The Turkmens are the third main ethnic group in Iraq and the second main ethnic group in the north of Iraq. Their population is estimated at 3 million (12% of the Iraqi population).
Northern Iraq has been the homeland of the Iraqi Turkmens for over a millennium. The Turkmen region TURKMENELI lies between the Arab and Kurdish regions of Iraq, it stretches from Tel Afer in northern Iraq near the Syrian border to Mendeli near the Iranian border. The Turkmen population in Iraq is concentrated in the Provinces of Musul, Erbil, Kerkuk, Salaheddin, Dyala and Baghdad. Their biggest concentration is in Kerkuk, their capital city and main cultural centre since more than 800 years. Turkmens have played a constructive and important role in Mesopotamia (Iraq) where they established states and principalities and governed the region during centuries.
Since the creation of the Iraqi State in 1921 as a consequence of World War One which caused the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire and the inclusion of the actual north of Iraq (Musul Vilayati) into the Iraqi State, the Turkmens are systematically discriminated, marginalized and oppressed in Iraq for geopolitical and economical reasons as the Turkmen region contains huge oil and gas reserves, concentrated around Kerkuk, Khanaqin and Ayn Zala. For these economical and geopolitical reasons the successive Iraqi governments have tried to assimilate the Turkmens and purposely underestimated their number and true representation in Iraq, considering them as a small minority!
Since the occupation of Iraq by the Anglo-American forces on 9th April 2003 the situation of the Turkmens has deteriorated even more and more dramatically as a result of the U.S. decision to allow the Kurdish parties (KDP and PUK) and their militia to penetrate, occupy and control Kerkuk and all other important Turkmen towns and cities of the Turkmen region, as a reward for their collaboration during the invasion of Iraq. Since then, the Turkmens are subjected to even harsher policies of discrimination, marginalization and oppression, but this time by the Kurdish Parties which are now controlling the entire north of Iraq and for the same economical and geopolitical reasons.
The Kurds claim that Kerkuk is a Kurdish city; they are now actively busy kurdifying it, their aim is to annex Kerkuk to the Kurdish Autonomous Region in order to benefit alone from its oil and gas wealth. To achieve this goal the Kurdish parties have brought over 600.000 Kurds from the Kurdish autonomous region as well as from Syria, Iran and Turkey and settled them in Kerkuk and its surroundings, some of them in the houses vacated by fleeing Arabs, some others in government buildings, military camps, military personnel housing and compounds in and around Kerkuk and the remaining are still waiting in their makeshift houses and slums established on the lands belonging to the Turkmens. All of this is in preparation to annex Kerkuk to the Kurdish region through a referendum at the end of 2007 called for by the infamous Article 140, which was conceived and written by the Kurds and which has been incorporated under the pressure of their lobby in the “New Iraqi Constitution”.
For the above reasons, Turkmens denounce the Kurdish hegemony in the north of Iraq as well as Kurdish influence and manipulations of Iraqi politics since 2003, they reject Article 140, they are against the annexation of Kerkuk and other Turkmen town and cities to the Kurdish Autonomous Region, they demand the revision of the New Iraqi Constitution in order to be recognized as the third main community in Iraq, with rights equal to those obtained by the Arabs and the Kurds.
The Turkmens, being more vulnerable today than ever before in their long history in Iraq, are calling on the European Union and the United Nations asking their urgent help, support and protection in order to obtain their rights, achieve their objectives and preserve the existence of their community and their culture in Iraq.
Committee for the Defence of the Iraqi Turkmen Rights - Belgium
TANIS Association for Iraqi Turkmens - The Netherlands.
Brussels, 1st July 2007
dimanche 1 juillet 2007
samedi 30 juin 2007
LES TURKMENES DENONCENT L'HEGEMONIE KURDE ET REJETTENT L'ARTICLE 140
COMMUNIQUE
MANIFESTATION DES TURKMENES IRAKIENS DE BELGIQUE ET DES PAYS-BAS POUR DENONCER L’HEGEMONIE KURDE DANS LE NORD DE L’IRAK ET DEMANDER L’ANNULATION DE L’ARTICLE 140
MANIFESTATION DES TURKMENES IRAKIENS DE BELGIQUE ET DES PAYS-BAS POUR DENONCER L’HEGEMONIE KURDE DANS LE NORD DE L’IRAK ET DEMANDER L’ANNULATION DE L’ARTICLE 140
Bruxelles, le 30 juin 2007
Les représentants des Turkmènes irakiens en Belgique et aux Pays-Bas manifesteront le lundi 2 juillet 2007 de 10h30 à 12h30 devant le Parlement de Bruxelles, 69 rue Lombard - 1000 Bruxelles, où se tiendra une conférence organisée par l’institut et le centre culturel kurde irakien de Belgique avec la participation du représentant du parti politique flamand sp.a-spirit.
Cette conférence traitera de l’Article 140 de la Constitution irakienne qui concerne les territoires contestés en Irak, notamment la région turkmène « TURKMENELI » et la ville de Kirkouk qui subit une politique de ‘kurdification à outrance’ depuis l’invasion de l’Irak par les forces anglo-américaines en 2003.
Cette manifestation a pour but :
1) de dénoncer la politique hégémonique des partis kurdes qui contrôlent actuellement la région turkmène et la ville de Kirkouk, où les Turkmènes sont marginalisés et discriminés.
2) de rejeter l’Article 140 qui prévoit la possibilité de l’annexion de Kirkouk à la région autonome kurde.
3) d’exiger les mêmes droits pour les Turkmènes que ceux qui sont accordés dans la nouvelle constitution aux Arabes et aux Kurdes en Irak. Les Turkmènes constituent la troisième communauté la plus importante en Irak avec les Arabes et les Kurdes; ils sont incontestablement la deuxième communauté principale dans le nord de l’Irak et malgré cela ils continuent d’être considérés comme une «minorité» et comme des «citoyens de deuxième classe» en Irak.
4) d’exiger un statut spécial pour la province de Kirkouk, semblable à celui de la capitale Bagdad, comme cela était prévu dans la constitution provisoire qui spécifiait que "Kirkouk et Bagdad auraient un statut spécial et resteraient en dehors des groupements régionaux et fédéraux".
