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Turkey Could Emerge as a New Threat to
Kurdistan-Iraq
2.2.2007
By Mohammed A. Salih |
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Erbil, Kurdistan
region (Iraq), February 2, -- Growing confrontation
between Iraqi Kurds and neighbouring Turkey presents
a new threat to a fragile calm in the north.
Tensions have run high between Iraqi Kurds and
Turkey since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003,
but they were further exacerbated last month when
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Teyyip Erdogan
threatened to send forces to Kurdistan (northern
Iraq).
The aim, Erdogan said, was to crack down on
guerrillas of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and
to protect the rights of ethnic Turkomens in the
oil-rich city Kirkuk.
"There are efforts to alter the demographic
structure of Kirkuk. We cannot remain a bystander to
such developments," Erdogan told members of his
ruling Justice and Development Party Jan. 17.
Some Kurdish leaders fear a new war front could open
up in Iraq's northern Kurdistan region, which has
been by far the safest part of the war-torn country.
They fear this could open the door for further
intervention by other regional powers like Iran,
Syria and Saudi Arabia.
While Turkey speaks of the PKK and Turkomens' rights
in Iraq to justify any possible military invasion,
some analysts speak of its other intentions.
"One clear reason for military invasion by Turkey
would be their old ambition to re-annex Mosul 'Vilayet'
(province) to its territory.
They are still thinking in terms of the old Ottoman
empire," Ata Qaradakhi, a political analyst from
Sulaimaniyah in Kurdistan told IPS.
Iraq's major northern provinces which were once a
part of the Mosul Vilayet under the Ottoman empire
were incorporated into the Iraqi state when it was
founded in the early years of the 20th century by
Britain.
"Turkish leaders are also worried over the growing
influence and authority of the Kurdistan Regional
Government in Iraq since the fall of Saddam, and
fear it could inspire their own Kurdish population,"
Qaradakhi added.
Over the past few weeks, movements by Turkish troops
on the border with Iraq are reported to have
increased. Turkey has deployed around 240,000 troops
on the border strip with Iraq, and has bombarded
areas within northern Iraqi Kurdistan region several
times over the past eight months.
In the 1990s, Turkish troops carried out
cross-border operations in pursuit of PKK guerrillas
based in Iraqi Kurdistan.
The Kurdistan regional parliament held a meeting
last week to discuss increasing threats of a Turkish
military invasion.
"It is true that we must be on alert, and careful,
but shouldn't attach too much importance to threats
by the Turkish parliament or other parties (in that
country)," Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional
Government Nechirvan Barzani told parliament.
"Under Iraq's current circumstances, neither Turkey
nor any other (regional) country can send troops to
Iraq. Then the issue wouldn't be only Kurds, it
would be the issue of violating the sovereignty of
another state, that's Iraq."
Kurds count on the presence of U.S. troops as a
bulwark against any regional threats.
But several Kurdish politicians sharply criticised
the government of Shia Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki
for not reacting strongly enough to Turkish threats.
Turkey has called on Iraqis to change constitutional
Article 140, which sets out a roadmap to bring
normalcy to the disputed oil-rich city Kirkuk in the
north. The city has large numbers of ethnic Arabs,
Turkomens and Kurds. The Turkish demand, which seeks
more for Turkomens in the city, has sparked angry
reactions in Kurdish circles.
"Turkey must give others the rights which it gives
to itself," Ghafour Makhmouri, a Kurdish lawmaker
said during the parliament session.
"We have also the right to demand changes in Turkish
constitution regarding the rights of millions of
Kurds in Turkey, the same way that Turkey assumes
the right to ask for the rights of Turkomens in
Iraq."
Kurds hope that once Article 140 is executed, they
can vote to bring the province within their
autonomous region.
Meanwhile the Turkish government stopped fuel trucks
from crossing its border to Iraq this week. It said
it will not accept the Kurdistan Regional Government
as a legitimate partner for sending fuel to Iraq,
and would sign deals only with the Iraqi central
government.
But many believe Turkey will not go so far as to
invade Iraq. Apart from other things, that would
thwart Turkish hopes of joining the European Union,
Qaradakhi said.
"Kurds in Iraq can also create problems for Turkey
just as much as Turkey can do. They can use the
Kurdish card in Turkey to create unrest there, and
Turkey knows that that wouldn't serve Turkish
interests."
IPS
** The former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein forced
more than 250,000 Kurdish residents to give up their
homes to Arabs in the 1970s, to "Arabize" the city and the region's
oil industry.
Kirkuk city is a Kurdistani city and it lies just south border of the Kurdistan
autonomous region and it is not under the full
control of Kurdistan Regional Government
administration. Kirkuk population is a mix of
majority Kurds and minorities of Arabs, Turkmens,
Christians.
Based on Iraq's Constitution, a referendum is to be
held in late 2007 to decide whether the oil-rich
Kurdish province should be annexed to the safe
semiautonomous Kurdistan region in Iraq's north.
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