mardi 30 novembre 2010

Talabani promised Turkomen leading state post - MP

29 November 2010

KIRKUK: President Jalal Talabani promised to grant the Turkomen community the post of vice-president or deputy prime minister in the new government, an Iraqi Turkomen Legislature from al-Iraqiya Coalition has stated.


"President Jalal Talabani, in a meeting with Turkomen Members of Parliament on Sunday, has expressed support for our demands for a leading state position in the government, such as vice-president or deputy prime minister," Arshad al-Salehy told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

"A special law must be promulgated by the Iraqi Parliament in this respect, and I shall support your (Turkomen) demands in the parliament. I shall become the leading defender of Turkomen, to grant them a leading state position, because they have suffered enough, and more than others," Salehy quoted Talabani as saying.

Turkomen, the third national community after the Arabs and Kurds, exist in Ninewa, Kirkuk, Diala, Erbil and Baghdad. The leading Turkomen political parties in Iraq are: the Iraqi Turkomen Front, the Islamic Union of Iraq's Turkomen, the Turkomen Justic Party, the Turkomen Homeland Party, the Support Movement for Iraq's Turkomen, the Turkomen Islamic Movement, the Turkomen Eli Party and others.

© Aswat Aliraq 2010
http://www.zawya.com/story.cfm/sidZAWYA20101130054403

lundi 29 novembre 2010

Whole Body Backscatter X-Ray Airport Security Scanners: Serious Health Risks for Air Travel Passengers

A MUST READ




By Profs. John Sedat and Elizabeth Blackburn and Marc Shuman

Global Research, November 29, 2010


The following is a letter from members of the University of California San Francisco - to Dr John P Holdren, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology

Dear Dr Holdren,

We, a number of University of California, San Francisco faculty, are writing -- see attached memo -- to call to your attention our concerns about the potential serious health risks of the recently adopted whole body backscatter X-ray airport security scanners. This is an urgent situation as these X-ray scanners are rapidly being implemented as a primary screening step for all air travel passengers.

By way of introduction one of us (John Sedat) met you recently when he and his wife Dr Elizabeth Blackburn, a 2009 Nobel Laureate, talked with President Obama last December.

Dr Sedat is Professor Emeritus in Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of California San Francisco, with expertise in imaging. He is also a member of The National Academy of Sciences. The other co-signers include Dr Marc Shuman, an internationally well known and respected cancer expert and UCSF professor, as well as Drs David Agard and Robert Stroud, who are UCSF Professors, X-ray crystallographers, imaging experts and NAS members.

Sincerely Yours

Professors John Sedat, Elizabeth Blackburn, Marc Shuman, David Agard, Robert Stroud




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

LETTER OF CONCERN

We are writing to call your attention to serious concerns about the potential health risks of the recently adopted whole body backscatter X-ray airport security scanners. This is an urgent situation as these X-ray scanners are rapidly being implemented as a primary screening step for all air travel passengers.

Our overriding concern is the extent to which the safety of this scanning device has been adequately demonstrated. This can only be determined by a meeting of an impartial panel of experts that would include medical physicists and radiation biologists at which all of the available relevant data is reviewed.

An important consideration is that a large fraction of the population will be subject to the new X-ray scanners and be at potential risk, as discussed below. This raises a number of ‘red flags’. Can we have an urgent second independent evaluation?

The Red Flags

The physics of these X-rays is very telling: the X-rays are Compton-Scattering off outer molecule bonding electrons and thus inelastic (likely breaking bonds).

Unlike other scanners, these new devices operate at relatively low beam energies (28keV). The majority of their energy is delivered to the skin and the underlying tissue. Thus, while the dose would be safe if it were distributed throughout the volume of the entire body, the dose to the skin may be dangerously high.

The X-ray dose from these devices has often been compared in the media to the cosmic ray exposure inherent to airplane travel or that of a chest X-ray. However, this comparison is very misleading: both the air travel cosmic ray exposure and chest Xrays have much higher X-ray energies and the health consequences are appropriately understood in terms of the whole body volume dose. In contrast, these new airport scanners are largely depositing their energy into the skin and immediately adjacent tissue, and since this is such a small fraction of body weight/vol, possibly by one to two orders of magnitude, the real dose to the skin is now high.

In addition, it appears that real independent safety data do not exist. A search, ultimately finding top FDA radiation physics staff, suggests that the relevant radiation quantity, the Flux [photons per unit area and time (because this is a scanning device)] has not been characterized. Instead an indirect test (Air Kerma) was made that emphasized the whole body exposure value, and thus it appears that the danger is low when compared to cosmic rays during airplane travel and a chest X-ray dose. In summary, if the key data (flux-integrated photons per unit values) were available, it would be straightforward to accurately model the dose being deposited in the skin and adjacent tissues using available computer codes, which would resolve the potential concerns over radiation damage.

Our colleagues at UCSF, dermatologists and cancer experts, raise specific important concerns:

• A) The large population of older travelers, >65 years of age, is particularly at risk from the mutagenic effects of the X-rays based on the known biology of melanocyte aging.

• B) A fraction of the female population is especially sensitive to muta genesis provoking radiation leading to breast cancer. Notably, because these women, who have defects in DNA repair mechanisms, are particularly prone to cancer, X-ray mammograms are not performed on them. The dose to breast tissue beneath the skin represents a similar risk.

• C) Blood (white blood cells) perfusing the skin is also at risk.

• D) The population of immuno compromised individuals--HIV and cancer patients (see above) is likely to be at risk for cancer induction by the high skin dose.

• E) The risk of radiation emission to children and adolescents does not appear to have been fully evaluated. • F) The policy towards pregnant women needs to be defined once the theoretical risks to the fetus are determined.

• G) Because of the proximity of the testicles to skin, this tissue is at risk for sperm mutagenesis.

• H) Have the effects of the radiation on the cornea and thymus been determined?

Moreover, there are a number of ‘red flags’ related to the hardware itself. Because this device can scan a human in a few seconds, the X-ray beam is very intense. Any glitch in power at any point in the hardware (or more importantly in software) that stops the device could cause an intense radiation dose to a single spot on the skin. Who will oversee problems with overall dose after repair or software problems? The TSA is already complaining about resolution limitations; who will keep the manufacturers and/or TSA from just raising the dose, an easy way to improve signal-to-noise and get higher resolution? Lastly, given the recent incident (on December 25th), how do we know whether the manufacturer or TSA, seeking higher resolution, will scan the groin area more slowly leading to a much higher total dose? After review of the available data we have already obtained, we suggest that additional critical information be obtained, with the goal to minimize the potential health risks of total body scanning. One can study the relevant X-ray dose effects with modern molecular tools.

Once a small team of appropriate experts is assembled, an experimental plan can be designed and implemented with the objective of obtaining information relevant to our concerns expressed above, with attention paid to completing the information gathering and formulating recommendations in a timely fashion. We would like to put our current concerns into perspective. As longstanding UCSF scientists and physicians, we have witnessed critical errors in decisions that have seriously affected the health of thousands of people in the United States. These unfortunate errors were made because of the failure to recognize potential adverse outcomes of decisions made at the federal level.

Crises create a sense of urgency that frequently leads to hasty decisions where unintended consequences are not recognized. Examples include the failure of the CDC to recognize the risk of blood transfusions in the early stages of the AIDS epidemic, approval of drugs and devices by the FDA without sufficient review, and improper standards set by the EPA, to name a few. Similarly, there has not been sufficient review of the intermediate and long-term effects of radiation exposure associated with airport scanners. There is good reason to believe that these scanners will increase the risk of cancer to children and other vulnerable populations. We are unanimous in believing that the potential health consequences need to be rigorously studied before these scanners are adopted. Modifications that reduce radiation exposure need to be explored as soon as possible.

In summary we urge you to empower an impartial panel of experts to re-evaluate the potential health issues we have raised before there are irrevocable long-term consequences to the health of our country.

These negative effects may on balance far outweigh the potential benefit of increased detection of terrorists.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

www.globalresearch.ca contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available to our readers under the provisions of "fair use" in an effort to advance a better understanding of political, economic and social issues. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes other than "fair use" you must request permission from the copyright owner.

For media inquiries: crgeditor@yahoo.com

© Copyright John Sedat, Global Research, 2010

The url address of this article is:
www.globalresearch.ca/PrintArticle.php?articleId=22153

samedi 27 novembre 2010

International Seminar on the situation of Iraqi Academics, Ghent University, Belgium


International Seminar on the situation of IRAQI ACADEMICS
Defending education in times of war and occupation
March 9 - 10 - 11 2011
Ghent University

The aim of the seminar is to draw international attention to the ongoing criminal violence against Iraqi academics, to situate this violence within the wider dynamics of the ongoing occupation of Iraq, and to work towards practical remedies. (more information about the seminar: click here)

An organization of Ghent University, Middle East and North Africa Research Group, MENARG & The BRussells Tribunal in cooperation with IACIS, International Association of Contemporary Iraqi Studies, Vrede, 11.11.11 & IAON, International Anti-occupation Network and with the support of ICMES, International Council for Middle East Studies and EURAMES, European Association for Middle East Studies.


Under US occupation, Iraq’s intellectual and technical class has been subject to a systematic and ongoing campaign of intimidation, abduction, extortion, random killings and targeted assassinations. Running parallel with the destruction of Iraq’s educational infrastructure, this repression has led to the mass displacement of the bulk of Iraq’s educated middle class. The consequences for Iraq’s social, economic and political reconstruction are grave.

Now, in the eighth year of a US occupation that shows few signs of ending, the BRussells Tribunal and the Middle East and North Africa Research Group (MENARG) of the Ghent University call for renewed attention to the situation of Iraqi higher education and academic life, stressing its importance to the rebuilding of the country, and the well-being of its people.

THE SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE OF THE GHENT SEMINAR

RUDDY DOOM, Professor Ghent University

PATRICK DEBOOSERE, Professor Brussels University

SAAD JAWAD, Professor and pas president of Iraq's professors association

FRANCOIS HOUTART, former senior advisor to the President of the United Nations General Assembly

SOUAD AL-AZZAWI, former Professor at Baghdad University

TAREQ ISMAEL, Professor at Calgari University

DENIS HALLIDAY, former humanitarian coordinator in Iraq

ZUHAIR AL SHAROOK, former President of Mosul University

IMAD KHADDURI, former member of the Iraqi Atomic Energy Commission

OMAR K.H.AL-KUBAISSI, Head of Postgraduate Department at Ibn Al Bitar Hospital Baghdad

JEAN BRICMONT, Professor at the Université catholique de Louvain

CYNTHIA MCKINNEY, former member of the US House of Representatives

MOHAMMED AREF, former advisor to Arab Science & Technology Foundation

HANS-CHRISTOF VON SPONECK, former humanitarian coordinator in Iraq


Please click on the link below:

Oil Companies Begin Work In Iraq, But How Many Jobs Will They Provide?

