KurdistanObserver.com
Kurds Demand U.S. Defense
The Washington Times
October 19, 2007
By Sharon Behn
Kurdish leaders said yesterday the United States is obliged by
a U.N. resolution to defend them in the event that Turkish forces invade
northern Iraq in pursuit of members of a Kurdish rebel movement.
They also said they will continue to sign oil contracts with international
companies while awaiting passage of an Iraqi oil law, despite objections from
Baghdad and the State Department.
"The U.S. forces are mandated by the United Nations to protect Iraq's
sovereignty and defend Iraq's people," said Qubad Talabani, the Kurdistan
Regional Government's representative in Washington.
But Mr. Talabani, who was accompanied by the head of the Kurdistan government's
foreign relations department, said he is worried the United States might not
fulfill that commitment.
"We would like stronger reassurances by the United States that they would defend
the Iraqi people, be it in the south, north or center, if they were threatened
in any way," Mr. Talabani told editors and reporters at The Washington Times.
The officials likely referenced Security Council Resolution 1546, which gives
multinational forces in Iraq the authority "to take all necessary measures to
contribute to the maintenance of security and stability in Iraq."
In an accompanying letter, then-Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said the
international force will "undertake a broad range of tasks to contribute to the
maintenance of security" in Iraq.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said at a later press conference that the
United States wants to help end a wave of attacks inside Turkey, but there is a
lack of solid information as to where the Kurdish rebels operate from.
Kurdistan claims the Kurdish Workers Party, or PKK, has splintered into a number
of factions and that the militants staging attacks in Turkey are based in that
country. The Turks claim the PKK — identified by the United States as a
terrorist group — is operating from bases in northern Iraq.
"We want to help the Turks with the PKK," said Mr. Gates. "We recognize that
Turks are being killed by this organization.
"It is partly a matter of intelligence and how specific the information we can
get is. I think that if we were to come up with specific information, that we
and the Iraqis would be prepared to do the appropriate thing."
Frustrated by constant PKK attacks, which have left 40,000 dead in the last 20
years, Turkey on Wednesday authorized its troops to cross into northern Iraq to
hunt down the militants. Thousands of Kurds took to the streets yesterday to
protest that decision, the Associated Press reported.
Ankara called on the United States to defuse the situation by detaining and
extraditing PKK members from northern Iraq. But the United States has a very
limited military presence in Kurdistan because of the relative security and
stability in the region.
A State Department official said there has been no formal request from Turkey to
arrest PKK members and noted that Washington has encouraged Turkey and Iraq to
cooperate on the issue.
Mr. Talabani and Falah Mustafa Bakir, foreign relations minister in the regional
government, warned that the economic and political haven that Kurdistan has
provided in Iraq easily can be disrupted if Turkey invades.
"There will be dire consequences. This is the only safe and secure part of Iraq
that is supporting the U.S. efforts," said Mr. Talabani, who is the son of Iraqi
president Jalal Talabani.
Mr. Bakir said 80 percent of the large-scale investment in Kurdistan comes from
Turkey, and that there are between 200 and 300 small, medium and large Turkish
companies working in Kurdistan's public and private sector.
Any military incursion would probably cause those investors to leave, he said.
With its own government, security forces and controlled entry points, Kurdistan
has pushed forward with its economic development while avoiding most of the
ethnic, sectarian and criminal conflict that is killing thousands elsewhere in
Iraq.
On Sept. 8, the regional government signed a production-sharing agreement with a
subsidiary of Hunt Oil Co. of Dallas and Impulse Energy Corp. to explore for oil
in the Kurdistan region of Duhuk. The deal was criticized this week by the State
Department.
"Hunt Oil has been advised of U.S. policy urging companies not to sign oil
contracts with the Kurdistan Regional Government until [an Iraqi] national oil
law is passed, as well as the potential political and legal risks inherent in
such a contract," spokesman Tom Casey said Tuesday.
But Mr. Talabani said Washington cannot expect Kurdistan just to sit on its
hands. "Why should we be put on hold? This is a success story for Iraq. The
United States should be pleased," he said.
He said his government will continue to sign contracts with any American
companies that are interested. Kurdistan is "open for business," he said.
