Kurdish groups unite as Turkey watches, warily

Christian Science Monitor ^ | 10/4/02 | Scott Peterson

[Andy from Beaverton]

Kurdish groups unite as Turkey watches, warily

Anticipating US action against Baghdad, two Iraqi Kurdish factions will meet Friday.

By Scott Peterson | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

AMMAN, JORDAN – With the prospect of an American-orchestrated regime change in Iraq growing closer, rival Kurdish factions in northern Iraq – key potential allies of the US in any military action – are burying their differences.

The joint Kurdish parliament will reconvene Friday in the Kurdistan National Assembly building in the city of Arbil. High on the agenda is the consideration of a new constitution that lays out the Kurdish vision of a future, federated Iraq, post-Saddam Hussein.

Weather-worn front lines marked by rocky trenches have separated Massoud Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) for most of the past decade. But the civil war, spurred by disputes over sharing revenue and power, and mixed strategies toward Baghdad, went quiet after a US-brokered peace accord in 1998.

The revival of the regional assembly is one of the last key steps of that deal and is the first meeting of the group since 1996, when inter-Kurdish fighting was nearing its peak.

"This will send a very powerful message to Baghdad and to our neighbors that the Kurdish front is solid, is unified, and that we will move forward," says Hoshyar Zebari, a senior KDP strategist contacted in northern Iraq.

"There are some attempts in America, in some quarters, to marginalize the Kurdish role," says Mr. Zebari. "This meeting will convince our American friends, if they had any doubts about the unity of the Kurds, that the strength of the Kurdish front is reestablished."

But while Kurdish unity may bring a sigh of relief in Washington as war looms – and US war planners look for viable allies on the ground – it is rattling Turkey.

Turkish forces have frequently conducted armored operations into northern Iraq to root out Kurdish guerrillas from Turkey of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK. The group waged a bloody campaign for Kurdish rights from the mid-1980s. Several thousand Turkish troops remain inside Iraqi border areas now.

"We are there to make sure [the Iraqi Kurds] stay within bounds," says Seyfi Tashan, head of the Turkish Foreign Policy Institute in Ankara. "We are there, and can intervene at any time. We have the capability to do that."

The Kurdish enclave of northern Iraq operates largely beyond Baghdad's control, protected by the US- and British-enforced no-fly zone. Kurdish leaders insist that they see their future as part of a federated Iraq, and long ago gave up as unrealistic the idea of forging an independent Kurdish state.

"As we move along, our Turkish neighbors and others will realize they have nothing to fear from our aspirations," says Barham Salih, prime minister of the PUK. "We aspire to have a peaceful, democratic, and federal Iraq, and that is good for them also. We have a flourishing self-government process that can be a catalyst for all Iraq."

It is no secret among Kurdish observers that prospects of regime change in Iraq have brought the rival factions together.

"The timing could not have been better for the Kurds, given all the political maneuvering about the future composition of an Iraqi government," says Michael Amitay, director of the Washington Kurdish Institute.

The deal, Mr. Amitay says, "certainly speaks to the US about how the Kurds can play a role – or not – in their concept of regime change. It's a very clever piece of strategy."

The Bush administration is expected shortly to seek congressional approval to use some $92 million in unspent funds earmarked for the Iraqi opposition by the 1998 Iraq Liberation Act. The money would pay for the training of up to 10,000 members of the opposition in everything from tactics to laser-spotting for airstrikes.

But Turkey remains unconvinced of Kurdish intentions. Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit warned last week that a "de facto [Kurdish] state is already on the way to being formed."

Plans reportedly under consideration by the Turkish general staff include deploying Turkish troops along a buffer zone that could be up to 50 miles deep, or even a Turkish move to control the oil centers of Mosul and Kirkuk. Mr. Ecevit vowed that Turkey would "react" if Kurds took control of those cities, which are now in Baghdad's hands.

Talk of Kurdish federalism is only a "cover" for plans to create an independent state, Mr. Tashan says. "If there is turmoil as a result of the American intervention, they can get away with it. Kirkuk is not Kurdish property, and they will not be allowed to go there."

Kurdish leaders counter that Iraqis will decide the fate of cities like Kirkuk and Mosul. "Turkey is a serious regional power, which should have a vital interest in a stable, democratic Iraq," says Mr. Salih of the PUK.

"We are mindful of their anxieties. But Turkey has been very consistent in the last decade, insisting on the territorial integrity of Iraq. No doubt, any [Turkish] intervention would violate that very sovereignty."

The rhetoric may complicate any US or Kurdish war effort. "The Kurds are probably more concerned about the Turks at this point, than they are about the Iraqi regime," says Amitay. And while the outcome is difficult to predict, there are also reasons for inaction.

Sources near the Turkish military say Ankara may be posturing, to ensure its regional dominance.

