Take legal actions against the participants of so-called “Kirkuk 2007” conference
1/17/2007 KurdishMedia.com - By Pir Aso Yarsani
Turkey’s various hostile interventions in the Iraqi government, in general, and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) affairs, in particular, must be immediately stopped and condemned in a joint announcement by both KRG and the Iraqi government; otherwise Turkey will continue to make fun of itself by insulting and humiliating these legal bodies more and more.
If Turkey is not stopped now, its illegal actions will inevitably lead to another bloody regional armed conflict. A conflict which I guess before everything else will shrink Turkey to become as big as Kosovo. That should indeed matter all Turkish fascists, I don’t mind personally.
A Turkey once upon a time described by European scholars as ‘a mad man of Europe’, has now become the mad cow of the Middle East which must be either cured or isolated from the rest of the healthy world. A country which historically was given chance after chance to become a good example of diversity and coexistence of many distinctive folk groups (that are mainly Kurds, Armenians and Turks) but chose to commit two genocides; the first one caused 1.5 millions Armenians death, and the second one thousands of thousands Kurdish death, burned villages, displacement of ca a half million Kurds and currently a well-designed psychological war aimed to target all Kurds wherever they are now. However, Turks should now know better that Kurds is an immortal nation and despite many hardships they are determined to continue their struggles for a better world.
A world in which a Turk and a Kurd is treated equally, not like today’s Turkey where Kurds are deprived from their entire cultural and political human rights and unfortunately viewed as enemies. It is evident that the Turkish politicians have miscalculated both regional and international real political arenas. This notion of illogical thinking should be Turkey’s first priority and not hosting “Kirkuk 2007” which is undoubtedly an Iraqi affair not Turkish.
Concerning the so-called “Turkmen National Front” which initially was set up by the Turkish intelligent organization (MIT) to function as a Turkish proxy inside the Southern Kurdistan, all Iraqi patriots should be united to confront this mercenary group. The Iraqi people have all national and international rights to conduct a set of effective measurements to tackle this issue. What Iraqis can do are:
1) Bringing this issue to UN
2) Closing the Turkmen national front offices and prohibiting them to contact Turkey
3) All Kurds inside and outside Kirkuk should personally boycott any cultural and financial affairs with those Turkmen who are worshiping Ataturk or Turkey Finally, European Union along with all Turkish democratic forces, if there is any at all, should immediately break their deadly silence and demand from Turkey to behave like civilized countries and democracies.
http://www.kurdmedia.com/news.asp?id=13905
US reasserts support for upcoming Kirkuk referendum
1/17/2007 KurdishMedia.com - By Vladimir van Wilgenburg
Although Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has commented sharply over the past week on the so-called "changing demographics" of the city Kirkuk, even calling for the referendum scheduled to take place there to be postponed, US authorities have indicated that there is no support in Washington, DC for such postponement. This reported the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet.
Speaking before his ruling AKP group last Wednesday, Prime Minister Erdogan had said "...In light of demographic changes in Kirkuk, it is not right for a referendum to take place right now...." At a press conference yesterday in the US capital however, Tom Casey, a spokesman for the State Department, made comments indictating US unwillingness to listen to Ankara's push for a postponed referendum:
"These are subjects which have debated in the past. In the Iraqi Constitution, there are certain mechanisms in place with regards to the determination of Kirkuk's status. And we of course are expecting the Iraqi government to move according to these plans."
Recently Ross Wilson, the US Ambassador to Turkey, showed support for the referendum. Wilson said "The future of Kirkuk is one which the Iraqi people have to decide upon. It is natural that the US, Turkey, and other countries would have opinions on Kirkuk, but in the end, it is Iraq which will be making the choices."
Still Washington takes Turkish concerns over the developments in “Iraq’s Kirkuk region seriously”, Ross Wilson said. Soon the Turkish parliament will debate the situation of Iraq and especially the status of Kirkuk.
Senator Joe Biden, chairman of the U.S. Senate's powerful Foreign Relations Committee and a presidential candidate, advised the Kurds to refrain from independence and full control over Kirkuk in order to avoid a conflict with Turkey
Recently the UN warned for a looming crisis in Kirkuk. The UN voiced it’s concerns at reports of mistreatment of ethnic Turkmen and Arabs by the Kurdish majority.
The US support for the referendum might ease fears among Kurds, that the American won't be loyal towards Kurdish interests, due to the words of Bush and Rice.
http://www.kurdmedia.com/news.asp?id=13904