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Category: Iraq

  • President Bush Meets with President Talabani of Iraq

    President Bush Meets with President Talabani of Iraq

    Wednesday, September 10, 2008
    President Bush met with the Big Sister of the Year at the White House. Later, President Bush met with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani to discuss progress in his country, where violence is down to its lowest point since the spring of 2004. Civilian deaths are down, sectarian killings are down, suicide bombings are down, and normal life is returning to communities across the country. The Iraqi government has passed budgets and major pieces of legislation.

    President Bush Meets with President Talabani of Iraq

    • In Focus: Iraq
    • In Focus: Global Diplomacy
  • OSC: Russia- Iran Alliance?

    OSC: Russia- Iran Alliance?

    Informed Comment

    Thoughts on the Middle East, History, and Religion

     Juan Cole is President of the Global Americana Institute

     

    Saturday, August 30, 2008

    The USG Open Source Center translates an article from the Russian press proposing a strategic alliance between Russia and Iran.

    Pundit on Possible Russia-Iran Alliance To Counter ‘Unfriendly’ US Moves
    Article by Radzhab Safarov, General Director of the Russian Center for Iranian Studies: “Iranian Trump Card. Russia Can Take Control of Persian Gulf”
    Vremya Novostey
    Friday, August 29, 2008
    Document Type: OSC Translated Text

    The recognition of South Ossetia’s and Abkhazia’s independence by Russia is a timely step to protect these republics from new Georgian aggression. However, taking into account the United States’ plans to expedite Georgia’s and Ukraine’s accession to the NATO military-political bloc, the situation near the Russian border remains alarming. At the same time Moscow has a lot of possibilities to take balanced counter measures to the United States’ and entire NATO’s unfriendly plans. In particular, Russia can rely on those countries that effectively oppose the United States’ and their satellites’ expansion. Only collective efforts can help to create a situation which would, if not eliminate then at least reduce the risk of the Cold War’s transformation into local and global conflicts.

    For instance, Moscow could strengthen its military-technical ties with Syria and launch negotiations on the reestablishment of its military presence in Cuba. However, the most serious step which the United States and especially Israel fear (incidentally, Israel supplied arms to Georgia) is hypothetical revision of Russia’s foreign policy with regard to Iran. A strategic alliance presuming the signing of a new large-scale military political treaty with Iran could change the entire geopolitical picture of the contemporary world.

    New allied relations may result in the deployment of at least two military bases in strategic regions of Iran. One military base could be deployed in the north of the country in the Iranian province of Eastern Azerbaijan and the other one in the south, on the Island of Qeshm in the Persian Gulf. Due to the base in Iran’s Eastern Azerbaijan Russia would be able to monitor military activities in the Republic of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey and share this information with Iran.

    The deployment of a military base on the Island of Qeshm would allow Russia to monitor the United States’ and NATO’s activities in the Persian Gulf zone, Iraq and other Arab states. With the help of special equipment Russia could effectively monitor whois sailing toward this sea bottleneck, from where, and with what cargo on board to enter the World Ocean or to return.

    For the first time ever Russia will have a possibility to stop suspicious vessels and ships and inspect their cargo, which the Americans have been cynically doing in that zone for many decades. In exchange for the deployment of its military bases Russia could help the Iranians to deploy modern air defense and missile defense systems along the perimeter of its borders. Tehran, for instance, needs Russia’s modern S-400 SAMs.

    The Iranian leadership paid close attention to reports stating that the Georgian Government’s secret resolution gave the United States and Israel a carte blanche to use Georgian territory and local military bases for delivering missile and bomb strikes against Iranian facilities in the event of need. Another neighbor, Turkey, is not only a NATO member, but also a powerful regional opponent and economic rival of Iran. In addition to this, the Republic of Azerbaijan has become the West’s key partner on the issue of transportation of Caspian energy resources to world markets. The Iranians are also concerned at Baku’s plans to give Western (above all American) capital access to the so-called Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea, which is fraught with new conflicts, because the legal status of the Caspian Sea has not been defined to date.

    Russia and Iran can also accelerate the process of setting up a cartel of leading gas producers, which journalists have already dubbed the “gas OPEC.” Russia and Iran occupy first and second place in the world respectively in terms of natural gas reserves. They jointly possess more than 60 percent of the world’s gas deposits. Therefore, even small coordination in the elaboration of a single pricing policy may force one-half of the world, at least virtually entire Europe, to moderate its ambitions and treat gas exporters in a friendlier manner.

    While moving toward allied relations, Russia can develop cooperation with Iran in virtually all areas, including nuclear power engineering. Russia can earn tens of billions of dollars on the construction of nuclear power plants in Iran alone. Tehran can receive not only economic, but also political support from Russia in the development of its own atomic energy sector.

    In addition to this,in view of the imminent breakup of the CIS from which Georgia already pulled out, Russia could accelerate the process of accepting Iran as an equal member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). By accepting Iran, one of the key countries of the Islamic world, the organization could change fundamentally both in terms of its potential and in terms of its regional role. Meanwhile, as an SCO member Iran will find itself under the collective umbrella of this organization, including under the protection of such nuclear states as Russia and China. This will lay foundations for a powerful Russia-Iran-China axis,which the United States and its allies fear so much.

    (Description of Source: Moscow Vremya Novostey in Russian — Liberal, small-circulation paper that sometimes criticizes the government)

    posted by Juan Cole @ 8/30/2008 12:05:00 AM

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  • The Man From Zakho

    The Man From Zakho

    Ariel Sabor’s ‘My Father’s Paradise’ paints a portrait of one man and the vanished Kurdish ‘Jerusalem’ from which he came.

    by Sandee Brawarsky
    Jewish Week Book Critic

    There are no more Jews in Zakho. Once the center of Jewish activity in Kurdish Iraq, the isolated town, a dusty vision of biblical landscape, was known as the “Jerusalem of Kurdistan.” Residents spoke the ancient Aramaic language, which they kept alive, along with their faith and distinctive culture, for almost 3,000 years. In the 1950s, after the Iraqi government turned against the Jews, the entire community moved to Israel, as part of Operations Ezra and Nehemiah. More than 120,000 Jews were airlifted from Iraq, including 18,000 Kurdish Jews; other Kurdish Jews arrived from Syria and Iran.

