Kurdistan Observer 
June 5, 2002 

Few comments by a Kurdish politician have drawn such ire from Kurds as those by Prime Minister Saleh on the ethnic make-up of the city of Kirkuk, reported by Amberin Zaman in the Daily Telegraph nearly ten days ago. The airing on the Kurdistan Observer of the outcry from some of our readers in protest of the PM's comments and the subsequent heated defense of the PM may have led some of our readers to worry about the possible capricious nature of Kurdish journalism that allowed itself to be manipulated by forces with evil intentions for the Kurdish nation. 

We are compelled here to clarify the events of the ten days since the PM's comments as they pertain to the decisions made by the editorial board of the Kurdistan Observer. Once the remarks of the PM were published in the Daily Telegraph, we decided it was fair to air the comments of some of our readers who were angry and believed that the statements of the well-respected Kurdish politician were tantamount to the selling out on an integral part of Kurdistan in apparent appeasement to the terrorist and racist policies of the Turkish military. The statements of the PM and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), in response to the story in the Daily Telegraph and to the opinions of our readers, were then published on the Kurdistan Observer. No fair-minded person would disagree with our decision to make public the PM's and PUK's statements. 

Subsequent to the clamor from our readership and the explanation on behalf of the PM, an opportunist entered the scene. We at the Kurdistan Observer received a letter from a person who alleged to be Amberin Zaman, the author of the news item in the May 24th issue of the Daily Telegraph. It was a rather pointed and inflammatory letter contradicting the PM's explanation of the statements attributed to the PM in the Daily Telegraph. The letter was nearly identical to one sent to another Kurdish news-website where the decision was made to publish the letter. We at the Kurdistan Observer decided not to publish the letter until we had established the identity of the writer. In the meantime, we gave the PM the opportunity to respond to the letter. As it turns out, we discovered that we could not communicate with the author of the letter and came to the conclusion that the letter was probably forged, a conclusion that was confirmed by Amberin Zaman. 

Throughout this episode, we at the Kurdistan Observer aimed to serve our  readership with information in as a thoughtful and respectful manner as possible.  It is our sincere hope that we fulfilled this goal. 
 

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