When Oil Minister Hussein Shahristani signed oil contracts with foreign companies in 2009 he promised up to 100,000 new jobs for Iraqis. Now that those corporations have begun work in southern Iraq it’s yet to be seen whether that many people will find employment. Royal Dutch Shell, British Petroleum (BP), China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), and Petronas have all started operating in Basra province.

Shell and Malaysia’s Petronas won a contract for the Majnoon field with 12.58 billion barrels of reserves. BP-CNPC successfully bid on the Rumaila field with reserves of 7.3 billion barrels. They already have seven rigs drilling new wells, and want to drill 40 more by the end of the year. They are also building a new compound in the Rumaila field to house hundreds of their employees.

As a result the state-run South Oil Company, which is in a joint venture with BP-CNPC has hired five hundred new workers. The corporation has also sent in 100 new managers, but those were all expatriate Iraqis. The contracts signed last year require the foreign businesses to invest in and train new Iraqi employees.

The country is short managers, supervisors, and engineers. There are two problems however. Since BP, CNPC, and others need workers now they are likely to use their own or hire foreign ones since Iraq doesn’t have enough right now. Also, the petroleum industry is not labor intensives. That means even at its best, there would not be a lot of jobs available from these contracts.

If Iraq is looking for employment, it will have to hope for spin-off work instead. Doing business in Iraq requires a huge amount of infrastructure improvements such as new roads, power plants, reservoirs, oil storage facilities, pipelines, and rehabilitating and expanding ports. The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs claimed that this construction work could lead to up to 1.3 million jobs, and that contracts will require 85% of the workers to be Iraqis.

The government can only hope for such a development as the country suffers from high unemployment and underemployment, especially amongst the young, with 57% of 15-29 year olds having no jobs. Not only that, but 240,000 new people enter the labor force each year. The two are intimately connected. Without the increased oil production, there would not be enough money to pay for all the other development projects. Iraq is depending upon this job boom otherwise it might turn out to be a typical oil country where the largest industry provides all the nation’s funds, but few jobs, so the government creates thousands of useless ones simply to prevent social unrest.

SOURCES

Canty, Daniel, “Iraq’s skill shortage: Challenge vs. Opportunity,” Arabian Oil and Gas, 5/5/10

Cummins, Chip, “Iraq’s Oil Patch Opens the Spigot,” Wall Street Journal, 11/11/10

Daood, Mayada, “12 million barrels of oil promise to solve unemployment problem,” Niqash, 2/12/10

Department of Defense, “Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq June 2010,” 9/7/10

Reed, Stanley and Razzouk, Nayla, “Iraq’s Economy Wakes Up,” Business Week, 4/22/10

http://musingsoniraq.blogspot.com/

vendredi 26 novembre 2010

Talabani Invents a New Constitutional Clause, by Reidar Visser

Posted by Reidar Visser on Thursday, 25 November 2010 21:02


The BBC managed to create a story from Iraq today: “Iraq is moving one step closer to forming its next government”.

The intrepid Gabriel Gatehouse identified developments as “important”.

An Iraqi was interviewed and expressed hope that Nuri al-Maliki would form a government that would be “professional… and free from sectarian quota-sharing (muhasasa ta’ifiyya).

The BBC elected to not translate the latter part of the comment, preferring instead to serve more traditional fare: “Government to include Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds” shrieked a rolling headline.

In actual fact, today’s “development” in Iraq was entirely uninteresting, save perhaps the fact that it managed to delude the world’s so-called leading news provider (again). The truth is that President Jalal Talabani today repeated exactly what he did on 11 November: He charged Nuri al-Maliki with forming the next government.

There is absolutely no constitutional basis for first charging Maliki once and then doing it all over, supposedly in a more “official” way, 15 days later. Talabani could have waited 15 days before naming anyone, but he didn’t. Constitutionally speaking, his action today is completely bid‘a (innovation) and arguably unconstitutional.

Everyone knows that the real reason Talabani did this was to give Maliki more time to form the next government, ostensibly 30 days, but everyone knows that that deadline, in turn, will be violated too.

Perhaps more interesting as an indication of where we are headed is the announcement today by Ali al-Allaq of State of Law that new ministries will be created!
Of course they will. That is not to serve “Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds” as per the hapless BBC headline, but to satisfy the requirements of greedy politicians claiming to speak in the name of those communities.

http://gulfanalysis.wordpress.com/2010/11/25/talabani-invents-a-new-constitutional-clause/#comments

mercredi 24 novembre 2010

The President of the Republic of Turkey, Abdullah Gül, received Iraq Turkmen Front Turkey Representative Hicran Kazancı


Hicran Kazancı at Çankaya Palace

24 November 2010


The President of the Republic of Turkey, Abdullah Gül, received Turkmen Front Turkey Representative Hicran Kazancı at the Çankaya Palace.

At the reception, President Gül said that the executed activities and statements were very positive. President Gül said that efforts to support the Turkmen and stability in Iraq will continue.

Mr. Kazancı thanked Presidential Chief Advisor Erşat Hürmüzlü and Presidential Advisor Özcan Şahin who were also present at the reception for the interest and concern given to the Turkmen’s cause.

Kerkuk.net

Erbil Irak Türklerin ikinci Şehridir, Sadun Köprülü


Erbil Irak Türklerin ikinci Şehridir


Sadun KÖPRÜLÜ




Irak Türklerinin Kerkük şehrinden sonra, Öz Be Öz ikinci Türk Şehri sayılan Erbil şehri günümüzde Bölgesel Kürt Yönetiminin başkenti halına gelmiştir.

Erbil Kürtlerinin baskısı altında Mesut Barzani tarafından işgal altında yaşamaktadır .


Yüce Tarihli bir Türk şehri olan Erbil uzun yıllardan beri Zagros Dağları’nın eteklerinde, Aşağı ve Yukarı Zap suları arasında kurulan tarih boyunca atabeylerin büyük uygarlık devletleri ile tanınarak, toprağı Türklükle coşan, her bir yeri Türk olan kurmuş olduğu devletlerinin Irak’ı uzun yıllar hüküm eden bir Türk şehridir.

Irak Türklerin tarihini incelemiş olursak Irak'a giriş tarihleri, Türklerin Anadolu'ya girmeden daha önceye uzanmış olduğunu görürüz, Irak’ın kuruluşundan öncede Türkler bu topraklarda yaşamışlardır H. 54 yıllarında sonrada Türkler Abbasiler döneminde çoğunluk olarak
Defalarca Irak’a yerleşerek ve Sultan Tuğrul Bey'in 1055 yılında, Oğuz boylarından oluşan ordusuyla Irak'a girerek,
Özellikle Irak’ın Kuzeyinde Atabeylikler kurulmuşlardır.

Bu Atabeyliklerden Musul Atabeyliği (1127-1233) ile Erbil Atabeyliği (1144-1233) dır.

Ve Muzaffereddin Gökbörü 1190 yılından, 1233 yılına kadar 43 yıl Erbil’de hüküm sürerek, bu dönem Erbil Türkleri için en
Önemli altın bir çağ dönemi sayılmıştır. Sultan Muzaffereddin
Gökbörü, Atabeyliğin payitahtı olan Erbil'in surlarını ve çarşılarını yeniden inşa ederek, büyütmüştür.
Böylece Erbil şehri Muzaffereddin Gökbörü, ve Moğollardan sonra Celayirliler, Karakoyunlular, Akkoyunlular,
Safeviler ve birinci. Dünya Savaşı'na kadar Türk Osmanlıların yönetimi altında kalmıştır.

Şehrin en eski yerleşme merkezi tarihi Erbil kalesidir, Ayrıca Muzaffereddin Gökbörü tarafından yapılanı cami ve medreseler minaresiyle belli olan millet arasında "Çöl adıyla tanınan bu Minare günümüzde 37 metre olarak durmaktadır.

Erbil Kerkük şehri gibi tanınan bir Türk şehri olarak önemli bir kültür ve sanat toprağıdır tarih boyunca birçok şair, yazar bilgin ve sanatkâr yetiştirmiştir

Erbil eskiden kurmuş olduğu devletlerle Irak Selçukluları yönetiminden sonra 1144 tarihinden Beytekin hanedanından Küçük Ali'nin ve Erbil Atabeklerinin uzun süre başkenti olarak tanınmıştır.

Erbil Müzaffereddin Gökbörü
Döneminde (1136-1190) tarihinde imar edilerek Erbil şehri iki yandan gelişerek, Aşağı Erbil ırmağı kenarında geniş bir alana yayılarak, Yukarı Erbil bir tepe üzerinde kale içine kurulmuştur.
Ve Kalenin duvarları eski kalıntılar üzerine Müzaffereddin Gökbörü tarafından yeniden inşa edilmiştir .

Gökbörü döneminden sonra Erbil şehri Abbasiler tarafından hüküm edilerek, ve Erbil, Moğolların hükmü altına geçerek, uzun süre acı karışık ve sıkıntılı dönemlerde yaşamıştır.

1849'da tarihinde tamir edilerek
Gökbörü, devletinin ve saltanatının Yurdu olarak İslâm dünyasında büyük bir önem kazanmıştır.

Aşağı Erbil'de yüksek minareli bir ulu cami, bir medrese, 4 dârûl-aceze, dul ve öksüz, kimsesiz yurtları yaptırarak şehirde Türk izleriyle donatmıştır.

Erbil merkezi, büyük bir ticaret o dönemde olduğundan dolayı 1309 (Rumi) Musul Salnamesi'ne göre, 4.000 nüfuslu kasaba içinde milletinin Türkçe konuştuğunu, 2 cami, 10 mescit, 6 medrese, 5 çocuk okulu 5 dârûl-aceze, 1 kışla ve 3 hamam bulunduğunu yazmaktadır, Şemsettin Sami Albeni ve tüm tarih kitaplarında Erbil şehrinin bir Türk şehri olduğunu kanıtlamaktadır,

Bugün durum tam değişerek 1991'dan günümüze kadar Erbil Talabani ve sonradan Barzani Kürtlerin baskısı altında kalarak, yüzde yüz bir Türk şehri olarak Kültleşme politikası tüm hızıyla sürmektedir.


Özelikle Erbil Türk Şehrinin demografik yapısı 1970 yıllardan beri değişmeye başlamıştır ve günümüzde Irak Türkleri Kürtlerin şehre akımı yoğunlaşması hızla gelişmelerine, yerleşmelerine rağmen Türkler yine çoğunluktadırlar.