    Yona Sabar was born in Zakho, and was the last boy to have his bar mitzvah there. He lived in a mud home, whose roof his family sometimes slept on in the heat, and he enjoyed meeting his grandfather in shul, where the old man sat up every night, conversing with the angels. In Israel, his once-successful merchant family was impoverished; while the Muslims and Christians in Zakho had respected them, the Kurds were looked down on as the very lowest class in the new State of Israel. Sabar, unlike most of his fellow villagers, graduated from high school in Israel (while working full-time to help support his family) and Hebrew University where he studied language with a special interest in Aramaic. He received his doctorate in Near East Languages and Literature from Yale, and now is a distinguished professor at University of California Los Angeles. His ranch-style house in Los Angeles bears no resemblance to his childhood home, where hens and customers crisscrossed the dirt floor at all hours.

    The remarkable arc of Sabar’s life is at the center of his son Ariel Sabar’s outstanding book, “My Father’s Paradise: A Son’s Search for His Jewish Past in Kurdish Iraq”(Algonquin). In telling his father’s story intertwined with the family’s tales, journalist Sabar reconstructs the little-known history of the Kurdish Jews, who lived in harmony with their non-Jewish neighbors. In Zakho, Muslims would bring tea to their Jewish neighbors on Shabbat, when the Jews weren’t able to cook. Jewish men wore the same baggy trousers and embroidered shirts as Muslims, “even if a few strands of tzitzit poked out from beneath their shirts.”

    “My father had staked his life on the notion that the past mattered more than anything,” the younger Sabar writes, adding, “He sublimated homesickness into a career.”

    “My Father’s Paradise” is also a deeply personal story of a distant father and son who were ultimately reconciled. Growing up in Los Angeles in the 1980s, Ariel Sabar found his father embarrassing, regarding him as the uncoolest person he knew, with his unstylish clothing and beat-up car, and his passion for ancient languages rather than popular culture.

    But, after moving across the country to attend college, falling in love with and marrying a non-Jewish woman and working hard in his first reporting jobs, Sabar was drawn to write about his father after the scholar was called to consult on the television series “The X-Files,” about the language Jesus might have used. For the first time, Sabar asked his father, as he might have questioned any source, about his life in Zakho. His story in the Providence Journal, “Scholar Dad Goes Showbiz: ‘I Am the Walrus’ in Aramaic” brought him a greater response than all of his previous articles combined. He then thought that he had said everything he had to say about his father.

    Several years later, after he and his wife had their first child, a son, Sabar began seriously thinking about “fathers and sons, and what is it we inherit,” he tells The Jewish Week in an interview. “Would [his son] feel the way I did about my father? That this guy had nothing to teach me, that I didn’t care where he came from, that I was my own person? It took me back to some long-neglected questions.” Now, looking back, he’s not proud of the way he treated his father.

    Aware that his potential sources — Kurdish Jews like his father who remembered life in Iraq — were aging, Sabar felt a sense of duty to preserve their past. And, as a journalist, he sensed he was onto a great story. He quit his newspaper job and moved to Maine, where his wife returned to work as a physician; he began researching and traveling, tracking down relatives and family friends. His father still had the Kurdish sensibility, where people survived by keeping their heads down, so he wasn’t altogether comfortable about being the subject of a book.

    Collecting an impressive amount of detail, Sabar creates a compelling narrative. The Jews of Zakho had little in common with the Jews of Baghdad, who spoke Arabic, built huge synagogues and yeshivas, ran large businesses and held government jobs. In the 1940s, the remote Jews of Zakho had no idea of what was happening to the Jews of Europe; nor did they know of a deadly pogrom in Baghdad in 1941.

    Sabar conveys the life of Zakho, with its storytellers, beggars, traders, smugglers, loggers, Arab tribesmen, cheese makers, and the one dyer of fabrics, his great-grandfather the mystic. Girls didn’t go to school, but instead learned to do heavy chores and to cook specialties whose descriptions may send readers in search of a Kurdish kosher cookbook. His grandmother Miryam’s life was full of loss, including having her firstborn, a daughter, never returned by a tribeswoman who agreed to be her nursemaid when Miryam was ill. She had lost her own mother at a young age, and was married at 13 to a cousin, who proved to be kind.

    In Israel, Miryam was lost, never learning Hebrew, and even though her neighbors would sit around and speak of children, she wouldn’t mention that two of her sons were university professors, her two daughters teachers, another son a vice principal of a school and another a bank officer, for fear that boasting tempts the evil eye. The author knew her as the grandmother who coaxed him in Aramaic, “you didn’t eat anything” and ate only after everyone else finished. He learned the full and vivid story of her life there through transcribed and translated interviews he did with her as a student, while studying her language.

    In 2005, father and son traveled to Zakho together — a dangerous time for Americans and Jews in Iraq — and were greeted with kindness; many people remembered Sabar’s grandfather and could tick off the names of the Jewish families they did business with, and some spoke of missing the Jewish presence. The Jewish neighborhood was now the poorest section of town, and the shuls had become private homes. The Sabars realized that the generation that recalled Jews fondly, remembering the brotherhood they experienced, wouldn’t be around much longer.

    “Journalism can be pretty cynical. But to cross the border and see the sign, ‘Welcome to Kurdistan of Iraq” — I was euphoric” the author says. Zakho is grittier than he expected, and it’s also fast-growing, with traffic, construction and Internet cafés, not like the sleepy mountain town his father left. While there, they attempted to track down Yona’s long-lost sister.

    Ariel Sabar explains that for his father, the idea of Paradise is not only Zakho, but also the Israel he had dreamed of, and even California, where he finds much tolerance of difference and is able to preserve his mother tongue. In the unlikely setting of an upscale L.A. mall, drinking iced coffee under the palm trees, he also experiences a kind of paradise, where he’s able to negotiate past and present.

