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New Air Route to Southern Kurdistan
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Kurds
wary of regional rivalry
Iraq Press June 24, 2002 Iraqi Kurds, are worried that regional rivalry may shatter their dream of maintaining control over their semi-independent enclave in northern Iraq. Their major concern is Turkey which has been shifting alliances recently and openly changing its goal posts regarding the future of Iraqi Kurdistan, according to a senior Iraqi Kurdish personality. Dawood al-Daghestani warned in remarks published in major Kurdish newspapers that regional powers were on the move to put an end to the status-quo in Iraqi Kurdistan. He said these countries, particularly Turkey, seemed to be determined to use "political and military means to achieve this end." Though al-Daghestani holds no political position in Iraqi Kurdistan, his views are widely respected by the region's various factions due to his post as the head of a commission monitoring human rights in the region. He openly accused Turkey of conducting an intensive media campaign against the current situation in Iraqi Kurdistan. He said the Turks were even trying to push the region to the brink of war by supporting one party against the other. He cited the latest rapprochement between Ankara and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, a major political and military faction which shares control of the region with Kurdistan Democratic Party. He charged that Ankara has put the PUK under great pressure to attack its opponents in the region, namely members of the former Kurdistan Workers Party or PKK which has several thousand combatants in areas under PUK control. The region is protected by an allied air power based in Turkey. The United States, which has made the toppling of President Saddam Hussein's regime a top priority, is contemplating the use of the Kurdish territory and the Kurdish rebels as a spring board for attacks on Saddam. But the U.S. policy of overthrowing Saddam has added further strategic significance to Turkey, without whose support the Americans may find it impossible to march against Sadddam. For this reason, according to al-Daghestani, the Turks are plotting to "have a piece of the pie" before even the U.S. moves against Saddam. He said the Turks want to establish their control of the Iraqi oil center of Kirkuk and Mosul on the pretext of protecting a small Turkoman minority. Al-Daghestani said the Turks were considering sending troops deep into Iraqi territory even before the start of the much-trumpeted American military campaign against Saddam. The comments mark a shift in Kurdish attitude and rhetoric which has so far tried to appease Ankara. They also show how frustrated the Kurds have become with their neighbors who throughout history have exploited their cause to meet their own interests. Al-Daghestani said the Turks were determined to expand their borders southwards through military means as a way to provide a cover for their mounting and aggravating domestic problems. He said he feared that Ankara was coordinating with countries neighboring Iraq to hit the current Kurdish self-rule experiment in the region. Ankara openly supports Iraqi Turkomans who have found a haven among the Kurds in the north. They have their own militias, financed and armed by Ankara. The Iraqi Turkomans voice support for Turkish policy and have aligned themselves with Ankara. Al-Daghestani warned of massive emigration from the region if Ankara did not put a halt to its meddling in the region's internal affairs. Previously, Ankara sent troops into northern Iraq on the pretext of hunting down PKK fighters who taken the region as a refuge. But the PKK has abandoned its policy of armed struggle and violence to achieve its aims and has even changed its name. Al-Daghestani said there was no reason or pretext for Ankara to interfere in the region's affairs. Asked to comment on his remarks, al-Daghestani told Iraq Press that the current Turkish policy posed a danger not only to Iraqi Kurds but also to neighboring Arab countries. He said Ankara's policy was drawn by its "all-powerful military establishment" which is not yet ready to accept the idea of Kurds enjoying their political rights. The
way to peace, he said, is for Ankara to recognize Kurdish rights and limit
the role of its military in determining the country's foreign policy.
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