Erbil’in Kuzeyi büyük Zap’ın Güneyi ise küçük zapın geçmesiyle Erbil bölgesinin verimli toprağıyla ortalık güzel bir alanı Irak’ın en güzel yerini yazlıklarını yeşillik bir çevreyi, doğalı kapsamaktadır.
Sahip olduğu şirin toprağı havası can yakıcı güzelliği insanlara umutlar vererek, yaşamın tadını göstergesidir. Tarım alanında çok zengin olarak ürünleri Buğday, arpa, darı, tütün yetiştirtmektedir.

Şehrin kırsal kesimlerin de küçükbaş hayvancılığının var olduğunu görmekteyiz.
Erbil geniş bir toprağı ile yolun üstünde olan şehirlerimizden olmakla konumu gerekçesiyle Musul, Bağdat ve Basra yollarıyla bitişme noktası olmasıyla ayrıca karayolu ile İran’a yakın olmasıyla öte yandan Türkiye topraklarına yakın sayıla bilinir ve bu nedenle Erbil şehri stratejik önemini yerini korumaktadır.

Erbil şehrinin konumunun nedeni ile tarım alanında elverişli büyük alanda ziraat ürünleri olmaktadır.
Ve Bölgede tarımsal üretim ulaşmaktadır, Temel üretim yetişmekle ayrıca birçok tüketimlerini bugün Türkiye’den sağlamaktadır.

Son günlerde Irak’ın kuzeyinde çıkan Petrol yasasının uygulanmasıyla birlikte Kürt yönetimin elinde olan Erbil Türk şehrinin büyük gelir kaynağından kendisi yaralanmaktadır..

Bölgede hızlı yatırım yapılarak, tarım, gıda beyaz eşya ve Kırtasiye başka ürünler bölgeye girmekle ticaret konut ve yapınma alanda günümüzde Kuzey Irak Barzani yönetimi yatırımı Türkiye Habur sınır kapısından kendisi yararlanarak ve bölge genişlemektedir.
ayni halde Zaho ve Dahuk dahil olmakla tüm Türkiye’nin ticareti bugün onların gözetimi altında olarak kendileri ister sinirden ister ticaretten tüm geliri elde kendileri etmektedirler..

Öte yandan Mersin limanından ticaret yaparak Türkiye’de çok sayıda Şirket fabrika, firmaları bulunmaktadır. Ve Irak Türkleri bu gelirden bu Ticaretten yoksun kalmaktadırlar çünkü tüm alan onların denetimi altındadır.

Bugün Erbil 2003 Saddam düştükten sonra, geniş bir bütçeyi elde ederek, kazancını Türkiye’den alarak, tüm alanda gelir tam olarak Kürt yönetiminin yoluyla kaynaklar sağlanmaktadır.

Irak’ın kuzeyinde yeni yapılanmalar yeni yollar ve yeni konut yapılanmaları hızla uygulanmaktadır.

Bölgeye iyice baktığımızda Mesut Barzani Türkiye ve Kuzeyde buluna tüm şirketlerde yarı yarıya pay alarak ortak olmaktadır.

Göze çarpan şehirde ve bölgede yeni binalar, alışveriş merkezler, yollar ve havaalanı yapılması çok önem taşmaktadır.

Ve birçok sayıda İnşaatların bitmesi firmaların, fabrikaların bölgede görünmesinin tek nedenini araştırsak kısa süre Mesut Barzani Türkiye’den elde etmiş olduğu para kaynağı bunu göstermektedir.

Mesut Barzani tün önde gelen Ortadoğu’nun varlı zenginlerinden biri olmakla Erbil şehrinde Türkiye yanında ABD, Lübnan, Fransa, İngiltere, İran, Almanya, Suudi Arabistan, Kore, İsrail, Japonya ve Çin şirketleri farklı alanlarda çalışarak yatırımlar yapmaktadır.

Bu hizmetlerden Kuzey Irak yalnız Kürt milletlerinin kalkınması refaha kavuşmasını göstermemektedir.

Çünkü tüm çıkarı Barzani yönetimi elde etmektedir ve yaralanmaktadır.

Bugün tüm gelir ve parayı elde eden ve kendi elinde tüm hazine sevinci mutluluğu Refahla yaşayan her şey bugün tüm kazanç belirli bir zümrenin elinde olduğunu söylemek gerekmektedir.

Bunların başında ilk Barzani ve Aşireti gelmekle,
kuzey Irak’ta kaçakçılık ön plan da gelmekle, elektronik ve telekomikasyon ürünlerinin hep onların yoluyla ucuza satılarak, tüm gelir onlarda kalmaktadır.

Irak’ın Kuzey Bölgesini iyice incelemiş olursak çok karışık bir etnik yapısı bulunmaktadır, Kuzeyde ağırlıklı olarak; Türkmenler, Araplar ve Kürtler, Hıristiyan ve Yahudiler yaşamaktadırlar.

Erbil Milletinin yüzde yüzü Türk olmasına rağmen birçok Kürtler ve Araplarda ticaret için şehirde yaşamaktadırlar, millet eskiden olduğumu gibi günümüze kadar izi kalan şehrin en eski yapısı olan kale yakınında yer alan çarşılarda ve kapalı çarşıda bulunmaktadırlar.

Her yerde Gençler, millet Türk müziği dinlemekte. Ağırlıklı olarak Türk televizyonlarını Türk dizileri izliyorlar.

Öte yandan Erbil Irak Türkleri Türkiye’ye bir hayranlık ve büyük sevgileri vardır, çok sayıda yerli şairleri ses sanatkârları Türkçe şarkılar, Türküler söylemektedirler.

Kuzey Irak yönetimi ne kadar Terör PKK eylemlerine sözde karşı olursa bile bölgede barındırmakla yataklık yapmaktadır onlara
Günümüzde terör örgüt PKK’nın kuzey Irak bölgesinde etkin bir ağırlığı bulunmaktadır.

Barzani ise bölgenin ekonomik durumundan dolayı Türkiye’nin destek yardımını kayıp etmemek için ara sıra bir bölüm açıklamalarda bulunmakla Türkiye’ni kazanmak isteyerek, öte yandan Türkiye’nin askeri operasyonların bölgede yapılmasına karşı olarak operasyonların yapılmasına tepki göstermektedir.

PKK’ ise Kuzey Irak yönetimi sesiz kalmasına karşı bölgede Terörist PKK irtibat ofisleri kapları radyo evleri yapmaktandı sürekli faaliyetleri sürmektedir. Terör örgütü tüm ihtiyaçlarını bugün Erbil’den karşılamaktadır, çünkü Kandil Dağı ile Erbil arası yaklaşık 3 saattir. Ve Erbil de yaşıyorlar ve Irak’ın kuzeyinde barınmaktadırlar.

PKK Erbil ve Musul bölgesinde bile güçlenmiştir. Durumun Musul da karışık olduğundan dolayıdır. Ayrıca Suriye’den Kandil Dağına gidenler yol olarak Musul yolunu kullanmaktadırlar

Erbil şehri Kerkük, Musul şehri gibi bir Türk şehridir
Ve Türk kimliklerini vermiş oldukları şehitlere karşı korumaktadırlar, buna karşı Barzani’nin sinsi politikası Erbil Türklerini silmek için yoğun şekilde çaplarlarla çalışmalarını sürdürmektedir.

Erbil’lin her yerinde yaşayan Türkler bugün en eski yerlerinden olan kale içerisinde yer alan Türklerinin yaşadıkları yerler boşaltılmaya uğraşıyorlar.
Şehrin Türk olduğunu kanıtlayan kitapları kütüphanelerden alarak yakılmıştır.
Dillerinin Türkçe olmasına karşın Türkçeye yer verilmemektedir, ayrıca Erbil milleti Türk olarak tümü Türkçe konuşmaktadırlar.

Asimilasyon Saddam döneminde olduğu gibi peşmergeler
Barzani tarafından baskıları sürerek, Türkçe konuşmak yasaklanarak, Türkçe okullar kapatılarak ve birçok sayıda Türkmen kuruluşlarının önce olduğu gibi bugün olmaması onlara el koyulmasıyla Türk dil birliğinin yok edilmektedir.
Ve Türklere karşı büyük asimile çalışmaların yoğun bir baskıyla yapıldığını görmekteyiz.

Yönetim Barzani elinde olduğu günden öteki Irak Türk bölgelerinde olan saldırılar patlamalar bu bölgelerde yoktur her yerde güvenlik uygulanmaktadır.

Erbil Şehrinin güvenliğini peşmergeler sağlamakta. Her yerde güvenlik noktaları bulunmaktadır.

Ayrıca Peşmergeler yanında Barzani Polis- Asayiş- Açil Müdahale ekipleri-
Özel Birlik ( Zawita )
Peşmergeler

Peşmergeler içinde PKK üyeleri bulunmaktadır. Peşmergeler her türlü eğitimi ABD ve İsrail tarafından almaktadırlar.

Peşmergelerin hepsi devlet tarafından maaş almaktadırlar.


peşmergeler yanında, Parastina istihbarat örgütü ise İsrail tarafından silah eğitimi almaktadır.

Barzani’nin bölgede dış istihbarat servisi yoğun olarak faaliyet göstererek. Özellikle Mosad ve CIA açık olarak çalışmaktadırlar.

Alman, İngiliz, Farense, İran yardımcı olarak istihbarat alanında faaliyet göstermektedir.

Erbil şehrinde ve bölgede okuma yazma Türklere karşı oranının çok yüksektir başkalarında ise çok düşüktür, Türk olmayanların çoğu büyük bir bölümü imza bile atmıyor Erbil’de ise üç Üniversite Gülen Cemaatine bağlı Işık Üniversitesi, eğitim yapmaktadır.

Erbil Türkleri uzun yıllardan bu topraklarda yerleşerek, büyük bir tarih uygarlığa sahiptiler, bu yerlerde bu topraklarda Türk devletleri Atabeyler, Karakoyunlu, Akkoyunlu devletleri gibi çok devletler kuran Türk milleti tarihten önce bu topraklar kendi toprakları olarak tanınmışlardır.

Erbil Türklerinde çok sayıda Aşiret, oymaklar, boylar görünmektedir, bu şehirde büyük katkıları olarak kültürlü aydın insanlar devlet adamları yetirmişlerdir, tanınan aile, aşiret oymak boylarından Doğramacı, Bayatlı, Akkoyunlu, Karakoyunlu, Kocalar, Kocabaşı, Terzi başı, kasaplar, Kasap başı, Ağalar, Asefler, Demirci, Bezirgân, Saatçi, Çavuşlar, Zade, Şahlar, Küçük molla, Şahlar, Şehler, Atabeyler, Gök börülar,

Altunçular, Aslanlar, Kaymakçılar, Bayraktar, Alemdar, Baklavacı, Kaleli, Kardeşler, Küreçi, İlhanlı, Sepzeçı, Almaz, Çelebi, Nohutçu, Üzeyir, Azeri, Akbaş, Ayvaz, Kalender, Samancı, Neftçi zade, Çaycı, Pasavancı, Bahçeci ve başkaları.

