Thursday, October 18, 2007
Parliament authorizes the government to order the military to carry out an incursion into Iraq to hunt down the PKK. 'It is state policy,' says Deputy PM Çiçek adding that Turkey is firm on protecting its citizens
ANKARA TDN Parliament Bureau
Parliament approved a motion yesterday authorizing the government to order the military to conduct a cross-border operation into northern Iraq to crack down on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) terrorists.
The motion allows the Turkish Armed Forces to conduct cross-border operations in northern Iraq and surrounding areas for a one-year period. But the military still needs to receive separate instructions from the government that sets the timing, scale and the target of an operation. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan earlier said that approval of the motion does not necessarily mean an imminent military operation is in the cards.
After the approval of the motion, the cabinet convened under the leadership of Erdoğan to discuss recent developments. Meanwhile officials from the Foreign Ministry briefed members of the diplomatic missions here yesterday, the Anatolia news agency reported. Earlier Chief of General Staff Gen. Yaşar Büyükanıt who is in Rome on a visit, declined to comment on the motion saying that it would be wrong for him to talk about it before its approval. "Of course we aware of the content. We were active during the wording of the motion," he said.
Observers in Ankara say that an operation is not likely to be conducted before late November. Turkey will host an international summit on Iraq with the participation of the United States, G-8 countries and Iraq's neighbors early in November. Erdoğan plans to visit the President of the United States George W. Bush in Washington mid November.
Parliament held a special open session to discuss whether a cross-border operation in northern Iraq is necessary. The majority of deputies from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), the Republican People's Party (CHP), the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the Democratic Left Party (DSP) voted in favor of the motion while parliamentarians from the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) opposed the passage of the motion. There were 507 votes cast in favor of the motion and 19 against.
Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Çiçek said Turkey has the authority to make use of its right stemming from international law against the terrorist attacks of the PKK, which enjoys safe haven in northern Iraq. “What we seek is not an internal balance of our party but of our state's and people's. It is a very complicated and multilateral issue. We don't have the luxury to commit mistakes,” he said.
He criticized the DTP, without naming it for not condemning the terrorist attacks and added, “first we have to agree on the definitions. If some define what we call terrorist as freedom fighter, then we have a problem. There is no magic way to deal with terrorism. Military option is one of the ways.”
DTP: Motion can cause destruction
The DTP's parliamentary group leader, Selahattin Demirtaş, said, “an operation will make Turkey a belligerent power. Even though this operation will be successful, how is it going to stop the problem from becoming more destructive? Our face is turned to Ankara and peace. Our wish is that there will be no need for the use of this motion,” while addressing Parliament on behalf of his party and criticized the government for presenting the motion.
CHP: Barzani should make a choice
The CHP's Istanbul deputy, retired ambassador Şükrü Elekdağ said they supported the motion and slammed both the PKK and Massoud Barzani, leader of the semi-autonomous region in northern Iraq. “The target of the motion should not only be the PKK but the ones who protect them,” Elekdağ said, referring to the Barzani administration. “If we cannot do so, the operation will not be useful. We have to make clear to Barzani and Iraq that they have to make a choice: Turkey or the PKK?
MHP: Iraqi actions ‘hostile act'
Deniz Bölükbaşı, the Ankara deputy of the MHP, said that Iraq allowing the use of its territory to terrorist groups is a “hostile act” according to international law, and added that the U.S. has been ignoring this situation. Criticizing the government for not being sensitive in the fight against terrorism and for rejecting calls by the military for authorization to launch a cross-border operation four months ago, Bölükbaşı said: “What is very important is the implementation of the motion. Otherwise it will be a virtual motion.”
http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=86244
vendredi 19 octobre 2007
No Holiday Here, by Nermeen Al-Mufti
Hakim's son preaches partition and unity as Iraq's woes abound under occupation, reports Nermeen Al-Mufti from Baghdad
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/867/re92.htm
Just before the Muslim holiday Eid started, US helicopters fired at a house in the town of Al-Tharthar, about 45 kilometres northwest of Baghdad, killing nine women and six children. American forces, as usual, said they ordered the attack because "terrorists" were hiding in the house. Local television stations aired interviews with relatives of the victims who said that a US officer wept when he saw the blood of women and children inside the house and apologised to the survivors. A relative of the victims said that apologies would not bring back the dead.
During Eid, Turkey shelled northern Iraq in retaliation to the killing of 13 Turkish soldiers by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) last week. Turkey had repeatedly threatened to enter northern Iraq to eliminate PKK bases. It is noteworthy that EU countries and the US view the PKK as a terrorist organisation. According to US sources, Turkey massed 60,000 troops on its border with Iraq. The Turkish government said it was waiting for the approval of the parliament before sending its army to chase down PKK members inside Iraq.
The recent escalation was exactly what a security agreement signed lately by the Iraqi and Turkish governments attempted to avoid. The agreement called on the Iraqi government to prevent Kurdish fighters from staging attacks against the Turkish army and on Ankara to refrain from sending Turkish troops inside Iraq.
The Kurdistan regional government said it was neither helping the PKK nor offering it safe haven. The PKK fighters, Kurdish authorities claimed, were hiding in inaccessible mountain areas in northern Iraq. Several Kurdish officials called on the central government to defend Iraq's northern borders. Turkey said it wouldn't stop its shelling until Iraqi authorities hand over PKK leaders.
According to the Iraqi News Agency, a group of peshmerga (Kurdish militia) arrived in Najaf to set up a temporary residence for the family of Masoud Barzani, president of the Kurdistan regional government. Unconfirmed reports in Irbil claimed that Turkish commandos were planning to land in Irbil and arrest Barzani.
Meanwhile, the Committee for the Defence of the Health of Abdullah Ocalan distributed a statement calling on "our patriotic Kurdish people in Kurdistan and the nations of the region" to press Turkey to release information about Ocalan's health and improve the conditions of his detention.
The Iraqi Turkomen Front (ITF) said that should Iraq break into federal states, it would ask for a Turkmeneli, or Turkomen homeland, to be set aside. But the ITF added that it was still committed to a united Iraq. The number of Turkomen in Iraq was 560,000 in 1957, when the country's population totalled six million. In that same year, most Kirkuk inhabitants were Turkomen. Now Iraq has a population of around 26 million, but Kurdish officials maintain that the Turkomen are only a few thousand in number.
Due to the illness of Abdul-Aziz Al-Hakim, his son Ammar delivered the Eid sermon at the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) headquarters last Saturday. He called for a federal state in southern Iraq, saying that such an arrangement wouldn't imperil the unity of the country. "I call on the sons of our people to form their own provinces, starting from the province that is south of Baghdad to all other provinces. This is an Iraqi interest, an Iraqi decision, and an Iraqi resolve. We remain committed to maintaining the unity of Iraq as a land, people and government," Ammar Al-Hakim said.
A few weeks ago, Moqtada Al-Sadr and Abdu-Aziz Al-Hakim decided to stop the fighting between the Mahdi Army of Al-Sadr and the Badr Forces of SCIRI in order to stem Iraqi blood. Sadr supporters are incensed by Ammar's recent statements. Ammar is "flirting with the US scheme to divide Iraq," said one source close to Al-Sadr. Sami Al-Askari, adviser to the Iraqi prime minister, said that, "federalism in the south would lead to fighting among the Shias themselves due to economic differences and disagreement on numerous matters."
In an unprecedented step, Ammar Al-Hakim visited the turbulent governorate of Al-Anbar where he met clan leader Ahmed Abu Risha in what may signal the start of Sunni-Shia reconciliation. According to AFP, the meeting between Ammar Al-Hakim and Abu Risha took place last Sunday in Al-Ramadi under heavy US security measures. This was the first visit by a senior SCIRI official to Ramadi, 100 kilometres west of Baghdad, a stronghold of Sunni resistance.
Abu Risha is leader of the US-backed Sunni clan alliance fighting Al-Qaeda. His brother Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha, founder of the Anbar Revival Conference, was killed last month in an attack claimed by Al-Qaeda. Following his arrival in Al-Anbar, Ammar Al-Hakim said that Iraq doesn't belong to Sunnis, Shias, Kurds, Arabs, or Turkomen, but to all Iraqis.
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/867/re92.htm
Just before the Muslim holiday Eid started, US helicopters fired at a house in the town of Al-Tharthar, about 45 kilometres northwest of Baghdad, killing nine women and six children. American forces, as usual, said they ordered the attack because "terrorists" were hiding in the house. Local television stations aired interviews with relatives of the victims who said that a US officer wept when he saw the blood of women and children inside the house and apologised to the survivors. A relative of the victims said that apologies would not bring back the dead.
During Eid, Turkey shelled northern Iraq in retaliation to the killing of 13 Turkish soldiers by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) last week. Turkey had repeatedly threatened to enter northern Iraq to eliminate PKK bases. It is noteworthy that EU countries and the US view the PKK as a terrorist organisation. According to US sources, Turkey massed 60,000 troops on its border with Iraq. The Turkish government said it was waiting for the approval of the parliament before sending its army to chase down PKK members inside Iraq.
The recent escalation was exactly what a security agreement signed lately by the Iraqi and Turkish governments attempted to avoid. The agreement called on the Iraqi government to prevent Kurdish fighters from staging attacks against the Turkish army and on Ankara to refrain from sending Turkish troops inside Iraq.
The Kurdistan regional government said it was neither helping the PKK nor offering it safe haven. The PKK fighters, Kurdish authorities claimed, were hiding in inaccessible mountain areas in northern Iraq. Several Kurdish officials called on the central government to defend Iraq's northern borders. Turkey said it wouldn't stop its shelling until Iraqi authorities hand over PKK leaders.
According to the Iraqi News Agency, a group of peshmerga (Kurdish militia) arrived in Najaf to set up a temporary residence for the family of Masoud Barzani, president of the Kurdistan regional government. Unconfirmed reports in Irbil claimed that Turkish commandos were planning to land in Irbil and arrest Barzani.
Meanwhile, the Committee for the Defence of the Health of Abdullah Ocalan distributed a statement calling on "our patriotic Kurdish people in Kurdistan and the nations of the region" to press Turkey to release information about Ocalan's health and improve the conditions of his detention.
The Iraqi Turkomen Front (ITF) said that should Iraq break into federal states, it would ask for a Turkmeneli, or Turkomen homeland, to be set aside. But the ITF added that it was still committed to a united Iraq. The number of Turkomen in Iraq was 560,000 in 1957, when the country's population totalled six million. In that same year, most Kirkuk inhabitants were Turkomen. Now Iraq has a population of around 26 million, but Kurdish officials maintain that the Turkomen are only a few thousand in number.
Due to the illness of Abdul-Aziz Al-Hakim, his son Ammar delivered the Eid sermon at the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) headquarters last Saturday. He called for a federal state in southern Iraq, saying that such an arrangement wouldn't imperil the unity of the country. "I call on the sons of our people to form their own provinces, starting from the province that is south of Baghdad to all other provinces. This is an Iraqi interest, an Iraqi decision, and an Iraqi resolve. We remain committed to maintaining the unity of Iraq as a land, people and government," Ammar Al-Hakim said.
A few weeks ago, Moqtada Al-Sadr and Abdu-Aziz Al-Hakim decided to stop the fighting between the Mahdi Army of Al-Sadr and the Badr Forces of SCIRI in order to stem Iraqi blood. Sadr supporters are incensed by Ammar's recent statements. Ammar is "flirting with the US scheme to divide Iraq," said one source close to Al-Sadr. Sami Al-Askari, adviser to the Iraqi prime minister, said that, "federalism in the south would lead to fighting among the Shias themselves due to economic differences and disagreement on numerous matters."
In an unprecedented step, Ammar Al-Hakim visited the turbulent governorate of Al-Anbar where he met clan leader Ahmed Abu Risha in what may signal the start of Sunni-Shia reconciliation. According to AFP, the meeting between Ammar Al-Hakim and Abu Risha took place last Sunday in Al-Ramadi under heavy US security measures. This was the first visit by a senior SCIRI official to Ramadi, 100 kilometres west of Baghdad, a stronghold of Sunni resistance.
Abu Risha is leader of the US-backed Sunni clan alliance fighting Al-Qaeda. His brother Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha, founder of the Anbar Revival Conference, was killed last month in an attack claimed by Al-Qaeda. Following his arrival in Al-Anbar, Ammar Al-Hakim said that Iraq doesn't belong to Sunnis, Shias, Kurds, Arabs, or Turkomen, but to all Iraqis.
Who Owns Kerkuk? The Turkoman Case, by Yücel Güçlü
Yücel GüçlüMiddle East Quarterly Winter 2007
Yücel Güçlü is a first counselor at Turkish Embassy in Washington, D.C. These views are his own and do not necessarily represent the views of the Turkish government.
The question of Kirkuk's final status remains among the touchiest issues concerning Iraq's future. The Iraqi Kurdish political parties seek to include Kirkuk in a federal Kurdish state, an outcome at odds with Iraqi Turkoman sensitivities. The Turkomans consider Kirkuk to be their own ancestral capital and cultural center. Understanding the Turkoman claim to Kirkuk is essential to defuse a potentially explosive problem.
Policymakers and commentators outside Turkey often ignore the Turkomans. Literature about them is scarce in Western languages; the little that exists is limited in academic rigor and utility.[1] Furthermore, in terms of enunciating their concerns and interacting with Western officials, the Turkomans themselves have not always been effective spokesmen for their cause.