5) dans le cadre d'un "Irak fédéral" : de demander l’autonomie régionale pour les Turkmènes et la création d'un "Etat fédéral TURKMENELI" incluant toutes les régions turkmènes, de Tel Afar dans la province de Mossoul jusque Mendeli dans la province de Diyala, incorporant les enclaves turkmènes dans les villes de Mossoul et d'Erbil, avec Kirkouk comme capitale de cet Etat fédéral TURKMENELI.
Comité de défense des droits Turkmènes irakiens - Belgique
Taniş - Irak Türkmen Derneği – Pays-Bas
European-Turkmen Friendship Association
European-Turkmen Friendship Association
IRAQI TURKMENS WILL BE DEMONSTRATING AGAINST ARTICLE 140 IN BRUSSELS
PRESS RELEASE
IRAQI TURKMENS IN BELGIUM AND IN THE NETHERLANDS
WILL HOLD A DEMONSTRATION IN FRONT OF THE BRUSSELS PARLIAMENT IN BRUSSELS, BELGIUM ON 2nd JULY 2007
30th June 2007
Representatives of the Iraqi Turkmens in Belgium and in the Netherlands will hold a demonstration in front of the Brussels Capital Parliament, 69, rue Lombard, 1000 Brussels - where the Kurdish institute and Kurdish cultural centre in Belgium are holding a conference hosted by the Flemish socialist party sp.a-spirit - on Monday 2nd July 2007 from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm.
The subject of this conference is: “Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution: the referendum for the status of KERKUK and other contested territories in Iraq”. These so-called ‘contested territories’ are territories situated mainly in TURKMENELI (the Turkmen Region in the north of Iraq) they also include the city of KERKUK.
Since the invasion of Iraq by the Anglo-American forces in March 2003 the Kurdish parties and their militia have been authorised to penetrate, occupy and control most of the Turkmen towns and cities in the north of Iraq beginning with the city of Kerkuk which they have almost completely kurdified.
The aim of this demonstration is:
1- To denounce the hegemony of the Kurdish parties who are controlling the entire Turkmen Region and the city of KERKUK and who are marginalizing and discriminating against the Turkmens
2- To reject Article 140 that was written by the Kurds and was added to the new Iraqi constitution to allow them to annex KERKUK to the Kurdish Autonomous Region
3- To demand equal rights for the Turkmens in Iraq: equal to those of their Arab and Kurdish compatriots. The Turkmens are one of the three main communities in Iraq together with the Arabs and the Kurds; they are the second main community in the north of Iraq, notwithstanding this they continue to be marginalized and are considered as “a minority” and as “second class citizens”.
4- To demand a special status for KERKUK, similar to that of the capital BAGHDAD, as it was specified in Iraq’s provisional constitution which clearly stated that “KERKUK and BAGHDAD would have a special status and would not be part of any regional or federal state.
5- In the case of a “Federal Iraq”: to demand regional autonomy for the Turkmens and the creation of a “Federal State of Turkmeneli” as a Homeland and a Safe Haven for the Turkmens where they can administer themselves and protect their lives and preserve their identity and culture.
Committee for the Defence of the Iraqi Turkmen Rights - Belgium
Taniş – İrak Türkmen Derneği – The Netherlands
Euro-Turkmen Friendship Association
IRAQI TURKMENS IN BELGIUM AND IN THE NETHERLANDS
WILL HOLD A DEMONSTRATION IN FRONT OF THE BRUSSELS PARLIAMENT IN BRUSSELS, BELGIUM ON 2nd JULY 2007
30th June 2007
Representatives of the Iraqi Turkmens in Belgium and in the Netherlands will hold a demonstration in front of the Brussels Capital Parliament, 69, rue Lombard, 1000 Brussels - where the Kurdish institute and Kurdish cultural centre in Belgium are holding a conference hosted by the Flemish socialist party sp.a-spirit - on Monday 2nd July 2007 from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm.
The subject of this conference is: “Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution: the referendum for the status of KERKUK and other contested territories in Iraq”. These so-called ‘contested territories’ are territories situated mainly in TURKMENELI (the Turkmen Region in the north of Iraq) they also include the city of KERKUK.
Since the invasion of Iraq by the Anglo-American forces in March 2003 the Kurdish parties and their militia have been authorised to penetrate, occupy and control most of the Turkmen towns and cities in the north of Iraq beginning with the city of Kerkuk which they have almost completely kurdified.
The aim of this demonstration is:
1- To denounce the hegemony of the Kurdish parties who are controlling the entire Turkmen Region and the city of KERKUK and who are marginalizing and discriminating against the Turkmens
2- To reject Article 140 that was written by the Kurds and was added to the new Iraqi constitution to allow them to annex KERKUK to the Kurdish Autonomous Region
3- To demand equal rights for the Turkmens in Iraq: equal to those of their Arab and Kurdish compatriots. The Turkmens are one of the three main communities in Iraq together with the Arabs and the Kurds; they are the second main community in the north of Iraq, notwithstanding this they continue to be marginalized and are considered as “a minority” and as “second class citizens”.
4- To demand a special status for KERKUK, similar to that of the capital BAGHDAD, as it was specified in Iraq’s provisional constitution which clearly stated that “KERKUK and BAGHDAD would have a special status and would not be part of any regional or federal state.
5- In the case of a “Federal Iraq”: to demand regional autonomy for the Turkmens and the creation of a “Federal State of Turkmeneli” as a Homeland and a Safe Haven for the Turkmens where they can administer themselves and protect their lives and preserve their identity and culture.
Committee for the Defence of the Iraqi Turkmen Rights - Belgium
Taniş – İrak Türkmen Derneği – The Netherlands
Euro-Turkmen Friendship Association
Kerkük'ün sesini kaybettik
Abdulvahit KüzecioğluKerkük’ün sesini kaybettik.
Türkmenler’in sanat güneşi ender varlık Abdulvahit Küzecioğlu’nu bugün 29.06.07 kaybettik.Türkmen varlığının ender insanlarından biri olan sanatçımıza yüce Allahtan rahmet diler mekanı cennet olsun, ayrıca tüm aile fertlerine ve Türkmen halkına sabır ve baş sağlığı dileriz.