    Today, the younger Sabar, 37, is covering the presidential elections for The Christian Science Monitor. He and his wife raise their two children as Jews, playing Kurdish music at home, teaching them the Hebrew alphabet and prayers.

    When asked how his father feels about the book, Sabar says, “He saw that I had gone on a journey not unlike his own, to preserve those parts of the past we can take with us. He has a measure of pride that his son, in his own way, would follow in his footsteps.”

    Source: TheJewishWeek.com

  • A Talk with Kurdish President [sic], Massoud Barzani

    A Talk with Kurdish President [sic], Massoud Barzani

    01/09/2008

    Interview by Ma’ad Fayad in Arbil

     

    [Asharq Al-Awsat] Do you believe that the federal government in Baghdad considers you as its partners in government?

    [Barzani] This is the main problem. During my recent visit to Baghdad, I emphasized this point. We asked them: Are we partners or not? If you consider us as your partners then this is one issue; if you do not then this is another issue. They stressed that we are partners. However, in real practice, I doubt this.

    [Asharq Al-Awsat] Do you yourselves feel that you are partners in the federal government?

    [Barzani] This is a coalition government and we are partners in it. But the actions of this government are weird. We are partners but we do not have a role in the government. We are not partners in security, economic, and military issues and we do not know anything about these institutions.

    [Asharq Al-Awsat] Do you talk openly to them in Baghdad? What is happening is that during you meetings with the federal governments, optimistic reports are issued but later the opposite happens.

    [Barzani] During our recent visit, we reached good agreements and mechanisms to implement these agreements. We have a program on which we are in agreement with the government in Baghdad. But when we returned to the Kurdistan region, everything we had agreed upon was ignored. The programs agreed upon are being marginalized. This state of affairs does not serve our coalition or Iraq or the future of Iraq. Performance should be based on the principle of partnership and agreement. This is the only way to build the new Iraq. The consequences of monopolizing authority are well known. This situation will not lead to any result in favor of Iraq.

    [Asharq Al-Awsat] After five years in rule and prior to that many long years of joint political action in the opposition where the goals and mechanisms were agreed upon at the opposition’s London conference in 2001, what does the federal government and where have you reached?

    [Barzani] Indeed, this is a question that puzzles us. We do not wish for anything outside the constitution and we do not want anything more than what the constitution gives us. We do not want anything more than what we have agreed upon in the constitution. The constitution was agreed upon by the majority of the Iraqi people and it sets rights and duties. We in the Kurdistan district are accurately committed to the articles of the constitution. We are not asking for more than what the constitution gives us. This includes Article140 (pertaining to the issue of Kirkuk and the disputed regions). Commitment to the constitution is the guarantee for safeguarding the unity of Iraq. It guarantees security and stability in Iraq and the building of a prosperous future for the Iraqi people. Thus, the constitution is the judge. No abiding by the constitution means potential disaster.

    [Asharq Al-Awsat] Do you think that the Kurds in Baghdad – I mean President Jalal Talabani, Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih, and even the Kurdish members of parliament – are capable of intervening in the political or security decision-making process?

    [Barzani] President Talabani definitely plays a major role in the political process as Mr. Talabani. However, as president of the republic, he does not have many powers. We do not know how the powers are distributed. He constitutes the gathering point of many political factions and entities in Iraq. Furthermore, the presidency of the republic, the prime ministry, the speaker of the Chamber of Deputies (the Parliament), and the ministers have specific powers. However, these powers are very often ignored and sidestepped.

    [Asharq Al-Awsat] Do you think that the government in Baghdad continues to behave with the logic of the strong brother and the weak brother?

    [Barzani] Unfortunately, we seem to be still under the influence of a totalitarian regime. The one that takes over power thinks he has the last word in everything and that it is his right to make decisions without consulting others. He forgets the coalitions, the commitments, and the constitution.

    [Asharq Al-Awsat] There are critical media reports inside and outside Iraq against the Kurds in Iraq. Are you aware of such reports?

    [Barzani] This is very true. This is what we feel and it constitutes a grave danger. This is part of the injustice that we have suffered and that we continue to suffer from. The media is trying to distort the image of the Kurds and the Kurdish people. However, we are fair. The role played by the Kurds in safeguarding Iraq, the unity of Iraq, and the Arab-Kurdish brotherhood is much bigger than the roles played by others in this regard. The Kurdish role is well known and cannot be denied. Unfortunately, however, they do not wish to recognize this role; they want to distort this role. After the fall of the regime, everyone knows that we could have proclaimed something else. However, Brother Talabani and I went to Baghdad and tried with the brothers to fill the vacuum that resulted. We helped in the electoral process and in the elections and in drafting the constitution. We protected vast regions in Iraq from terrorism and the terrorists. We protected and continue to protect many Arab families that fled from their regions as a result of the terrorist operations and came to the Kurdistan region. During the uprising (of 1991), two Iraqi army corps (the First Corps and the Fifth Corps) surrendered in our regions, but not a single Iraqi soldier was harmed. In fact, we gave them the options of returning to their families or immigrating to another state or staying in Kurdistan although we were still bleeding from the effects of the Operation Al-Anfal and the chemical shelling by the Iraqi army. I say yes, this is unfortunately an unjust [media] campaign. We call on those that are fair like yourselves and through your fair newspaper to help us in conveying the true picture of what you see here. We do not ask anyone to polish or embellish our image. We ask the media to tell the truth about the Kurds and about Kurdistan for the sake of honesty.

    [Asharq Al-Awsat] On the other hand, the Kurdish media is weak in conveying the true image of the Kurds and of the Kurdistan region and it ignores certain important issues that are taking place here.

    [Barzani] This is true; I agree with you that the performance of the Kurdish media is unsuccessful. This is regrettable.

    [Asharq Al-Awsat] Do you expect a confrontation to take place between you and the federal government or, shall we say, a Kurdish Arab government confrontation rather than a popular confrontation?

