Reports & Opinions 
Knowing Who You Are 
 Rashid Karadaghi  April 29, 
2002 

Kurdistan Observer
May 6, 2002

With the ongoing preparations of the American administration to prepare the 
conditions for military assault against iraqi regime and the longest due regime change in Iraq, the Iraqi regime is trying feverishly to change once and for ever the demographic face of Kirkuk, the most important city of Iraqi Kurdistan, the heart of Kurdistan as it once named by the legendary leader of Kurds, the late 
Mustafa Barzani. 

The reason for this accelerated attempt to deport thousands of Kurdish families 
of Kirkuk from their city, in an unprecedented ugly campaign of ethnic cleansing, is the perception of the Iraqi regime of the importance of Kirkuk as the gate to Baghdad, because nothing hinders the march of  the Iraqi opposition to Baghdad once Kirkuk is in the hands of Kurds and in concert with the 
attempts to topple the Baathist regime of Baghdad as soon as the American 
administration decides without any doubt and unequivocally its intention and plans to get rid of this   blood thirsty and inhumane regime and at the same time its plans to establish the democratic alternative. The Iraqi regime thinks that with its hasty and cruel attempts to change the Kurdish face of Kirkuk and settling Arabic tribes in Kirkuk can avoid the unavoidable demise 
of the regime. 

The Iraqi Kurds must cry loud enough to make the world aware of this 
unprecedented attempt to arabise the heart of Kurdistan and to state their unequivocal commitments for regime change once the American administration is ready to rein in the unresponsible, repeated and chauvinistic threats of the Turkish military against the  legitimate aspirations of the Iraqi Kurds for a federal solution of the Kurdish people within a democratic constitutional Iraqi state . 

Turkey must realise that it has no stakes in Iraq and certainly no stakes in Iraqi Kurdistan, it must try instead to find a democratic solution for its own Kurdish citizens, if it wants to join the civilized European union. 

We expect from Kurdish leaders to be clear  and decisive about their commitments for regime change in Iraq once the democratic alternative is outlined and to engage in a relentless campaign to expose the ugly measures of arabization and ethnic cleansing in Kirkuk. 

The Kurdish leaders must stop being shy when they speak of the right of Kurds 
for self-determination only to appease the hostile and chauvinistic neighbors because we can only win the heart and will of Kurdish people and the international community when we speak clearly and decisively! 

Dr.N.Hawramany 
Switzerland