For centuries, the Turkomans have been part of the urban elite in cities such as Baghdad, Mosul, and Kirkuk. They remain an integral part of Iraq although their population is debated. It is hard to come by adequate population numbers in Iraq. After the 1958 revolution and the Baath Party coup ten years later, successive Iraqi governments embraced Arab nationalism[2] and worked to subvert the rights of the Kurdish and Turkoman communities. The last reliable census in Iraq—and the only one in which participants could declare their mother tongue—was in 1957. It found that Turkomans were the third largest ethnicity in Iraq, after Arabs and Kurds. The Turkomans numbered 567,000 out of a total population of 6,300,000. Later polls dropped "Turkoman" as a category. Basing his estimate on the 1957 census data and a growth rate of 2.5 percent annually, Erşat Hürmüzlü, a Kirkuk-born Turkoman scholar, estimated Iraq's Turkoman population today at no less than two million Turkomans, out of a total population of 25 million.[3]
The City of Kirkuk
The status of Kirkuk remains one of Iraq's major flash points. A city of more than 750,000[4] in the center of northern Iraq, it sits adjacent to oil fields holding 40 percent of Iraq's reserves[5] and is surrounded by some of Iraq's richest agricultural land. Kirkuk's history is complex, replete with competing claims to suzerainty.
Kirkuk's history dates back thousands of years.[6] The Ottoman Empire incorporated Kirkuk—and much of what is now Iraq—into its domains in 1534. Kirkuk grew in importance in the eighteenth century when it became the capital of the Ottoman sanjak (county or sub-district) of Şehrizor, comprising the areas of Kirkuk, Arbil, and Sulaimaniya. With the reforms of Midhat Pasha, Baghdad's governor between 1869 and 1872, the name Şehrizor was given to the sanjak of Kirkuk (corresponding to the present areas of Kirkuk and Arbil). In 1879, the Ottoman government in Istanbul created the Mosul vilayet, which incorporated most of what is now northern Iraq. Kirkuk remained an important garrison town and, for reasons of language and the composition of the population, a valuable Ottoman recruiting center for civil servants and gendarmes. Ottoman culture thrived in the city.[7] The Turkomans dominated the merchant class and provided economic stability to the city.
Following its defeat in World War I, the Ottoman Empire forfeited much of its territory in the Middle East. But, because the majority of the area of Kirkuk was Turkish, the Ottoman government refused to renounce its claim. The Sublime Porte based its claim on President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points, Article XII of which stipulated that the Turkish portions of the Ottoman Empire should be assured sovereignty. The Ottoman delegation to the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 argued that in "Asia the Turkish lands are bounded on the south by the provinces of Mosul and Diyarbekir, as well as a part of Aleppo as far as the Mediterranean."[8]
At this time, Kirkuk's leading families were Turkoman: the Neftçiler—whose name in Turkish means oil producer—had owned and exploited the oil seepages since a 1693 imperial decree; the Yakuboğulları were landowners; and the Kırdars were both landowners and merchants. In addition, the city was home to scores of soldiers and civil servants who had reached high office in the Ottoman service but retired to their home province after the Allies dismembered the empire. The Turkomans retained the position of social influence they had enjoyed under Ottoman rule.[9] Indeed, Turkish remained the language of communication not only within the sanjak but also in Baghdad. The only local newspaper was the Turkish Necme, and there was an association of Turkoman writers. A.F. Miller, the resident British assistant administrative inspector, could only speak Turkish; he had little need for Arabic or Kurdish. And the British vice consul in Mosul, H.E. Wilkie Young, wrote, "There are 7,000 houses in the town of Kirkuk, and the population is not less than 40,000, of whom about 2,500 are Jews and only 630 Christians. The rest are Moslems of Turkoman origin. The language of the place is consequently Turkish."[10] W.R. Hay, another British political officer in northern Iraq, likewise described a Turkoman crescent stretching from Mosul through Kirkuk and southward to Mandali. He described how "Kirkuk is the main centre of this Turkish population … Several villages in its vicinity are also Turkish-speaking, whereas the other towns are isolated communities surrounded by Kurds and Arabs. Large numbers of the middle-class Turks of Kirkuk and Arbil who possess some land, but wish to augment their incomes, learn to read and write, wear European clothes and undertake appointments in the government service. Kirkuk and Arbil, especially the former, provided large numbers of officials to the Ottoman government."[11] That the British government drew up its proclamations to the city's residents in the same Turkish language used at the time in Istanbul[12] was a testament to Kirkuk's Turkish character.
Britain, as the occupying power, sought to legitimize its imposition of the Hashemite monarchy on the country through popular vote. During the July 1921 referendum, the people of Kirkuk rejected both inclusion in the new kingdom of Iraq and Faisal, the British choice for king. Kirkuk officials did not take part in the August 23, 1921 proclamation ceremony for Faisal. Rather than turn toward Baghdad, Kirkuk's population continued to identify with Turkey.[13] Sir Arnold Wilson, the first British high commissioner of Iraq (1917-20) observed, "Kirkuk had always been a stronghold of Turkish officialdom, and pro-Turkish views here were a disturbing element for the occupation forces."[14] Gertrude Bell, who would serve as Oriental secretary to the British civil administrator and later to the high commissioner of Iraq, acknowledged Kirkuk's Turkish character: "The inhabitants of Kirkuk are largely of Turkish blood, descendants of Turkish settlers dating from the time of Seljuks." [15]
In order to persuade Kirkuk's notables to participate in elections for Iraq's new Constituent Assembly, the British high commissioner appointed a Turkoman sub-governor (mutasarrıf) and other Turkoman officials to top administrative posts in Kirkuk. London wanted Kirkuk to accede to 1923 elections organized by the British to bestow legitimacy upon the new rulers in Baghdad. The Kirkuk residents made their participation in the electoral process conditional on four provisions: (1) non-interference of the government in local electoral procedures; (2) the preservation of the district administration's Turkish character; (3) recognition of Turkish as the district's official language; and (4) the appointment of Kirkukis in all subsequent Baghdad cabinets.[16] When Sayyid Abd al-Rahman al-Gaylani formed his first Iraqi cabinet on October 25, 1920, his minister of education and health was İzzet Pasha, a retired Turkoman general from Kirkuk.[17]
In July 1923, Prime Minister ‘Abd al-Muhsin al-Sa‘dun sent a telegram in Turkish to the sub-governor confirming that the Council of Ministers in Baghdad had accepted conditions two and three. While this did not go far enough for Kirkuk's local notables, it nevertheless constituted Baghdad's de facto recognition of their authority.[18]
On September 30, 1924, the League of Nations set up a commission to decide on the future of the Mosul vilayet. The commission spent some two months in the disputed area visiting the principal localities, speaking to local notables and other residents. It did not equate language with loyalty and, indeed, found that many Arabic speakers considered themselves loyal more to Turkey than Iraq. Nor did the commission find any merit to British claims that there was a distinction between Turks and Turkomans.[19] It was not until Turkish, British, and Iraqi representatives in Ankara signed a tripartite treaty on June 5, 1926, that the three countries finalized the status of the Mosul vilayet, assigning the region—including Kirkuk—to Iraq.
Prior to granting Iraq independence, the British-supervised Iraqi government sought to compel the Arab majority to respect minority rights. The Iraqi parliament enacted Local Languages Law No. 74, 1931, to make Kurdish and Turkish official languages in various northern districts including Kirkuk. The law also stipulated that the language of instruction should be that of the majority of pupils. The law acknowledged both Kirkuk and Kifri to be majority Turkoman.[20]
As condition of acceptance into the League of Nations, the Iraqi government on May 30, 1932, specified areas where minority languages, local administration, law courts, and primary education were to function. This declaration was incorporated into the constitution of 1925 with the reaffirmation of Iraq's undertakings toward minorities.[21]
Article 1 of the declaration stipulated that no law, regulation, or official action could interfere with the rights outlined for the minorities. Although Arabic became the official language of Iraq, Kurdish became a corollary official language in Sulaimaniya, and both Kurdish and Turkish became official languages in Kirkuk and Kifri. It stipulated that Iraqi officials assigned to Kirkuk should not only speak Arabic but also have competency in Kurdish and/or Turkish. The same article stipulated that Iraqi courts should accept testimony in Kurdish and Turkish. Article 10 placed these rights under the League of Nations' guarantee. When the league dissolved in 1946, the U.N. assumed responsibility for its guarantees.[22] These U.N. obligations remain in effect.
Kirkuk in the Post-Independence Period
Soon after Iraqi independence, and especially with the growth of the oil industry, the demography of Kirkuk began to shift. The late historian Hanna Batatu explains: "Kirkuk had been Turkish through and through in the not too distant past … [but] by degrees, Kurds moved into the city from the surrounding villages … By 1959, they had swollen to more than one-third of the population, and the Turkomans had declined to just over half." While the Kurds "Kurdified" Irbil, Kirkuk retained a greater sense of "cultural links with Turkey… [and] ethnic identity."[23]
This influx of Kurds into heavily Turkoman-populated areas upset the fragile demographic balance and laid the groundwork for decades of ethnic tension. On July 14-16, 1959, at the instigation of the Iraqi Communist Party, a disproportionately Kurdish mob supported by a Kurdish military unit rampaged through the city, targeting and killing prosperous Turkomans and Turkoman leaders. President Abdul Karim Qasim estimated the total death toll in the area at 120, with many executed and dumped in mass graves. The pogrom ended only with Baghdad's military intervention.[24] Still, the Turkoman identity remained intact. Reader Bullard, military governor of Baghdad in 1920, wrote in 1961 that "the largest of the Turkish towns in Iraq is Kirkuk."[25]
With the 1968 establishment of Baath Party control, the situation of the city's Turkomans grew more precarious as Kirkuk became a flash point in the struggle between the Iraqi central government and Kurdish rebel leaders. Disputes about whether Kirkuk should be included in an autonomous Kurdish-run zone led to the collapse of a proposed 1970 autonomy agreement between Iraqi Kurds and the central Iraqi government with whom they had been fighting. In 1974, the Baathist government gerrymandered provincial boundaries so as to dilute the Turkoman and Kurdish population of the Kirkuk governorate and divided Turkoman concentrations between different Arab-led provinces, and in 1975, the Iraqi army moved in to crush the Kurds.
The Baathist regime launched a new round of ethnic cleansing and oppression of minorities in the late 1980s and 1990s. A November 8, 1996 U.N. report detailed problems confronting the Turkomans. They faced arbitrary arrest, internal deportation or exile, and confiscation of personal property. Baghdad sought to change the demography of the city and its environs to scatter Kurds and Turkomans and replace them with Arabs. In addition, the central government forbade Kirkuk's Turkomans to purchase and sell real estate, unless to Arabs.[26] A subsequent U.N. report added detail to the ethnic cleansing campaign: it described "nationality correction" forms in which the Baathist regime compelled Turkomans to register themselves as Arabs prior to the 1997 census and the expropriation of Turkoman agricultural land.[27] A 1998 report filed by U.N. special rapporteur Max van der Stoel reinforced the severity of Baghdad's campaign against the Turkomans and Kurds in Kirkuk.[28]
Kirkuk: Whose Jerusalem?
Kurds have long claimed Kirkuk as their own. In a May 2001 interview with the Middle East Quarterly, Jalal Talabani, leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan who would later become Iraq's first postwar president, called Kirkuk "the Jerusalem of Kurdistan."[29] Masoud Barzani, president of the rival Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), has also claimed Kirkuk as an exclusively Kurdish city[30] and insisted that Kirkuk rather than Irbil should be capital of the Kurdistan Regional Government.[31] Both Talabani and Barzani consider the Kirkuk oil fields to be theirs[32] although Iraqi law defines the fields as part of the Iraqi national patrimony.[33]
On the eve of war, many outside observers recognized the Turkoman nature of Kirkuk's population. "Kirkuk is mainly Turkoman," observed correspondent Julian Borger in The Guardian.[34] In the months preceding Operation Iraqi Freedom, the Turkish government raised concern about the potential for Kurdish militias to expand their area of control unilaterally.[35] The U.S. government guaranteed that Kurds would not enter Kirkuk or Mosul.[36] Soon after the start of hostilities, however, 20,000 Kurds flooded into these cities; half stayed.[37] In the days following Saddam's fall, Kurdish militiamen sacked the Turkoman towns of Altın Köprü, Kirkuk, Daquq, Tuzkhurmatu, and Mandali. U.S. forces did little to prevent the pogroms and looting.[38] The peshmerga plundered abandoned government offices in Kirkuk. They burned land deeds and birth registries so as to remove evidence countering their claim that Kirkuk is a Kurdish city.[39]
With U.S. red lines shown to be ephemeral, the Kurds continued their migration. In August 2004, journalists reported that as many as 500 Kurds a day streamed into Kirkuk, a move calculated to skew a pre-election census. U.S. military authorities estimated that 72,000 Kurds settled in Kirkuk between April 2003 and August 2004.[40] The Kurdish political parties encouraged the flight with subsidies[41] and, in some cases, denial of livelihood for those who refused to move from Sulaimaniya, Irbil, and other majority Kurdish cities to Kirkuk.[42]
U.S. authorities undercut the Turkoman response. Shortly after Iraq's liberation, Washington and London established the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) to act as an interim administration of Iraq. L. Paul Bremer, its administrator, established a 25-member governing council to advise his rule. U.S. and British officials sought to make the council representative of Iraqi society. It filled these seats using often arbitrary calculations of Iraq's population. Because Bremer believed the Turkoman population to be less than 5 percent, the CPA allocated only one Turkoman representative. And, because of some U.S. diplomats' desires to fulfill gender quotas, they appointed Songul Chopuk, a young woman with no constituency, to represent this group.[43] The CPA excluded the Iraqi Turkoman Front, the most prominent Iraqi Turkoman organization. Iraqi Turkomans protested that this initial slight denied them proper input on their community's issues.[44] The Turkomans complained that their representative on the council did not adequately reflect their political views. Among those issues that most concern the Turkomans are recognition of Turkish as one of the official languages of Iraq, their acknowledgment as a component community within the country, and, most importantly, the status of Kirkuk. Washington's subsequent decision to appoint only one Turkoman minister—and only to the relatively minor portfolio of science and technology—in a 33-member cabinet compounded the problem.
