The Kurdish paper, Hawlati, reported that deep divisions have surfaced
among the leadership of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) that
could lead to serious consequences for the party and its leader Mr.
Talabani.
More
A bomb hidden
near the Baghdad home of Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari was discovered and
defused Sunday, police said. In July, gunmen had opened fire on a car
belonging to Zebari killing one official and wounding two others. He was not
in the
vehicle at the time, reported AP
An Arab
Islamic group said it had assassinated the chief of police in Arbil and
warned to kill Kurdish leader Barzani. "This is a clear message to the ally
of the Jews, the agent Massoud Barzani, head of the Kurdistan Democratic
Party, to tell the scoundrel that we are coming and the hands of the
mujahideen will soon reach you, God willing, and America cannot help you,"
said the statement which was dated Sunday, reported Reuters
Two Turkish soldiers were killed when their vehicle hit a land mine in
Northern Kurdistan, reported the state owned news agency Anatolia. Also,
Anatolia said four soldiers were injured in a land mine explosion near the
city of Amed.
In an
official visit to Washington, the Kurdish PM Nechirvan Barzani arrived
in Washington late last week to explain his administration's stance on
several important issues regarding Southern Kurdistan and Iraq, a KDP
official told the Kurdistan Observer today.
More
A member of the
Turkoman Front political group was assassinated today in Southern Kurdistan
while driving his children to school, police said. Col. Burhan Taha said
politician Ghafour Abu Bakr was killed at 8.30am (local time) in Kirkuk when
unknown attackers opened fire, killing him and slighting injuring his two
children, reported Reuters yesterday.
----------------
Iraq's Christians who are
increasingly targeted by insurgents, are fleeing Baghdad for the safety of
the Southern Kurdistan, reported AP.
----------------
The US military said three soldiers, a marine
and a civilian translator were killed and one soldier wounded in two car
bombings on Friday, one in the northern city of Mosul and another near the
city of Qaim on Iraq's border with Syria. Also on
Saturday, a Kurd working
for the education ministry was shot dead in Mosul, reported AFP.
----------------
Kurdistan
Democratic Party is planning to launch a new satellite TV channel in
Southern Kurdistan. The new station, which will be called Zagros TV, will
start its broadcasting programs on November 1 of this year.
The KDP
leader Massoud Barzani began a three-day visit to Syria on Friday. Barzani,
who arrived form Jordan, said he would discuss a number of subjects with
Syrian leaders. They included federalism in Iraq, relations between the two
countries and the question of Kirkuk, reported AFP
Oct
15, 2004
•
News Snapshot
Syrian regime have arrested
three Kurds, human rights lawyer Anwar Bunni said on Thursday. "Military
security arrested three Kurds in the town of Amuda as part of the clampdown
linked to the fatal riots that took place last March in the northeast, he
said, repeating his call for political prisoners to be freed, reported AFP
----------------
A
representative of the PUK says that his party is prepared for an armed
struggle to ensure Kirrkuk’s Kurdistani identity. “We and the KDP share the
same view regarding this issue,” Sadon Faili, the PUK spokesperson in
Baghdad told daily Al-Hayat, referring to the culturally-stirred conflict of
Kirkuk, reported Peyamner
"I've been
doing grave sites for a long time, but I've never seen anything like this:
women and children executed for no apparent reason," said Mr Kehoe, who
spent five years investigating mass graves in Bosnia for the International
Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia.
More
Leyla Zana finally received
the European Parliament's Sakharov prize for human rights Wednesday after
being released in June from a decade in Turkish detention
----------------
According
to the Turkish daily paper Aksham, the Turkish president warned Barzani not
to follow the Isreali path, adding that Israel is the source of conflict
since it was established. Aksham also reports that Mr Barzani was told that
neither Turkey nor the neighboring countries will accept federalism that
would lead to an independent Kurdistan, and if Kurds go this way, they will
likely lose what they have achieved so far.
Massoud Barzani said that the oil-rich city of Kirkuk in Southern Kurdistan
had a Kurdish "identity" and vowed to fight any force attempting to oppress
its people, whether Kurds or other ethnic groups.
More
Turkey will face a
very stringent inspection mechanism on human rights and cultural freedoms
(read that as "Kurdish rights)." Additionally, if there are any unfortunate
developments concerning the military's influence in politics and foreign
relations -- like military intervention in a neighboring country -- the
negotiations will be suspended immediately, said
TDN columnist Gunduz Aktan
----------------
A German
delegation from the Baviera State visited Amed, Northern Kurdistan. The
delegation's Chairman Gabriel Goltz said they came to Amed to observe the
services given by the local authorities and the developments in the
villages, directly.