    [Barzani] We oppose any escalation and any confrontation. We have to abort the chances of those that are lying in wait for democratic Iraq and its democratic experiment. There are wicked and ill-intentioned hands that are pushing night and day toward escalation and confrontation. However, we are exerting all our efforts to avoid such a situation. Matters have not reached this stage of escalation between the [Kurdistan] region and the federal government. However, there are misunderstandings, differences in viewpoints, and differences on many issues. Through dialogue and meetings, we shall try to agree on the common points. The points that unite us are more than those that separate us from one another. But we have to admit that there are points of agreement. There may be differences on the concepts of democracy and federalism but we hope that matters would never reach the point of confrontation.

    [Asharq Al-Awsat] But the situation almost reached the point of confrontation in Khanaqin.

    [Barzani] Yes, it is true that it almost reached the point of confrontation, but this was the result of a big mistake. Everyone should understand that the Iraqi army is our army and it includes many Kurdish forces. There was the peshmerga and they later joined the Iraqi army. In fact, our Kurdish forces were the nucleus that formed the new Iraqi army. We want the Iraqi army to be educated well. It should be given a patriotic education based on the principle of protecting the homeland rather than on the principle of killing the citizens. The incidents that took place in Khanaqin constituted a big mistake. First of all, the Kurdish forces that were deployed in the region contributed to the consolidation of security and stability in Khanaqin. They purged the area of the terrorists and gangs that tampered with the security and safety of the citizens there. Secondly, these Kurdish forces went to Khanaqin at the invitation and request of the federal government. When the government asked the Kurdish forces to withdraw, they actually withdrew. However, the military forces that replaced the Kurdish forces arrived to raise provocative slogans and acted exactly like the former army that had committed crimes against the Kurdish people in the past, including the crimes that were committed during Operation Al-Anfal. Unfortunately, these forces arrived with the same slogans, the same mentality, and acted in the same manner. Naturally, we do not consider this to be the army of new Iraq. We consider it as an extension of the dictatorial Baathist army that destroyed Kurdistan and destroyed Iraq. I reiterate that we are not opposed to the deployment of the Iraqi army. If we are subjected to any aggression we shall ask the Iraqi army for help and if the Iraqi army asks for our help we shall send our forces to wherever they wish. We did that on several important and dangerous occasions. We are the ones that founded the Iraqi army but the conduct of a specific commander in the region is raising problems and reminding us of the tragic past.

    [Asharq Al-Awsat] Is it true that the government did not consult or take the opinion of Chief of Staff Babaker Zebari (a Kurd) and that the dispatching of the forces of the Iraqi army to Khanaqin was made without his knowledge?

    [Barzani] I believe that everything during this period is taking place behind the back of the chief of staff. He was not consulted and his presence has become nominal. Perhaps there is no use anymore for his remaining in this position.

    [Asharq Al-Awsat] Do you think that the events will drive you to proclaim your independence from Iraq?

    [Barzani] Independence is a natural right but it should be under reasonable and suitable conditions that can be implemented. We reserve this right and we consider it a natural right. It is not a crime to demand this right at all. Iraq belongs to us and to all the Iraqis. There are Kurds in Baghdad, Basra, and Mosul just as there are Arabs in Irbil, Al-Sulaymaniyah, and Dohuk. Irbil is for all the Iraqis just as Al-Sulaymaniyah, Dohuk, Basra, Baghdad, and Al-Najaf. I am surprised at this chauvinist attitude. If they do not consider us as Iraqis, they should tell us so frankly. We refuse to be treated as second-class Iraqis. We should have equal rights and duties. We have equal rights and we have equal duties. Otherwise, let them have the courage and proclaim that we are not Iraqis. Let them proclaim this and then we shall have an answer. Our Iraqi identity was not given to us as a gift by anyone. We have been on this land before those that now claim that they are more Iraqi than we are. We do not accept such outbidding from anyone.

    [Asharq Al-Awsat] Is it true that the restoration of Kirkuk of its “Kurdish identity” is one of the conditions for your independence or are you waiting to annex Kirkuk to the Kurdistan district in order for you to proclaim your independence, as some are saying?

    [Barzani] This is a wrong notion. Kirkuk is the symbol of the suffering of the Iraqi Kurds. The past wrong policies in Kirkuk have turned it into a special and very sensitive issue. These policies have left a deep wound in the heart of every Kurd. We want to resolve the issue, not to exacerbate it. Not solving the issue of Kirkuk means keeping a problem that is subject to explosion at any minute. Why do we not learn from our experience and from our past? There is an article in the Iraqi constitution that set a mechanism to resolve the issue of Kirkuk and other similar problems related to it since the issue is not just Kirkuk alone. The issue of Kirkuk can be solved and the problem ended in accordance with this article in the Iraqi constitution. Kirkuk is an Iraqi town just as Baghdad, Al-Sulaymaniyah, and Basra. But the problem is the insistence that Kirkuk should not be restored to the district of Kurdistan. We do not wish to regain Kirkuk by force. In accordance with Article 140 in the constitution, if the people of Kirkuk decide to return to the district of Kurdistan, they should not be prevented from doing so by anyone. If the majority of the people of Kirkuk decide – based on the mechanisms of Article 140 and following normalization, the census, and the referendum – not to return to Kurdistan, we shall respect their wish and we will not annex Kirkuk to Kurdistan by force. I firmly say and I firmly reiterate that the issue of Kirkuk regaining its Kurdish identity has nothing to do with the independence of Kurdistan. I reiterate that the independence of Kurdistan is a natural and legitimate right regardless of whether Kirkuk joins the Kurdistan district or not. It is a right that God has granted to every nation and every people.

    [Asharq Al-Awsat] What do the people of Kirkuk want? Do they want to return to the historic documents or do they want reality?

