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Turkey, Iraqi Kurdistan Trade Threats
1.5.2007 |
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May 1, 2007
The Kurdish population is spread across Turkey,
Iraq, Iran and Syria, and all of those countries
have long been nervous about the loyalties and
intentions of their Kurdish population.
The fact that Iraqi Kurds have an autonomous
Kurdistan region of their own makes Turkey and Iran
quite nervous about their own Kurdish population
either wanting their own autonomous regions or, even
worse, wanting to join Iraqi Kurds to form a larger
Kurdistan.
Both Turkey and Iran have accused Iraqi Kurds of
either aiding rebellious Kurds in the other
countries in carrying out attacks, or at least of
sheltering the Kurdish rebels in Iraqi Kurdistan.
Now according to World Politics Watch:
Sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shiites
continues to dominate headlines, but the latest
threat to stability in Iraq -- and perhaps the whole
region -- appears to be mounting tension between the
Turkish government and Iraq's Kurds, both of whom
are now reported to be massing troops on the
Kurdistan(Iraq)-Turkey border.
While regional experts say the breakout of violence
along the border likely is not imminent, recent
developments indicate the United States is taking
the threat seriously, as the consequences of a
conflagration could be dire for the fragile Iraqi
occupation. ...
In an April 12 press conference in Ankara, Yasar
Buyukanit, chief of the Turkish General Staff, said
Turkish forces should attack PKK posts in Iraq,
although he said such a move would be a political,
not military, decision.
Turkey is also threatening economic sanctions,
including shutting down the Habur border crossing
with Kurdistan-Iraq.
That would hurt Turkey's economy as well, so it is
looking to route commerce through its border with
Syria, the Turkish Daily News reported April 12.
Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan are major trading
partners; the Iraqi north gets much of its needed
electricity and fuels from Turkey. ...
The United States realizes the seriousness of the
situation. Recently, it sent David Satterfield, the
Bush administration's Iraq coordinator, to Ankara to
meet with Turkey's top foreign ministry and military
leaders to press Ankara not to push forward with
military incursions into Kurdistan (northern Iraq).
After the meeting, Satterfield said PKK violence
should be a bigger priority for Iraqi Kurds. On
April 21, he told Al-Arabiya: "The Kurdish
leadership must do more to address this problem of
terror and terrorism." ...
There are reports that more than 200,000 Turkish
troops are massed at the border with Iraq.
According to an April 12 piece by Andrew McGregor in
the Terrorism Monitor, published by Washington-based
Jamestown Foundation, the troops recently cleared
mines laid by the PKK, and Turkish special forces
penetrated up to 40 kilometers inside Iraq "to
prepare the advance and seal off PKK escape routes."
According to Iraq Slogger, Massoud Barzani,
president of the Kurdistan Regional Government:
... responded in kind, stating that
Iraqi Kurds
would interfere in the Kurdish regions of Turkey" if
Turkey, which considers the PKK a terrorist
organization, proceeded with the strikes. Tensions
have already escalated along the Turkey-Iraq border,
with the Kurdistan government reportedly redeploying
troops and weaponry in the area and Turkey
boycotting a cross-border Kurdish trade route, whose
tolls are a major source of revenue for the Kurds.
There are lots of reasons that neither side wants to
see this confrontation blow up into a war, which
could end up spreading to several adjoining nations.
But events could spiral out of control if the
Turkey's Kurdish rebels committed a serious enough
act of violence in Turkey. That is is scary, since
there is serious doubt about how much influence
Iraq's Kurds really have over the Turkish Kurds.
watchingthewatchers org
** 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 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.
Turkey is home to over 20 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.
More than 30,000 Turkish soldiers and 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.
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
**
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, its population
is a mix of majority Kurds and minority of Arabs,
Turkmen.
The former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein forced
about 250,000 Kurdish residents to give up their
homes to Arabs in the 1970s, to "Arabize" the city
and the region's oil industry.
The Iraqi Constitution mandates that a referendum on
control of Kirkuk must be held by the end of this
year 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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