KRG Expel Turkish
Journalist From Southern Kurdistan
The Associated
November 26, 2007
BAGHDAD: A Turkish journalist who reported that Iraq's Kurdish president
personally escorted two guerrilla commanders to Europe for eventual extradition
to Turkey was expelled from Iraqi Kurdistan on Monday for publishing "false
news," the semiautonomous government said.
The journalist for Ihlas news agency, Sadiq Kahraman, cited anonymous sources in
his Nov. 24 report saying Massoud Barzani had accompanied two senior Kurdish
guerrilla commanders on a military plane to a European country. The report said
U.S. or Iraqi Kurdish authorities preferred the two be extradited through a
third country.
Saveen Dazi'e, head of foreign relations for Kurdistan Democratic Party, denied
the report and said Kahraman was being deported for his role in publishing
"false news that escalates the situation with Turkey," which has long been
angered that Kurdish rebels seek haven in northern Iraq while launching attacks
on Turkish soldiers.
Ihlas said Iraqi Kurdish officials came to the news agency's office on Sunday
and demanded he name his sources.
"We can't name our sources, and we believe our sources. I have been working in
Iraq for a long time and we are under pressure," Kahraman said Monday, according
to Ihlas. He said the rebels, known by their Kurdish acronym PKK, have also
threatened the news agency.