Erbil Türkleri dünya çapında tanınan ses sanatkârı bulunmaktadır, güzel sesleriyle makam, Hoyrat, Kerem, uzun hava, gazal şarkı, türkülerde değer ön kazanarak, Türkiye ve Irak’ın her yerinde adları şanları, sesleri bilinmektedir.

Bunlardan Şahaba, Cemile, Şevket Mişko, , Hamit Küreci, Cemil Kapkapçı, Haydar Abdurrahman Bakkal, Mehmet Ahmet, Hardan, Celal Erbilli, Hac Abdullah Defzen, Nurettin Asafli, Bahset Halup kasap, Şakır Benna, Celal Çakmakçı, Mehmet Âşık, Nurettin Erbilli, Fuat Osman, Faik Bezirgan, Yaşar Mişko, Selim Fatah, Yunus Hattat, Yunus Mahmut, Setrettin Erbilli, Sinan Erbil, Mağdit Şah oğlu, Mehmet Ferit, Seyfi Azeri, Heyvaz
Küreci, İmad Kasap, Azat Kasap, Cemşir Beşir Üzeyir ağa, Cemşir Fitirci, Yunus Tütüncü, Erbil Kızı, Havar Bezirgân ve başkalar.

Ayrıca Erbil Türklerinde çok aydın yazar, şiarlar, bilginler, Din adamları, politikacılar kendilerini milletleri için adayarak birçok projeler çalışmalar yapmışlardır bunlardan Erbil Sahibi Muzaffereddin Gökbörü, Rahmetli İhsan Doğramacı birçok alanda yatırımlar Türkçe okullar, hastane yaparak çok sayıda öğrenciler okutarak yetirmiştir.

Yusuf Garibi, Haşim Nehit Erbil, Cercis Bahçeci, Nesrin Erbil, Sanan Kasap, Salah Mardan, Cahit Burhan Doğramaci, Kanı Abduulcebbar, Nüzhet Yahya, Naci Yunus, Gavsi Hac Abduulah, Hamdi Muhammet, Hazani Haydar zade İbrahim, Şeh Ali, Şeh Esat Muhammet Abdurrazak Ağa, Süreyya Ahmet, Harabı Mehmet, Yakup Ağa, Namı Abdullah, Adnan Kasap, Mahmut Kasap, Ferhan Coşkun, Diyar Erbil, Allah Verdi Erbilli, Cemal Öksüz, Hüsam Hasret, Esat Erbil ,Reşat, Sedat Erbil,vAydın Aslan, Nihat İlhanlı, İhsan Terzi oğlu, Ömer Akbaş, Yaşar Altın parmak, Burhan Yaralı, Şirzat Şeh oğlu, Amir, Delir Kasap, Dilşat, Azat Terzi oğlu,Şemsettin Vali
Erbilli, Himdat Terzi, Mehmet Abdullah, Ganim Fatah,
Kenan Saka, Nazım Saih, Sami Hattat, Nurettin Musullu, Mazin Hasan, Taife Kasap, Kemal Latif, Hüsam Kaleli, Abdullah Hattat, Selam Terzi, Sittar Neccar, Fuat Terzi, İmad Terzi, Azat Kasap, Serhenk Kasap, Serdar İhsan, Riyaz Demirci, Ercüment Terzi, Muhattın Kahveci, Yaşar Abdullah, Rüştü Kalalı, Mehdi Ali, Ahmet Kalalı, Adnan İrfan, ve başkaları.

Politika alanında uzun yıllar Erbil Türkleri çok sayıda kuruluşlar partilerde göreve katılarak ön sırada yer almışlardır, kimi günümüze kadar dava alanında çalışmasını sürdürmektedir.

Kimi uzaklaşarak kimi ise Türkmen alanından başka alanda çalışmaktadır, umarım kucaklarını tüm Irak Türklerine açan Erbilli kan kardeşlerimiz önceleri nasıl davaya kendilerini adadılar bu uğurda şehitler, kanlar verdiler umudumuz milli davadan uzaklaşanlar tekrar Anne topraklarına sarılsınlar, onlara Erbilin anne kucağı açıktır millet her zaman yiğitleri, kahramanları, temiz insanlar bağışlayacaktır, bağrına basarak savunacaktır, bir olalım varlığımızı kuralım gösterelim.

Politika alanda uzun yıllar çalışan Erbil Türklerinden Ferit Çelebi, Mahmut Ahmet, Sanan Ağa Kasap, Serdar ağa, Sinan Çelebi, Mahmut Çelebi, Münazil, Basil Sebzeci oğlu, Azat, Seyfettin Küreci, Seyah Küreci, Nihat İlhanlı. Kenan Şakır, Vecit Şücaaddin, Aydın Maruf, Nezhet Abdulganı, Dr Ömer, Fuat Çakmakçı ve yedi yıl Mesut Barzani Asayiş hapishanesinde kalan Emir İzzet ve başkaları.

Erbil Türkleri Saddam rejimi düşmeden önce Irak’ın kuzeyinde 1990 yıllarından mücadelecini sürdürerek çok sayıda okullar Türkmen kuruluşları, Irak Türkmen Cephesi Türkmen partileri kurultaylarını, çalışma, faaliyetleri orada başlatarak, Akıncılar ordusunu kurarak davamızı savunmuşlardır.
Türkmen yayın, basın medya televizyon radyosu ilk defa Erbil şehrinde açılarak, kurulmuştur ve Türkmen bölgelerinden gelen tüm Türkmenleri karşılayarak gönlülerine basarak, evlerine tüm Irak Türklerine açmışlardır konak etmişlerdir,

Irak Türklerinin Milli, Cephe bayrağını tüm dairelere, binalara, caddelere, evlere, sokaklara asarak, milli mücadeleleri canla vermiş oldukları şehitlerin kanlarıyla başlatılmışlardır.

Erbil Türkleri her zaman iki baskı altında yaşıyordular bir Kürt partilerinin baskısı birde Saddam rejimin acı sinsi politikasıyla, bugün tüm acılara karşı onlar için Barzani asimilasyon durumu sürmekle birçok Türkçe eğitim yapan okullar kapatılarak, Radyo, Televizyon, medya basın yayın, dergi, gazete, kitap bastırma hep ortadan kalkarak tarihe kavuşmuştur.

Erbil Türklerine karşı günümüzde tam olarak Kürt politikası tüm yönüyle uygulanmaktadır.

Erbil Türkleri Mesut Barzani ve Saddam rejimi ikilisi
Birlikte 31 Ağustos 1996 tarihinde acımasız bir politika uygulayarak kıyıcı Mesut
Barzani rejimi dikta Saddam rejiminin isteği üzerine çok sayıda Erbil Türklerini tutuklayarak, Saddam
Rejimine teslim ederek
Acımadan aşağıda adları geçen
Erbil Türk kardeşlerimizi idam etmiştir bunlardan.

1-Aydın Şakır Irak’lı
Kerkük–1936 doğumlu
1998- Bağdat gizli servis tarafından idam olmuştur.
2- Ferhat Kasım Kerküklü
Kerkük 1946 doğumlu
3-Ayad Vahit Sadullah
1960 Erbil doğumlu
4- Ali Hasan Acemoğlu1965,24.07 Kerkük doğumlu 1997-idam olmuştur.
5-Abdulrahman Bakkal oğlu 1972 Kerkük doğumlu
6- Ali Yaycılı 1971.24.07 Kerkük -doğumlu 1997 idam olmuştur
7-Ahmet Nureddin Kayacı
1976, 24.07 Kerkük doğumlu1997-idam olmuştur.
8-Mehmet Reşit Tuzlu 1953 Tuzhurmatu doğumlu
9- Mikail Şahbaz Samet
1973 Erbil doğumlu
10- Tarık Faik Nureddin1970 Erbil doğumlu
11- Sirvan Ahmet Abdulkadir
1960 Kerkük
12-Muinin Muhammed Emin1947 Erbil doğumlu
13- Halit İbrahim Ahmet1945 Erbil doğumlu
14- İbrahim Abdulrahman1964 Erbil doğumlu
15- Mazin Faruk1968 Erbil doğumlu
16- Necmeddin Nureddin1937 Erbil doğumlu
17- Şakır Zeynelabdin
18- Neşet Faysal Abdullah1960 Erbil doğumlu
19- Şirzat Yusuf Aziz1954
Erbil doğumlu
20- Şahin Yunus Mahmut
21- Hacer Andulgani Şahap
1972 Erbil doğumlu
22- Halit Abdullah1974 Erbil doğumlu
23- Nasret Halil Abdullah 1977 Erbil doğumlu
24- Yılmaz Yusuf Halil Muhyeddin1969 Kerkük doğumlu
25- Ayad Ahmet1963 Kerkük doğumlu
26- Abdulrahman Kaleli1974 Kerkük doğumlu
27-Haydar Erbinli Erbil doğumlu
28-Abdulmünim Samet Emin1947 Erbil doğumlu
29- Şaban Şahbaz Samet Erbil doğumlu
30- Şivan Şahbaz Samet Erbil doğumlu
31- Ramazan Cemal Kerim Erbil doğumlu1997 idam olmuştur.
32- Fuat kazım Nazım1997 idam olmuştur
33- Adil Bekir Selim Erbilli Erbil doğumlu
34- Şer Bekir Şakır Erbil doğumlu
35- Ali A Abdullah1965 Kerkük doğumlu
36- Faris Hadi
37- Emir Kerim Ali1997 Ekim ayında idam olmuştur.
38- Çetin Kerem Köprülü Altunköprü doğumlu
39-Murat Erbil’li
40- Mümtaz Erbil’li

Ayrıca farklı tarihlerde Kürt peşmergeler tarafından çok sayıda Erbil Türkleri şehit olmuşlardır bunlardan

1-Murat Hasan
2-Leyla Cemil
3-Avukat Rüştü Tahsin Saraçoğlu
4- Abdul haclık Felah
5-Halit İbrahim Köpeçı
6-Yasin Kasap
7-Aydın İzzet Kaymakçı
8-Söner Esat Terzi başı
9-Cesim Murat
10-Ferhat Nurettin
11-Aydın Abdülaziz Neftçi
12-Gül Annem Terzi oğlu
13-Abdullah Adil Hurşit
14-Feridun Fazıl Mehmet
15-Marivan Ahmet Erbilli
16-Fuat Kasım Nedim
17-Emir Kerim Ali
Ve başkaları

Not: 31 Ağustos 1996 tarihinden önce bende Erbil Enformasyon ve Türkmeneli gazetesini ilk defa olarak Türkiye Türkçesiyle yayınlamış olduğum ve başyazar olarak çalışırdım, önceden eski Türkçe olan gazeteyi Sayın İsem Tarzı başı ve Müayat Kara şahin beyle birlikte çalışıyordum, Erbil katliamından iki hafta önce İstanbul Türkiye’den gelen bir mektup üzerine ilgili makamın isteği ile Türkiye’ye giderek, bende o sırada Erbil şehrinde olsaydım şimdi idam olmuştum Allah’a şükür Yusuf Karacanın yardımıyla Türkiye’de bulunuyordum, Mesut Barzani Saddam rejimine Erbil Irak Türklerini teslim ettiği sırada, bende onlar gibi bu milli dava yolunda şehit olsaydım ne mutlu bana mezarları nurla dolsun yerleri Cennet olsun. İnşallah şehitlerimizin kanı yerinde kalmayacaktır Ulu Tanrı Saddam’dan haklar alındığı gibi birde öteki kıyıcılardan alınacaktır.


samedi 20 novembre 2010

Press Statement: Iraq Ministry of Construction and Housing delivers Iraq’s National Housing Policy in cooperation with UN-HABITAT

7th November, 2010. Baghdad

- As a result of UN-HABITAT’s assistance to Iraq’s Ministry of Construction and Housing, a National Housing Policy was prepared which aims to address Iraq’s housing shortage, currently estimated at approximately 2 million units. The pro-poor policy was prepared through a consultative process over 18 months, involving a range of Government and non- Government stakeholders, with the support of national and international experts.

