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Iraq's Kurdish provinces take control of
their own security
30.5.2007
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US
forces handed over responsibility for security in
Iraq's three Kurdish provinces in Iraqi Kurdistan
region to the Kurdistan regional government,
Sulaimaniyah, Erbil and Dohuk provinces are ruled by
the Kurdistan Regional Government from today.
May
30, 2007
Erbil, Kurdistan region (Iraq), May 30, 2007
,-- US forces handed over responsibility for
security in Iraq's three Kurdish provinces to the
Kurdistan regional government Wednesday, in a move
that may bolster its separatist ambitions.
While officials said the autonomous region will work
closely with the national government in Baghdad, the
symbolism of the moment was not lost on the former
guerrilla fighters who attended the hand-over
ceremony.
"It's a sort of independence," Colonel Shadman Ali
of the peshmerga, the Kurdish security force, told
AFP. "We are very glad and proud and have been
waiting for this day for so long. It gives us a
great source of hope."
Sulaimaniyah, Erbil and Dohuk provinces are ruled by
the Kurdistan Regional Government, which has its own
executive and ministries and has been spared much of
the unrest wracking the rest of Iraq.
"Today is another success in the process of
rebuilding Iraq," Kurdistan Prime Minister Nechirvan
Barzani said at the ceremony, which was held at the
Erbil convention centre and included a parade of
peshmerga soldiers.
"This is the result of the experience of 16 years,"
he said referring to Kurdistan's history of de facto
independence since the 1991 Gulf War weakened Iraqi
dictator Saddam Hussein's grip on the mountainous
north.
Seven Iraqi provinces, including Najaf, Muthanna,
Dhi Qar and Maysan, now have responsibility for
their own security -- a third of the total. The
United States hopes to add more as Iraqi forces grow
in capability.
"The Kurdistan Regional Government is a good example
for security and democracy for all provinces,"
National Security Advisor Muwaffaq al-Rubaie said at
the ceremony.
"Reinforcing the security of Kurdistan is
reinforcing the security of Iraq."
Unlike the rest of the war-torn country, the Kurdish
provinces and their comparative security have
attracted the interest of foreign investors, which
has fuelled a construction boom in the region's
cities.
"You're an example for the rest of Iraq," Major
General Benjamin Mixon, the commander of US troops
in Kurdistan (northern Iraq), told the assembled
dignitaries.
Turkey, which has large and restive Kurdish
population of its own, has long expressed
dissatisfaction with the increasing independence of
Iraq's Kurds.
Ankara accuses Iraq of allowing the separatist
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) of using the region
as a rear-base to launch cross-border attacks,
despite the United States listing the group as a
terrorist organisation.
AFP
More about big Kurdistan:
Kurdistan (Iraq-Turkey-Syria-Iran-Armenia-Georgia)
wikipedia
** 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.
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.
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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