Biz Türkmeniz Gurubu
http://kuzechie.com/
المطرب التركماني عبد الواحد كوزه جي اوغلو في ذمة الله
توفي في مدينة كركوك مساء يوم الجمعة المطرب والفنان التركماني الكبير عبد الواحد أحمد كوزه جي اوغلو عن عمر ناهز 82 سنة ، وكان الفقيد مصابا بالفقرات الظهرية وقد أعاقه المرض شهور عديدة الى أن انتقل الى رحمة ربه في منزله في الساعة العاشرة مساء يوم الجمعة بعد أن ترك خلفه أعمالا كثيرة للفن التركماني وأوصله الى عديد من البلدان التركية ، وقد عرف بنبرته الخاصة في الغناء وغنى كثيرا لمدينته الحبيبة كركوك وللتركمان والعراق جميعا وانا لله وانا اليه راجعون.
وكالة الأنباء التركمانية
www.turkmenelinews.com
توفي في مدينة كركوك مساء يوم الجمعة المطرب والفنان التركماني الكبير عبد الواحد أحمد كوزه جي اوغلو عن عمر ناهز 82 سنة ، وكان الفقيد مصابا بالفقرات الظهرية وقد أعاقه المرض شهور عديدة الى أن انتقل الى رحمة ربه في منزله في الساعة العاشرة مساء يوم الجمعة بعد أن ترك خلفه أعمالا كثيرة للفن التركماني وأوصله الى عديد من البلدان التركية ، وقد عرف بنبرته الخاصة في الغناء وغنى كثيرا لمدينته الحبيبة كركوك وللتركمان والعراق جميعا وانا لله وانا اليه راجعون.
وكالة الأنباء التركمانية
www.turkmenelinews.com
vendredi 29 juin 2007
CHORUS OF CONTEMPT
Amidst political infighting, a shocking new scandal involving Iraq's most vulnerable group, children, continues to blight Iraq's political scene, reports Nermeen Al-Mufti from Baghdad
Against the backdrop of continued violence in Iraq, and with Operation Imposing Law showing no signs of success, US forces have launched Operation Arrowhead Ripper in Diayli, northeast of Baghdad. About 10,000 US troops are participating in the operation, described as the biggest offensive since the one conducted in Falluja in November 2004.
Diayli is partially controlled by the Islamic State of Iraq group and other militias. Thousands of Shia and Sunni families have deserted the city, considered Iraq's second most violent city after Baghdad. About 20 reporters were abducted in Diayli over the past four years and currently there are no local reporters in the city. The news from Diayli is either based on the statements released by the occupation forces or those released by the militia on their Websites. Abu Nabil, a resident of the Al-Muallimin, a particularly violent part of Diyali, told Al-Ahram Weekly that many bodies were left lying in the streets and that it was no longer safe for residents to venture into the streets. Abu Nabil said that heavy fighting had taken place in the areas of Al-Muallimin and Al-Mafraq.
A scandal in Dar Al-Hanan, an institute for orphans with special needs, has upstaged the news of Operation Arrowhead Ripper. The news, broken by the CBS network, featured horrific images of children tied to beds and lying on the floor, too weak to move. CBS said that a joint US-Iraqi patrol "accidentally" found the orphanage, the horrors of which compete with those of Abu Ghraib prison.
Iraqi officials made pathetic attempts to explain events. Mahmoud Al-Sheikh Radi, the minister of labour and social affairs, held a news conference one day after the network aired the damning photos. He said that the Americans "tried to cover up what happened in Samarra by attacking the orphanage". The scandal at the orphanage was actually uncovered on 10 June, two days before the Samarra bombing happened. Furthermore, the minister was dismayed that the "visit" to the orphanage took place without "prior notification." What really happened? Once again, no one knows the truth in Iraq. The Americans tried to make political capital out of their discovery and their saving of the children. The Iraqi minister refused to admit any wrongdoing, nor did he ask for a parliamentary investigation.
The official Iraqi television channel, Al-Iraqiya, ran a story about the children, showing them after they were washed and clothed. The report ended with the words, "a dereliction of duty has taken place, but there is no country in the world where this doesn't occur".
Well-informed government sources told the Weekly that the director of the orphanage, Dia Abdel-Amir, started showing up at the ministry after he was questioned over the affair. Local television stations stated that "oversight committees found no proof of negligence." It would seem that the Iraqi government's definition of the term differs fundamentally from the common usage. And yet the same term is often employed to describe the performance of the Al-Maliki government, even by members of Al-Maliki's own political group, the United Iraqi Alliance.
Vice-President Adel Abdul-Mahdi once again called for the resignation of the government, accusing it of incompetency. Speaking during a Friday sermon at the Al-Khullani Mosque, he said that the country needed a change of government within two months. The mosque was attacked with a truck rigged with explosives and gas canister, leaving 80 dead and 200 others wounded.
Hammam Hammoudi of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, or SCIRI, also said that the government had failed to carry out its duties. Ahmed Al-Safi, spokesman for Ayatollah Al-Sistani, called for the resignation of the government for failing to prevent the Samaraa bombing. Moqtada Al-Sadr added that the government was incapable of protecting his followers from attacks by US troops and his supporters suspended their participation in the parliament following the 12 June bombing in Samaraa. Sheikh Mohamed Al-Yaqoubi, spiritual leader of the Al-Fadila Party, further accused the government of putting partisan interests above national interests, describing it as "crippled".
The Reconciliation Front of Khalf Al-Alyan and the National Dialogue Front of Saleh Al-Mostalek also suspended their participation in the parliament, demanding the dismissal of speaker Mahmoud Al-Mashhadani. A source from the Reconciliation Block said that his group did not want the speaker of the parliament replaced unless the president and the prime minister were also replaced.
Meanwhile, the financial differences between the central government in Baghdad and the administration of northern Iraq over the sharing of oil revenues has been settled. These differences had hitherto complicated agreement on other issues concerning the amendment of the constitution, Kirkuk, and federal arrangements.
Khaled Saleh, spokesman for the northern government, said that the central government in Baghdad had agreed to grant the local government a certain percentage of all Iraqi imports. Qabbad Al-Talabani, son of President Jalal Al-Talabani and the "Kurdistan of Iraq's" envoy to the US, said that the continued presence of US forces in Iraq was a guarantee that the Kurdish people wouldn't be persecuted in the future. He said that the building of a US base in the Kurdish areas was in "the interests of both America and Kurdistan."
Speaking at a news conference last week in Irbil, Qabbad said that "our American friends should understand that their interests in the Kurds are not just political, but economic and military".
He explained that a certain percentage of oil imports, domestic imports, loans and foreign assistance, would go to the Kurdish areas. According to an official who participated in the talks between the northern administration and Baghdad, the talks lasted for several months and resulted in the Kurds getting 17 per cent of all imports and assistance proceedings.