Tensions rose as Kurds, Arabs, and Turkomans vied for control of the city. There have been riots[45] and assassinations.[46] The Kurdish political parties sought to monopolize government offices and, by extension, government services in the city. Turkoman officials say that Kurdish bureaucrats mandate exclusive use of Kurdish in government offices, even though the majority of the city's population does not speak the language. The Kurdistan Democratic Party's minister of peshmerga affairs declared, "We are ready to fight against all forces to control Kirkuk. Our share is very little. We will try to take a larger share."[47] Just as Saddam used his power to dispense patronage to a single ethnic and political group, so, too, do followers of Talabani and Barzani today. With fewer resources at their disposal, Iraqi Turkoman political parties have been unable to organize their constituency to the same extent.
It is incumbent upon both the international community and the new Iraqi government to protect the rights of the Turkomans now threatened by both Kurdish expansionism and the intolerance by some factions of the central government.
Conclusions
The Kirkuk issue will not go away. Kurds may feel they have a real claim to Kirkuk, or they may be guided more by a desire to attain its oil wealth. Ethnic cleansing cannot be justified, whether ordered by Saddam Hussein or Masoud Barzani. Nor will Iraq's Turkoman community renounce their historical claim and legal rights. "Kirkuk is to Iraq what Kosovo is to the Balkans,"[48] a U.S. military official has said.
So what can be done? There will not be peace or stability in Kirkuk if the rights or identity of any of the city's communities are trampled. Local Kurdish authorities have sought to impose their will through force. They have shown themselves unwilling to move beyond communal interests to represent all citizens of Kirkuk. As the Kurdish parties exploit and exacerbate ethnic tensions, the risk of instability in Kirkuk grows. The international community might respond by sending human rights monitors in Kirkuk until the local population can elect a representative government in the city and region. This will require a fair and impartial census under the monitoring and supervision of the United Nations.
The U.S. government and other coalition partners should also pressure the Iraqi central government in Baghdad to maintain the unity of state, constrain local militias, and prevent local ethnic or sectarian cleansing. For Iraq to remain viable, the Iraqi law and constitutional interpretations should address the core concerns of Iraq's diverse communities. To do otherwise, and allow Kirkuk to fester, will undercut Iraq's stability, provoke ethnic strife, and perhaps even lead to civil war.
Yücel Güçlü is a first counselor at Turkish Embassy in Washington, D.C. These views are his own and do not necessarily represent the views of the Turkish government.
[1] Perhaps the best Western-language treatment of the Turkomans is Scott Taylor, Among the "Others": Encounters with the Forgotten Turkmen of Iraq (Ottawa: Esprit De Corps Books, 2004).
[3] Erşat Hürmüzlü, Türkmenler ve Irak (Istanbul: Kerkük Vakfı, 2003), pp. 81-4.
[7] For the political history of northern Iraq, see Sinan Marufoğlu, Osmanlı Döneminde Kuzey Irak (Istanbul: Eren Yayıncılık, 1998), pp. 31-40; for Kirkuk's civic and administrative lives at the turn of the twentieth century, see Ebubekir Hazım Tepeyran, Hatıralar, 2nd ed. (Istanbul: Pera Turizm ve Ticaret, 1998), pp. 505-12. Ebubekir Hazım Tepeyran, a professional administrator, served as governor of the Mosul vilayet, 1899-1902.
[8] "Memorandum Concerning the New Organisation of the Ottoman Empire, 23 June 1919," in E.L. Woodward and Rohan Butler, eds., Documents on British Foreign Policy, 1919-1939 (London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1960), pp. 647-51. For the full text of the Fourteen Points see Papers Relating to the Foreign Affairs of the United States. The Paris Peace Conference, 1919, vol. 4 (Washington D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1943), pp. 12-7.[9] Tepeyran, Hatıralar, pp. 358-62, 521-7.
[10] "Notes by Vice-Consul Wilkie Young on the Mosul district," paragraphs 16 and 80; "Sir Gerald Lowther (Istanbul) to Sir Edward Grey (London) with enclosures and annexes, Apr. 5, 1910, notes on Mosul district," enclosure 2 in no. 1, FO 371/1008.
[11] W.R. Hay, Two Years in Kurdistan: Experiences of a Political Officer, 1918-1920 (London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1921), pp. 81, 85-6.
[12] "Command Papers 1814," Lausanne Conference on Near Eastern Affairs, 1922-1923. Records of Proceedings and Draft Terms of Peace (London: His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1923), p. 342.
[13] Liora Lukitz, Iraq: The Search for National Identity (London: Frank Cass, 1995), p. 40.
[14] Arnold Wilson, Mesopotamia 1917-1920: A Clash of Loyalties (London: Oxford University Press, 1931), pp. 259-60.
[15] Extract from report prepared by Gertrude Bell under direction of civil commissioner, "Baghdad, Mesopotamia: Review of Civil Administration, 1914-1918," FO 371/5081, 1920.
[17] Cecil John Edmonds, Kurds, Turks and Arabs: Politics, Travel and Research in North-Eastern Iraq, 1919-1925 (London: Oxford University Press, 1957), pp. 266, 283, 342-3; Stephen Hemsley Longrigg, Iraq, 1900 to 1950: A Political, Social, and Economic History (London: Oxford University Press, 1956), p. 127.
[19] Report submitted to the council by the commission instituted by the Council Resolution of Sept. 30, 1924, document C. 400, M-147, 1925, VII, League of Nations, pp. 38, 46-7.
[20] Cecil John Edmonds, "The Kurds of Iraq," Middle East Journal, Winter 1957, p. 59; idem, "The Kurds and Revolution in Iraq," Middle East Journal, Winter 1959, p. 10.
[21] "Declaration of the Kingdom of Iraq, Made at Baghdad on 30 May 1932, on the Occasion of the Termination of the Mandatory Regime in Iraq, and Containing the Guarantees Given to the Council by the Iraqi Government," League of Nations Official Journal (Geneva: League of Nations, July 1932), Annex 1373, pp. 1347-50.
[22] For the assumption of the United Nations of the functions and powers belonging to the League of Nations under the international agreements, see League of Nations Official Journal, "Records of the Twentieth (Conclusion) and Twenty-first Ordinary Sessions of the Assembly, Texts of the Debates at the Plenary Meetings and Minutes of the First and Second Committees, Special Supplement No. 194," 1946, pp. 221-4. For the transfer to the United Nations of certain functions and activities of the League of Nations, see Yearbook of the United Nations, 1946-1947 (Lake Success, N.Y.: Department of Public Information, 1947), pp. 110-3.
[23] "Statistical Compilation Relating to the Population Census of 1957 (in Arabic), I, Part IV, 170," Iraq, Ministry of the Interior, in Hanna Batatu, The Old Social Classes and the Revolutionary Movements of Iraq (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989), p. 913; David McDowall, A Modern History of the Kurds (London: I.B.Tauris, 1996), p. 3.
[24] George Kirk, Contemporary Arab Politics (New York: Frederick Praeger, 1961), pp. 162-3; Amb. John Jernegan's dispatches in Foreign Relations of the United States, Diplomatic Papers (1958-1960), vol. 12 (Washington D.C.: U.S. State Department, 1993), pp. 473-95; Majid Khadduri, Republican Iraq: A Study in Iraqi Politics since the Revolution of 1958 (London: Oxford University Press, 1969), p. 124.
[25] Reader Bullard, The Camels Must Go (London: Faber and Faber, 1961), p. 100.
[26] "Situation of Human Rights in Iraq: Note by the Secretary-General," U.N. General Assembly, Fifty-first session agenda item 110 (c), A/51/496/Add.1, Nov. 8, 1996, p. 4.
[28] "Report on the Violations of Human Rights in Iraq Submitted by the Special Rapporteur Max van der Stoel in Accordance with Commission Resolution 1997/60," U.N. General Assembly, Commission on Human Rights, Fifty-first session agenda item (10), E/CN.4/1987/67, Mar. 10, 1998, p. 2.
[29] Jalal Talabani, "No Grounds for Relations with Baghdad" Middle East Quarterly, Winter 2002, pp. 19-23.
[35] Michael Rubin, "A Comedy of Errors: American-Turkish Diplomacy and the Iraq War," Turkish Policy Quarterly, Spring 2005.
[36] See "Final Statement of the Meeting of Representatives of Turkey and the United States with the Delegations of Assyrian Democratic Movement, Constitutional Monarchy Movement, Iraqi National Accord, Iraqi National Congress, Iraqi Turkoman Front, Kurdistan Democratic Party, Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, and Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq," Ankara, Mar. 19, 2003.
[39] The Washington Post, Apr. 11, 2003; Los Angeles Times, Apr. 11, 2003; Hürriyet (Istanbul), Apr. 11, 2003; Radikal (Istanbul), Apr. 11, 2003.
[41] Associated Press, Sept. 16, 2004.
[42] U.N. Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN), Sept. 23, 2004.[43] Rubin, "A Comedy of Errors."
[48] Associated Press, Sept. 16, 2004.
jeudi 18 octobre 2007
Bad Pawns, by Layla Anwar
http://arabwomanblues.blogspot.com/
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Bad Pawns
So, America has finally woken up to the Armenian Genocide in a perfect timing that just haphazardly coincides with:
a) matter of fact talks in D.C about the partition plan of Iraq.
b) with incursions by Turkey into Northern Iraq to fight off another brand of potential Kurdish warlords the PKK backed by our own warlords Talabani and Barazani.
This latter fled to Najaf, hiding behind the skirts of Ammar al Hakeem of the SIIC or maybe behind Muqtada al Sadr's – Go figure. And Turkey,the other day, said through its military spokesman “ties with the U.S might be irreversibly damaged.” A combo of the bill on the Armenian Genocide and this headache of the PKK. Now you really don’t want to mess with the Turks...
A humble piece of advice from me. And, last but not least
c) a full backing by Ammar Al Hakeem, head of SIIC, member of the puppet government in Baghdad, in support of the partition plan. His sick father, Abdel Aziz al Hakeem, urged his son not to forget the “regions.” Since daddy's plea, Ammar has visited the Anbar provinces and met with Abu Risha, a Sunni joker just like the other Sunni joker/puppet Tariq al Hashemi who seems to equally flirt with the Biden idea. (see my post "True Colors" and for those with a strong stomach, check also “New map of Iraq”) Interesting developments, don’t you think? Is someone trying to isolate Turkey by any chance ? Is someone wanting to inflame the Turkish Kurds as this Turkish PKK militant said to a journalist.“ Murat Karayilan, head of the armed wing of the PKK, told the Associated Press on Saturday that Turkey could expect to meet tough resistance if its forces crossed the border. Iraq's Kurds will not support the Turkish army," he said. If Turkey starts its attack, we will swing the Turkish public opinion by political, civil and military struggle." Is someone preparing another “Turkish repression against the Kurds” litany of woes ? Is someone trying to deepen the fabricated Sunni–Shia divide by nastily teasing Turkey ? Or maybe someone is simply not happy with an Islamic Turkish party being the dominant player and wants to eradicate this whole idea of Islamic parties even if they happen to be part of a secular system ? Or maybe it is a preparation for an “independent Kurdistan” that will include parts of Turkey or at least force it into accepting one in Northern Iraq?
I say a bit of all the above, with the predominant feature being that of Kurdish independence and by correlation the partition of Iraq... Yes that is no.1 on the Agenda. It has been decided so in D.C. by the Zionist-Jewish Lobby. I have already covered Kurdish historical relations with Israel and Iran. (see one my earlier post-“Our Brothers the Kurds”) Since the Americans and their lapdogs, the Brits, designated no-fly zones in 1991, the ties between the Kurds, Israel and Iran, have deepened and they have become soul mates, so to speak.
A few reminders and examples (and I have a nice pack) of the Kurdish - Israeli -American - Iranian love affair.
1) Friday Dec.6, 1996. Kurds aided by Mossad says writer from the Jerusalem Post. “Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, the Mossad operated for 10 years in Iraq. The book “Broken Hope” by Shlomo Nakdimon, published by the daily newspaper, Yediot Aharanot, said the book was based on interviews with 70 people most of whom were Mossad agents and Israeli soldiers. Some described how the Mossad organized the Kurds into units that attacked Iraqi troops in the North, killing 10’000 Iraqi soldiers."
