travelled with "concrete proposals" to resolve the
turmoil threatening Kurdistan 'northern Iraq', the
only peaceful area in the war-ravaged country.
"Talks between Ankara and Iraqi Kurds would be a
good idea," Joost Hiltermann, Middle East director
at the International Crisis Group think-tank told
AFP by telephone from Istanbul.
"The Iraqi Kurdish parties can help in solving the
issue, though they would not be able to dislodge the
rebels from the mountains. But they can make life
difficult for them by restricting their movements."
The Turkey's rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party
(PKK) who are fighting for a self-rule in the mainly
Kurdish southeastern Turkey since 1984 live in the
rugged Qandil mountains along the Iraqi
Kurdistan-Turkey-Iran border.
Several previous military incursions by Turkey into
the mountains have failed to flush out the rebels
but Ankara has threatened a fresh operation if
Baghdad and Washington fail to crack down on the
rebels.
Iraqi Kurdish leaders with their own former
guerrilla fighters, the peshmerga, and their ethnic
links with the rebels stand a better chance to
remove the PKK fighters from their hideouts,
analysts and deputies told AFP.
"Ankara has to understand that it is the Kurdish
parties who can influence the PKK," said Kurdish
lawmaker Mahmud Othman.
"I do not know what concrete proposals Baghdad is
offering to Ankara but one political way to solve
the crisis is a general amnesty to PKK rebels as not
all of the PKK people in the mountains are
criminals."
An amnesty would help these inhabitants to return to
their countries, he said, adding that Ankara's
refusal to talk directly with the Iraqi Kurds was
aggravating the crisis. www.ekurd.net
"How much can Baghdad do? Turkey does not want
Kurdish parties to participate which means they do
not want a Kurdish solution," he said.
Othman said Ankara's demand that Baghdad hand over
PKK leaders and even some Iraqi Kurds was also
aggravating the situation along with Washington's
support for Turkey.
"Even
my name is on the list of Iraqi Kurds
that Turkey wants," the MP said.
Hiltermann said the PKK crisis was an "irritant" for
Washington which uses the Incirlik air base in
southern Turkey to supply its forces in Iraq and
Afghanistan.
"Washington does not want to take action in northern
Iraq as it would upset the Iraqi Kurds who are its
allies, and Turkey too is an important ally," he
said.
Hiltermann said any help by Iraqi Kurds would not
come free of charge.
"The Iraqi Kurds could help the US in return for
something like a referendum on Kirkuk," he said,
referring to northern Iraq's volatile city claimed
by both Iraq's Kurds and Arabs.
The Iraqi constitution stipulates that a referendum
on Kirkuk must be held before the end of the year
but it seems unlikely to go ahead due to the overall
security situation in Iraq.
"The issue is a conundrum," said Hiltermann, adding
that Ankara refuses to talk to Iraqi Kurds as it
treats Iraq as a "sovereign country."
"It (Ankara) would not talk to a regional
administration that can break off," he said,
highlighting the virtual autonomy enjoyed by the
Iraqi Kurds in the north.
Ankara is also against oil-rich Kirkuk being
incorporated into the Kurdistan region of Iraq as it
fears such a move would further boost the rebellion
against Turkey.
But Iraqi Kurds insisted they have to be part of the
process to end the crisis.
"We insist on that (negotiations with Ankara)
because we are partners in the government of Iraq,"
said Mohammed Mulla Qadir, political bureau member
of the Kurdish Democratic Party of Massoud Barzani,
the president of Iraqi Kurdistan.
"The time of marginalising the Kurds has gone," he
said stressing that any solution in the absence of
Kurdish participation would not be supported by the
Iraqi Kurds.
Ankara has never, and still does not, recognize the
Iraqi Kurdistan regional government (KRG) and
refuses to meet with its representatives in any
official capacity. That reflects Ankara's fear that
any international respect shown to the autonomous
Iraqi Kurdistan region would only embolden Turkey's
own Kurdish minority to seek similar home-rule
status.
More than 37,000 Turkish soldiers and Kurdish PKK
guerrillas have been killed since 1984 when the PKK
took up arms for self-rule in the country's mainly
Kurdish southeast of Turkey.
Iraqi Kurdish politician says, Turkey is using a
Kurdish separatist PKK rebel group as an excuse to
invade Kurdistan region 'Iraq' to prevent the
establishment of Kurdistan state in the Kurdish
autonomous region in 'northern Iraq'. Turkey fears
this could fan separatism among its own large
Kurdish population in southeast Turkey.
AFP
Since 1991, the Kurds of Iraq achieved self-rule in
part of the country. Today's teenagers are the first
generation to grow up under Kurdish rule. In the new
Iraqi Constitution, it is referred to as Kurdistan
region. Kurdistan region has all the trappings of an
independent state -- its own constitution, its own
parliament, its own flag, its own army, its own
border, its own border patrol, its own national
anthem, its own education system, its own
International airports, even its own stamp inked
into the passports of visitors.
**
Kurds are not recognized as an official minority in
Turkey and are denied rights granted to other
minority groups. Under EU pressure, Turkey recently
granted Kurds limited rights for broadcasts and
education in the Kurdish language, but critics say
the measures do not go far enough.
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" Southeast
Turkey.
Others estimate over 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.
Turkey is home to over 25 million ethnic Kurds, some
of whom openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK for a
Kurdish homeland in the country's mainly Kurdish
southeast of Turkey.
Before August 2002, the Turkish government placed
severe restrictions on the use of Kurdish language,
prohibiting the language in education and broadcast
media.
The Kurdish alphabet is still not recognized
in Turkey, and use of the Kurdish letters X, W, Q
which do not exist in the Turkish
alphabet has led to judicial persecution in 2000 and
2003
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"
Southeastern Turkey:
North Kurdistan (
Kurdistan-Turkey)
wikipedia
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