The northern administration has sole control of all import revenues and tarrifs on the Iraqi-Turkish border.
As Operation Arrowhead Ripper continued in Diyali, Al-Adhamiya was under strict curfew causing food supplies to be halted and preventing students from taking their final exams.
Joint US and Iraqi forces imposed a total ban on all vehicular movement in the neighbourhood.
The ban came after a US tank and three Hummer vehicles were attacked last Thursday.
Iraqis were expecting the Anfal court to sentence Ali Hassan Al-Maguid (known as Chemical Ali and the man held responsible for gassing the Kurds) to death. But the death sentence on former Defence Minister Hashem Sultan came as a surprise. Mohamed Al-Bayyat, a former army officer who is now a taxi driver, told the Weekly that he was angered and saddened by the sentence. "Minister Sultan was wrong to surrender to the Americans. Instead he could have hidden among his clan in Mosul. The sentence was an act of revenge against the disbanded Iraqi army," Al-Bayyat said.
The Turcoman Nationalist Movement released a statement denouncing the "double-dealing" in the Iraqi justice system. The movement had filed a lawsuit with an Iraqi court handling crimes against humanity. It accused Masoud Al-Barzani of handing over to Saddam's government dozens of Turcoman opposition members who had taken refuge in Irbil in 1996. The Saddam government executed them. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the families of the victims in February 2005, but no action has been taken so far.
© Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/851/re7.htm
Against the backdrop of continued violence in Iraq, and with Operation Imposing Law showing no signs of success, US forces have launched Operation Arrowhead Ripper in Diayli, northeast of Baghdad. About 10,000 US troops are participating in the operation, described as the biggest offensive since the one conducted in Falluja in November 2004.
Diayli is partially controlled by the Islamic State of Iraq group and other militias. Thousands of Shia and Sunni families have deserted the city, considered Iraq's second most violent city after Baghdad. About 20 reporters were abducted in Diayli over the past four years and currently there are no local reporters in the city. The news from Diayli is either based on the statements released by the occupation forces or those released by the militia on their Websites. Abu Nabil, a resident of the Al-Muallimin, a particularly violent part of Diyali, told Al-Ahram Weekly that many bodies were left lying in the streets and that it was no longer safe for residents to venture into the streets. Abu Nabil said that heavy fighting had taken place in the areas of Al-Muallimin and Al-Mafraq.
A scandal in Dar Al-Hanan, an institute for orphans with special needs, has upstaged the news of Operation Arrowhead Ripper. The news, broken by the CBS network, featured horrific images of children tied to beds and lying on the floor, too weak to move. CBS said that a joint US-Iraqi patrol "accidentally" found the orphanage, the horrors of which compete with those of Abu Ghraib prison.
Iraqi officials made pathetic attempts to explain events. Mahmoud Al-Sheikh Radi, the minister of labour and social affairs, held a news conference one day after the network aired the damning photos. He said that the Americans "tried to cover up what happened in Samarra by attacking the orphanage". The scandal at the orphanage was actually uncovered on 10 June, two days before the Samarra bombing happened. Furthermore, the minister was dismayed that the "visit" to the orphanage took place without "prior notification." What really happened? Once again, no one knows the truth in Iraq. The Americans tried to make political capital out of their discovery and their saving of the children. The Iraqi minister refused to admit any wrongdoing, nor did he ask for a parliamentary investigation.
The official Iraqi television channel, Al-Iraqiya, ran a story about the children, showing them after they were washed and clothed. The report ended with the words, "a dereliction of duty has taken place, but there is no country in the world where this doesn't occur".
Well-informed government sources told the Weekly that the director of the orphanage, Dia Abdel-Amir, started showing up at the ministry after he was questioned over the affair. Local television stations stated that "oversight committees found no proof of negligence." It would seem that the Iraqi government's definition of the term differs fundamentally from the common usage. And yet the same term is often employed to describe the performance of the Al-Maliki government, even by members of Al-Maliki's own political group, the United Iraqi Alliance.
Vice-President Adel Abdul-Mahdi once again called for the resignation of the government, accusing it of incompetency. Speaking during a Friday sermon at the Al-Khullani Mosque, he said that the country needed a change of government within two months. The mosque was attacked with a truck rigged with explosives and gas canister, leaving 80 dead and 200 others wounded.
Hammam Hammoudi of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, or SCIRI, also said that the government had failed to carry out its duties. Ahmed Al-Safi, spokesman for Ayatollah Al-Sistani, called for the resignation of the government for failing to prevent the Samaraa bombing. Moqtada Al-Sadr added that the government was incapable of protecting his followers from attacks by US troops and his supporters suspended their participation in the parliament following the 12 June bombing in Samaraa. Sheikh Mohamed Al-Yaqoubi, spiritual leader of the Al-Fadila Party, further accused the government of putting partisan interests above national interests, describing it as "crippled".
The Reconciliation Front of Khalf Al-Alyan and the National Dialogue Front of Saleh Al-Mostalek also suspended their participation in the parliament, demanding the dismissal of speaker Mahmoud Al-Mashhadani. A source from the Reconciliation Block said that his group did not want the speaker of the parliament replaced unless the president and the prime minister were also replaced.
Meanwhile, the financial differences between the central government in Baghdad and the administration of northern Iraq over the sharing of oil revenues has been settled. These differences had hitherto complicated agreement on other issues concerning the amendment of the constitution, Kirkuk, and federal arrangements.
Khaled Saleh, spokesman for the northern government, said that the central government in Baghdad had agreed to grant the local government a certain percentage of all Iraqi imports. Qabbad Al-Talabani, son of President Jalal Al-Talabani and the "Kurdistan of Iraq's" envoy to the US, said that the continued presence of US forces in Iraq was a guarantee that the Kurdish people wouldn't be persecuted in the future. He said that the building of a US base in the Kurdish areas was in "the interests of both America and Kurdistan."
Speaking at a news conference last week in Irbil, Qabbad said that "our American friends should understand that their interests in the Kurds are not just political, but economic and military".
He explained that a certain percentage of oil imports, domestic imports, loans and foreign assistance, would go to the Kurdish areas. According to an official who participated in the talks between the northern administration and Baghdad, the talks lasted for several months and resulted in the Kurds getting 17 per cent of all imports and assistance proceedings.
The northern administration has sole control of all import revenues and tarrifs on the Iraqi-Turkish border.