    [Barzani] They do not want to read the historic documents that date back to the Ottoman Empire or to the 1957 census. They claim that perhaps these are forged. I went to Kirkuk and said that I bring the message of brotherhood, peace, and amity. Part of the Arabs and Turkomen boycotted the meeting while a large part of Arab and Turkomen personages attended the meeting and I met with them. I told them with a brotherly spirit that we wish to turn Kirkuk into a model for religious, ethnic, and denominational co-existence. We told them that we would be open to them in a manner they cannot imagine. But we should solve this problem on the basis of Article 140. I told them that we will respect their opinion and whatever they decide. I found that many of the Arabs and Turkomen understand this issue and that it is in their interest to resolve the problem of Kirkuk just as it is in the interest of Iraq. I told them: Believe me, not solving this problem and finding alternatives to Article 140 is not in anyone’s interest and will make the problem get out of hand of everyone. Is this in the interest of Iraq? No, of course it is not. Furthermore, why did we exert efforts to draw up the constitution that we approved and that was approved by the majority of the Iraqi people? What use is the constitution if we do not respect it? We should respect our constitution.

    [Asharq Al-Awsat] Some are saying that the validity of Article 140has expired.

    [Barzani] How has it expired? This is an article in the constitution. If the validity of this article has expired it means that the validity of the whole constitution has expired. This is illogical.

    [Asharq Al-Awsat] Are there any worries that Turkey may interfere in the issue of Kirkuk?

    [Barzani] Kirkuk is an Iraqi town and its problem is an internal Iraqi affair. Neither Turkey nor any other country should interfere in this subject since it is an internal issue. Why should there be worries when Kirkuk is not a Turkish affair?

    [Asharq Al-Awsat] You have described the vote on Article 24 of the provincial elections law that took place in the Iraqi parliament last July as a conspiracy. By whom and against whom was this conspiracy?

    [Barzani] It was a conspiracy by countries in the region and some tools of these countries inside the Chamber of Deputies. But how were other deputies tricked and voted on the law? How did this conspiracy deceive those that we call partners who later felt the danger inherent in this issue? This is indeed what perplexed us.

    [Asharq Al-Awsat] Will you be forced to give up Kirkuk under certain circumstances?

    [Barzani] Never, we will not relinquish Kirkuk whatever the circumstances are. At the same time, we emphasize that the solution to the issue of Kirkuk will be clear and constitutional. We do not wish to resort to other means and we emphasize our constitutional and legal right.

    [Asharq Al-Awsat] If you discover that the door to negotiations is closed, will you resort to force to annex Kirkuk?

    [Barzani] We are working hard not to resort to this solution. We are seeking to implement Article 140 so that the issue would be resolved on the basis of the constitution.

    [Asharq Al-Awsat] What is your opinion on the call made by the provincial council in Kirkuk to join the district of Kurdistan? Do you think it is serious?

    [Barzani] Yes, it is a serious call and a subject of interest for Kurdistan. We are waiting for the federal parliament to resume its sessions. If they insist on finding an alternative to Article 140, we shall immediately respond to the request of the provincial council in Kirkuk.

    [Asharq Al-Awsat] Do you think there is an Arab campaign against the Kurds?

    [Barzani] The fact is that, yes, there is such a campaign. But how deep are the roots of this campaign and how is it conducted? We have to make certain of this. We have good relations with some Arab countries and leaders and I have personally visited several of them, such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Syria. I have also recently responded to an invitation by brother Muammar al-Qadhafi where we were very warmly received in Libya. When we talk to the leaders of these countries, we discover that they understand the Kurdish position and the historic and geographic partnership between the Arabs and Kurds. At the same time, we feel that there is an Arab campaign that is targeting us and that aims at distorting the image of Kurdistan and the Kurds. All we need are friends to help us in conveying the facts.

    [Asharq Al-Awsat] Are there many accusations against you in the[Arab] media?

    [Barzani] They have accused us of welcoming half a million Iranian and Turkish Kurds in order to change the demographic structure in Kirkuk. For God’s sake, brother, is it possible to hide half a million birds in Kirkuk, let alone half a million Kurds from Iran and Turkey? So far, we have not succeeded in returning half the Iraqi Kurds originally from Kirkuk that had been expelled by the former regime from their homes. How can we bring in Kurds from other countries and settle them in Kirkuk? I defy anyone to prove to me and to the world that there are Iraqi Kurds from Dohuk or Irbil or Al-Sulaymaniyah in Kirkuk in order to change the demographic structure. They have also accused us of assaulting the Arabs and Turkomen in Kirkuk. This is unacceptable. The Arabs and Turkomen are Iraqis and they are our brothers. We will not allow any Kurdish official to attack any Arab or Turkoman. Anyone that has any information about an attack by a Kurdish official let him bring it to us. Our record has to remain clean in this regard. Throughout the long years of the Kurdish revolt and after that, we did not kill a single captive of the Iraqi army or anyone else. The events of the resurgence [in 1991 against Saddam Hussein’s regime] and our welcoming of thousands of members of the Iraqi army that surrendered is the best evidence that attests to this fact. We respected the captives and we respected the principles of brotherhood and good neighborliness. When we were subjected to chemical bombardment and to the Al-Anfal operations we did not commit any act that harms the brotherhood so how can we do it now? These are all false charges. We welcome any Arab or western international commissions to come to Kurdistan on fact-finding missions to investigate these charges or to search Kirkuk for any Kurds that are not the original residents of the town. If it is proven that we attacked any citizen, we shall apologize and correct the mistake. In return, we want the true pictures to be conveyed about the warm relationship between the Kurds, Arabs, and Turkomen in Kirkuk or in any other region of Kurdistan. These are false rumors that are made by people that do not wish stability for this country. There are people that are not mature. They know the facts that are known to the Arabs but they do not wish to listen.

    [Asharq Al-Awsat] In your opinion, why were no Arab consulates opened here while western consulates have been opened in Irbil?

    [Barzani] We should first ask whether the Arab countries opened embassies or consulates in Baghdad before asking about Irbil. Last March, the conference of members of Arab parliaments was held in Irbil. This was a good omen, a good initiative, and a major step forward toward breaking the ice.

    [Asharq Al-Awsat] Have you sent invitations to Arab officials to visit Kurdistan?