2) On 15.3.2002. The Turkish daily Hurriet said: "...quoting a report prepared recently by the Turkish intelligence units that the Kurdistani Democratic party led by Masoud al-Barazani and the Kurdistani National Federation led by Jalal Talibani are establishing close relations with Syria and Iran."The report said that al-Barazani started to develop his relations with both Syria and Iran in order to minimize the Turkish influence, noting that in light of this fact, al-Barazani is making intensive efforts to open new border gates like the two gates "Haj Omran" and "Fais Khabour," with the aim of making a link up to other countries, instead of the border Khabour gate between Turkey and the Northern Iraq area. The report unveiled that the al-Barazani administration intensified its work to found an independent Kurdish state in northern Iraq area and that in collaboration with the Kurdistani National Federation, held secret talks recently in Germany in order to prevent any obstruction act by the Turkish side, before the founding of this state, which is expected to be declared following a possible American strike in Iraq. The report remarked that the two administration of al-Talibani and al-Barazani expect the return back of the Turkish security forces in North Iraq to Turkey very shortly, and therefore they are planning for the imposition of an UN forces at the site, to replace these forces, noting that al-Barazani has prepared also the Iraqi federal state constitution in order to convert it into an independent state in the future, stressing that the Kurdish language is the official Language for Kurdistan area "
3) On 19.3.2003 the BBC Arabic news service quotes Talabani saying in Teheran: ”We are in dire need of Iran’s help in establishing security and stability in Iraq" (Teheran nov.27)
4) On Monday June 21, 2004, a Guardian article bearing the title of “ Israelis using Kurds to build power base” says: “Israel has always supported the Kurds in a Machiavellian way - a balance against Saddam," one former Israeli intelligence officer told the New Yorker."
5) On August 3rd 2005, the Washington Post reports that the CIA created a para military group called the “Scorpions” (The CIA would not discuss it), made of exiled Iraqis, trained them in counter insurgency tactics. Those who helped recruit them were Kurds and they infiltrated Iraq in 2002.“Authorized by a presidential finding signed by President Bush in February or March 2002, the Scorpions were part of a policy of "regime change" in Iraq. The covert members, many of whom were exiles recruited by the Kurds, were trained in target identification, explosives and small arms at two secret bases in Jordan, according to one US government official. They were sent surreptitiously into Iraq before the war and were in cities such as Baghdad, Fallujah and Qaim to give the impression that a rebellion was underway and to conduct light sabotage, according to the two defense sources and the three former and current intelligence officials.
"They painted X's [for targeting] on buildings and things like that," said one former intelligence officer…. After the initial combat phase of the war, the CIA used the paramilitary units as translators and to fetch supplies and retrieve informants in an increasingly dangerous Iraq where CIA officers largely stayed within the protected Green Zone, according to the officials…. When they entered Iraq after the invasion, because they wore civilian clothes and traveled in civilian vehicles…”
6) On 9.12.2005, Kurd.net website quotes from Kasrat Rasoul, a former prime minister of Kurdistan and a senior figure in Talabani's PUK party. "If an Islamic party becomes the government in Iraq or if there is a civil war between the Sunnis and Shi'ites, then we will separate” and the article continues “But at heart secession remains a dream, and for the meantime the Kurds, long-time allies of Washington, are sticking to the line that Iraq is united -- unless civil war forces it to collapse, or future stability makes a secession vote possible” and the article continues: “Were they ever to do so, they also have a well-disciplined, 250,000-strong militia force, known as the peshmerga, to defend their territory -- a corner of northeastern Iraq where business is booming…”
7) On the 20th of September 2006, the BBC reports that Israelis are training Kurdish forces and I quote : “The BBC has obtained evidence that Israelis have been giving military training to Kurds in northern Iraq. A report on the BBC TV program Newsnight showed Israeli experts in northern Iraq, drilling Kurdish militias in shooting techniques..."Patience, am not finished yet...And Iran, your darling Iran, where the SIIC party of Al Hakeem, The Dawa’a guys like Maliki, Al Jaafari, Jawad Solaghr, and Muqtada Al Sadr...amongst others have been hiding for years preparing alongside the Kurds - the partition of Iraq. And I quote:“2002 In June, the SCIRI (now SIIC) met with US State Department officials in Washington to discuss cooperation in a potential war against the Iraqi regime. The US offered military funding to the group. In December, the SCIRI(SIIC) met with other Iraqi opposition groups in London to discuss options for a post-Saddam Iraq."The sources said the US had started a ‘flurry of contacts with various forces among the Iraqi opposition... Intensive contacts are being held with both the Kurdish and Shi'ite opposition in order to establish springboards for potential operations..." [The Australian, July 1, 2002].
Am still not done...I have also mentioned the evil necessity of ethnic and sectarian cleansing to prepare the demographic grounds for Partition. (see my post "Persian for Dummies" - entre autres) At the risk of repeating myself for the 100th time, I reiterate. The South and parts of the Center of Iraq have been totally cleansed from Sunnis. Sabeans, and Christians by the sectarian Militias from Iran and Jaysh al Mahdi is one of the militias involved.
The North, and again I repeat, has been ethnically cleansed from Arabs, Christians, Yazidis, Sabeans, and Turkmens...in preparation for the Kurdish Independent State that a lot of you applauded and that a lot of you helped contribute to its establishment by fabricating grotesque lies about Kurdish "oppression"...not to mention Shia "repression". I will never forgive you for this one. Bref, let me continue...Sulaimaniyah, Erbil, Dohuk (both of which were majority Assyrian by the way), Mosul (which was majority Arab Sunnis and Chaldeans) and Kirkuk which was majority Turkmen, then Arab and a minority of Kurds have now become and are becoming, in the case of Mosul, full Kurdish regions.
Take Kirkuk, for example. Massive ethnic cleansing and displacement is taking place before the Referendum on Kirkuk is due towards the end of this year.
Now read on... “Since 10th April 2003 – the day after the fall of Baghdad – a real Kurdish invasion took place in Kerkuk: Massoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani, respectively leaders of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) organized militarily a massive immigration of Kurds to the territories they wanted to conquer. The newly arrived Kurds registered on the election lists and are waiting for the referendum which is to take place before next December 31st.
The aim of the operation: to give a democratic varnish to the annexation of Kerkuk and its surrounding region by the Kurds and hand over to the Americans the petrol fields of Baba Gurgur, situated near Kerkuk.
The International Crisis Group (ISG) has received the testimony of a - Turkmen - member of the Governorate which summarizes the situation: “In 2003, Kerkuk had 800.000 inhabitants. Today it has 1.150.000 inhabitants. Where do these 300.000 additional inhabitants come from? They correspond to at least 50.000 families. One knows that 10.000 families were expelled; where do these 40.000 additional families come from?” Since then the population has reached 1.500.000 inhabitants, mainly Kurds who are in favour of the annexation. The practical application of the operation is not simple because article 140 of the new Iraqi “constitution” states that the referendum must be preceded by the “normalisation” of the situation in the region, and by a “census”. The “normalisation” is under way. It means the return of the displaced Kurds, Turkmens and Assyrians and – in parallel – the departure of the Arabs who replaced them.
Pressures are being put on the Kurds who refuse to return because they have remade their life somewhere else or fear that the annexation will turn into a blood bath. In order to make them change their minds, the “Kurdish Regional Government” no longer delivers administrative documents to them and deprive them of social aid.
The methods utilized against the non-Kurds are more radical. If they refuse the 15.000 dollars compensation, they risk being assassinated or disappearing in the prisons of the autonomous Region.
The attack of 7th July 2007 in Amirli – 150 dead, 250 wounded – reminds us of the savagery of the Irgoun in Palestine . On the spot, the Kurdish secret services are accused and the answer was not slow in coming: on 16th July a vehicle exploded in Kerkuk in front of the UPK headquarters, making many victims.
The newly arrived Kurds (in Kerkuk) do not all live there. Many remain in Suleymaniya or in Erbil , because of the lack of housing or for security reasons. They only go to Kerkuk during the week-ends to justify their “relocation”. To become an elector in Kerkuk, it is sufficient to dig foundations of a house or to reserve an apartment in a building that has yet to be constructed … The “census”, however, is not easy to organize. It must carry out the ethnic and religious tally of the inhabitants of the Kerkuk region, and that of the “contested territories”, that is to say those which are claimed by the Kurds. The problem is that these ‘contested territories’ stretch from Mount Sinjar at the Syrian border, to the Iranian border… and to about 20 kilometres South of Baghdad.
For the Arabs, Turkmens, Yezidis, Shabaks and Assyrians who have been living in these regions for a considerable period of time and who are all hostile to the partition of Iraq , it is a declaration of war.“ (for more on Turkmen, see European Turkmen Friendship Association blog)
All the above is some background literature for you. Now listen to what an Arab Iraqi relative who arrived from Erbil told me. I still can’t believe I have to qualify for you, each time, the ethnicity and/or the sect.
“I needed to process some official documents. I could not find the building. All the signposts were in Kurdish. I stopped a Kurdish man and asked him to translate for me. I was lost. We started talking and he asked me if I was an Arab. Well obviously I replied. I need translations. So the Kurd said to me. “You Arabs are idiots. You will never learn. Why do you consider Israel an enemy? Israel has done nothing to you...Embrace them as friends and see what a wonderful people they are...” I am glad that two days ago, an IRIN article appeared confirming the total de-Arabization of the North , in particular Kirkuk. Not only that, but Patrick Cockburn in some rare moment of lucidity, wrote a good piece on the squalid conditions and vile kurdish treatment of Arab Iraqi refugees in Sulaymaniah. (search the Independent newspaper) And do not forget what I have mentioned in several previous posts namely, that Arab Iraqis needs visas to Kurdistan plus two Kurdish sponsors. And that the Iraqi flag is FORBIDDEN in “ Kurdistan.” Only Kurdish flags are allowed and only the Kurdish militias - peshmergas. This latter is now considered the official "Army of Kurdistan"
And I need to remind our “Kurdish brothers”:- They were the only group in the M.E region who were given autonomy in the 70's.- That the previous Iraqi government under Saddam Hussein built the Sulaimaniyah University for them, teaching in Kurdish only.- That the Kurdish language was forced down our throats in secondary schools in Baghdad.- That I personally met several Kurds from Iraq, who did not speak ONE word of Arabic and am talking the 80’s here. We had to converse in English.... So when some deceitful son of a bitch comes and talks to me about forced Arabization of the Kurds, all I want to do is smack him right in the face. I have much more to say but this is proving to be a long post and I am tired. But then, the list of lies concocted by the Kurds, the Americans, the anti-war movement, the left including the Arab left and the so called Human rights agencies was much longer and way more dangerous... They led to Today. A country in pieces. A country that is raped, plundered, destroyed, and about to be partitioned...
My rage is truly infinite. My father (bless his soul) and my mother kept reminding me. They said:”Layla, Iraq is the Backbone of the Arab World.”
To be honest, I did not quite understand the full implications of such a statement, then. Today, I do. Iraq was not only the Cradle of Civilization, it was indeed the Pillar, the Column, The Spinal Vertebrae, the Backbone of the Arab world. Now that it has crumbled, now that it has broken up, the rest will follow...One by one...the other countries will come tumbling down...one by one, a ripple effect from Baghdad...to the rest of the World.
And if God decides to grant me long life, I shall sit, laid back, arms folded and observe...with the same “polite indifference” (to use one of Jabotinsky’s expressions) that I witnessed on your faces when my country came tumbling down...I shall observe, quietly, with no fuss, the snakes, the invertebrates, the worms, the termites, the spineless crawlers, of geopolitics, crawl on that same Chess board only to be eventually crushed... like pawns...one by one.
And I shall observe that Chess board, covered in blood and wonder amused, what will you have to say now ? Now, that the game is over.
Checkmate to You !
Nota Bene: A special thanks to A.S and "Woman who loves Iraq" for the added information on the Kurds.
Text in blue: quoted from 'Hold-Up à Baba Gurgur' by Gilles Munier
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Bad Pawns
So, America has finally woken up to the Armenian Genocide in a perfect timing that just haphazardly coincides with:
a) matter of fact talks in D.C about the partition plan of Iraq.
b) with incursions by Turkey into Northern Iraq to fight off another brand of potential Kurdish warlords the PKK backed by our own warlords Talabani and Barazani.
This latter fled to Najaf, hiding behind the skirts of Ammar al Hakeem of the SIIC or maybe behind Muqtada al Sadr's – Go figure. And Turkey,the other day, said through its military spokesman “ties with the U.S might be irreversibly damaged.” A combo of the bill on the Armenian Genocide and this headache of the PKK. Now you really don’t want to mess with the Turks...