As Operation Arrowhead Ripper continued in Diyali, Al-Adhamiya was under strict curfew causing food supplies to be halted and preventing students from taking their final exams.
Joint US and Iraqi forces imposed a total ban on all vehicular movement in the neighbourhood.
The ban came after a US tank and three Hummer vehicles were attacked last Thursday.
Iraqis were expecting the Anfal court to sentence Ali Hassan Al-Maguid (known as Chemical Ali and the man held responsible for gassing the Kurds) to death. But the death sentence on former Defence Minister Hashem Sultan came as a surprise. Mohamed Al-Bayyat, a former army officer who is now a taxi driver, told the Weekly that he was angered and saddened by the sentence. "Minister Sultan was wrong to surrender to the Americans. Instead he could have hidden among his clan in Mosul. The sentence was an act of revenge against the disbanded Iraqi army," Al-Bayyat said.
The Turcoman Nationalist Movement released a statement denouncing the "double-dealing" in the Iraqi justice system. The movement had filed a lawsuit with an Iraqi court handling crimes against humanity. It accused Masoud Al-Barzani of handing over to Saddam's government dozens of Turcoman opposition members who had taken refuge in Irbil in 1996. The Saddam government executed them. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the families of the victims in February 2005, but no action has been taken so far.
© Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/851/re7.htm
jeudi 28 juin 2007
Kerkük Irak'ın kırılma noktasıdır
Çşitli Temaslarda Bulunmak Üzere ABD'nin Başkenti Washington'da Bulunan Irak Türkmen Cephesi Başkanı Dr. Sadettin Ergeç, Assembly Of Turkish American Associations (Ataa) Tarafından Düzenlenen Bir Toplantıda Konuştu. Irak'ın Geneli ve Türkmeneli Bölgesi Hakkında Bilgiler Veren Sadettin Ergeç, Türkmen Toplumunun 37 Senedir Çeşitli Baskılara, Hatta Soykırıma Tabi Tutulduğunu Kaydetti. Maruz Kaldık...
Kerkük Irak'ın kırılma noktasıdır
Washington- Washington'da temaslarda bulunan Iraklı Türkmen Milletvekili ve Irak Türkmen Cephesi Başkanı Saadettin Ergeç, Kerkük’te hayat normale dönmeden referandum yapılmasına karşı olduklarını söylerken Washingtonlu yetkililerin kendilerine kulak vermesini istedi.
Saadettin Ergeç Amerikan Kongresi’nde düzenlenen bir toplantıda yaptığı konuşmada Irak’ın Orta Doğu’nun kilidi, Kerkük’ün ise Irak’ın kırılma noktası olduğunu söyledi.
Iraklı Türkmenler’in 1920’lerden beri Irak yönetiminin baskılarına ve soykırımlarına maruz kaldığını hatırlatan Ergeç 2003 yılından beri yapmakta oldukları uyarıların ciddiye alınması çağrısında bulundu. Irak anayasasıyla ilgili kaygılarını başından beri dile getirdiklerini de belirten Ergeç Iraklı Türkmenlerin sadece kendi haklarını istediklerini, Irak’ın yönetiminde ağırlıklı rol oynamaya talip olduklarını söyledi. Ergeç, Irak’ın içinde bulunduğu kaos ortamına olumlu katkılarının olabileceğine işaret etti. Türkmenlerin Irak’ta tehlike altında olduğunu söyleyen Türkmen Milletvekili Kerkük’ün Türkmen şehri olduğunu ancak herkesin Kerkük’te yaşayabileceğini söyledi. Ergeç Kerkük’e özel statü verilmesini istediklerini de belirtti. Saadettin Ergeç, 1 Mart tezkeresinin Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi'nden geçmemesini 'talihsizlik' diye niteledi ve Türk askerinin yasal olarak Irak’ta bulunmasının, Türkmenler için yararlı olacağına değindi. Ergeç ve beraberindeki heyet Amerikan Dışişleri ve Savunma Bakanlığı yetkilileri ve Ulusal Güvenlik Konseyi üyeleriyle bir araya gelecek. New York’ta da temaslar yapacak olan Ergeç’in aralarında Hillary Clinton’ın da olduğu bazı senatörlerle bir araya gelmesi bekleniyor.habergazete
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Ergeç, Washington Temaslarına Devam Ediyor
27 Haziran 2007,
Çeşitli Temaslarda Bulunmak Üzere ABD'nin Başkenti Washington'da Bulunan Irak Türkmen Cephesi Başkanı Dr. Sadettin Ergeç, Assembly Of Turkish American Associations (Ataa) Tarafından Düzenlenen Bir Toplantıda Konuştu. Irak'ın Geneli ve Türkmeneli Bölgesi Hakkında Bilgiler Veren Sadettin Ergeç, Türkmen Toplumunun 37 Senedir Çeşitli Baskılara, Hatta Soykırıma Tabi Tutulduğunu Kaydetti. Maruz Kaldık...
Çeşitli temaslarda bulunmak üzere ABD'nin başkenti Washington'da bulunan Irak Türkmen Cephesi Başkanı Dr. Sadettin Ergeç, Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA) tarafından düzenlenen bir toplantıda konuştu. Irak'ın geneli ve Türkmeneli bölgesi hakkında bilgiler veren Sadettin Ergeç, Türkmen toplumunun 37 senedir çeşitli baskılara, hatta soykırıma tabi tutulduğunu kaydetti. Maruz kaldıkları baskılar konusunda da yalnız kaldıklarını ima edem Ergenç, 1 Mart tezkeresinin mecliste kabul edilmeyişini de 'talihsizlik' olarak değerlendirerek şunları söyledi:
"Tezkere zamanında elde bir fırsat vardı. 2003 yılından beri biz bunu istiyoruz, ama gerçekleştirilmedi. Gayet güzel olabilirdi, o zaman da bu yasaldı. Kimse de reddedemezdi. Şimdi dönüp reddedenlerin kim olduğuna bakmak lazım. Reddedenler kimlerdi ve arkasındakiler kimlerdi? Tezkerenin geçmesi, yasal olarak Türk askerinin göreve gelmesi, tezkerenin geçmesi orda yasal olarak bulunması demekti. Yasal olarak bulunması, böyle bir gücün olması tabi ki Türkmenleri olumlu yönde etkilerdi. Bizim kanaatimize göre Türkmen'lerin saf dışı edilmesinde en başta gelen unsurlardan birisi de budur. Irak'ın güvenliği konusunda İran ve Amerika arasında bir takım görüşmeler olduğuna da dikkat çenen Sadettin Ergenç, "Bakınız maalesef bir yere gelindi ki, Irak'ın güvenliği iki memleket tarafından tartışılmaktadır. Ama üçüncü bir güç nerede?