    [Barzani] We do not wish to embarrass our Arab brethren. We send invitations only when we are almost certain that the invitation will be accepted. We understand the positions of the Arab officials in this regard.

    [Asharq Al-Awsat] The Iraqi flag is waving in Kurdistan and in front of the building of your headquarters. Were your positive responses to the requests of the Iraqi government met with similar responses by the federal government?

    [Barzani] The federal government is delinquent in this regard. Unfortunately, however, the media and some Iraqi politicians are blaming us for this and accusing us of being delinquent in this regard. The federal government makes many promises to us but does not implement them. I personally was given many promises when I visited Baghdad but many of these promises were not met. This is something that we do not understand.

    [Asharq Al-Awsat] What is your opinion on the demonstrations that recently erupted in Al-Najaf against annexing Kirkuk to Kurdistan?

    [Barzani] This was indeed odd and weird for us. It is one of the quirks of fate. Why were these demonstrations staged in Al-Najaf? We would understand if such demonstrations are staged in Kirkuk, but Kirkuk is distant from Al-Najaf.

    [Asharq Al-Awsat] How is your relationship with Turkey?

    [Barzani] Our relationship is normal. There is a slight improvement. We look forward to better development of these relations.

  • Bahraini King suggests rail link between GCC, Turkey

    Bahraini King suggests rail link between GCC, Turkey

    His Majesty the King, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa’s suggestion to establish a railway link between the GCC states and Turkey has been welcomed by observers as a strategic vision for a bright economic and political future for the region.

    Half of the ambitious project would be carried out by Saudi Arabia while the rest would be taken care of by the other GCC states which will enact laws and put in place mechanisms to implement the suggestion.

    During his recent visit to Turkey, King Hamad laid the moral cornerstone for the economic integration with Turkey through the project connecting Turkey with the Arabian Gulf.

    Observers did not expect such a suggestion and said it was the perfect time to start working on it thanks to the economic and political options offered by Turkey and the GCC states.

    There is a proposal to set up a link from Oman, the uae, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi, Kuwait, Iraq and then to Turkey. Another proposal suggests the network to start from Oman, the uae, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria to Turkey.

    The King Fahad Causeway will be the integral part in either project to reach Turkey.

    The gcc states set up a financial plan for the project by signing an agreement to establish a free trade zone with Turkey in May, 2005 in Bahrain. Negotiations are expected to start to implement the agreement.

    Bahrain has signed agreements with Turkey on avoidance of dual taxation and tax evasion to provide suitable atmosphere to attract investment.

    During the dinner banquet hosted in King Hamad’s honour, Turkish President Abdullah Gul said HM the King’s visit was a turning point in friendly ties between both countries.

    Gul said Istanbul paid great attention to the agreement on promoting strategic dialogue between Turkey and the gcc states.

    Turkish people believe that their economic potential meets the region’s demands and their country is a secure place for investment.

    King Hamad highlighted Turkey’s importance in the region and said the country links Asia and Europe and seeks peace, freedom and development for all which is the goal of every body in the Gulf.

    © Bahrain Tribune 2008

    Source: www.zawya.com, 1 Septewmber 2008

  • The reality of the Kurdish violence in Kirkuk

    The reality of the Kurdish violence in Kirkuk

    Mofak Salman Kerkuklu

    ITF Turkmen in Kirkuk after being attacked by the Kurds

    In the middle of August 2008. Iraq’s parliament reached an agreement on the Provincial Council Election Law, particularly with regard to Paragraph 24 of the law, which deals with the election mechanism in the Kirkuk Governorate. The postponement of the elections and adaptation of the division of Kirkuk to the three constituencies that include the proportion of 32 % for Arabs, Kurds, and Turkmen and 4% for Assyrians.

    Turkmen, Arab and Assyrians proposed equal distribution of provincial council seats in the Kirkuk region – which is outside the Kurdish territory. This was vetoed by President Jalal Talabani and his deputy, Adel Abdul Mahdi. 

    Before the voting, the Kurds rejected secret ballot whereas the opposition had requested a secret ballot and the members of the Iraqi parliament voted open and secret voting. The majority of members have decided for secret voting and the deputy parliamentary speaker Khalid al-Attiyah, a Shiite, said the secret ballot was unconstitutional and accused the lawmakers of “arm-twisting.”

    On the 22nd of August 2008, decision was made by 127 Iraqi members of parliament they voted in favour of the Provincial Council Election Law, particularly with regard to Paragraph 24 of the law, which deals with the election mechanism in the Kirkuk Governorate. The distribution of power that include the proportion of 32 % for Arabs, Kurds, and Turkmen and 4% for Assyrians. 

    The security of the town shall be controlled by the central government rather than the current military forces that are stationed in the town. The security forces that are linked to the political parties have to leave. 

    The bill was approved by 127 out of 140 deputies that attended the meeting and 10 of those members decided not to vote. Two of them decided to vote against and one MP submitted a blank ballot paper but the Iraq’s parliament still passed the law. The Kurds, along with the two deputy parliamentary speakers, walked out of the chamber after lawmakers decided to hold a secret ballot on a power-sharing item in the law for the disputed, oil-rich city of Kirkuk. This was vetoed by President Jalal Talabani and his deputy, Adel Abdul Mahdi. 

    On the 27th of July 2008 the secret police that are linked to both Kurdish parties distributed leaflets informing the people of Kirkuk, especially the Turkmen to participate in a protest that had been organised by the Kurds against the adoption of the law of elections for provincial assemblies causing a postponement of elections in the city for an indefinite period. Also the Kurdish police whom accompanied the Kurdish Asayish informed the Turkmen shop owners to close their shops and anyone who opened his shop would be subjected to punishment and his shop will be ransacked. The Kurdish Asayish separated roamers that all the governmental buildings would be close and the Kurdish directors in Kirkuk informed the Turkmen employees not to attend to work and anyone failing to do so he/she will be punished and his wages will be cut. 