A humble piece of advice from me. And, last but not least
c) a full backing by Ammar Al Hakeem, head of SIIC, member of the puppet government in Baghdad, in support of the partition plan. His sick father, Abdel Aziz al Hakeem, urged his son not to forget the “regions.” Since daddy's plea, Ammar has visited the Anbar provinces and met with Abu Risha, a Sunni joker just like the other Sunni joker/puppet Tariq al Hashemi who seems to equally flirt with the Biden idea. (see my post "True Colors" and for those with a strong stomach, check also “New map of Iraq”) Interesting developments, don’t you think? Is someone trying to isolate Turkey by any chance ? Is someone wanting to inflame the Turkish Kurds as this Turkish PKK militant said to a journalist.“ Murat Karayilan, head of the armed wing of the PKK, told the Associated Press on Saturday that Turkey could expect to meet tough resistance if its forces crossed the border. Iraq's Kurds will not support the Turkish army," he said. If Turkey starts its attack, we will swing the Turkish public opinion by political, civil and military struggle." Is someone preparing another “Turkish repression against the Kurds” litany of woes ? Is someone trying to deepen the fabricated Sunni–Shia divide by nastily teasing Turkey ? Or maybe someone is simply not happy with an Islamic Turkish party being the dominant player and wants to eradicate this whole idea of Islamic parties even if they happen to be part of a secular system ? Or maybe it is a preparation for an “independent Kurdistan” that will include parts of Turkey or at least force it into accepting one in Northern Iraq?
I say a bit of all the above, with the predominant feature being that of Kurdish independence and by correlation the partition of Iraq... Yes that is no.1 on the Agenda. It has been decided so in D.C. by the Zionist-Jewish Lobby. I have already covered Kurdish historical relations with Israel and Iran. (see one my earlier post-“Our Brothers the Kurds”) Since the Americans and their lapdogs, the Brits, designated no-fly zones in 1991, the ties between the Kurds, Israel and Iran, have deepened and they have become soul mates, so to speak.
A few reminders and examples (and I have a nice pack) of the Kurdish - Israeli -American - Iranian love affair.
1) Friday Dec.6, 1996. Kurds aided by Mossad says writer from the Jerusalem Post. “Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, the Mossad operated for 10 years in Iraq. The book “Broken Hope” by Shlomo Nakdimon, published by the daily newspaper, Yediot Aharanot, said the book was based on interviews with 70 people most of whom were Mossad agents and Israeli soldiers. Some described how the Mossad organized the Kurds into units that attacked Iraqi troops in the North, killing 10’000 Iraqi soldiers."
2) On 15.3.2002. The Turkish daily Hurriet said: "...quoting a report prepared recently by the Turkish intelligence units that the Kurdistani Democratic party led by Masoud al-Barazani and the Kurdistani National Federation led by Jalal Talibani are establishing close relations with Syria and Iran."The report said that al-Barazani started to develop his relations with both Syria and Iran in order to minimize the Turkish influence, noting that in light of this fact, al-Barazani is making intensive efforts to open new border gates like the two gates "Haj Omran" and "Fais Khabour," with the aim of making a link up to other countries, instead of the border Khabour gate between Turkey and the Northern Iraq area. The report unveiled that the al-Barazani administration intensified its work to found an independent Kurdish state in northern Iraq area and that in collaboration with the Kurdistani National Federation, held secret talks recently in Germany in order to prevent any obstruction act by the Turkish side, before the founding of this state, which is expected to be declared following a possible American strike in Iraq. The report remarked that the two administration of al-Talibani and al-Barazani expect the return back of the Turkish security forces in North Iraq to Turkey very shortly, and therefore they are planning for the imposition of an UN forces at the site, to replace these forces, noting that al-Barazani has prepared also the Iraqi federal state constitution in order to convert it into an independent state in the future, stressing that the Kurdish language is the official Language for Kurdistan area "
3) On 19.3.2003 the BBC Arabic news service quotes Talabani saying in Teheran: ”We are in dire need of Iran’s help in establishing security and stability in Iraq" (Teheran nov.27)
4) On Monday June 21, 2004, a Guardian article bearing the title of “ Israelis using Kurds to build power base” says: “Israel has always supported the Kurds in a Machiavellian way - a balance against Saddam," one former Israeli intelligence officer told the New Yorker."
5) On August 3rd 2005, the Washington Post reports that the CIA created a para military group called the “Scorpions” (The CIA would not discuss it), made of exiled Iraqis, trained them in counter insurgency tactics. Those who helped recruit them were Kurds and they infiltrated Iraq in 2002.“Authorized by a presidential finding signed by President Bush in February or March 2002, the Scorpions were part of a policy of "regime change" in Iraq. The covert members, many of whom were exiles recruited by the Kurds, were trained in target identification, explosives and small arms at two secret bases in Jordan, according to one US government official. They were sent surreptitiously into Iraq before the war and were in cities such as Baghdad, Fallujah and Qaim to give the impression that a rebellion was underway and to conduct light sabotage, according to the two defense sources and the three former and current intelligence officials.
"They painted X's [for targeting] on buildings and things like that," said one former intelligence officer…. After the initial combat phase of the war, the CIA used the paramilitary units as translators and to fetch supplies and retrieve informants in an increasingly dangerous Iraq where CIA officers largely stayed within the protected Green Zone, according to the officials…. When they entered Iraq after the invasion, because they wore civilian clothes and traveled in civilian vehicles…”
6) On 9.12.2005, Kurd.net website quotes from Kasrat Rasoul, a former prime minister of Kurdistan and a senior figure in Talabani's PUK party. "If an Islamic party becomes the government in Iraq or if there is a civil war between the Sunnis and Shi'ites, then we will separate” and the article continues “But at heart secession remains a dream, and for the meantime the Kurds, long-time allies of Washington, are sticking to the line that Iraq is united -- unless civil war forces it to collapse, or future stability makes a secession vote possible” and the article continues: “Were they ever to do so, they also have a well-disciplined, 250,000-strong militia force, known as the peshmerga, to defend their territory -- a corner of northeastern Iraq where business is booming…”
7) On the 20th of September 2006, the BBC reports that Israelis are training Kurdish forces and I quote : “The BBC has obtained evidence that Israelis have been giving military training to Kurds in northern Iraq. A report on the BBC TV program Newsnight showed Israeli experts in northern Iraq, drilling Kurdish militias in shooting techniques..."Patience, am not finished yet...And Iran, your darling Iran, where the SIIC party of Al Hakeem, The Dawa’a guys like Maliki, Al Jaafari, Jawad Solaghr, and Muqtada Al Sadr...amongst others have been hiding for years preparing alongside the Kurds - the partition of Iraq. And I quote:“2002 In June, the SCIRI (now SIIC) met with US State Department officials in Washington to discuss cooperation in a potential war against the Iraqi regime. The US offered military funding to the group. In December, the SCIRI(SIIC) met with other Iraqi opposition groups in London to discuss options for a post-Saddam Iraq."The sources said the US had started a ‘flurry of contacts with various forces among the Iraqi opposition... Intensive contacts are being held with both the Kurdish and Shi'ite opposition in order to establish springboards for potential operations..." [The Australian, July 1, 2002].
Am still not done...I have also mentioned the evil necessity of ethnic and sectarian cleansing to prepare the demographic grounds for Partition. (see my post "Persian for Dummies" - entre autres) At the risk of repeating myself for the 100th time, I reiterate. The South and parts of the Center of Iraq have been totally cleansed from Sunnis. Sabeans, and Christians by the sectarian Militias from Iran and Jaysh al Mahdi is one of the militias involved.
The North, and again I repeat, has been ethnically cleansed from Arabs, Christians, Yazidis, Sabeans, and Turkmens...in preparation for the Kurdish Independent State that a lot of you applauded and that a lot of you helped contribute to its establishment by fabricating grotesque lies about Kurdish "oppression"...not to mention Shia "repression". I will never forgive you for this one. Bref, let me continue...Sulaimaniyah, Erbil, Dohuk (both of which were majority Assyrian by the way), Mosul (which was majority Arab Sunnis and Chaldeans) and Kirkuk which was majority Turkmen, then Arab and a minority of Kurds have now become and are becoming, in the case of Mosul, full Kurdish regions.
Take Kirkuk, for example. Massive ethnic cleansing and displacement is taking place before the Referendum on Kirkuk is due towards the end of this year.
Now read on... “Since 10th April 2003 – the day after the fall of Baghdad – a real Kurdish invasion took place in Kerkuk: Massoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani, respectively leaders of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) organized militarily a massive immigration of Kurds to the territories they wanted to conquer. The newly arrived Kurds registered on the election lists and are waiting for the referendum which is to take place before next December 31st.
The aim of the operation: to give a democratic varnish to the annexation of Kerkuk and its surrounding region by the Kurds and hand over to the Americans the petrol fields of Baba Gurgur, situated near Kerkuk.
The International Crisis Group (ISG) has received the testimony of a - Turkmen - member of the Governorate which summarizes the situation: “In 2003, Kerkuk had 800.000 inhabitants. Today it has 1.150.000 inhabitants. Where do these 300.000 additional inhabitants come from? They correspond to at least 50.000 families. One knows that 10.000 families were expelled; where do these 40.000 additional families come from?” Since then the population has reached 1.500.000 inhabitants, mainly Kurds who are in favour of the annexation. The practical application of the operation is not simple because article 140 of the new Iraqi “constitution” states that the referendum must be preceded by the “normalisation” of the situation in the region, and by a “census”. The “normalisation” is under way. It means the return of the displaced Kurds, Turkmens and Assyrians and – in parallel – the departure of the Arabs who replaced them.
Pressures are being put on the Kurds who refuse to return because they have remade their life somewhere else or fear that the annexation will turn into a blood bath. In order to make them change their minds, the “Kurdish Regional Government” no longer delivers administrative documents to them and deprive them of social aid.
The methods utilized against the non-Kurds are more radical. If they refuse the 15.000 dollars compensation, they risk being assassinated or disappearing in the prisons of the autonomous Region.
The attack of 7th July 2007 in Amirli – 150 dead, 250 wounded – reminds us of the savagery of the Irgoun in Palestine . On the spot, the Kurdish secret services are accused and the answer was not slow in coming: on 16th July a vehicle exploded in Kerkuk in front of the UPK headquarters, making many victims.
The newly arrived Kurds (in Kerkuk) do not all live there. Many remain in Suleymaniya or in Erbil , because of the lack of housing or for security reasons. They only go to Kerkuk during the week-ends to justify their “relocation”. To become an elector in Kerkuk, it is sufficient to dig foundations of a house or to reserve an apartment in a building that has yet to be constructed … The “census”, however, is not easy to organize. It must carry out the ethnic and religious tally of the inhabitants of the Kerkuk region, and that of the “contested territories”, that is to say those which are claimed by the Kurds. The problem is that these ‘contested territories’ stretch from Mount Sinjar at the Syrian border, to the Iranian border… and to about 20 kilometres South of Baghdad.
For the Arabs, Turkmens, Yezidis, Shabaks and Assyrians who have been living in these regions for a considerable period of time and who are all hostile to the partition of Iraq , it is a declaration of war.“ (for more on Turkmen, see European Turkmen Friendship Association blog)
All the above is some background literature for you. Now listen to what an Arab Iraqi relative who arrived from Erbil told me. I still can’t believe I have to qualify for you, each time, the ethnicity and/or the sect.
“I needed to process some official documents. I could not find the building. All the signposts were in Kurdish. I stopped a Kurdish man and asked him to translate for me. I was lost. We started talking and he asked me if I was an Arab. Well obviously I replied. I need translations. So the Kurd said to me. “You Arabs are idiots. You will never learn. Why do you consider Israel an enemy? Israel has done nothing to you...Embrace them as friends and see what a wonderful people they are...” I am glad that two days ago, an IRIN article appeared confirming the total de-Arabization of the North , in particular Kirkuk. Not only that, but Patrick Cockburn in some rare moment of lucidity, wrote a good piece on the squalid conditions and vile kurdish treatment of Arab Iraqi refugees in Sulaymaniah. (search the Independent newspaper) And do not forget what I have mentioned in several previous posts namely, that Arab Iraqis needs visas to Kurdistan plus two Kurdish sponsors. And that the Iraqi flag is FORBIDDEN in “ Kurdistan.” Only Kurdish flags are allowed and only the Kurdish militias - peshmergas. This latter is now considered the official "Army of Kurdistan"
And I need to remind our “Kurdish brothers”:- They were the only group in the M.E region who were given autonomy in the 70's.- That the previous Iraqi government under Saddam Hussein built the Sulaimaniyah University for them, teaching in Kurdish only.- That the Kurdish language was forced down our throats in secondary schools in Baghdad.- That I personally met several Kurds from Iraq, who did not speak ONE word of Arabic and am talking the 80’s here. We had to converse in English.... So when some deceitful son of a bitch comes and talks to me about forced Arabization of the Kurds, all I want to do is smack him right in the face. I have much more to say but this is proving to be a long post and I am tired. But then, the list of lies concocted by the Kurds, the Americans, the anti-war movement, the left including the Arab left and the so called Human rights agencies was much longer and way more dangerous... They led to Today. A country in pieces. A country that is raped, plundered, destroyed, and about to be partitioned...
My rage is truly infinite. My father (bless his soul) and my mother kept reminding me. They said:”Layla, Iraq is the Backbone of the Arab World.”
To be honest, I did not quite understand the full implications of such a statement, then. Today, I do. Iraq was not only the Cradle of Civilization, it was indeed the Pillar, the Column, The Spinal Vertebrae, the Backbone of the Arab world. Now that it has crumbled, now that it has broken up, the rest will follow...One by one...the other countries will come tumbling down...one by one, a ripple effect from Baghdad...to the rest of the World.
