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Iraqi Kurdistan region to take charge of
own security
29.5.2007
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May
29, 2007
Sulaimaniyah, Kurdistan region (Iraq), --
Iraqi Kurdistan's autonomous government will take
charge of security in its northern
Kurdish region this week in a transfer of command from the
US-led coalition, officials said.
At a ceremony on Wednesday in the regional capital
Erbil the commanders of the peshmerga -- former
anti-Baghdad guerrillas and now staunch US allies --
will be handed responsibility for three northern
provinces.
"This week the responsibility for security in the
Kurdistan region will be officially transferred from
multinational forces to the peshmerga affiliated
with the regional government," said Jabar Yawar, a
Kurdish military spokesman.
The peshmerga are former Kurdish rebels who have
been incorporated into the Iraqi and Kurdish armed
forces in the four years since a US-led invasion
toppled Iraq's dictator Saddam Hussein.
Yawar said the decision was made during a meeting
held in Baghdad between Kurdistan regional president
Massud Barzani, Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki
and senior US military leaders.
The US military confirmed the handover in an
invitation to the event sent out to local media.
"The Kurdish Regional Government will hold a
transfer of security ceremony, to highlight the
return of the entire region from the coalition force
to the government of Iraq," the invitation says.
While turning regional security responsibility over
to mainly Kurdish forces, the agreement requires
them to coordinate with Iraqi state and US-led
forces, according to Kurdish officials.
The US statement said "the Kurdistan Regional
Government was deemed ready to assume security
responsibility in the region."
The decision comes at a time of growing tension
between Iraq's Kurds, who are pursuing greater
autonomy, and the country's neighbours, principally
Turkey, who oppose anything resembling Kurdish
independence.
Turkey has long accused Iraq's Kurds of sheltering
fighters from the separatist Kurdistan Workers'
Party (PKK), and last week threatened to launch an
operation in northern Iraq if local authorities fail
to combat the group.
"Either you prevent illegal activities on your soil
or if you are not powerful enough, the occupation
forces there... should prevent them," Turkey's
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said.
"If they cannot do it either, then we, who are the
ones to suffer, will do it," he warned.
Public pressure on the Turkish government to step up
the fight against the PKK mounted after an alleged
PKK member blew himself up at a busy shopping centre
in downtown Ankara on May 22, killing six people and
wounding 121.
The PKK, regarded as a terrorist group by Turkey and
much of the international community, has fought for
Kurdish self-rule in southeast Turkey since 1984 in
a conflict that has claimed more than 37,000 lives.
Washington has warned Ankara against cross-border
interference in northern Iraq, wary that such a move
may destabilise a relatively peaceful region and
fuel tensions between Turkey and the Iraqi Kurds,
both staunch US allies.
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" Southeast
Turkey.
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.
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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