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Iraq-Turkey escalating tension in Baghdad
press
10.6.2007
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June
10, 2007
BAGHDAD, Jun 10, -– The majority of Iraqi
newspapers on Sunday focused on the recent
escalation in tension between Turkey and Iraq after
a number of villages in Erbil and Duhok came under
Turkish attack, highlighting Washington's warnings
to Ankara against launching a military strike on
Kurdistan region (northern Iraq).
Under the headline reading 'Duhok's villages
shelled, MP points the finger at internal forces,
situation is volatile,' the government-funded
al-Sabah newspaper quoted MP Abdul Khaliq Zankana
from the Kurdistan Alliance as linking what he
described as "Turkish threats" to a plan set out by
a number of Iraqi political forces, which he said
were urging Iraq's neighboring countries to
interfere in its internal affairs.
According to the newspaper, Zankana's statements
came a few hours after Turkish artillery bombed
several villages in Duhok's cities of Zakho and al-Imadiya,
promoting the Iraqi Foreign Ministry to send for the
Turkish charge d'affaires in Baghdad.
The ministry submitted an official protest letter to
the Turkish envoy about the Turkish cross-border
bombardments in Duhok and Erbil, which "caused huge
damage, fire and spread panic among the people. "On
the Anfal case, al-Sabah newspaper quoted chief
Iraqi prosecutor Munqith al-Faroon, as saying that
sentences for chief suspects in the case will be
handed down today.
Six senior officials who worked under the former
Iraqi regime are currently facing crimes against
humanity, war crimes and genocide charges for their
alleged involvement in the killing of 182,000 Kurds
during Operation Anfal in 1987.
The defendants include a member of the former armed
forces' general command Hussein Rashid al-Tikriti,
former intelligence official Farhan al-Motlak al-Juburi,
former Ninewa governor Taher al-Aani, former
director of military intelligence Saber Abdul-Aziz
al-Dori, and former defense minister Sultan Hashim.
The Kurdish al-Itihad newspaper, issued by the
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), published a
front-page headline that read, 'Baghdad issues
formal protest to Ankara over cross-border shelling
in northern Iraq.'
The newspaper also published the following
headlines: 'Parliament to discuss MNF presence with
foreign minister' and 'Bush's representative arrives
in Baghdad to discuss four pressing issues.' Quoting
news agencies, the newspaper said that the deputy
national security advisor to U.S. President Bush
Meghan O'Sullivan will arrive this week in Baghdad
to monitor the Iraqi government's performance and
test its willingness to handle issues of public
concern, including the proposed amendments to the
Iraqi constitution, the laws on de-baathification
and oil and gas, and the establishment of national
reconciliation.
In an article entitled ' Iraq's Shiites will not
follow Iran,' the independent al-Mashriq newspaper
quoted Iraqi President Jalal Talabani as denying
that political opposition to former Iraqi president
Saddam Hussein had encouraged the U.S.
administration to invade Iraq.
Commenting on the stance of Iraqi Shiites, the
president said " I do not think Iraqi Shiites will
follow Iran," noting there are four eminent Shiite
grand ayatollahs, including top cleric Ali al-Sistani,
whom Talabani said "disagree with Iran's concept of
Wilyat al-Faqih (Guardianship of the Clergy)."
Al-Bayyina newspaper, the mouthpiece of Iraq's
Hezbollah Movement, published a front-page headline
that read, 'Al-Sistani warns of ignoring people's
opinion,' under which it quoted an official from the
political office of the Shahid al- Mihrab
Establishment, Ihsan al-Fadli, as reiterating the
warnings made by al-Sistani about ignoring the Iraqi
people's will. "All religious clerics asserted that
dialogue should prevail among blocs participating in
the Iraqi political process," al-Fadli said.
VOI
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