And if God decides to grant me long life, I shall sit, laid back, arms folded and observe...with the same “polite indifference” (to use one of Jabotinsky’s expressions) that I witnessed on your faces when my country came tumbling down...I shall observe, quietly, with no fuss, the snakes, the invertebrates, the worms, the termites, the spineless crawlers, of geopolitics, crawl on that same Chess board only to be eventually crushed... like pawns...one by one.
And I shall observe that Chess board, covered in blood and wonder amused, what will you have to say now ? Now, that the game is over.
Checkmate to You !
Nota Bene: A special thanks to A.S and "Woman who loves Iraq" for the added information on the Kurds.
Text in blue: quoted from 'Hold-Up à Baba Gurgur' by Gilles Munier
mercredi 17 octobre 2007
Iraqi Writer BUTHEINA AL-NASIRI on American Killings in Iraq
Buthaina Al-Nasiri is a well-known and prolific Iraqi writer and journalist living in Cairo, she offers these thoughts on the wholesale slaughter of Iraqis by American forces, and on the routine and deceptive misidentification of those killed (males) as "members of Al Qaeda":
You may remember that the Iraqi resistance has called by the US spinners by different names at different stages of invasion and occupation:
1. First they were "dead enders" and "Saddam's henchmen," etc. That was before arresting Saddam Hussein.
2. Next they were called insurgents, after the puppet government was installed. Insurgency means revolting against a legal, recognized government.
3. At last they are being called Al Qaeda terrorists. Every anti-occupation group is now referred to as Al Qaeda. Every man killed by the troops is an Al Qaeda leader.
Of course, calling the Iraqi resistance Al Qaeda fits well with the permanent "war on terror". Bush can now have his "legal" justification for the war on Iraq: it is part of his war on terror.
The recent slaughter of innocents is not the first. It has become a pattern.
The US army is becoming more dependant on air strikes--massive airstrikes on civilians--as part of an intimidation campaign.
Last week, they slaughtered from the air a large group of men and children who gathered one Ramadan (the Fasting month in Islam) evening to play a traditional game which needs two groups of men sitting facing each other. A ring is hidden in the hand of a member of one group, the others in the facing group have to guess where the ring is hidden. Usually this game attracts bystanders .
The US Army said, of course, that they had killed Al Qaeda terrorists.
Before that, men, women and children were sleeping on the roof of a house, which is an Iraqi habit in summer. They were air struck and accused of being Al Qaeda terrorists. Of course, there were other slaughters of wedding gatherings, of funeral gatherings. Any gathering is hit from the air.
When women and children are killed, the US army announces that he regrets but it is the fault of the terrorists who hide behind civilians.
Read more about the Pentagon's Iraq War lies, including the original article that led to this comment, at journalist Dave Lindorff's website: www.thiscantbehappening.net
You may remember that the Iraqi resistance has called by the US spinners by different names at different stages of invasion and occupation:
1. First they were "dead enders" and "Saddam's henchmen," etc. That was before arresting Saddam Hussein.
2. Next they were called insurgents, after the puppet government was installed. Insurgency means revolting against a legal, recognized government.
3. At last they are being called Al Qaeda terrorists. Every anti-occupation group is now referred to as Al Qaeda. Every man killed by the troops is an Al Qaeda leader.
Of course, calling the Iraqi resistance Al Qaeda fits well with the permanent "war on terror". Bush can now have his "legal" justification for the war on Iraq: it is part of his war on terror.
The recent slaughter of innocents is not the first. It has become a pattern.
The US army is becoming more dependant on air strikes--massive airstrikes on civilians--as part of an intimidation campaign.
Last week, they slaughtered from the air a large group of men and children who gathered one Ramadan (the Fasting month in Islam) evening to play a traditional game which needs two groups of men sitting facing each other. A ring is hidden in the hand of a member of one group, the others in the facing group have to guess where the ring is hidden. Usually this game attracts bystanders .
The US Army said, of course, that they had killed Al Qaeda terrorists.
Before that, men, women and children were sleeping on the roof of a house, which is an Iraqi habit in summer. They were air struck and accused of being Al Qaeda terrorists. Of course, there were other slaughters of wedding gatherings, of funeral gatherings. Any gathering is hit from the air.
When women and children are killed, the US army announces that he regrets but it is the fault of the terrorists who hide behind civilians.
Read more about the Pentagon's Iraq War lies, including the original article that led to this comment, at journalist Dave Lindorff's website: www.thiscantbehappening.net
mardi 16 octobre 2007
The Grandeur of Iraq's Turkmens
TRANSLATION
of Gilles Munier's article (published in AFRIQUE ASIE - October 2007)
History – This people – which is marginalized today in Iraq - has played a fundamental role in Mesopotamia until the fall of the Ottoman Empire.
Since the end of the First World War, the number of Turkmens in Iraq – also called Turcomans – i.e. “True Turks” – has been underestimated. They are between 2 and 3 million, spread over a territory which they call Turkmeneli, this territory stretches diagonally from the south of the Kurdish autonomous region at the Syrian border, to the Iranian border. A great number of Turkmens live in Baghdad and Erbil, the latter is a Turkmen city which was handed to the Kurds under the law of autonomy.
The Turkmens originate from the legendary Kingdom of Touran, they very soon converted to Islam. They settled in Mesopotamia - long before the conquest of the Byzantine Empire by the Turks in 1453 - where they played an essential role until the fall of the Ottoman Empire. The first Turkmens who arrived in Iraq in the VIIth century came from Boukhara. They were around 4.000 and had been recruited by Ubeidullah Bin Ziyad, the Umayyad governor of Basra, for their great skills in archery. A second contingent rejoined them to protect Wasit, Iraq’s capital city which was founded in 702 by Al Hajjaj ben Yusuf, one of the most terrible rulers Iraq has ever known.
In the VIIIth century, the Abbasid Caliphs, Mansur, Racheed and Maamun, made them the elite of their army. In 835, 40.000 Turkmens settled in Samarra, the new capital city which was built by Caliph Al-Mu’tasim; after his death they settled south of Kerkuk. The second Turkmen wave arrived in Iraq from 1055 onwards, behind Tugrul Bey, a Seljuk Turkmen prince who liberated Baghdad from the Buyyid domination. Tugrul Bey - maintaining the Caliphate for the sake of appearances - funded a dynasty which ruled Iraq until Caliph Al-Nasr got rid of it in 1225. The Turkmen atabeg of Mosul, Imad ad-Din Zengi, who became governor of Aleppo in 1129, declared war on the Crusaders. After his death, his son Nur-Eddine sent Salah-Eddine Al Ayubi, one of his Kurdish officers, to Egypt. The latter toppled the Fatimid dynasty and liberated Jerusalem on 2nd October 1187. During the XIIth and XIIIth centuries other atabeg Turkmens, in Erbil and Kerkuk, ruled over quasi- independent States.
The capture of Baghdad by the Mongols in 1258 put an end to the Caliphate. Ibn Al-Alkami, vizir of the last Caliph, who supported them in the hope of installing a descendant of Imam Ali on the throne, was maintained in his post by Hulagu Khan. For the Iraqis, he is the archetype of the “Shiite traitor”, they compare his role with that of the pro-Iranians with the United States.
White and Black Sheep
The Ilkhanid Mongols occupied Iraq until one of their generals, Burzug Al-Jalairi, took power in 1334. The Jalairids remained in power until 1410. Under their reign, the country was invaded by Timur Leng, a Turkmen prince from Samarqand, who destroyed Tikrit, Mosul and then Baghdad in 1401. He went away leaving behind 100.000 Turkish slaves, allowing the Turkmen White Sheep (Aq-Koyunlu) to settle for good in the north of Iraq. The Black Sheep, hereditary enemies of the former, took over Baghdad in 1410, but they were expelled in 1467 by the White Sheep. The third Turkmen wave arrived under the Ottoman Empire, after the capture of Baghdad by Suleiman the Magnificent in 1534 and then under Murad IV who routed the Persians in 1638.
The Iraqi Turkmens are mainly Sunnis, of the Hanafite rite. The Shiites – 30 to 40% of the community – are divided between Twelvers, Alevis, Qizilbaks and Ahl-al-Haqq. The Shabaks, another Turkish minority, are most probably “turkified” Mongols or ancient Qizilbaks from the troops of Ismael Ist, founder of the Persian Safavid dynasty. There are also a few Christian Turkmens who used to live in the ancient Citadel of Kerkuk, near Prophet Daniel’s tomb.
History – This people – which is marginalized today in Iraq - has played a fundamental role in Mesopotamia until the fall of the Ottoman Empire.
Since the end of the First World War, the number of Turkmens in Iraq – also called Turcomans – i.e. “True Turks” – has been underestimated. They are between 2 and 3 million, spread over a territory which they call Turkmeneli, this territory stretches diagonally from the south of the Kurdish autonomous region at the Syrian border, to the Iranian border. A great number of Turkmens live in Baghdad and Erbil, the latter is a Turkmen city which was handed to the Kurds under the law of autonomy.
The Turkmens originate from the legendary Kingdom of Touran, they very soon converted to Islam. They settled in Mesopotamia - long before the conquest of the Byzantine Empire by the Turks in 1453 - where they played an essential role until the fall of the Ottoman Empire. The first Turkmens who arrived in Iraq in the VIIth century came from Boukhara. They were around 4.000 and had been recruited by Ubeidullah Bin Ziyad, the Umayyad governor of Basra, for their great skills in archery. A second contingent rejoined them to protect Wasit, Iraq’s capital city which was founded in 702 by Al Hajjaj ben Yusuf, one of the most terrible rulers Iraq has ever known.
In the VIIIth century, the Abbasid Caliphs, Mansur, Racheed and Maamun, made them the elite of their army. In 835, 40.000 Turkmens settled in Samarra, the new capital city which was built by Caliph Al-Mu’tasim; after his death they settled south of Kerkuk. The second Turkmen wave arrived in Iraq from 1055 onwards, behind Tugrul Bey, a Seljuk Turkmen prince who liberated Baghdad from the Buyyid domination. Tugrul Bey - maintaining the Caliphate for the sake of appearances - funded a dynasty which ruled Iraq until Caliph Al-Nasr got rid of it in 1225. The Turkmen atabeg of Mosul, Imad ad-Din Zengi, who became governor of Aleppo in 1129, declared war on the Crusaders. After his death, his son Nur-Eddine sent Salah-Eddine Al Ayubi, one of his Kurdish officers, to Egypt. The latter toppled the Fatimid dynasty and liberated Jerusalem on 2nd October 1187. During the XIIth and XIIIth centuries other atabeg Turkmens, in Erbil and Kerkuk, ruled over quasi- independent States.
The capture of Baghdad by the Mongols in 1258 put an end to the Caliphate. Ibn Al-Alkami, vizir of the last Caliph, who supported them in the hope of installing a descendant of Imam Ali on the throne, was maintained in his post by Hulagu Khan. For the Iraqis, he is the archetype of the “Shiite traitor”, they compare his role with that of the pro-Iranians with the United States.
White and Black Sheep
The Ilkhanid Mongols occupied Iraq until one of their generals, Burzug Al-Jalairi, took power in 1334. The Jalairids remained in power until 1410. Under their reign, the country was invaded by Timur Leng, a Turkmen prince from Samarqand, who destroyed Tikrit, Mosul and then Baghdad in 1401. He went away leaving behind 100.000 Turkish slaves, allowing the Turkmen White Sheep (Aq-Koyunlu) to settle for good in the north of Iraq. The Black Sheep, hereditary enemies of the former, took over Baghdad in 1410, but they were expelled in 1467 by the White Sheep. The third Turkmen wave arrived under the Ottoman Empire, after the capture of Baghdad by Suleiman the Magnificent in 1534 and then under Murad IV who routed the Persians in 1638.
The Iraqi Turkmens are mainly Sunnis, of the Hanafite rite. The Shiites – 30 to 40% of the community – are divided between Twelvers, Alevis, Qizilbaks and Ahl-al-Haqq. The Shabaks, another Turkish minority, are most probably “turkified” Mongols or ancient Qizilbaks from the troops of Ismael Ist, founder of the Persian Safavid dynasty. There are also a few Christian Turkmens who used to live in the ancient Citadel of Kerkuk, near Prophet Daniel’s tomb.
For original in French, please see:
lundi 15 octobre 2007
Irak’taki atmosfer - Ganim Authman, Berlin
Orta doğudaki atmosfer, Irak’ta yaşanan tırmanma ile son günlerde daha da bozulmuştur, Irak Türkmen Cephesi uzun süredir bütün ilgili taraflara yaptığı uyarı, telkin ve tavsiyelerin haklılığını ne yazık ki bir kez daha göstermiştir.
Irak’ta ve Bölgede endişe ve ümitsizlik artmaktadır ve çıkamaza girmiştir. Son günlerde Irak’ın Olumsuz siyasi-askeri gelişmeler, bölgede başta barış olmak üzere, ekonomik-ticari gelişme ve işbirliği perspektiflerini, diyalog çabalarını, sosyal reform girişimlerini de olumsuz etkilemektedir. Orta doğu Bölgesinde barışın ve istikrarın sağlanması günden güne tehlikeye ve çıkamaza girmektedir. Örneğin Kuzey Irak bölgesinde terör örgütü PKK’nın komşu ülkemiz Türkiye’ye karşı düzenlediği terör eylemleri giderek artmak göstermektedir ve Irak yönetimi çaresiz ve güçsüz seyir etmekten başka yapacak hiç bir güce sahip değildir. Dolaysıyla Bölge devletleri ve Irak’taki aktif siyasi etnik grupların daha fazla çalışmak her zamankinden çok daha fazla ihtiyaç duyulmaktadır.
