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.
Deployment of Kurdish Troops in Mosul Alarms Arabs
November 21, 2004
By Luke Baker
MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) - As U.S. forces try to regain control of Iraq's third
largest city, they are turning to their old allies the Kurds to keep the peace
in Mosul.
That has caused resentment among some Arabs and Kurdish troops have been killed
in at least one incident -- three Kurds were found shot dead in the mainly Arab
city on Sunday.
In the 10 days since Sunni Arab insurgents overran parts of Mosul, looting,
burning and in several cases blowing up police stations, reinforcements have
been sent in from across the nearby northern Kurdish region, especially Dohuk
and Arbil.
A battalion of Iraq's paramilitary National Guard has been sent in from both
those towns and another could soon join them, raising the total to around 1,800
men, U.S. commanders say.
While now in National Guard uniform and answerable to the Iraqi Defence Ministry
in Baghdad, most of the Kurds were until recently "peshmerga" fighters, a well-organised
and feared force set up by Kurdish leaders in the mountains who, with U.S. help,
fought Saddam Hussein's army to a standstill after the Gulf War.
Their deployment has provoked consternation among some Arab residents who fear
that the Kurds, who want a fully independent state in northern Iraq, are trying
to expand their territory onto the oil-rich plain to the south of their
strongholds.
"Nobody wants the Kurdish army here," said Abeet Ranam, 40, an Arab storeowner
in an upscale neighbourhood of northeastern Mosul. "There have been Kurds living
here for centuries and that is fine. But we do not want the Kurdish army."
In the west of the city on Sunday, a Reuters reporter saw the bodies of three
National Guards, shot in the back of the head. A note by the bodies read: "These
are peshmerga soldiers."
The U.S. military said troops found the bodies of nine National Guards in Mosul
on Saturday, similarly shot. It was not clear whether they were Kurds. An Arab
guerrilla group posted a video on a Web site saying it showed two Kurdish
"spies" being shot in Mosul.
Another group said it had beheaded two National Guards.
ETHNIC MIX
Mosul's two million people are among Iraq's most ethnically and religiously
diverse communities. As well as Arabs and Kurds, who mostly share a common Sunni
Muslim faith, there are also Turkish-speaking Turkmen, Christian Assyrians and
Yazidis.
The city, in the far north of Iraq on the banks of the Tigris, has its roots in
the 8th century when it was an important stopover on the caravan route from the
Mediterranean to India.
"The people of Mosul don't like outsiders, that's it. Whether it's Kurds or
Arabs from outside, they are not welcome," said Ala, a translator for U.S.
forces who is half Kurdish and half Arab.
For the U.S. military, the public suspicions about the Kurdish National Guard
units have created a conundrum.
For well over a decade, the Kurds have been Washington's strongest ally in Iraq
against Saddam. Now, with Mosul threatening to turn to chaos after most of the
city's 4,000 police deserted, the Kurds are again proving staunch allies.
"They're well-organised, fierce and get the job done," said Captain Robert
Lackey, a company commander with the U.S. Stryker Brigade, which is responsible
for northern Iraq.
"They understand how we operate and what we need to do, so it's great to have
them working with us."
Out on the streets of Mosul, the Kurdish National Guards are far more effective
than Arab peers, U.S. commanders say. Many Arab Guards are simply not turning up
to work, partly out of fear of reprisals by insurgents against them or their
families.
"For the Kurds, this isn't their neighbourhood, this isn't their town, so they
have nothing to fear," said Lieutenant Noel Rodriguez, a Stryker Brigade platoon
commander.
In one southeastern neighbourhood where a police station was blown up last week,
Kurdish National Guard units have moved in.
The Kurdish commander was barely able to communicate in Arabic. One man in the
street pointed in alarm to the Kurdish flag on the commander's uniform -- and
absence of Iraqi symbols.
U.S. commanders say they are aware of such sensitivities but dismiss suggestions
that they could stoke ethnic conflict.
