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| Iraq |
| Bremer moves against Kurdish workers’ party in north Iraq |
| 2004-01-29 |
| Paul Bremer, the US administrator in Baghdad, yesterday declared that the Kurdistan Workers party (PKK) and its affiliates which use northern Iraq as a safe haven would be treated as terrorist organisations by coalition troops. "President Bush has committed to end the use of Iraq as a terrorist haven. There is no place for terrorism or terrorist organisations in the new Iraq," Mr Bremer said, singling out the PKK and its "aliases", the Kurdistan Freedom and Democracy Congress (Kadek) and the Kurdistan People’s Congress (Kongra Gel). The step is likely to please neighbouring Turkey, which has asked the US to take harsher measures against PKK guerrillas operating from Iraq. Mr Bremer released his statement just hours before President George W. Bush was to meet Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, at the White House. Both sides are anxious to put differences over the war in Iraq behind them. In a deal reached last October to facilitate Turkey’s agreement to sending peacekeepers to Iraq, the US said it would "subdue the terrorist threat that might exist in this area", referring to hideouts of the PKK in northern Iraq. The US has long classified the PKK as a terrorist organisation. In the event, the US told Turkey not to send its peacekeepers because of the danger of a confrontation with Iraqi Kurdish forces. Ankara continues to press the US to move against the PKK. General Ilker Basbug, the number two at Turkey’s General Staff, said on January 16: "Our view is that the US must start some military actions against the [PKK] terror group within a short space of time." However, a coalition move against the PKK in Iraq would be likely to anger Iraqi Kurds. "These people are not terrorists. They are simply asking for their rights in Turkey," said Mahmoud Othman, an independent Kurd and member of the US-appointed Governing Council. "The US took this step only to satisfy Turkey." It’s going to be a huge and frustrating balancing act among the various factions in Iraq for years to come. Kurdish parties are pressing for guarantees of an autonomous Kurdish homeland within a federal Iraq to be written into Iraq’s transitional law, due to be passed by the Governing Council on February 28. Other Iraqi groups oppose granting the Kurds such a large degree of autonomy, though Kurdish groups have threatened to take the matter to a region-wide referendum as early as this year if their demands are not met. Turkey staunchly opposes granting autonomy to Iraq’s Kurds, fearing similar demands by their own Kurdish population. |
| Posted by:rkb |
| #11 RC do you ever wake up and find unaccountable kabob in the refrig? Well, there's a lot of unaccountable (and indescribable!) stuff in my fridge, but nothing that comes close to kabob. Do you ever think.... "Jeez that guy looks Armenian"? Only when watching a Belushi movie. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-1-29 2:23:43 PM |
| #10 Welcome back Murat. I was behginning to worry that you had been arrested after the last bombings in Turkey. |
| Posted by: JFM 2004-1-29 1:54:48 PM |
| #9 RC do you ever wake up and find unaccountable kabob in the refrig? Do you ever think.... "Jeez that guy looks Armenian"? If so you could be the dread BedWetian. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-1-29 1:43:20 PM |
| #8 That's odd. Has there been a helicopter crash in Iraq today? I could swear Murat only comes out when American soldiers die in large numbers. |
| Posted by: Rafael 2004-1-29 1:05:41 PM |
| #7 Shipman -- that's the thing. I want to see Murat's evidence so I can be sure. I have these daily spells where I can't remember anything that happens -- they usually last eight to twelve hours (on weekends), and happen during the hours that that side of the planet would be active. I wanna make sure I'm not living a double life! |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-1-29 12:54:35 PM |
| #6 RC are you certain you're not this BedWetian fellow? You don't sound Kurdish but I'm nearly deaf. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-1-29 12:26:49 PM |
| #5 Korora brings up an interesting point alluded to in the Kay report. Hussein gave money to scientists to develop wmds (besides the ricin they sent to the UK) which the scientists & other top officials basically pocketed and fed Hussein false reports of progress. Hussein (the moron that he is) barked about his weapon's capabilities to neighboring countries and thus built on the myth. That's my theory as well. He may have been bluffing to keep his neighbors on edge and maintain his hitler-esque prestige in the region or he was just too stupid to know he was being hood-winked by his own r&d folks. |
| Posted by: Jarhead 2004-1-29 10:52:00 AM |
| #4 Hey, Murat, have you finally developed the spine to explain why you thought I was some Berwex-whatever guy? C'mon, you said you had proof I was that fellow -- cough it up or admit you're a lying sack. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-1-29 10:44:05 AM |
| #3 He's baaaaaaack. BTW, even if we don't turn up any WMD's, what if they were produced on paper to stave off Saddam's wrath? What if Saddam tried a bluff that backfired? |
| Posted by: Korora 2004-1-29 10:40:19 AM |
| #2 Hey! Murat's back! Speaking of lies, did you find the Kurds who set off those bombs in Istanbul yet? |
| Posted by: BMN 2004-1-29 10:32:40 AM |
| #1 It was about time, everything told about Iraq was a joke, no smoking guns found, no WMD weaponry etc. etc. Let at least the "war against terror" phrase be a serious one of Bush and Co. |
| Posted by: Murat 2004-1-29 10:01:33 AM |