The policy shifts the Government of Iraq’s emphasis from being a primary provider of housing to enabling the scaling up of housing delivery through supporting the engagement of private sector and other actors in the sector. The policy was launched by the Ministry of Construction and Housing on World Habitat Day October 4th 2010, and officially endorsed by the Cabinet of Ministers Session 43 on 2nd November 2010.

The Cabinet of Ministers requested all concerned ministries to take action to work in accordance with the Policy and its Implementation Plan. Mr. Istabraq Al Shouk, Senior Deputy Minister for Construction and Housing stated that “The Ministry of Construction and Housing appreciates a healthy cooperation with UN-HABITAT, which has led to this significant achievement in the development of Iraq’s Housing Sector.” Doudou Mbye, Head of Mission for UN-HABITAT Iraq stated that “UN-HABITAT intends to continue supporting the Ministry in the preparation of legislation, institutional and technical actions as needed in order to implement the Housing Policy.”


The policy and more information on the housing sector can be found on the Iraq Ministry of Construction and Housing website, www.moch.gov.iq

Doudou Mbye
Head of Mission
UN Habitat Iraq Programme
Amman, Jordan

Istabraq Al Shouk
Senior Deputy Minister
Ministry of Construction and Housing
Baghdad, Iraq

http://www.uniraq.org/newsroom/getarticle.asp?ArticleID=1448

jeudi 18 novembre 2010

Allawi says government would not last long

Allawi, interviewed in London, said he did not expect the accord to lead to a stable government because it would not be the power-sharing administration it had been portrayed as.

"The formula for power sharing has been distorted and the issue of devolution has been distorted so I am not sure whether a coherent government (can be formed)," he told Reuters.

"Still we have some time to discuss issues and to see if this will happen or not," he added. Asked if the government could last long, he replied "No".

OIL
He said he would not join a new cabinet. "I am not going to be part, in any case, of the council of ministers. It is not currently suggested or offered or the Iraqiya list want me to be a member".
He said he had not decided whether to accept the new senior role offered to him.

Allawi played down the walkout from parliament by members of his bloc last week, saying the disagreements behind it had been settled.

Allawi, who said he was in London for his daughter's wedding, added that he would not return to Baghdad for the opening of parliament on Nov. 21.

Iraq needs a stable government to rebuild infrastructure and exploit its vast oil wealth while violence ebbs, seven years after the U.S.-led invasion that ousted dictator Saddam Hussein.
Under the power-sharing deal, politicians divided the three top posts -- prime minister, president and speaker of parliament -- among the main ethnic and sectarian political blocs.
http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFLDE6AF2EA20101116?sp=true

International Seminar on the Situation of the IRAQI ACADEMICS

International seminar on the situation of the IRAQI ACADEMICS
Defending education in times of war and occupation

MARCH 10 -11 -12 2011 GHENT UNIVERSITY BELGIUM

for Arabic text please click on :
http://www.brussellstribunal.org/Seminar/#id=main1&ts=1290037079312&page=1&language=ar


The aim of the seminar is to draw international attention to the ongoing criminal violence against Iraqi academics, to situate this violence within the wider dynamics of the ongoing occupation of Iraq, and to work towards practical remedies.

Under US occupation, Iraq’s intellectual and technical class has been subject to a systematic and ongoing campaign of intimidation, abduction, extortion, random killings and targeted assassinations. Running parallel with the destruction of Iraq’s educational infrastructure, this repression has led to the mass displacement of the bulk of Iraq’s educated middle class. The consequences for Iraq’s social, economic and political reconstruction are grave.


Now, in the eighth year of a US occupation that shows few signs of ending, the BRussells Tribunal and the Middle East and North Africa Research Group (MENARG) of the Ghent University call for renewed attention to the situation of Iraqi higher education and academic life, stressing its importance to the rebuilding of the country, and the well-being of its people.
This seems particularly urgent given the devastating impact of the occupation upon key sectors such as higher education and research.


March 9
08.30-09.00 Reception + coffee
09.00-09.30 Welcome
09.30-12.30 Opening session: Dismembering Iraq (1991-2011)
14.00-15.30 Session 2: The struggle over the production of knowledge
16.00-17.30 Session 3: The destruction of intellectual life
March 10
08.30-09.00 Reception + coffee
09.00-10.30 Session 4: The crisis of higher education
11.00-12.30 Session 5: The situation of women
14.00-15.30 Session 6: Academics in the diaspora
16.00-17.30 Session 7: Reflections and directions
March 11
08.30-09.00 Reception + coffee
09.00-12.30 Workshop 1: Academics in the diaspora
09.00-12.30 Workshop 2: Education in Iraq
09.00-12.30 Workshop 3: Responsabilities of international organizations
14.00-17.00 Plenum session

BT SEMINAR PARTNERS:

International Association of Contemporary Iraqi Studies
Women Solidarity for an Independent and Unified Iraq
11.be
Vrede
International Anti-Occupation Network



DATES
seminar day 1:
March 09 2011
seminar day 2:
March 10 2011
workshops day 3:
March 11 2011

FEES (coffeebreaks included)
for one day:
€10 (students €5)
for two days:
€15 (students €8)
for three days:
€20 (students €10)
SEMINAR LUNCH €10
Participants eligible for fee reductions must first apply to the Seminar Financial Assistance Program: please contact us. This program will offer fees reduction or grants to cover costs of the congress either in full or in part to participants.


REGISTRATION INFORMATION
Participation in the Ghent Seminar is open to anybody who has filled in the registration form. and paid the respective registration fee. Once your registration is completed, you will receive a formal confirmation by email: bring this confirmation with you to the seminar.
Participants eligible for fee reductions must first apply to the Seminar Financial Assistance Program: please contact us. This program will offer fees reduction or grants to cover costs of the congress either in full or in part to participants.


FEES DO NOT INCLUDE
Airport transfersLocal transportation to the Congress venueAccommodationPre- and Post-Seminar toursCultural and Touristical eventsInsurance
PAYMENT OPTIONS
The total amount due should be paid in advance: You will receive an invitation to pay.
INVITATION LETTER FOR VISA PURPOSES
Participants requiring an invitation letter to accompany a visa application in order to attend the congress are invited to contact us.
MORE PRACTICAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE SEMINAR
here
http://www.brussellstribunal.org/Seminar/#id=main1&ts=1290036120828&page=1&language=en



Contact us about…
info@brussellstribunal.org http://www.brussellstribunal.org/
BRussells Tribunal
registrationseminar@brussellstribunal.org
registration, hotel accomodation, homestay, entry visum, invoices, confirmation, etc…
Registration
newsletter@brussellstribunal.org
Newsletter
ghentseminar@brussellstribunal.org
cooperation


an organization of
GHENT UNIVERSITY, MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA RESEARCH GROUP (MENARG) & The BRussells Tribunal in cooperation with The International Association of Contemporary Iraqi Studies, Vrede, 11.be & The International Anti-Occupation Network and with the support of EURAMES and ICMES


http://www.brussellstribunal.org/Seminar/#id=main1&ts=1290036120828&page=1&language=en

lundi 15 novembre 2010

Turkmen MP urges Asayesh Forces pull out from Kerkuk

Monday, November 15, 2010

Turkman MP Zala Naftaji urged Iraq’s local and central government to pull out Kurdish Asayesh Forces from Kirkuk.

Their presence spurred major reactions in Kirkuk, Naftaji told Alsumaria News.

Kirkuk citizens fear further security deterioration, she noted stressing the necessity to take immediate action to pull out these forces from Kirkuk and hand over security to the Iraqi Army in cooperation with the police in the province just like other provinces.

http://www.alsumaria.tv/en/Iraq-News/1-56456-Turkman-MP-urges-Asayesh-Forces-pull-out-from-Kirkuk.html

samedi 13 novembre 2010

Conférence-débat pour la défense des prisonniers politiques condamnés à mort par le régime de Bagdad


L’Appel Franco-Arabe et les Amitiés franco-irakiennes
vous invitent
à une conférence-débat

Pour la défense de Tarek Aziz
et des prisonniers politiques condamnés à mort
par le régime de Bagdad
avec
Maître Jacques Vergès – Paul Balta – Yves Vargas –
Gilles Munier – Sliman Doggui

à l’AGECA
Vendredi 19 novembre 2010,
à 19 heures
177, rue de Charonne Paris XIème
(Métro : Charonne ou Alexandre Dumas)

Iraqi Turkmen Front Parliamentarian Group declaration



Iraqi Turkmen Front Parliamentarian Group published a declaration.


http://www.kerkuk.net/haberler/haber.aspx?dil=2057&metin=2010111228


It is a known fact that the Iraqi nation consists of various nationality and ethnic groups; the Turkmen nation represents the strong bond among Iraq's nations. This is because the Turkmen people represent the third nation in Iraq. However, due to national and sectarian reasons the Turkmen people have been subject to various cruelties and survived some major atrocities throughout the history of Iraqi governments. Regardless, throughout Iraq's history the Turkmen have remained loyal to Iraq and served Iraq with nothing less than would be expected from an honorable citizen.

Today, the political groups in Iraq have come to an understanding regarding the final phases of setting up a government in Iraq and how to distribute the national partnerships and claims between the mentioned government and authorities. For this reason, us, the Iraq Turkmen Parliamentarian Group appeals to all the political group leaders in Iraq to put serious effort into giving the Turkmen people their national rights and give the Iraq National Assembly Presidency to the Turkmen. The three main organs in Iraq have been distributed based on national remuneration and the Turkmen Members of parliament, in addition to being distributed in the lists which were successful in the elections, also incontestably represent the backbone of Iraq.