    As the result of this, the Turkmen population in the Kirkuk was extremely worried and concerned as this event reminded the Turkmen of the Kurdish massacre of the Turkmen in 1959, when Turkmen were burned, killed,/executed. Some were attached to ropes and pulled behind cars in the mains street of Kirkuk by the Kurds and some communist party members. As a result, panic among the Turkmen population in Kirkuk caused them to approach the Turkmen member of the Kirkuk governing council Mr. Hassan Turan and Turkmen Chief of Police Burhan Tayip, asking for advice and help. 

    So on the 27th of July both Mr. Hassan Turan approached the Kirkuk governor Mr. Mustafa Abdullrahman who is a Kurd. After a lengthy meeting and discussion with him on this subject, Mr. Mustafa Abdullrahman acknowledged to Mr. Hassan Tuan that a Kurdish protest has been organised and he assured Mr. Hassan Turan but all the government offices shall be opened and participation in the demonstration is not compulsory. 

    But on the afternoon and evening of the 27th of July Mr. Hassan Turan and Turkmen Chief Police in Kirkuk Mr. Burhan Tayip and also Turhan Abdurrahman appeared on Turkmeneli TV advising the worried Turkmen population about the demonstration. What they have to do. Measures that are needed to be taken and both advised the Turkmen citizens to carry out their normal business. Shop keepers are free to open their shops and all governmental offices would open and no one should be forced to participate in this demonstration. He also mentioned that the Kurds have the right to demonstrate in order to express their protest. Both advised the population to be calm and avoid any provocation that might be implemented by the other side (which he meant by the Kurds). 

    In the meantime, the Kirkuk governor Mr., Mustafa Abdullrahman who is a Kurd never appeared on the TV or on radio to assure the population in Kirkuk this is going to be a Kurdish demonstration and no one is forced to attend this protest. Whereas the Kurdish directors for many government offices have openly threatened Turkmens staff their salaries will be cut if they do not participate in the protest. The Kurdish police have threatened the shop keepers to close their shops and any shop that opens will be looted and destroyed.

    In the meantime on the 27th of July, mini bus drivers owned by the Turkmen reported that their car disc and certificate of Insurance had been forcedly taken by the Kurdish police and they were informed this would be returned when these drivers transport the Kurdish demonstrators to the meeting point free of charge.

    On the 28th of July, prior to the demonstration the local government in Kirkuk and Kurdish-led personnel of the two Kurdish parties blocked all road access that lead to government works places. They set up various checking point in order to prevent the people from going to their work.

    The shop keepers were forced to close their shops and Kurdish director in various governmental offices locked the main doors to prevent the people from attending their work place and forced the employees to participate in the demonstration. 

    At about 9.00am, approximately three thousand Kurdish protesters gathered near Turkmen Castel (Qelat Kirkuk) as a meeting point to commence their protest towards the Kirkuk governing in order to show their anger and to condemn the adoption of the law of elections for provincial assemblies and causing a postponement of elections in the city for an indefinite period by the Iraqi government. 

    Since the security of the town is controlled by both the US forces and the police in Kirkuk, thus they were obliged to guarantee the safety and security for the people in Kirkuk, but it was negligence on behalf of the US forces for granting permission for the Kurdish protest to go ahead and especially allowing the Kurdish protestors to pass through a routes that are mainly Turkmen neighbourhood, This protest was designed by the Kurds to show their mussels and to provoke the Turkmen population in the town. Nevertheless, the demonstration commenced from Qelat Kirkuk toward the Kirkuk governing office to demand the holding of elections and the application of Article 140 for the normalization of the situation in the province. 

    According to the eyewitness, Kurdish demonstrators, Kurdish police wearing civil clothes were brought from outside of the Turkmen city of Kirkuk such as Erbil and Suleymaniyah by mini buses, private cars and police cars. This was to mislead the media and to show the world that the overwhelming population of Kirkuk was refusing the decision of the Iraqi central government towards the adoption of the law of elections for provincial assemblies causing a postponement of elections in the city for an indefinite period. 

    The Kurdish demonstrators prior the demonstration were seen carrying automatic weapons, pistols, iron bars, baseball bats and Kurdish flags. The protestors were escorted and protected by the local police forces that mainly consist of Kurds and also Kurdish secret service police who are known as Asayish.

    The Kurdish protestors walked through the street of Kirkuk and chanting patriotic songs and provocation slogans against the Arabs and the Turkmens. Almost at 11am on the 28/7/2008 at the [Nafura] fountain area opposite to the Kirkuk governate, an explosion occurred and according to the Kurdish police, the explosion was caused by a female suicide bomber. Killing at least 22 and injuring at least 120 while the Kurdish were demonstrating but no one claimed responsibility for the bombing, which bore the hallmarks of Sunni Arab extremists. Nonetheless, many in the crowd blamed Kurds extremists for the attack. 

    After the explosion, the Kurdish guards started to open fire, shooting into the air as “Najat Hassam, a senior member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), quoted by AFP as saying.”More people responded to the gunfire with heavy shooting. The rumours in the towns was that the Kurdish police carried out this attack in order to create chaos, instability and to show the world that they are the victims but the more realistic reason was that to create a civil war thus the Kurdish militia would have a good reason to enter the town with large numbers of Kurdish militia. 

    Turkmen properties after being attacked by the Kurds

    But within a few minutes, rumours and misleading information was started by the Kurdish police stating, the explosion was caused by the Turkmen. The Kurdish Asayish started directing the protestors to attack the Turkmen targets in the city of Kirkuk. Elsewhere, the media started broadcasting Kurdish news claiming that the Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITF) guards opened fire on the Kurdish demonstrators and that the Kurdish demonstrators defended themselves by replying back. 

    The protesters attacked the headquarters of the ITF party headquarters, the head quarter of the political prisoners and families of martyrs, Sonuber hotel, Turkmen shops and Turkmen properties. But the most striking thing was that the Turkmeneli TV Station was attacked and its content was burnt prior to the blast.

    The ITF head office is approximately a distance of one kilometer away from the site of the blast and the ITF headquarters is located in a residential area and not on the main street as was stated by the Kurdish media. 