Onu da sormak lazım. İran ve Amerika'nın, Irak hakkında toplantılar yaptığı ve orda bulunan güvenliğin sağlanması için bir iş birliği meselesi söz konusudur. Bizim kanaatimize göre, Irak'ta cereyan eden, tüm komşu ülkeleri ilgilendirir ve tüm komşu ülkelerin onda söz sahibi olması lazım. Çünkü ateş düştüğü andan itibaren her tarafa sıçrayabilir Allah korusun." şeklinde konuştu. Kuzey Irak'ta bir Kürt yapılanmasının adımlarının çok önceden atıldığını, ama bugünden sonra engellerin açılmasının çok zor olduğunu söyleyen Dr. Sadettin Ergenç, "Bunun ilan edilmesi için çeşitli beklentiler vardır. Bunları elde edilmesi zordur.
Anayasamıza baktığınız zaman bir çok maddeler, birçok rahatsızlıklar var. Ben anayasa tadilatında komisyon üyesiydim. Acayip maddeler vardı, yani bizim ilk günden tespit ettiğimiz Irak'ı paramparça eden maddeler vardı. Toparlanmaya çalışıldı. sonra bir gerçek var. Bugün dünden çok daha iyidir. İlk meclis toplantılarında atılan fikirler değişik ama bugün ortaya atılanlar değişik, grupların anlaşmaları değişik ve anlaşmaların geliş noktaları değişik." şeklinde konuştu. Referandumu kesinlikle reddettiklerini belirten Ergenç, "Irak, insanlığı seven, insan haklarına saygılı olan güçlerin kontrolü altında olsun, Birleşmiş Milletlerin de müdahalesi olsun, sayım Irak genelinde olsun, referanduma gelince, biz referandumu kesinlikle reddediyoruz, çünkü Irak'ın istikrarını bile bozar."
İHA
ITC's Ergeç holds Kirkuk talks in Washington
28 June 2007, Thursday
An Iraqi Turkmen delegation led by Saadettin Ergeç, head of the Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITC), is in the US capital to voice their uneasiness over the constitutional process regarding the disputed northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk during talks with senior officials.
İHA
ITC's Ergeç holds Kirkuk talks in Washington
28 June 2007, Thursday
An Iraqi Turkmen delegation led by Saadettin Ergeç, head of the Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITC), is in the US capital to voice their uneasiness over the constitutional process regarding the disputed northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk during talks with senior officials.
Ahead of the delegation's talks with officials from the US National Security Council and the Defense and State departments, Ergeç participated in a meeting held by the Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA) at the US Congress on Tuesday, according to the Anatolia news agency.
A referendum on the status of the strategically important, oil-rich city of Kirkuk is slated for the end of 2007.
While Iraqi Kurds are currently pushing for the referendum, the city's other residents, Turkmens and Arabs, are reluctant, fearing that the referendum would only confirm Kirkuk as part of the Kurdish region in the face of a massive influx of Kurdish immigrants over the past years.
By definition, a constitution cannot contain a provision with a specific date, Ergeç said, referring to the fact that the Article 140 of the Iraqi Constitution outlines the date of the referendum on Kirkuk. "What will we do with this article when the year 2007 is over? We reject the referendum. This will spoil Iraq's future," he added.
Zaman
By definition, a constitution cannot contain a provision with a specific date, Ergeç said, referring to the fact that the Article 140 of the Iraqi Constitution outlines the date of the referendum on Kirkuk. "What will we do with this article when the year 2007 is over? We reject the referendum. This will spoil Iraq's future," he added.
Zaman
mercredi 27 juin 2007
Where will Iraq, its refugees go next?
Consequences of insufficient funding likely to boost perpetrators of violence inside Iraq.Life in Iraq is already close to unbearable, with neighbours and marriages split apart by sectarian violence and people on all sides living in dread of car bombs, kidnappings and landmines.And yet just about everyone says it's going to get worse, both inside Iraq - for those who've fled their homes and those who so far have stayed put - and for refugees who've made it to neighbouring countries, where resources and hospitality are stretched to the limit.
No one in Iraq feels safe."Fear now dictates which market you shop at; where you got to hospital - or even whether you go at all; whether you send your kids to school; what passenger you take in your taxi, and where you are will to take him; which friends you see," Ashraf al-Khalidi and Victor Tanner say in an article in the latest issue of Forced Migration Review, published by Oxford University's Refugee Studies Centre.
It's hard to imagine things going further downhill, but observers say violence could escalate even more if it shifts from being the domain largely of armed factions to the wider population, and that would trigger even more flight.
Al-Khalidi and Tanner say violence is reaching deeper into society, as more and more people have ties to the radical groups."If open conflict erupts between tribal groups," they say, "the violence will take on an organised, popular and rural dimension that has so far, mercifully, been lacking."
All over the country and beyond, relatives and strangers have taken people into their homes, but resources and hospitality are at bursting point everywhere the displaced have fled.
Most governates in southern Iraq have begun restricting the entry of displaced people who don't come from local tribes or don't have relatives to take them in, researchers say.
In northern towns, local officials are refusing to allow newcomers in or to register for the public food distribution system, and have set up tents outside town instead.
In this depressing scenario, the only sliver of hope seems to be for more international help - whether it's cash for the places where displaced families are sheltering now, or giving thousands of them new homes in the West.
The country is haemorrhaging refugees at a rate of 40,000 to 50,000 a month, according to the UN refugee agancy, UNHCR.
In Syria and Jordan, where most of Iraq's refugees have gone, an initially warm welcome is cooling swiftly. Both countries are stretched close to the limit already, and no one from the international community has stepped in with donations to help cover the costs.
Neither country has ever signed the 1951 Refugee Convention, so there's no guarantee Iraqis will be allowed to stay.Jordan, which now hosts the largest number of refugees per capita of any country on earth, is preventing Iraqi men from entering and turning away as many refugees as it can, according to Human Rights Watch.