ABD Güçleri Irak’ı ihlal etmesinden bu yana en zor dönemini yaşamaktadır.
Irak halkının çektiği acılar ne yazık ki henüz sona ermemiştir. Süregelen Irak bunalımının özelikle bölgede ve dünyadaki olumsuz siyasi ve ekonomik etkileri sürmektedir.
Irak’ın özgür, demokratik ve müreffeh bir geleceğe doğru ilerleyebilmesinin temel koşullarından biri, asayiş ve güvenlik ortamının tesis edilmesidir. Bu ortam hala tesis edilememiştir. Nedenine bakıldığında ABD Irak’ta milisli güçlere güvenerek Ülkenin geleceğini bu milislere teslim ederek halkı parçalara bölmüştür. Koalisyon güçleri yer, yer direnişle karşı karşıyadır. Bu durum, diğer sorunlara odaklanmayı zorlaştırmaktadır. Ne yazık ki görüyoruz Koalisyon güçleri Irak’ta beli etnik gruplarla işbirliği yapıyor diğer etnik grupları hiç sayarak onlar muhatap bile almıyor. Buda Irak’ı adım, adım etnik ve Mezhebi, iç savaşa sürüklemektedir. Ülkenin yeniden imarı için sözde Koalisyon güçleri tarafında Milyarlarca Dolar’ın harcanmakta olan kaynak ve çabaların halka ulaşmasını olumsuz etkilemektedir ve halkın üçte ikisi perişan durumdalar dır.
Irak geneline baktığımız zaman dört yıldan fazla geçmesine rağmen Koalisyon güçlerinin yanı sıra, Iraklı sivillere, siyasi şahsiyetlere, yabancı temsilciliklere ve uluslararası kuruluşlara saldırılar devam etmektedir. Halkın hemen ,hemen Irak’ın genlinde hiç bir güvenliği kalmamıştır. Bu saldırılar güvenlik durumunu ağırlaştırmaktadır.
Koalisyon kuvvetleri Irak’ı ihlal ettikten beri Irak halkının belli gruplarına orantısız ve aşırı güç kullanılmaktadır. Çatışmalarda sivil halk, konutlar ve maalesef cami ve türbe gibi kutsal yerler de zarar görmektedir. Bu hususlar direniş odaklarının çeşitlenmesine yol açmaktadır.
Koalisyon güçlerinin işini daha da zorlaştıran bir gelişme, son yıllarda Koalisyon’a askeri destek veren bazı ülkelerin Irak’tan güçlerini çekme kararı olmuştur.
Güvenlik ve istikrarın tesisi konusunda ciddi güçlüklerin yaşandığı bir dönemde, Irak’taki cezaevlerinde bazı Koalisyon askerleri tarafından tutuklulara işkence ve insanlık dışı muamele yapıldığı Irak’lıların namuslarına tecavüz edilmesi defalarca ortaya çıkmış bulunmaktadır. Bu gelişme, mevcut tabloyu büsbütün ağırlaştırmıştır. Söz konusu olaylar, uluslararası insani hukuka ve evrensel değerlere hiçbir şekilde uygun düşmemektedir.Sözde Irak’a demokrasi insan hakları getireceklerini iddia eden koalisyon güçleri Hafızalardan kolayca silinmeyecek ahlak dışı eylemleri kolay, kolay hafızalardan silinmeyecek ve çok derin iz bırakmıştır. Gerek Irak halkı, gerek biz Türkmen toplumu olarak büyük infial içindeniz.. Ayrıca Irak Türkmen Cephesi olarak bu olayları kınamış bulunuyoruz. Özellikle bütün bölge halklarının tepkisinin uzun vadeli olumsuz sonuçlar yaratmasını herkesin bilmesi gerekir.
ABD Yönetimi, sözde bu olayların üzerine giderek, sorumluları ortaya çıkarmayı ve cezalandırmayı vaat etmiştir. Kamuoyu önünde üstlenilen bu taahhütlerin en kısa zamanda sonuç vereceğini söylemiş, ama şu ana kader her hangi bir sonuç vermemiş. . ABD yetkililerin bu vahşice yapılan eylemleri üzüntü ve özür beyanlarının hiç bir anlamı olmadığını herkesin bilmesi gerekir.
Irak’taki halk arasında mezhebi ve etnik çatışma ortamı, meşru bir yönetime yönelik siyasi geçiş sürecinin işleyebilmesini de engellemektedir. Diğer yandan, Saddam2ın ardından Irak’ta halkı kucaklayan ve halk tarafından benimsenen yönetim yapılarının bir türlü tesis edilememiş olması da asayişsizliği tetiklemektedir. Bu gün Irak yönetimi belli misil göçlere güvenerek Irak’taki emniyeti sağlamaya kalkıyor.
Bu durumları göz önüne alırsak, Irak’ın önündeki tek çıkış yolu, siyasi sürecin meşru kılınması suretiyle ilerletilmesidir. Irak’taki bütün etnik grupları iktidara ortak etmesidir örneğin Irak’ta üçüncü etnik unsur olan yaklaşık üç milyona yakın ırak Türkmenleridir. Bu süreç, ayrılıkları derinleştiren bir zeminde yürüyemez. Dolayısıyla, geçici yapılarda tüm kesimler temsil imkanı bularak bir araya gelmelidir. Süreç, ulusal uyumun oluşturulmasını hedefleyen bir zemine oturtulmalıdır.İşte bu noktada Birleşmiş Milletlerin rolünün ön plana çıkması gerekmektedir. Biz de Irak Türkmenleri olarak Birleşmiş Milletlerin bu rolüne büyük önem veriyoruz.
Irak’ın içinde bulunduğu bu kritik aşamada temel sorumluluk Koalisyon yönetimine ve Irak halkına düşmektedir.burada ırak halkı dediğimiz zaman yalnız Arap ve Kürt demeliğiz. Irak halkı bu iki etnik grubunun dışında Türkmen ve kilduaşüriler de vardır. . Koalisyon, geçmişte yaptığı bazı hataları tekrarlamamaya özen göstermelidir. Irak’ı oluşturan bütün kesimler siyasi sürecin içine çekilmelidir. Egemenliğin temsili ve meşru yönetim yapılarına devredilmesinin önü açılmalıdır. Bu sağlanabildiği takdirde, geçtiğimiz yıldan beri yaşanmakta olan şiddet travmanın yerini Irak halkının kendi geleceğine birlikte sahip çıkma duygusu alacaktır.
Irak’ın içinde bulunduğu bu kritik aşamada temel sorumluluk başta Koalisyon yönetimine ve Irak halkına düşmektedir, bütün ırak halkı. Koalisyon, geçmişte çok büyük yaptığı bazı hataları tekrarlamamaya özen göstermelidir. Irak’ı oluşturan bütün kesimler siyasi sürecin içine çekilmelidir. Egemenliğin temsili ve meşru yönetim yapılarına devredilmesinin önü açılmalıdır. Bu sağlanabildiği takdirde, geçtiğimiz yıldan beri yaşanmakta olan travmanın yerini Irak halkının kendi geleceğine birlikte sahip çıkma duygusu olacaktır.
Yine bu bağlamda, Irak’ın geleceğinin her şeyden önce Iraklılar tarafından belirleneceği akılda tutulmalıdır. Toplumu oluşturan değişik kesimler etnik ve mezhebi çıkarları ve mülahazaları bir kenara bırakmalıdırlar. Bunlar, ortak gelecekleri için bir toplumsal uzlaşıya varabildikleri ölçüde, Irak’ın sorunlarına çözüm üretebileceklerdir.
Bu vesileyle, Iraklı tüm siyasi parti ve liderler bu dönemde maceracılıktan uzak ve sorumlu bir tutum takınmaya, dar çıkar hesaplarından uzak durmaları gerekmektedir..
Aşırı ırkçılık ve mezhepçilik kendilerine, halklarına ve Irak’a zarar vereceğini bir kez daha hatırlatmak gerekir.. Burada altını çizerek söylememiz gerekir ki Iraklı Türkmenlerin tarih boyunca ılımlı, yetenekli, barışçı bir toplum olarak Irak’ın birliğine, istikrarına, refahına ve geleceğine en iyi hizmeti veren asil bir unsurdur. Iraklı Türkmenler, Irak Türkmen Cephesi Sayın Dr. Sadettin Ergeç liderliğinde , Irak’taki geçiş sürecine daha etkili biçimde katılmak ve birliklerini sergilemek üzere, güç koşullarda azimli bir siyasi faaliyet yürütmektedirler. Ne yazık ki Irak Türkmenleri Merkezi hükümet tarafından haklarına tecavüz edilmektedir.
Tarih boyunca özü Türkmen, sözü Türkmen, kültürü Türkmen olan Kerkük şehri planlı şekilde Türkmen’lerden koparılıp başka bölgeye ilhak edilmek istenmektedir.Buda yetmemiş Amerika Senatosu, işgal altında tuttuğu Irak'ı Bosna örneğinden yola çıkarak üçe bölünmesini öneren bir plan ortaya koyarak, Irak’ı adım, adım iç savaşın eşiğine getireceğine inanıyoruz.
Biz Irak Türkmenleri ve ITC olarak federasyon fikrine dahi karşı iken Irak'ın Sünni, Şii ve Kürt olarak üç bölgeye bölünmesini hiç bir zaman kabul etmedik ve bundan sonrada kesinlikle kabul edilmeyecek.bu pılan Irak’ın üçüncü asil unsuru olan Türkmenlerin varlıklarını yok’a sayıp ve ortadan silmek istemektedir.
Irak'ın ne ad altında olursa olsun bölünmesine şiddetle karşı olduğumuzu buradan bütün dünya kamuoyuna seslenirken " Bu karar Irak'ın içişlerine yapılan açık bir müdahaledir. ABD her zaman Irak'ın birliğini savunduğunu iddia ettiği ülkemizin egemenliğini zedeliyor ve kardeş Irak halkı arasında tehlikeli bir nifak üretmektedir. Aslında ABD senatosu bu kararıyla, Irak sahasındaki siyasi haritayı yanlış algıladığını gösteriyor. Aynı zamanda söz konusu karar hem ABD hem Arap Birliği kurallarını ihlal ediyor hem de ABD ve Arap Birliğinin kurucu üyesi olan Irak'ın egemenliğini ayaklar altına alıyor."
Irak'ta siyasi rejimin şekline ABD dahil hiçbir ülke veya grubun karar verme hakkının bulunmadığı karar veren birsi varsa oda Iraklıların kendilerinin vermesi gerektiğini herkesin bilmesi gerekir.
ABD senatosunun kararının iç ve bölgesel çekişmelere neden olabileceğini, bölgeyi felakete sürükleyeceğini bilmemiz gerekir. Kararın ne kader tehlikeli olması Beyaz Saray dahi olmak üzere redde edilmiştir.
Eğer Irak'ın bölünmesi bir emrivaki olarak biz Türkmenlerin önüne çıkarsa o zaman Türkmenler olarak Telafer’den Men deli’ye uzanan Türkmen eli federasyonunu ilan edip yani 4. federatif bölgede Türkmen bölgesi olacak, gerekirse bu bölgeyi canımızla, kanımızla savunmasını da çok iyi biliriz.
ABD senatosunun kararı bütün komşu ülkeler, dünya ülkeleri ve Irak'taki siyasi partiler tarafından şiddetle ret edildi( Kürt partileri hariç ). kararda Irak'ın asli 3. unsuru olan Üç milyon Türkmenlerin, Asuri, Kildani, Subbi ve Yezidilerin kaderleri unutulmuş hiç bir şekilde gündeme alınmamıştır.
Irak Türkmenleri, Irak Türkmen Cephesi başkanlığında aldığı kararla, Türkmenlerin milli haklarını garantiye almak için ABD senatosunun kararında öngörülen federasyonların uygulandığı durumunda biz Türkmenler olarak her hangi bir federasyona katılma ihtimali olmayacaktır.. ve Irak parçalanarak kan gölüne dönecek.
Allah Irak’ı Korusun.
Irak’ta ve Bölgede endişe ve ümitsizlik artmaktadır ve çıkamaza girmiştir. Son günlerde Irak’ın Olumsuz siyasi-askeri gelişmeler, bölgede başta barış olmak üzere, ekonomik-ticari gelişme ve işbirliği perspektiflerini, diyalog çabalarını, sosyal reform girişimlerini de olumsuz etkilemektedir. Orta doğu Bölgesinde barışın ve istikrarın sağlanması günden güne tehlikeye ve çıkamaza girmektedir. Örneğin Kuzey Irak bölgesinde terör örgütü PKK’nın komşu ülkemiz Türkiye’ye karşı düzenlediği terör eylemleri giderek artmak göstermektedir ve Irak yönetimi çaresiz ve güçsüz seyir etmekten başka yapacak hiç bir güce sahip değildir. Dolaysıyla Bölge devletleri ve Irak’taki aktif siyasi etnik grupların daha fazla çalışmak her zamankinden çok daha fazla ihtiyaç duyulmaktadır.
