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Once Again, Baghdad, Ankara and Tehran |
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The opinions
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Once Again, Baghdad, Ankara and Tehran
20.10.2011
By Hiwa Osman - ekurd.net |
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October 20, 2011
Just about when the Kurdish delegation arrived in
Baghdad, the Turkish Parliament supported the army’s
“right” to conduct cross-border operations and enter
“Iraq” to chase the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK.)
And one day after the delegation returned to
Kurdistan, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced
the creation of a joint Iraqi-Iranian committee
aimed at ending the presence of the Kurdish rebel
group the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK) in
the porous border between Iran and Iraqi Kurdistan.
As far as I know, neither of the two events were
subject of any meeting, discussion or declaration
between the Kurdish delegation and Baghdad.
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Hiwa Osman, IWPR Iraq’s country director, previously
served as Iraqi president Jalal Talabani’s media
adviser. |
The timing of the two actions may not have been
calculated around the delegation’s visit to Baghdad,
but they are indicative of the enormity of the
challenge the Kurds are facing.
The Kurdish delegation will realize that their
effort should not be focused on Baghdad alone. It
requires a regional – and, to an extent, an
international Kurdish initiative — to determine
exactly what the Kurds can and can’t get.
In Baghdad, the problem has become too substantial
for experts and technocrats to solve alone. Although
this is an important element of any negotiation, the
pre-requisite is Baghdad’s perspective on
fundamental Kurdish demands. So far, they seem to be
at two ends of the spectrum on federalism, oil and
gas,www.ekurd.net
Article 140, partnership in government and other
sticking points.
Looking at the situation between Baghdad and Erbil
with one eye and the situation on the borders with
Iran and Turkey with the other, one can find a link
between the two. While perhaps the tie is remove and
even farfetched for some, the clear explanation is
that they are linked and are objectively feeding
each other.
The continued operations along the Turkish and
Iranian borders are aimed at ending the PKK and PJAK
presence on their borders. The Kurds agree to this.
But the question here is: How do they do it? Or how
should it be done?
The Kurds stress the need for a peaceful struggle of
the Kurds in Turkey and shifting the battle from the
mountains to the Parliament and government in
Ankara. They should, however, be mindful of what is
at stake if the PKK is removed from these areas.
The Kurds and the Turks need to make sure that if
they forced the PKK to evacuate Kurdistan’s Tora
Bora, the real terrorists will not replace them.
Similarly on the Iranian borders, the Iranian
shelling aims to undermine the Kurds in Iraqi
Kurdistan. All of these events are occurring as the
crisis between Erbil and Baghdad escalates.
Last week, a “very close advisor to Maliki”
explained part of the reason. He told an Iraqi media
outlet that the reason the Turks and Iranians
continue shelling the border is because they want
the Iraqi army to control the border with the help
of the Peshmerga. This would deal a massive blow to
the Kurdish concept of federalism.
The Kurdish delegation and leadership could soon
realize that Baghdad alone may not be the place to
solve their problems. They may also need to go to
Tehran and Ankara to convince them of the virtues of
having a Kurdish region in the north that is able to
stand on its feet and deserves the help it needs.
Hiwa Osman is IWPR’s country director in Iraq, previously
served as Iraqi president Jalal Talabani’s media
adviser, a regular contributing writer and columnist for ekurd.net. You
may visit Osman's website at www.hiwaosman.com
Copyright © 2011 ekurd.net
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