And you can see the logic, when the kingdom's interior ministry says Iraqi refugees are costing Jordan an estimated $1 billion dollars a year. Jordan's schoolteachers were already working double shifts before the Iraqi influx, international aid agency World Vision says in a new report on Iraqi children. Amman has contracted Norwegian think tank FAFO to determine the numbers of refugees in the country and report back on their needs.
Other nearby countries shut their doors long ago, with Lebanon sending back 40 to 60 a week, according to refugee rights campaigners from the Beirut-based Frontiers (Ruwad) Assocation.
That leaves Syria as the main remaining option, but Syrian food prices have risen 30 percent, property prices have jumped 40 percent and rents have shot up by 150 percent, according to the country's foreign ministry.
Water consumption has increased 21 percent, it says, and the refugees have put a burden on the labour market, where unemployment was previously 18 percent.
Human Rights Watch says the urgency isn't just about the moral imperative to help people, but to defuse a security timebomb that has only just started ticking."Unless this crisis is addressed, we may well look back in 10 years' time and see the seeds of the next generation of terrorists," Human Rights Watch's UK Director Tom Porteous says.
The consequences of insufficient funding could come full circle and boost the perpetrators of violence inside Iraq too.Walter Kalin, who's the the UN secretary-general's representative on internally displaced people's rights, writes in Forced Migration Review that there's a real danger the vacuum in humanitarian assistance will be filled by armed militias who provide relief as a way of increasing their control over territory.
FMR's editors note that foreign money is pouring into the war effort in Iraq - they say the US military spends more in Iraq every week than the entire annual global budget of UNHCR - yet the 70 or so non-governmental relief agencies still operating in Iraq face severe funding constraints.
And so do hundreds of Iraqi organisations, working in the most dire conditions."Iraq is undoubtedly the worse place in the world right now for international humanitarian agencies to operate," Walter Kalin says.
A Canadian aid worker writing for AlertNet, Greg Hansen, says: "Donors impose a shocking double standard, insisting on far greater accountability standards on spending for life-saving humanitarian action than for ill-conceived rebuilding schemes hatched in the hothouse of the Green Zone."
Hansen argues that donors have been slow to acknowledge the growing humanitarian emergency because it would mean acknowledging their failure in wasting billions on reconstruction projects.
Advocacy groups like Human Rights Watch say another way the international community could help would be by taking in much larger numbers of refugees themselves, through resettlement programmes. However, this is controversial.
Ali al Bayati, counsellor at the Iraqi Embassy in London, says the international community needs to help make the country safe for Iraqis - many of them likely to try to move to safety after the school year ends in June - before the academic year starts up again in September.
But aid workers say many Iraqis who are fleeing their home don't plan to return.
The UN refugee agency is planning to submit 20,000 Iraqis for resettlement by the end of 2007, recommending Australia, Canada, Finland, the Netherlands, Sweden and United States in particular.
At the moment, UNHCR officials stress that they're not talking about a mass resettlement programme, and that there's opposition to that from Iraq's neighbours. Jordan and Syria are worried it would create a pull factor for refugees, and I've heard several people bandy about their concern about the "Palestinisation" of Iraqi refugees.
While the violence keeps on escalating and more and more towns and countries shut their gates, Refugee Studies Centre Director Roger Zetter says there's no chance of large numbers of Iraqis going home in the short or medium term. "It pains me to say this, but this is a protracted refugee crisis."
mardi 26 juin 2007
WHERE IS IRAQ HEADING?
Where Is Iraq Heading? Lessons from Basra
Middle East Report N°67 - 25 June 2007
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Amid the media and military focus on Baghdad, another major Iraqi city – Basra – is being overlooked. Yet Basra’s experience carries important lessons for the capital and nation as a whole. Coalition forces have already implemented a security plan there, Operation Sinbad, which was in many ways similar to Baghdad’s current military surge. What U.S. commanders call “clear, hold and build”, their British counterparts earlier had dubbed “clear, hold and civil reconstruction”. And, as in the capital, the putative goal was to pave the way for a takeover by Iraqi forces. Far from being a model to be replicated, however, Basra is an example of what to avoid. With renewed violence and instability, Basra illustrates the pitfalls of a transitional process that has led to collapse of the state apparatus and failed to build legitimate institutions. Fierce intra-Shiite fighting also disproves the simplistic view of Iraq neatly divided between three homogenous communities.
Lack of attention to Basra is understandable. Iraq’s future is often believed to depend on Baghdad, and most of the spectacular bombings have taken place in the centre of the country, far from the southern city. Observers, by now accustomed to the capital’s dynamics, have had difficulty making sense of Basra’s and so have tended to downplay them. Finally, because U.S. forces have not been directly involved, news coverage has been both limited to Arabic and British media and forced to compete with the gruesome violence that is tearing the centre apart.
But to neglect Basra is a mistake. The nation’s second largest city, it is located in its most oil-rich region. Basra governorate also is the only region enjoying maritime access, making it the country’s de facto economic capital and a significant prize for local political actors. Sandwiched between Iran and the Gulf monarchies, at the intersection of the Arab and Persian worlds, the region is strategically important. Sociologically, Basra’s identity essentially has been forged in opposition not only to the capital but also to other major southern cities such as Najaf and Karbala. For these reasons, it is wrong either to ignore it or lump it together with an imaginary, undifferentiated Shiite south.
On its face, Basra’s security plan ranked as a qualified success. Between September 2006 and March 2007, Operation Sinbad sought to rout out militias and hand security over to newly vetted and stronger Iraqi security forces while kick-starting economic reconstruction. Criminality, political assassinations and sectarian killings, all of which were rampant in 2006, receded somewhat and – certainly as compared to elsewhere in the country – a relative calm prevailed. Yet this reality was both superficial and fleeting. By March–April 2007, renewed political tensions once more threatened to destabilise the city, and relentless attacks against British forces in effect had driven them off the streets into increasingly secluded compounds. Basra’s residents and militiamen view this not as an orderly withdrawal but rather as an ignominious defeat. Today, the city is controlled by militias, seemingly more powerful and unconstrained than before.
What progress has occurred cannot conceal the most glaring failing of all: the inability to establish a legitimate and functioning provincial apparatus capable of redistributing resources, imposing respect for the rule of law and ensuring a peaceful transition at the local level. Basra’s political arena remains in the hands of actors engaged in bloody competition for resources, undermining what is left of governorate institutions and coercively enforcing their rule. The local population has no choice but to seek protection from one of the dominant camps. Periods of stability do not reflect greater governing authority so much as they do a momentary – and fragile – balance of interests or of terror between rival militias. Inevitably, conflicts re-emerge and even apparently minor incidents can set off a cycle of retaliatory violence. A political process designed to pacify competition and ensure the non-violent allocation of goods and power has become a source of intense and often brutal struggle.
