Kurdish leader says Israelis free to visit

iraqpress ^ | 04/20/04 | iraqpress

[Pikamax]

Kurdish leader says Israelis free to visit

Baghdad, Iraq Press, April 20, 2004 – Iraqi Kurdish Jews who migrated to Israel are free to visit relatives in northern Iraq, a Kurdish leader said.

In remarks published in Azzaman newspaper the leader said even Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon would be welcome “in the streets of Iraqi Kurdistan” if he was of Kurdish origin.

“Muslims and Jews in Iraq were connected through marriage … and those who visit Iraq are not Israeli only but Iraqi Jews,” Azzaman, Iraq’s most influential newspaper, quoted the Kurdish official as saying.

The newspaper did not make clear whether Israeli individuals or companies were present in northern Iraq where the Kurds run their own administrations.

However, press reports say that at least 100 Israeli companies are vying to set a foot in the region.

The latest remarks follow a statement by an interim cabinet minister in which he said Jews who migrated to Israel half a century ago are entitled for compensation.

The statement by Bayan Baqer Sulagh, minister of housing and reconstruction, was the first by a senior Iraqi official regarding Jewish property in Iraq.

There were about 250,000 Jews in Iraq before they were made to leave the country and most of them resettled in Israel.

It is not clear how many of them lived among the Kurds in northern Iraq.

Iraqi Jews had integrated into the Iraqi society and those living in the north spoke the Kurdish language.

The authorities placed Jewish belongings and properties under the custodianship of the Ministry of Endowments and Religions Affairs.

Iraqi Jews were among the richest in Iraq.

And the community played a big role in the then nascent Iraqi administration.

Its members occupied ministerial positions and were active in trade and crafts.

The community has almost vanished and currently there are only about 30 elderly Jews in the country.

ipnews

[AntiGuv]

Tell me again why we won't let them have an independent country?

[Barlowmaker]

Why wouldn't they rather be a moderating, fully partnered influence in a nation-state sitting on at least 120 billion barrels of oil reserve?

[Destro]

Tell me again why we won't let them have an independent country?

Because Israel's regional ally Turkey does not want it.

[11th_VA]

WOW !!!

[AntiGuv]

1) Because the rest of that nation tried to kill them.

2) Because they have half the oil but only about one/fifth the population..

[Coroner]

We should train them, pull out all our troops and leave all our weaponry with them!!

[Barlowmaker]

The oil belongs to Iraqis. Not the Kurds.

[JSteff]

That might not be completely correct. Kurds indigenous to Iraq do retain partial ownership of that oil as citizens of Iraq. Now if they were to be granted part of Iraq that contained oil it would be theirs.

Actually if we are not able to maintain a good relationship with a government in Iraq this might just serve to gain one of our aims which is to maintain a relationship with a government in the region favorable to us.

We could not ask for a better ally, and a better place to have an ally than say the northern third of Iraq. Would have made the whole thing worthwhile after all.

[dts32041]

The Kurds have been treated like the jews in the arab world.

It would serve our so called allies right if we did establish a free kurdistan, and arm it to repel the turkish invaders.

Of course there could also be a right of return.

[McGavin999]

Within 10 years this is what the entire nation of Iraq will be like. You have to laugh when people say Iraq can never be a democratic country. The Kurds have built a stable democracy in under 10 years and despite being cheated by Saddam, they are well on their way to prosperity.

[Shermy]

Because it's the one thing Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey agree upon.

Independence ain't in the cards.

[Barlowmaker]

Actually if we are not able to maintain a good relationship with a government in Iraq this might just serve to gain one of our aims which is to maintain a relationship with a government in the region favorable to us. We could not ask for a better ally, and a better place to have an ally than say the northern third of Iraq. Would have made the whole thing worthwhile after all.

The Turks have made it clear that any independent Kurdistan that includes Kirkuk is intolerable.

Let's not go there. The Iraqi Kurds will have a representative vote and interest in the new nation. It's the best deal they've been offered in centuries.

An independent Kurdistan, entailing any area of current Iraq, is a non-starter.

[Barlowmaker]

The Kurds have been treated like the jews in the arab world.

Exactly. Iraqi Kurds are overwhelmingly Sunni Muslims. Same as the Jews.

[JSteff]

I had thought about that but at this point the Turks have shown how good of friends they are to us, how good their word is, and how willing they are to work with us. With us now in the previous soviet "'stans", and with better relations with Romania, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Georgia, et al Turkey is less important to us now.

Turkey could have been bought off (hey Turkey, wish you had that 10 billion now?) Their current economic situation may have enabled this to have worked. Remember the Kurds have so far been the ONLY party in Iraq that has been good to their word since the war started. We don't have Kurds car bombing us.

It might seem risky at first but I think it could be pull off. Turkey and the Kurds could have worked out a longer and more stable relationship than they will ever have with the Islamic mess we are going to see in Iraq in the next year or so.

Think hard about all the pieces because it does make sense.