Iraqi Turkmen Front Parliamentarian Group
08.11.2010

vendredi 12 novembre 2010

Nujayfi, Talabani and Maliki – Plus Lots of Hot Air, by Reidar Visser

Nujayfi, Talabani and Maliki – Plus Lots of Hot Air
Posted by Reidar Visser
on Thursday, 11 November 2010 22:00

http://gulfanalysis.wordpress.com/2010/11/11/nujayfi-talabani-and-maliki-plus-lots-of-hot-air/


In a repeat of the procedure used in April 2006, the Iraqi parliament today met and elected not only its speaker (Usama al-Nujayfi of Iraqiyya) but also the president (Jalal Tabalani of the Kurdish alliance). Talabani went on to nominate Nuri al-Maliki as premier candidate of “the biggest bloc in parliament” – the National Alliance, consisting of Maliki’s own State of Law alliance (89 deputies) plus its newfound partners from the disintegrated Iraqi National Alliance including the Sadrists (40 deputies), Ibrahim al-Jaafari and Ahmad Chalabi.

It is noteworthy that constitutionally speaking, parliament could have delayed the president election until one month after the speaker had been elected and then the president in theory would have had 15 days to nominate the premier candidate. For some ten minutes of the session, this appeared to be a real possibility as Iraqiyya deputies objected to persevering with the election before parliament had discussed the political deal by bloc leaders that brought about today’s meeting, including the question of the de-Baathification status of some of its leaders.

They also correctly pointed out that the original invitation to the session did not have the presidency question on the agenda, only the speakership, and there were outright lies about the constitution from some Shiite Islamist leaders, with both Humam Hammudi and Hassan al-Shammari erroneously claiming the election of the president in the same meeting was stipulated in the constitution.

However, instead of using his newfound authority to throw the session into disarray, Nujayfi continued to chair the session for a while even as many of his fellow Iraqiyya deputies stormed out (some reports say in the range of 50 to 60). Eventually Nujayfi himself temporarily withdrew, allowing his newly elected deputies, Qusay al-Suhayl (a Sadrist from Basra) and Arif Tayfur (of the Kurdish alliance and a deputy speaker also in the previous parliament) to go along with orchestrating vote on the president. Nujayfi returned to chair the final part of the session, and embraced Talabani as he entered the stage to make his acceptance speech.


Many will try to claim credit for the apparent “breakthrough” after more than 8 months of stalemate. For example, ISCI leader Ammar al-Hakim has suggested that the recent flurry of talks reflected his own desire for a “roundtable”.

The president of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Masud Barzani, has tried to acquire ownership of the process by referring to it as his own initiative and demanding that the last round of meetings be held partly in Arbil, the Kurdish capital, and partly in Barzani’s private house in Baghdad. The United States will doubtless construe developments as a triumph for its own behind-the-scenes diplomacy!

The really significant developments took place on 1 October, when the Sadrists and State of Law with Iranian support agreed to nominate Nuri al-Maliki as premier candidate, and on 24 October, when the federal supreme court went ahead with a decision to bring an end to the open session of the parliament. Whereas that decision was the least the Iraqi voter could have asked for, its timing seemed pegged to Maliki’s calendar and the loud protests from Iraqiyya and others signified suspicion about political pressure on the courts once more.

The 24 October decision, in turn, put pressure on the Kurds to make up their mind, and the “Barzani initiative” ended up as an attempt to maximise Kurdish gains within the parameters of a future Maliki government. For the past weeks, Maliki’s nomination as such has not appeared to be under realistic threat, and even if all the big winning lists are nominally committed to taking part in the next government, it is Maliki that is the big winner so far.


In analyzing the deal that was made, it may be useful to recap what the main players actually managed to achieve. Iraqiyya has moved the furthest away from its original position of demanding the premiership and is making a big gamble. Indeed, it is unclear whether it will return to the political process at all. True, it has ostensibly secured the powerful speakership, which is a more valuable asset than Iraqiyya (and, for that matter, the United States) seem to appreciate. But other than that, it has based its participation on the presidency of an institution that is not even in the constitution, and whose powers are ill-defined today: the so-called national council for strategic policies. That job will supposedly go to Ayad Allawi, and parliament is supposed to adopt the relevant legislation later on. But the position does not enjoy any constitutional protection, and until the council is up and running with truly effective powers, it could in a worst-case scenario end up as the fraud of the century, with Allawi as a minister without a real portfolio (symptomatically, unlike Nujayfi, Maliki and Talabani, Allawi was just an ordinary MP after today’s session).

Reportedly, Iraqiyya will also be shut out from all the security ministries, which makes it even more important to them that what is currently merely a fantasy institution will actually come into existence in the real world. Its voters may certainly want to reflect on how much better they would have come out in a bilateral deal with Maliki, and Iraqiyya leaders are already facing threats from the more militant elements of its electorate. Still, Iraqiyya has not formally withdrawn from the process. Until it does so, the newly formed “centrist” alliance of Tawafuq and Unity of Iraq (10 seats) will have a little less leverage as an alternative bloc to represent supposed “Sunni interests” and is looking a little stupid with the leak in the Iraqi media recently of its extravagant and explicitly sectarian demands for taking part in the next government.

It is noteworthy in this context that Nujayfi, an Iraqi nationalist with a Sunni Arab background from Mosul who has faced frequent accusations about Baathist sympathies, eventually did return to the session to fulfil his duties as newly elected speaker and install a Kurdish president of Iraq. Nujayfi had managed to obtain 227 votes in the assembly for the speakership, in other words more than Talabani’s 195 for the presidency. At the same time did not shy away from talking frankly about problems in the previous government and the need for constitutional reform during his acceptance speech.

The media will make a big point out of the fact that the Kurds got the presidency, but many will fail to notice that, firstly, in the moment Jalal Talabani was elected he lost the veto power he had as a member of the transitional presidency council (which expired in that second), and, secondly, that he also lost every almost every other power when he some ten minutes later designated Nuri al-Maliki as the premier nominee. Absent a failure on Maliki’s part to put together a new government (in which case Talabani can designate whomever he pleases as a second candidate), Talabani henceforth will enjoy symbolic and ceremonial power only.

The other big problem for the Kurds is the fact that their long list of demands for taking part in the next government refers to radical legislative action (including on an oil and gas law and a referendum on Kirkuk) that many parliamentarians continue to find unrealistic, so they may easily end up getting disappointed for a second time despite the promises from Maliki.


The big winner is of course Maliki, but it may be useful to see what the rest of the Shiite Islamist camp got from the deal. Relatively little attention has been accorded to the fact that the Sadrists look set to take over a number of governor positions (Maysan and Babel or Diwaniyya) in exchange for their participation. So much for decentralisation in Iraq! Inhabitants of the south are already expressing despair…

In other news on this front, there are reports that Hadi al-Amiri is seeking to reconnect with the all-Shiite National Alliance to bring the Badr organization back into the fold, but right now the other INA defectors who rebelled against Maliki, especially ISCI, are looking a little lonely even though they say they intend to participate (Adil Abd al-Mahdi was prominent at today’s meeting).

As for the regional and international players involved in this, the outcome is a mixed one. In one way, the United States managed to secure its goal of having all the players “inside the tent”, if only just. Its mission civilatrice of teaching the rest of the world how to peacefully kick the can further down the road has apparently succeeded! But there are some major caveats too.

Recently, the Obama administration spent an awful lot of energy trying to convince the Kurds to give up the presidency to Iraqiyya. This in itself signalled diplomatic incompetence since the presidency is more or less worthless in its current shape and cannot be upgraded to something more powerful except through constitutional change with a special majority in parliament and a subsequent popular referendum.

Additionally, the failure of Washington to sway the Kurds, even after direct phone calls from President Barack Obama, did not play well in the region in terms of prestige. If the US president was unable to get what he wanted, he should have avoided such a humiliating sequence of events.

Still, the most important problem lies in the fact that the United States has staked its policy on some kind of informal premiership for Ayad Allawi, with Tony Blinken even going as far as trying to portray today’s deal as an alliance of the Kurds and Iraqiyya against Maliki! That narrative, repeated in a series of hapless media reports that talk about “power-sharing between Allawi and Maliki” and even an Allawi–Maliki “coalition” (BBC) rather distorts the fact on the ground as of today, where Maliki remains premier and commander in chief of the armed forces with his constitutional prerogatives in good order and the support of the Sadrists, the Kurds and Iran.


With the expiry of the presidency council today, no one has a veto power on laws passed by the legislature with even the smallest of majorities, and for the time being the new political council for strategic policies remains a projected annexe to the rest of the sprawling political architecture of Iraq – it remains to see whether the powers that be (and the neighbours!) will accept it. It is not totally unlikely that Maliki will try again what he did back in 2008, i.e. once more marginalizing the Kurds, the Sadrists and even Iran and try to be an Iraqi nationalist, but this kind of development will be despite the policies of the Obama administration, rather than a consequence of them.


Finally, as cannot be stressed enough, the government has not yet been formed. Beyond the major structural problem already referred to of actually empowering Iraqiyya in the next government, numerous smaller shoals lie ahead as well. One potential flashpoint is the oil ministry, where the Kurds and Maliki’s people, like Hussein al-Shahristani and Abd al-Hadi al-Hassani, have clashed in the past. It is also a little unclear whether the new president is cognizant of the fact that he has no power anymore.

The only thing that seems certain is that once nominated, Maliki will probably not let go of this opportunity. In 2006, forming the complete government took a little less than two months from the prime ministerial nomination in April (the constitution says it should take one month); it is however not unrealistic that some time in the foreseeable future, and certainly in early 2011, Maliki should be able to come up with a list of ministers that will secure the 163 votes he needs in parliament.

European Parliament sets its priorities ahead of EU-US summit

ALLIANCE of LIBERALS AND DEMOCRATS FOR EUROPE

Distribution: immediate - 11/11/2010
Français ici

European Parliament sets its priorities ahead of EU-US summit

Commenting after today´s (Thursday 11 November) vote on the European Parliament's position on the forthcoming EU-US Summit and Transatlantic Economic Council,
UK Liberal Democrat MEP Sarah Ludford, Vice Chair of the Parliament's US Delegation, said:

“The transatlantic relationship, Europe's most important and one that Liberals value highly, should become a more strategic partnership involving both MEPs and Congress as serious players. It will best thrive when anchored ambitiously in principles of freedom, both of commerce and of people. Not only must we redouble our efforts to remove trade and regulatory barriers and complete the transatlantic free market by 2015, but also human rights and the rule of law must be prioritised in defence of political freedom.