"Turkey will never invade any part of Iraq," says Metehan Demir, the former diplomatic correspondent for Hurriyet newspaper, in Ankara. "Turkey knows very well that northern Iraq is a swamp ... where any country can easily drown."

Still, uncertainty is causing the Kurds to make peace with each other, says the KDP's Zebari: "We are feeling the pressure, we are sensing the danger, and both leaderships ... recognize that this is the time to get our house in order."

DAVE HERRING

[Andy from Beaverton]

Turkish PM Warns Iraqi Kurds
Amberin Zaman
Ankara
3 Oct 2002 21:30 UTC

Listen to Amberin Zaman's report (RealAudio)  
Zaman report - Download 245k (RealAudio)  

Bulent Ecevit

Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit warned leaders of the two main Kurdish factions in northern Iraq against any moves toward independence.

Speaking at a joint news conference in Ankara with Bulgaria's prime minister, Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Prime Minister Ecevit said that Turkey would take all necessary measures if the Iraqi Kurds move toward loosening their ties with the central government in Baghdad.

Simeon Saxe-Coburg Gotha

Mr. Ecevit's remarks come ahead of a meeting on Friday of the Kurdish regional parliament in the Kurdish controlled city of Arbil in northern Iraq. The parliament is dominated by members of the two main Kurdish factions that control northern Iraq, the Kurdistan Democratic Party, led by Massoud Barzani, and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, headed by Jalal Talabani. But the parliament also includes members of the Assyrian Christian minority as well as representatives of an ethnic Turkic group known as the Turcomens.

Friday's session is widely seen as the most tangible evidence yet of the growing cooperation between the rival Kurdish groups. The parliament is expected to debate a draft constitution for a Kurdish state within a unified Iraq. Iraq's Kurds say they have a right to such a state.

Turkey is opposed to such moves, fearing that greater political and ethnic rights for the Iraqi Kurds would re-ignite separatist feelings among its own estimated 12 million Kurds. Turkish leaders have repeatedly warned that Turkey will intervene militarily if need be, in order to block any moves by Iraq's Kurds toward independence.

The Iraqi Kurds have remained in control of northern Iraq ever since the end of the 1991 Gulf War. That is when the allies imposed a no fly zone over the region to protect some 3.5 million Iraqi Kurds from attacks by Iraqi forces.

[AdvisorB]

Bringing together the KDP and PUK
is no small achievement. Some have said
that they can field 75,000 peshmerga (kurdish fighters).
In order to strike saddam effectively from the north,
it was necessary to patch up the frayed relations between
these two Kurdish groups. Saddam cannot be happy at this
development.

[Shermy]

Those bruited Turkoman autonomous zones are never mentioned in these press articles. The people never mentioned too.

However I heard Powell's recent speech and he mentioned them as a people.

[McGavin999]

A federated Iraq is a desirable thing. Turkey, once it see what will come about, should support it. The three primary groups governed as states within a federation would end up prosperous. Seperate, independent countries would be prey to larger states surrounding them. Their only hope for freedom lies in their cooperation with each other.

[palmer]

It seems that if we attack Iraq we have two choices: occupy indefinitely trying to supress Kurdish independence (like we are doing in Kosovo), or leave and let Turkey and the Kurds start a war. Both of those outcomes are not in our interests, and don't forget the Shiites and their Iranian allies who will create havoc in southern Iraq.

[Faraday]

Bush, Cheney, Rice, Powell, Rumsfeld, and Ari Fleischer are all very careful to point out that a "unified" Iraq is our aim. Turkey is a key ally, and its interests will be upheld in the elimination of the Baathist regime in Baghdad.

[Anti-Bubba182]

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[a_Turk]

Man I hope the Prez knows what he's doing. Another fumble and the shiit's gonna hit the fan :)

[Andy from Beaverton]

I think there is a huge difference with the Kurds and the Albanians. The Kurds, also known as the Medes, have existed since 1000 BC. The Median Empire, Kurdistan, was created in 600 BC. The Ottomans screwed things up here like they did in the Balkans. But Kurdistan has always been Kurdish. Kosovo was always Serbian until the Ottomans screwed it up and then Tito's hatred of Serbs let it continue. I say kick the Arabs out of the Kurdistan region and kick the Albanians out of Kosovo. Until we do, the region will never be at peace.

[Andy from Beaverton]

I don't see anything wrong with Shiites hitting the fan.

[a_Turk]

I'll "put that in my book." (from Dances w/ Wolves) LOL!

[Destro]

Shermy: Those bruited Turkoman autonomous zones are never mentioned in these press articles. The people never mentioned too.

It pays to read my posts sometimes, Shermy. Things are not as they seem:

KURDISH WAR: Turks versus Turks to Help the Kurds

September 12, 2002; There is also a Turkish (Turkmen, closely related to the Turks in Turkey) in northern Iraq. The 100,000 or so Turkmen live in the Kurdish zone in the north and have joined with the the Kurds in opposing any Turkish intervention in northern Iraq.