In a joint press
conference in Irbil with the British Foreign Minister Jack straw who arrived
in Irbil on Tuesday, the Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani said "Our
policy and stance is clear, we refuse to compromise on any grounds regarding
Kirkuk," refuting the speculations that UK puts pressure on the Kurdish
leaders to make concessions on Kirkuk.
In a second day of
demonstrations in the Kurdish city of Kirkuk, protestors brandished banners
calling for the departure of the Arabs and the return of Kurds chased from
their homes as part of Saddam's efforts to change its population makeup.
Demonstrators also called for the departure of loyalists of the old regime
they accused of blocking the return of displaced Kurds.
----------------
A Turkish
soldier and a Kurdish rebel were killed in Northern Kurdistan, Turkish
state news agency Anatolia reported Sunday.
In several Kurdish cities
across Southern Kurdistan, tens of thousands of Kurds demonstrated,
demanding an independent Kurdistan with Kirkuk as its capital.
----------------
A Turkish soldier was killed
and three others were wounded Saturday in fighting with Kurdish fighters in
Northern Kurdistan, the Anatolia news agency reported.
----------------
The newly appointed Secretary General of KDP
in Eastern (Iranian) Kurdistan, Mustafa Hijiri, says that his party has
detailed information about Al Qaida training camps in Iran. "We have
detailed intelligence reports on the training locations of members belonging
to Al Qaida and Ansar al Islam organizations," Hijiri said in an interview
published by Kurdish daily Medya.
Turkish
authorities have been accused of rights abuses
AFP-Members of a Turkish rights body have clashed in public over a report which
criticises human rights in the country.
The incident on Monday was the latest episode
in a row within the Human Rights Advisory Board which has highlighted widespread
hostility in Turkey to cultural freedoms for the country's Kurdish and
non-Muslim communities.
Nationalist members of the board, which is comprised of government officials,
academics and civic groups, sabotaged a news conference called to formally
release a report which makes some controversial recommendations to the
government.
Shortly after the head of the board, Ibrahim Kaboglu, had
started to speak, a nationalist unionist grabbed the papers from his hands and
tore them to pieces, yelling: "This report is a fabrication and should be torn
apart."
Kaboglu was forced to leave the hall, lamenting: "We cannot even hold a news
conference. This is the state of freedom of thought in Turkey."
The EU, which Turkey is seeking to join, has long pressed Ankara to grant equal
cultural freedoms to its sizeable Kurdish minority as well as smaller,
non-Muslim communities such as Greeks, Armenians and Jews.
Controversial recommendations
Government officials, including Foreign
Minister Abd Allah Gul
and Justice Minister Cemil Cicek, have also raised eyebrows at some of the
reforms the report recommends.
Turkish PM Recep Tayyip
Erdogan
The document maintains that Turkey's understanding of minority rights has fallen
behind universal norms.
It proposes far-reaching amendments to the
constitution and related laws, in addition to reforms that Turkey has already
undertaken as part of its EU membership bid.
The report describes as "paranoia" widespread concerns that equal cultural
rights for minorities could lead to the country's break-up.
The fears were fuelled by a bloody Kurdish
rebellion in the southeast in the 1980s and 1990s.
"There is no doubt that a more humane treatment by the state of its own people
will be much more helpful for the country's unity... The citizens the state
should fear the least are the ones whom it has granted their rights," the report
says.
Turkish minorities
It also underlines that for decades
Turkey had breached its founding treaty, the 1923 Lausanne Treaty, which
envisages the free use by all Turkish citizens of any language in commercial
activities, meetings and in the press.
"There is no doubt that a more humane
treatment by the state of its own people will be much more helpful for the
country's unity... The citizens the state should fear the least are the ones
whom it has granted their rights"
Turkish human rights report
It maintains that non-Muslims in particular are subject
to
discrimination and are sometimes treated as foreigners rather than equal Turkish
citizens.
"Today, non-Muslim employees are nowhere to be found in the Turkish armed
forces, the foreign ministry, the security department and the national
intelligence organisation," the report says.
In one of its most criticised proposals, the document recommends amendments to a
basic constitutional article which the constitution itself bans from being
changed.
The article speaks of "the indivisible unity of the nation", an
expression, which the report says rejects the existence of different cultural
groups.
Critics last week blasted the report as "a
document of treason", and asked an Ankara court to launch legal proceedings
against its authors.