ABD Güçleri Irak’ı ihlal etmesinden bu yana en zor dönemini yaşamaktadır.
Irak halkının çektiği acılar ne yazık ki henüz sona ermemiştir. Süregelen Irak bunalımının özelikle bölgede ve dünyadaki olumsuz siyasi ve ekonomik etkileri sürmektedir.
Irak’ın özgür, demokratik ve müreffeh bir geleceğe doğru ilerleyebilmesinin temel koşullarından biri, asayiş ve güvenlik ortamının tesis edilmesidir. Bu ortam hala tesis edilememiştir. Nedenine bakıldığında ABD Irak’ta milisli güçlere güvenerek Ülkenin geleceğini bu milislere teslim ederek halkı parçalara bölmüştür. Koalisyon güçleri yer, yer direnişle karşı karşıyadır. Bu durum, diğer sorunlara odaklanmayı zorlaştırmaktadır. Ne yazık ki görüyoruz Koalisyon güçleri Irak’ta beli etnik gruplarla işbirliği yapıyor diğer etnik grupları hiç sayarak onlar muhatap bile almıyor. Buda Irak’ı adım, adım etnik ve Mezhebi, iç savaşa sürüklemektedir. Ülkenin yeniden imarı için sözde Koalisyon güçleri tarafında Milyarlarca Dolar’ın harcanmakta olan kaynak ve çabaların halka ulaşmasını olumsuz etkilemektedir ve halkın üçte ikisi perişan durumdalar dır.
Irak geneline baktığımız zaman dört yıldan fazla geçmesine rağmen Koalisyon güçlerinin yanı sıra, Iraklı sivillere, siyasi şahsiyetlere, yabancı temsilciliklere ve uluslararası kuruluşlara saldırılar devam etmektedir. Halkın hemen ,hemen Irak’ın genlinde hiç bir güvenliği kalmamıştır. Bu saldırılar güvenlik durumunu ağırlaştırmaktadır.
Koalisyon kuvvetleri Irak’ı ihlal ettikten beri Irak halkının belli gruplarına orantısız ve aşırı güç kullanılmaktadır. Çatışmalarda sivil halk, konutlar ve maalesef cami ve türbe gibi kutsal yerler de zarar görmektedir. Bu hususlar direniş odaklarının çeşitlenmesine yol açmaktadır.
Koalisyon güçlerinin işini daha da zorlaştıran bir gelişme, son yıllarda Koalisyon’a askeri destek veren bazı ülkelerin Irak’tan güçlerini çekme kararı olmuştur.
Güvenlik ve istikrarın tesisi konusunda ciddi güçlüklerin yaşandığı bir dönemde, Irak’taki cezaevlerinde bazı Koalisyon askerleri tarafından tutuklulara işkence ve insanlık dışı muamele yapıldığı Irak’lıların namuslarına tecavüz edilmesi defalarca ortaya çıkmış bulunmaktadır. Bu gelişme, mevcut tabloyu büsbütün ağırlaştırmıştır. Söz konusu olaylar, uluslararası insani hukuka ve evrensel değerlere hiçbir şekilde uygun düşmemektedir.Sözde Irak’a demokrasi insan hakları getireceklerini iddia eden koalisyon güçleri Hafızalardan kolayca silinmeyecek ahlak dışı eylemleri kolay, kolay hafızalardan silinmeyecek ve çok derin iz bırakmıştır. Gerek Irak halkı, gerek biz Türkmen toplumu olarak büyük infial içindeniz.. Ayrıca Irak Türkmen Cephesi olarak bu olayları kınamış bulunuyoruz. Özellikle bütün bölge halklarının tepkisinin uzun vadeli olumsuz sonuçlar yaratmasını herkesin bilmesi gerekir.
ABD Yönetimi, sözde bu olayların üzerine giderek, sorumluları ortaya çıkarmayı ve cezalandırmayı vaat etmiştir. Kamuoyu önünde üstlenilen bu taahhütlerin en kısa zamanda sonuç vereceğini söylemiş, ama şu ana kader her hangi bir sonuç vermemiş. . ABD yetkililerin bu vahşice yapılan eylemleri üzüntü ve özür beyanlarının hiç bir anlamı olmadığını herkesin bilmesi gerekir.
Irak’taki halk arasında mezhebi ve etnik çatışma ortamı, meşru bir yönetime yönelik siyasi geçiş sürecinin işleyebilmesini de engellemektedir. Diğer yandan, Saddam2ın ardından Irak’ta halkı kucaklayan ve halk tarafından benimsenen yönetim yapılarının bir türlü tesis edilememiş olması da asayişsizliği tetiklemektedir. Bu gün Irak yönetimi belli misil göçlere güvenerek Irak’taki emniyeti sağlamaya kalkıyor.
Bu durumları göz önüne alırsak, Irak’ın önündeki tek çıkış yolu, siyasi sürecin meşru kılınması suretiyle ilerletilmesidir. Irak’taki bütün etnik grupları iktidara ortak etmesidir örneğin Irak’ta üçüncü etnik unsur olan yaklaşık üç milyona yakın ırak Türkmenleridir. Bu süreç, ayrılıkları derinleştiren bir zeminde yürüyemez. Dolayısıyla, geçici yapılarda tüm kesimler temsil imkanı bularak bir araya gelmelidir. Süreç, ulusal uyumun oluşturulmasını hedefleyen bir zemine oturtulmalıdır.İşte bu noktada Birleşmiş Milletlerin rolünün ön plana çıkması gerekmektedir. Biz de Irak Türkmenleri olarak Birleşmiş Milletlerin bu rolüne büyük önem veriyoruz.
Irak’ın içinde bulunduğu bu kritik aşamada temel sorumluluk Koalisyon yönetimine ve Irak halkına düşmektedir.burada ırak halkı dediğimiz zaman yalnız Arap ve Kürt demeliğiz. Irak halkı bu iki etnik grubunun dışında Türkmen ve kilduaşüriler de vardır. . Koalisyon, geçmişte yaptığı bazı hataları tekrarlamamaya özen göstermelidir. Irak’ı oluşturan bütün kesimler siyasi sürecin içine çekilmelidir. Egemenliğin temsili ve meşru yönetim yapılarına devredilmesinin önü açılmalıdır. Bu sağlanabildiği takdirde, geçtiğimiz yıldan beri yaşanmakta olan şiddet travmanın yerini Irak halkının kendi geleceğine birlikte sahip çıkma duygusu alacaktır.
Irak’ın içinde bulunduğu bu kritik aşamada temel sorumluluk başta Koalisyon yönetimine ve Irak halkına düşmektedir, bütün ırak halkı. Koalisyon, geçmişte çok büyük yaptığı bazı hataları tekrarlamamaya özen göstermelidir. Irak’ı oluşturan bütün kesimler siyasi sürecin içine çekilmelidir. Egemenliğin temsili ve meşru yönetim yapılarına devredilmesinin önü açılmalıdır. Bu sağlanabildiği takdirde, geçtiğimiz yıldan beri yaşanmakta olan travmanın yerini Irak halkının kendi geleceğine birlikte sahip çıkma duygusu olacaktır.
Yine bu bağlamda, Irak’ın geleceğinin her şeyden önce Iraklılar tarafından belirleneceği akılda tutulmalıdır. Toplumu oluşturan değişik kesimler etnik ve mezhebi çıkarları ve mülahazaları bir kenara bırakmalıdırlar. Bunlar, ortak gelecekleri için bir toplumsal uzlaşıya varabildikleri ölçüde, Irak’ın sorunlarına çözüm üretebileceklerdir.
Bu vesileyle, Iraklı tüm siyasi parti ve liderler bu dönemde maceracılıktan uzak ve sorumlu bir tutum takınmaya, dar çıkar hesaplarından uzak durmaları gerekmektedir..
Aşırı ırkçılık ve mezhepçilik kendilerine, halklarına ve Irak’a zarar vereceğini bir kez daha hatırlatmak gerekir.. Burada altını çizerek söylememiz gerekir ki Iraklı Türkmenlerin tarih boyunca ılımlı, yetenekli, barışçı bir toplum olarak Irak’ın birliğine, istikrarına, refahına ve geleceğine en iyi hizmeti veren asil bir unsurdur. Iraklı Türkmenler, Irak Türkmen Cephesi Sayın Dr. Sadettin Ergeç liderliğinde , Irak’taki geçiş sürecine daha etkili biçimde katılmak ve birliklerini sergilemek üzere, güç koşullarda azimli bir siyasi faaliyet yürütmektedirler. Ne yazık ki Irak Türkmenleri Merkezi hükümet tarafından haklarına tecavüz edilmektedir.
Tarih boyunca özü Türkmen, sözü Türkmen, kültürü Türkmen olan Kerkük şehri planlı şekilde Türkmen’lerden koparılıp başka bölgeye ilhak edilmek istenmektedir.Buda yetmemiş Amerika Senatosu, işgal altında tuttuğu Irak'ı Bosna örneğinden yola çıkarak üçe bölünmesini öneren bir plan ortaya koyarak, Irak’ı adım, adım iç savaşın eşiğine getireceğine inanıyoruz.
Biz Irak Türkmenleri ve ITC olarak federasyon fikrine dahi karşı iken Irak'ın Sünni, Şii ve Kürt olarak üç bölgeye bölünmesini hiç bir zaman kabul etmedik ve bundan sonrada kesinlikle kabul edilmeyecek.bu pılan Irak’ın üçüncü asil unsuru olan Türkmenlerin varlıklarını yok’a sayıp ve ortadan silmek istemektedir.
Irak'ın ne ad altında olursa olsun bölünmesine şiddetle karşı olduğumuzu buradan bütün dünya kamuoyuna seslenirken " Bu karar Irak'ın içişlerine yapılan açık bir müdahaledir. ABD her zaman Irak'ın birliğini savunduğunu iddia ettiği ülkemizin egemenliğini zedeliyor ve kardeş Irak halkı arasında tehlikeli bir nifak üretmektedir. Aslında ABD senatosu bu kararıyla, Irak sahasındaki siyasi haritayı yanlış algıladığını gösteriyor. Aynı zamanda söz konusu karar hem ABD hem Arap Birliği kurallarını ihlal ediyor hem de ABD ve Arap Birliğinin kurucu üyesi olan Irak'ın egemenliğini ayaklar altına alıyor."
Irak'ta siyasi rejimin şekline ABD dahil hiçbir ülke veya grubun karar verme hakkının bulunmadığı karar veren birsi varsa oda Iraklıların kendilerinin vermesi gerektiğini herkesin bilmesi gerekir.
ABD senatosunun kararının iç ve bölgesel çekişmelere neden olabileceğini, bölgeyi felakete sürükleyeceğini bilmemiz gerekir. Kararın ne kader tehlikeli olması Beyaz Saray dahi olmak üzere redde edilmiştir.
Eğer Irak'ın bölünmesi bir emrivaki olarak biz Türkmenlerin önüne çıkarsa o zaman Türkmenler olarak Telafer’den Men deli’ye uzanan Türkmen eli federasyonunu ilan edip yani 4. federatif bölgede Türkmen bölgesi olacak, gerekirse bu bölgeyi canımızla, kanımızla savunmasını da çok iyi biliriz.
ABD senatosunun kararı bütün komşu ülkeler, dünya ülkeleri ve Irak'taki siyasi partiler tarafından şiddetle ret edildi( Kürt partileri hariç ). kararda Irak'ın asli 3. unsuru olan Üç milyon Türkmenlerin, Asuri, Kildani, Subbi ve Yezidilerin kaderleri unutulmuş hiç bir şekilde gündeme alınmamıştır.
Irak Türkmenleri, Irak Türkmen Cephesi başkanlığında aldığı kararla, Türkmenlerin milli haklarını garantiye almak için ABD senatosunun kararında öngörülen federasyonların uygulandığı durumunda biz Türkmenler olarak her hangi bir federasyona katılma ihtimali olmayacaktır.. ve Irak parçalanarak kan gölüne dönecek.
Allah Irak’ı Korusun.
Kerkük'te İnsanlık Ayıbı - VİDEO
15 Ekim 2007
Türkmen Kenti Kerkük'ün nasıl işgal edildiğinin görüntüleri
Kerkük'ün Türkmen kenti olduğunu şehrin her yeri ispatlıyor. Ancak son yıllarda şehre yerleştirilenler tarafından bu iz yok edilmeye çalışmakta. Aşağıdaki görüntüler Kerkük'te nasıl bir insalık ayıbı işlediğini sizlere anlatacaktır.
DİĞER VİDEOLAR İÇİN LÜTFEN TIKLAYIN :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IaYtRSOidA
Türkmen Kenti Kerkük'ün nasıl işgal edildiğinin görüntüleri
Kerkük'ün Türkmen kenti olduğunu şehrin her yeri ispatlıyor. Ancak son yıllarda şehre yerleştirilenler tarafından bu iz yok edilmeye çalışmakta. Aşağıdaki görüntüler Kerkük'te nasıl bir insalık ayıbı işlediğini sizlere anlatacaktır.
DİĞER VİDEOLAR İÇİN LÜTFEN TIKLAYIN :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IaYtRSOidA
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