Erbil, VOI- Kurdistan region , January 30, – Iraqi Kurdistan Region
President Massoud Barzani met in Erbil city, the capital of Kurdistan region
(northern Iraq) with General Joseph Ralston, U.S. President George W. Bush's
special envoy, to discuss the issues of Kirkuk and Turkish Kurds, said the head
of Iraqi Kurdistan presidency's office on Tuesday.
"Ralston's visit tackled the file of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Turkey
and the issue of Kirkuk," Dr. Fouad Hussein said
"The two sides discussed during the meeting held in the resort of Salah al-Din
on Monday the PKK scene in Turkey," Hussein said, adding "they both stressed the
importance of a peaceful solution to this issue."
On the issue of Kirkuk, Hussein noted, Ralston
has expressed the official opinion of the U.S. administration and State
Department, which held that the Kirkuk file is an internal affair that has to do
only with the Iraqi people.
The Iraqi constitution contains a mechanism to reach a solution for the Kirkuk
affair, Hussein quoted Ralston as saying.
"Ralston has also visited the Kurdish refugee camps in Makhmour and last week's
statistics were of valuable outcome now that the Turkish mass media said the
camp was used for military purposes," added Hussein.
Abdul-Rahman Barazanji, the Mayor of Makhmour, had said on Monday that Ralston,
the U.S. government's coordinator for PKK affairs, paid a visit to the Makhmour-based
camp of Kurdish refugees displaced from Turkey.
Ralston's visit came after the camp was inspected by Iraqi forces and refugees
there counted by the UN to make sure it was empty of weapons.
Barazanji said the U.S. official also visited a number of families at their
homes and discussed with them their demands and problems and promised to work
out a solution with the U.S. and Turkish governments to guarantee their
democratic rights inside Turkey.
Scores of Kurdish families displaced from Turkey live in refugee camps in
Makhmour in poor humanitarian conditions. Hopes are pinned on humanitarian
organizations and U.N. agencies to help them.
The U.S. government had a few months ago appointed a coordinator for the PKK
affairs to meet Turkish demands for U.S. intervention to end PKK presence inside
Iraqi Kurdistan Region.
The Armenian question is a question only in Turkey. Everywhere else not only
politicians but also the public believe that there was a genocide of Armenians
in Anatolia. This is nothing new and won't change in the future. Even if a
committee of historians were assembled someday, the result would really be no
different. So outside Turkey not condemning the genocide is seen as a great
courtesy to Turkey, and one which becomes more disturbing as time passes.
So one can say that nobody really understands what Turkey wants.
In all of these problems Turkey can and has to take some steps forward to change
the political climate in which it operates.
Further reforms to ease future steps on the PKK issue -- like preparing a
sincere amnesty for PKK members and lowering the 10 percent hurdle in the
election laws, and so allowing the political entities preferred by the Kurdish
part of the population to take seats in the Turkish Parliament -- would change
the mood of all other parties involved.
Turkey very often states that it has profound national interests in Kirkuk. This
phrase alone doesn't persuade anybody to think about steps other than applying
the Iraqi constitution. If Ankara wants to stop these developments, it has to
explain what these interests are and has to find some other logical reason than
stopping the emergence of a Kurdish political entity in the region.
And on the Armenian question, Turkey has to move forward again. Pragmatic
politicians and diplomats know that you have to talk to your foes to solve the
problems you have with them. Thus, Turkey has to begin talks with Yerevan to
open the border. It's at the negotiating table that you mention your conditions.
If Turkey can bring itself to take this step, then the international community
will be truly shocked. Because nobody believes that Turkey can talk to the
Armenians. Everybody believes it's the denial policy that prevents Turkey from
negotiating with its difficult neighbor.
Next week, unless Gul and Buyukanit have some kind of pragmatic approaches to
present, they won't they be able to seriously change anything. I doubt very much
this will happen.