    A large number of Kurdish armed demonstrators escorted with Kurdish police opened heavy fire to the Turkmen guards whom were guarding the building which this resulted injury one of the guards, including the head of the security personnel. They set ablaze to their vehicles; the demonstrators later attacked Turkmen properties and the set a light to the cars and properties of the Turkmen people. Then the Kurdish Asayish burst into the ITF office and burnt it contents and cause a tremendous damages to the building and its contents. Then the Kurdish secret police kidnapped five Turkmen guards including the injured person. 

    One of the ITF guards was wounded and after they ran out of ammunition no help arrived from the police. Then the ITF building was stormed by the Kurdish secret police and the armed demonstrators. The five Turkmen guards including the injured guard were taken to the undisclosed location by the Kurdish Asayish.

    Then the content of the Iraqi ITF building was ransacked and its content was set on the fire. Staff cars and ITF cars were set on fire and all this happened in the presence of the local Kirkuk police whom are mainly Kurds. All these atrocities occurred in the front of the eyes US forces and local police. The police forces in Kirkuk didn’t take any action against the protesters but kept watching them. 

    ITF in Kirkuk after being attacked by Kurdish militia
    Turkmen properties being attacked by the Kurds
    ITF in Kirkuk after being attacked by Kurdish militia

    But the most interesting thing was that after the explosion Mr.Yahya Albarzenchi, of Kurdish origin, a Cameraman working for Associated Press was taking images for the Kurdish protestors who are attacking the Turkmen, but unfortunately the protestors thought that Mr. Yahiya Albarzenchi is a Turkmen citizen working for the Turkmeneli TV station as a Cameraman. He was immediately attacked by the Kurdish crowds with fists, sticks, iron bars and was kicked variously while he was lying on the ground unconscious. The footage of the attack on the Mr.Yahya Albarzenchi the cameraman working for Associated Press was shown frequently on the Turkmeneli TV Satellite on the 30th of July 2008. The Turkmeneli TV showed how the Kurdish mobs had beaten Mr.Yahya Albarzenchi even when he was unconscious on the ground. But prior to this film footage the Kurdish police announced that the Mr.Yahya Albarzenchi was among the dead during the blast. 

    Turkmen properties being attacked by the Kurds

    After the explosion, the Kurdish police had set up check point on the road that leads into and out of Kirkuk. Cars were stopped and searched. Turkmen individuals were taken out of the car and attacked, beaten, abused and their car was smashed before leaving the check point. The attack on the Turkmens was widely condemned by Iraqi politicians, civil organizations and Turkmen organisations but the most striking thing was that Kirkuk governor and Iraqi president Jalal Talabani whom both is Kurds did not condemn the attack on the Turkmen in Kirkuk. 

    Turkmen properties being attacked by the Kurds

    The problem of Kirkuk is not a constitutional one but lies in the ambiguity of Article 140. According to article 140 of Iraqi constitution, the problem of the disputed areas, notably the oil-rich province of Kirkuk, addressed three stages of a normalization and then to conduct a census among the population, followed by a referendum on the fate of areas which will decide whether Kirkuk will join the Conservatives or the Kurdistan region. It was supposed to accomplish those stages during a maximum period of 31 December last year a deadline which was extended by the united nation representative without the approval of the central government for six months ending on June 30th.

    Turkmen properties being attacked by the Kurds

    Nevertheless, the Kurdish Brotherhood List at the Kirkuk Governorate Council held an extraordinary meeting on the 31/7/2008. The 24 members of the 41-member of the Kirkuk Governorate Council presented a request to the Kurdistan Region Government and the Iraqi parliament to make the governorate part of Kurdistan Region as they believe that Article 140 of the Constitution has not been implemented and that Article 24 of the Provincial Council Election Draft Law does not meet their ambitions. 

    Whereas the Turkmen and Arabs regarded this extraordinary session as illegal. Also the Turkmen leadership has requested to replace the Kurdish police in Kirkuk with army forces from central and southern Iraq, the postponement of the elections and adaptation of the division of Kirkuk to the three constituencies include the proportion of 32 % for both Arabs and Kurds and Turkmen and 4% for Assyrians

    In the meantime, on the 31/7/2008, a statement by the Turkish Foreign Ministry was released regarding the issue of Kirkuk, which stated that the Turkish Foreign Ministry were concerned and were deeply alarmed about the demand by some members of the governorate of Kirkuk, regarding a Kurdish list to join the Northern Department. The Turkish Ministry of Foreign affairs said in a statement: ‘We in Turkey express our deep concern on what we see and what happened in the governorate of Kirkuk, where some members agreed to join the Council in Kirkuk to the north of Iraq and Turkey’s position on Kirkuk would not have ever changed in the present and future and the Arab and Turkmen called this moves by the Kurd as a provocation.’ 

    However, on the 2/8/2008 the Arabs in the distrust of Hawija demonstrated against the Kurdish decision and the Turkmeneli Camera was there to show the plight of the Arabs. He was arrested when he returned to the check point that was set up by the Kurdish police at the entrance to Kirkuk. He was interrogated, abused verbally and physically. 

    Mofak salman Kerkuklu graduated in England with a BSc in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Oxford Brookes University and completed an MSc in Medical Electronics and Physics at London University and an MSc in Computing Science and Information Technology at South Bank University. He is also a Chartered Engineer from the Institution of Engineers of Ireland. Mr.Mofak Salman is the author of Brief History of Iraqi Turkmen and Turkmen of Iraq and The Turkmen City of Tuz Khormatu. He is the Turkmeneli Party representative for both the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom. He has had a large number of articles published in various newspapers and websites.

    This book was written with four clear purposes in mind: firstly, to make an assessment of the current position of Turkmen in Kirkuk; secondly, to highlight the oppression of Turkmen after the toppling of Saddam Hussein’s regime; thirdly, to introduce a brief history of the Turkmen in Iraq to the world; and finally, to draw the world’s attention to the situation and the oppression of Turkmen in Iraq and also to reveal the Kurdish atrocities against the Turkmen