Basra is a case study of Iraq’s multiple and multiplying forms of violence. These often have little to do with sectarianism or anti-occupation resistance. Instead, they involve the systematic misuse of official institutions, political assassinations, tribal vendettas, neighbourhood vigilantism and enforcement of social mores, together with the rise of criminal mafias that increasingly intermingle with political actors. Should other causes of strife – sectarian violence and the fight against coalition forces – recede, the concern must still be that Basra's fate will be replicated throughout the country on a larger, more chaotic and more dangerous scale.
The lessons are clear. Iraq’s violence is multifaceted, and sectarianism is only one of its sources. It follows that the country’s division along supposedly inherent and homogenous confessional and ethnic lines is not an answer. It follows, too, that rebuilding the state, tackling militias and imposing the rule of law cannot be done without confronting the parties that currently dominate the political process and forging a new and far more inclusive political compact.
Iraq is in the midst of a civil war. But before and beyond that, Iraq has become a failed state – a country whose institutions and, with them, any semblance of national cohesion, have been obliterated. That is what has made the violence – all the violence: sectarian, anti-coalition, political, criminal and otherwise – both possible and, for many, necessary. Resolving the confrontation between Sunni Arabs, Shiites and Kurds is one priority. But rebuilding a functioning and legitimate state is another – no less urgent, no less important and no less daunting.
Damascus/Amman/Brussels, 25 June 2007
http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=4914&l=1
Middle East Report N°67 - 25 June 2007
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Amid the media and military focus on Baghdad, another major Iraqi city – Basra – is being overlooked. Yet Basra’s experience carries important lessons for the capital and nation as a whole. Coalition forces have already implemented a security plan there, Operation Sinbad, which was in many ways similar to Baghdad’s current military surge. What U.S. commanders call “clear, hold and build”, their British counterparts earlier had dubbed “clear, hold and civil reconstruction”. And, as in the capital, the putative goal was to pave the way for a takeover by Iraqi forces. Far from being a model to be replicated, however, Basra is an example of what to avoid. With renewed violence and instability, Basra illustrates the pitfalls of a transitional process that has led to collapse of the state apparatus and failed to build legitimate institutions. Fierce intra-Shiite fighting also disproves the simplistic view of Iraq neatly divided between three homogenous communities.
Lack of attention to Basra is understandable. Iraq’s future is often believed to depend on Baghdad, and most of the spectacular bombings have taken place in the centre of the country, far from the southern city. Observers, by now accustomed to the capital’s dynamics, have had difficulty making sense of Basra’s and so have tended to downplay them. Finally, because U.S. forces have not been directly involved, news coverage has been both limited to Arabic and British media and forced to compete with the gruesome violence that is tearing the centre apart.
But to neglect Basra is a mistake. The nation’s second largest city, it is located in its most oil-rich region. Basra governorate also is the only region enjoying maritime access, making it the country’s de facto economic capital and a significant prize for local political actors. Sandwiched between Iran and the Gulf monarchies, at the intersection of the Arab and Persian worlds, the region is strategically important. Sociologically, Basra’s identity essentially has been forged in opposition not only to the capital but also to other major southern cities such as Najaf and Karbala. For these reasons, it is wrong either to ignore it or lump it together with an imaginary, undifferentiated Shiite south.
On its face, Basra’s security plan ranked as a qualified success. Between September 2006 and March 2007, Operation Sinbad sought to rout out militias and hand security over to newly vetted and stronger Iraqi security forces while kick-starting economic reconstruction. Criminality, political assassinations and sectarian killings, all of which were rampant in 2006, receded somewhat and – certainly as compared to elsewhere in the country – a relative calm prevailed. Yet this reality was both superficial and fleeting. By March–April 2007, renewed political tensions once more threatened to destabilise the city, and relentless attacks against British forces in effect had driven them off the streets into increasingly secluded compounds. Basra’s residents and militiamen view this not as an orderly withdrawal but rather as an ignominious defeat. Today, the city is controlled by militias, seemingly more powerful and unconstrained than before.
What progress has occurred cannot conceal the most glaring failing of all: the inability to establish a legitimate and functioning provincial apparatus capable of redistributing resources, imposing respect for the rule of law and ensuring a peaceful transition at the local level. Basra’s political arena remains in the hands of actors engaged in bloody competition for resources, undermining what is left of governorate institutions and coercively enforcing their rule. The local population has no choice but to seek protection from one of the dominant camps. Periods of stability do not reflect greater governing authority so much as they do a momentary – and fragile – balance of interests or of terror between rival militias. Inevitably, conflicts re-emerge and even apparently minor incidents can set off a cycle of retaliatory violence. A political process designed to pacify competition and ensure the non-violent allocation of goods and power has become a source of intense and often brutal struggle.
Basra is a case study of Iraq’s multiple and multiplying forms of violence. These often have little to do with sectarianism or anti-occupation resistance. Instead, they involve the systematic misuse of official institutions, political assassinations, tribal vendettas, neighbourhood vigilantism and enforcement of social mores, together with the rise of criminal mafias that increasingly intermingle with political actors. Should other causes of strife – sectarian violence and the fight against coalition forces – recede, the concern must still be that Basra's fate will be replicated throughout the country on a larger, more chaotic and more dangerous scale.
The lessons are clear. Iraq’s violence is multifaceted, and sectarianism is only one of its sources. It follows that the country’s division along supposedly inherent and homogenous confessional and ethnic lines is not an answer. It follows, too, that rebuilding the state, tackling militias and imposing the rule of law cannot be done without confronting the parties that currently dominate the political process and forging a new and far more inclusive political compact.
Iraq is in the midst of a civil war. But before and beyond that, Iraq has become a failed state – a country whose institutions and, with them, any semblance of national cohesion, have been obliterated. That is what has made the violence – all the violence: sectarian, anti-coalition, political, criminal and otherwise – both possible and, for many, necessary. Resolving the confrontation between Sunni Arabs, Shiites and Kurds is one priority. But rebuilding a functioning and legitimate state is another – no less urgent, no less important and no less daunting.
Damascus/Amman/Brussels, 25 June 2007
http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=4914&l=1
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