"George Bush's renewed justification of torture sums up much that went wrong in the disastrous 8 years of his presidency and made the West both less free and less secure. The emerging widespread evidence of apparent mistreatment by US and British troops of Iraqi detainees demands examination at the highest level, including discussion at the EU-US summit.
“It is vital to cooperate in combating terrorism and major crime. But transfers of data must be subject to firm safeguards, and an umbrella EU-US data protection agreement is a great prize as it will obviate the wearisome series of sectoral battles fighting about privacy standards on each data-sharing demand."

Dutch MEP Marietje Schaake (D66), who also worked on the resolution, added: "Both the EU and the US need to work transparently, respect each other's independence and subject their actions to democratic scrutiny. "The transatlantic relationship is marked by complementarity and co-ordination. We need to be able to discuss openly and honestly controversial issues such as internet freedom, leaked documents on torture, and pressure by the US on European companies to take sanctions beyond those taken by the EU regarding Iran."


jeudi 11 novembre 2010

Uluslararası Türk kongresi için İngiltere’de ilk adım atıldı

Yurtdışındaki Türkler Londra’dan birleşiyor
Avrupa Ajansı (AVA)
Mahir Tan –


Londra“Yurtdışında Türkler 2010” adlı konferans Türkiye dışında yaşayan Türklerin birlik ve dayanışma ihtiyacını bir kez daha gözler önüne serdi. Kıbrıs Türk Dernekleri Konseyi, Irak Türkmen Cephesi, İngiltere Batı Trakya Türkleri Derneği ve Azeri Evi’nin ortaklaşa düzenledikleri Yurdışında Türkler 2010 konferansı, Uluslararası Türk Birliği yolunda önemli bir adım gerçekleştirdi. Aynı anda Türkiye’ye komşu ülkelerde yaşayan Türklerin varlık ve özgürlük mücadelelerinin birlikte gündeme getirilmesi bu sorunların çözümü için tek bir örgütlenme platformu talebini gündeme getirdi. Kongre, 31 Ekim Pazar günü Kensington’da yapıldı.

Irak Türkmen Cephesi Londra Temsilcisi Sündüs Abbas


Türkiye’nin Londra Başkonsolosu Ahmet Demirok, Büyükelçilik Müşteşarı Kerem Kıratlı, Büyükelçilik İkinci Sekreteri Yavuz Topateş, Irak Türkmen Cephesi Londra Temsilcisi Sündüs Abbas, Azeri Evi Başkanı Dr. Ali Tekin Atalar ve çok sayıda örgüt yöneticisinin katıldığı konferansta Irak Türkmenleri, Kıbrıs Türkleri, Batı Trakya Türkleri ve Azerbaycan sorunları uzmanların anlatımıyla dile getirildi.

Sanan Aliyev, “Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’ün ‘Azerbeycan’ın üzüntüsü bizim üzüntümüz sevinci sevincimizdir’ sözünü hatırlattı.

“Bir Millet-iki devlet”

Kıbrıs Türk Dernekleri Konseyi eski Başkanı Akmen Sıtkı’nın yönettiği konferansta ilk konuşmayı Azerbeycanlı Sanan Aliyev yaptı. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’ün “Azerbeycan’ın üzüntüsü bizim üzüntümüz sevinci sevincimizdir’ sözlerine atıf yaparak konuşmasına başlayan Aliyev, 1918 yılından başlayarak Azerbeycan halkının geçtiği aşamaları ve bugün bağımsız bir devlet olarak sorunlarını anlattı.


Birinci Dünya savaşı sonunda 23 ay süren bir bağımsız devlet yapısından sonra Sovyetler Birliği yönetimi altında kalan Azerbeycan’ın bu dönemde Kuzey ve Güney Azerbeycan olarak bölündüğünü belirten Aliyev, bugün 30 milyon Azeri’nin İran topraklarında etnik ve kültürel baskı altında yaşadıklarını vurguladı.

Dağlık Karabağ meselesi
Azerbeycan’ın Hazar petrolleri ve Kafkasya’daki kilit pozisyonu nedeniyle bir yanda zengin ve güçlü bir ülke olduğunu ancak bu nedenle birçok tehditler altında bulunan ve ciddi güvenlik sorunları olan bir ülke olduğunu belirten Aliyev, bu sorunların en önemlisinin Ermenistan ile yaşanan Dağlık Karabağ meselesi olduğunu kaydetti. Yakın bir tarihte 20 bin Azerinin öldüğü yada yaralandığı ve 1 milyon Azerinin topraklarından sürüldüğü Ermenistan saldırısının bunun en önemli örneğini oluşturduğunu belirten Sanan Aliyev, Bağımsız Azerbeycan’ın kurucusu Haydar Aliyev’in “Biz bir millet-iki devletiz” sözlerini hatırlatarak Türkiye-Azerbeycan dostluğunun Kafkasya’da Türk varlığı için önemini vurguladı.

Türkiye “Gazze kadar bizede sahip çıksın”Konferansın ikinci konuşmacısı Prof. Suphi Saatçı, Irak Türkmen varlığını ve ABD işgalinden sonra yaşanan problemleri anlatarak, “Bölgedeki en güçlü devlet olan Türkiye’nin Irak Türkleri’ne daha aktif ve güçlü bir destek vermesini” istedi.

Irak’ta 1000 yıllık bir geçmişe sahip olan Türkmenler’in 1918 yılında Musul ve Kerkük işgali sonrasında yönetim etkinliğini kaybettiklerini, 2003 yılındaki ABD işgalinin ise nüfüs kaydırılması ve taraflı politikalar sounucunda daha olumsuz sonuçlar doğurduğunu belirten Prof. Saatçı, Irak, Kırım, Batı Trakya ve Kıbrıs Türklerinin aslında tek bir baskı ve sürgün politikası sonucu topraklarını kaybettiklerini belirterek Türkiye’nin en güçlü Türk devleti olarak bölgedeki Türklerin son şansı olduğunu vurguladı.

Osmanlı döneminde Kuzey Irak Türkmen bölgesiydi


Osmanlı Devleti döneminde yalnızca Türkmen bölgesi olan Kuzey Irak’ın değil tüm Irak topraklarının Osmanlı devleti tarafından ayırım gözetmeden geliştirildiğini, Haydarpaşa- Bağdat demiryolu inşa edildiğini ve Mithat Paşa’nın Bağdat Valiliği sırasında Irak’a ilk matbaanın getirildiğini belirten Suphi Saatçı, “16 YY’da Türkmen şairi Fuzuli, Bağdat’ta yaşıyor ve eserlerini bölgedeki hakim dil olan Türkçe ile yazıyordu” dedi.

Kuzey Irak’ta Türk varlığını savunmanın önemine işaret eden Saatçı, Kerkük’te referandum öncesi yapılacak olan nüfus sayımının gerçek belgelere dayanmaması halinde, Irak anayasasına göre yapılacak referandumunda Türkmenler aleyhine sonuçlanacağını söyleyen Saatçı, bu aşamada Türkiye’nin mutlaka siyasi ağırlığını koyması gerektiğini vurguladı.

“Türk’üm” demenin yasak olduğu yer


Batı Trakya Türklerinin Avrupa Birliği üyesi Yunanistan yönetimi altında sürdürdükleri varolma mücadelesi ise Araştırmacı Gözde Kılıç Yaşın tarafından anlatıldı. Gözde Kılıç Yaşın, Batı basınında Türk-Yunan ilişkileri sırasında sürekli olarak İstanbul’daki Ruhban Okulu ve Ekümeniklik sorununun gündeme getirildiğini ancak ondan çok daha önemli bir sorun olan Batı Trakya Türkleri üzerindeki milli baskının söz konusu edilmediğini söyleyen Yaşın, “Türklerin milli kimliklerini açıklayamadıkları Batı Trakya’da toprakları çeşitli yöntemlerle Yunanlılara peşkeş çekilmekte, vakıf mülkleri Türklerin elinden alınmakta ve Türk nüfusu giderek azalmaktadır” dedi.

Gözde Kılıç Yaşın


Batı Trakya Türklerinin sorunlarının bazı açılardan Kıbrıs Türklüğünün sorunları ile benzeştiğini vurgulayan Gözde Kılıç Yaşın, nüfusu 150 bin olarak gösterilen Türklerin, vatandaşlıktan çıkarılan 60 bin Türk ile birlikte 250 bin kişilik bir azınlık olduklarını ancak Yunanistan’ın Türk azınlığı “müslüman Helenler” olarak takdim etmeye çalıştığını söyledi. Kuzey Kıbrıs’ta yaşayan Gözde Kılıç Yaşın bir soru üzerine “Avrupa’da bu yıl Kosova’nin bağımsızlığını ilan etmesi ve birçok AB ülkesinin Kosova yı tanımasından sonra KKTC nin bağımsızlığını engelleyecek hiçbir uluslararası kural kalmadığını belirterek “yapılması gerek tek şey Türk bayraklarını alarak sokağa fırlamaktır” dedi.

Selahi Sonyel;”çökmekte olan AB, Rum-Yunan oyununu seyrediyor”

İngiltere’de yaşayan Kıbrıslı Türk araştırmacı-yazar Prof. Selahi Sonyel konferansın son konuşmacısı olarak Kıbrıs sorununda Makarios döneminden beri oynanan Enosis ve Türklerin adadaki varlığına son verme politikasının özünde değişmediğini, “Rum-Yunan lobisinin bu kez aynı oyunu AB kartı kullanarak oynadıklarını” kaydetti. Prof Sonyel, KKTC’ye karşı uygulanan Ambargo kararının herhangi bir Birleşmiş Milletler kararına dayanmadığını bu uygulamanın görüşmelerde Güney Kıbrıs Rum Yönetimine avantaj sağlamak için Avrupa Birliği yöneticileri tarafından kararlaştırıldığını belirtti. AB’nin kendi iç yapısı ve ekonomik krizler yüzünden çökmekte olan bir güç olduğunu belirten Selahi Sonyel, “Türkiye ve KKTC’nin yüzünü AB’den çevirip Dünya’nın gelişen güçlerine dönmeleri gerektiğini ve bunun yavaş yavaş kendiliğinden gerçekleşmeye başladığını” ifade etti.

mercredi 10 novembre 2010

The Ethnic Cleansing of Turkmens in the North of Iraq

REPOSTED


Hereunder is HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH report on BESHIR (South of Kerkuk), one of the Turkmen villages in Northern Iraq which was ethnically cleansed under the Arabization policy of the former regime:

Quote

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH REPORT -AUGUST 2004
Claims in Conflict: Reversing Ethnic Cleansing in Northern Iraq
http://hrw.org/reports/2004/iraq0804

Case Study: Al-Bashir village

Note: the original name before Arabisation is BESHIR also spelled BEŞIR.

U.S. forces in Kirkuk also conducted a mediation involving the formerly Turkoman agricultural area of al-Bashir, located south of the city of Kirkuk. According to one of the Turkoman leaders, Imam Qanbar Mahmud Ridha al-Musawi, al-Bashir was a thriving Turkoman area of some 700 families, who owned some 48,000 dunums of farmlands.
Al-Bashir was home to seven mosques, five schools, and a large hospital. The outlawed Islamic Da’wa Party was active in the area, according to the imam, and in the early 1980s, Iraqi security forces began arresting young men from the village, many of who were later executed. In 1986, the entire community was expelled and moved to communal compounds:
In 1986, security officials started to arrive to the village, informing us that we should prepare to leave the district. Days after this, they came and brought us a bunch of keys with numbered medals attached. They said there were compounds on the road to Tikrit and that we had to move to these compounds. There were six compounds: al-Qadisiyya, Dhi Qar, Shahid, Nahrawan, Yarmuk, and Saddam.157

Most of the Turkoman families of al-Bashir were never compensated, although a small minority received some money for their lost houses. About one year after their initial displacement, almost all of the Turkoman families were dispersed to cities throughout Iraq, including Kut, Basra, Arbil, and Diyala, without being provided with housing.

After the displacement of the Turkomans, the Iraqi government embarked on a major irrigation project in the al-Bashir area, greatly increasing the productivity of the land. In the mid-1990s, the government began resettling Arab tribesmen in the area, offering them twenty-five dunums of irrigated farmland on annual leases. More than 200 Arab families moved to the area, including some who had lost their original lands when they were developed as oil fields in the ‘Umar Ibn Khattab area.



During the 2003 war, the Arabs did not flee the al-Bashir area. According to the imam of the village, this was due to the fact that Kurdish Peshmerga did not take control of the area: “When the coalition forces approached Kirkuk with the Kurdish Peshmerga, the Arabs fled spontaneously, and those who remained were attacked. Our area was different, because the coalition forces didn’t take control of our district, so the Arabs just stayed in our places.”158

Tensions quickly grew as Turkomans started returning to the area and demanding their lands. The Turkomans began to threaten the Arabs, who insisted that they would only leave after a decision on the property dispute was made by a new Iraqi government, arguing that they came to the village lawfully, and would only leave under the law. According to Col. George, who initiated the mediation, the situation came to a head one day when the Turkomans came to inform him that all of the displaced Turkomans from al-Bashir intended to march on the village, and that they would kill every Arab who remained. In order to avoid violence, the U.S. troops in Kirkuk initiated a mediation of the dispute in early September 2003.

The mediation was not voluntary, according to the Arab leaders, who told Human Rights Watch that Col. George had given them a choice: either negotiate or “they would bring a judge who would cancel all of our agricultural contracts within one hour and we would be kicked out within a week,” a threat Col. George confirmed to Human Rights Watch that he made.159

The mediation in al-Bashir was led and controlled by U.S. authorities, and did not involve a panel of Iraqis, although Iraqi officials from the agricultural department of Kirkuk were involved in an advisory role with the U.S. mediators. Unlike the Dogurtkan mediation, where an Iraqi panel actually settled property disputes, the al-Bashir mediation was an explicit short-term agreement, leaving the long-term issues of property-ownership unresolved. Among other things, the agreement provided for the allocation of thirteen dunums of land for the winter agricultural season, on a non-renewable basis, to each landless Arab family living in al-Bashir, and that Arab farmers be granted the winter harvest. Decisions on land allocation would be made by a committee composed of representatives of the local agricultural directorate and coalition forces. Complaints relating to compensation claims must be submitted within sixty days of the signing of the agreement to a commission set up for this purpose, composed of representatives of Taza district agricultural department, Kirkuk directorate and coalition forces. Arab families originally from outlying areas and who did not own a place of residence in the village would be required to leave the village within a year of the signing of the agreement. Returning Turkoman families would not be allowed to enter the village, except by invitation, during the period in which Arabs remain on disputed land.

Unquote


My comment:
Todate the unfortunate inhabitants of Beshir have not been compensated for the loss of their properties, lands and livelihoods. Although they have handed their files to the Properties Claims Commission in due time they are still waiting to recuperate their lost properties and lands!!!

lundi 8 novembre 2010

Denmark: European children fighting for PKK, claims former ROJ TV chief





Danish newspaper Berlingske Tidende continues to publish more information about ROJ TV and the PKK. Their most recent report reveals that the PKK is using children-soldiers. Pictures tkaen by former ROJ-TV director, Manouchehr Zonoozi, show youth, the youngest of which is supposedly 14-16, and Zonoozi claims he saw children in the camps as young as 8-9.
(more pictures here)

This article was prepared by the Islam in Europe blog - islamineurope.blogspot.com


Putting aside the issue of using children as soldiers, Zonoozi makes another very interesting claim. He says that most children in the camps come from Iran or Europe, and don't have their parents with them.The youngest get school education, the older ones are trained in using weapons, fighting and Kurdish history, with emphasis on the PKK and the movement's founder, Abdullah Öcalan."In an asylum camp in Iraq I met a Syrian-Kurdish family. They were looking for their daughter, who fled to the PKK. But the PKK didn't want to give her back to the family. I was really upset at that," says Manouchehr Zonoozi.
Source: Berlingske Tidende (Danish)

dimanche 7 novembre 2010

Irak: les salaires exorbitants des députés qui ont siégé 20 minutes en huit mois

Par Georges Malbrunot le 5 novembre 2010


Gabegie. Des représentants de la société civile irakienne vont engager une procédure judiciaire pour obtenir que leurs 325 députés remboursent les 40 millions de dollars encaissés depuis leur élection en mars, alors qu’ils n’ont siégé au Parlement que 20 minutes en huit mois, nous apprend l’AFP.

Sur les bords du Tigre aussi, l’absentéisme parlementaire est une plaie. Mais celle-ci ne serait rien, si les élus de la jeune démocratie irakienne ne s’étaient octroyé des salaires scandaleusement élevés. Jugez plutôt ! Chaque député perçoit un salaire de 19 000 dollars par mois. Il est vrai que cette indemnité couvre ses frais de protection assurée par trente gardes. Ce à quoi s’ajoutent pour les 200 élus n’ayant pas de résidence dans la « zone verte » ultra protégée de Bagdad 2 500 dollars de frais de résidence mensuelle. Et le Parlement devrait bientôt voter le versement d’une autre indemnité qui permettra à chaque député de s’acheter… une voiture.

La liste des avantages s’étend aux anciens parlementaires depuis 2003 qui touchent toujours 80% de leur indemnité et ont droit à des dédommagements mensuels de 6350 dollars pour dix gardes du corps.

Le Parlement a un coût exorbitant pour l’Etat irakien. Mais c’est aussi l’une des raisons pour lesquelles personne n’a envie de renverser le système.
« Trop de gens ont trop d’intérêts mêlés », constate un homme d’affaires français, qui connaît bien les coulisses du pouvoir à Bagdad.

Ces chiffres connus des Irakiens nourrissent le ressentiment de la population à l’égard de leur classe politique, dans un pays où la corruption atteint des sommets. Doit-on rappeler une autre réalité : l’Irak figure au 175ème rang des pays les plus corrompus au monde, selon le dernier classement de l’organisme Transparency International. Bagdad n’est dépassé que par la Birmanie, la Somalie et l’Afghanistan.

Depuis les élections législatives de mars, le Parlement ne s’est pratiquement pas réuni pour cause d’impasse politique persistante.
Le 24 octobre, le Cour suprême avait pourtant « enjoint le Parlement de tenir des réunions régulières ».

Une nouvelle séance du Majlis est prévue lundi prochain, mais il y a peu de chances que le quorum soit atteint : une cinquantaine de députés sont déjà partis en pèlerinage à La Mecque

http://blog.lefigaro.fr/malbrunot/2010/11/irak-les-salaires-exorbitants.html#comments

Dirk Adriansens on The Wikileaks Report, Stockholm Seminar Part 5

Dirk Adriansens on The Wikileaks Report, Stockholm Seminar Part 5

Europe’s Alliance With Israel: Aiding the Occupation



David Cronin’s important new book Europe’s Alliance with Israel: Aiding the Occuption (Pluto Press) is now available, filling a key void in the growing body of literature on the role of the Israel lobby. Cronin is one of the very few journalists who regularly exposes the pernicious role of the Israel lobby in Brussels and the long-standing hypocrisies of the European Union. (See some of Cronin’s articles published on PULSE in the past, here and here).

In carefully crafted official statements, the European Union presents itself as an honest broker in the Middle East. In reality, however, the EU’s 27 governments have been engaged in a long process of accommodating Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories.

Journalist David Cronin interrogates the relationship and its outcomes. A recent agreement for ‘more intense, more fruitful, more influential co-operation’ between the EU and Israel has meant that Israel has become a member state of the Union in all but name. Cronin shows that rather than using this relationship to encourage Israeli restraint, the EU has legitimised actions such as the ill-treatment of prisoners and the Gaza invasion.

Concluding his account, Cronin calls for a continuation and deepening of international activism and protest to halt the EU’s slide into complicity.
David Cronin is a journalist specialising in European politics. He has written for a variety of publications, including The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal Europe, European Voice, The Irish Times, The Sunday Tribune and the Inter Press Service.
Published on PULSE.

samedi 6 novembre 2010

Turkmeneli Party letter

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
حزب توركمن ايلي
العراق
العدد / بلا
التأريخ / 5 / 11 / 2010
TÜRKMENELİ PARTİSİ
IRAK
TURKMANELI PARTY
IRAQ


إلى رئاسة مجلس الوزراء



استنادا إلى المادة 11 من قانون هيئة دعاوى الملكية العقارية تقوم المحاكم بالاستفسار من مديرية العقارات و دوائر الدولة حول احتياج تلك الدوائر للأراضي التي أستملكت من قبل النظام السابق لغرض الاستفادة منها لصالح النفع العام . من اللافت للنظر إن مديرية العقارات و دوائر الدولة الموجودة في كركوك تبين إن تلك الاستملاكات كانت ضمن إطار النفع العام ولم تكن مستخدمة لإغراض سياسية وذلك لعرقلة عودة هذه الأملاك إلى أصحابها الأصليين.علما بان جميع الأراضي العائدة للتركمان في محافظة كركوك استملكت لإغراض سياسية بذريعة النفع العام , ومن المؤسف أن نرى بأن هناك إطراف ومراكز كردية توجه تلك الدوائر لبيان الرأي نحو هذا الاتجاه. لذا نطالب مجلسكم الموقر بإرسال لجنة خاصة إلى كركوك لتقصي الحقائق في هذا الأمر الذي يهدف إلى تجريد التركمان من هذه الأراضي الذي بدوره يمكن إلى زيادة حدة التوتر الموجودة بين أبناء المدينة


حزب توركمن أيلي
مكتب الحقوقيين
5/11/2010