Facts] Current Conflict with the PKK Beginnings Renewed Violence Some 3,000 Turkish PKK fighters are based in northern Iraq and launch attacks on security and civilian targets in Turkish territory. A few thousand PKK rebels are also believed to be inside Turkey. Clashes have resumed in recent years and this October, PKK separatists, operating from northern Iraq, killed a dozen Turkish soldiers. The PKK said it also captured eight soldiers. Washington and Baghdad have so far failed to take action against the PKK guerrillas hiding in northern Iraq, and Turkish frustration has grown after clashes resumed. Beginnings Abdullah Ocalan founded the party in 1974 and it was formally named the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in 1978, a Marxist-Leninist insurgent group fighting for an independent Kurdish state. It earned a reputation for ruthlessness by killing members of rival groups, Kurdish "aga" landlords and pro-government tribesmen. The PKK took up arms against Turkey in 1984 with the aim of creating an ethnic homeland in the southeast. More than 30,000 people have been killed in the conflict since then. Ocalan was captured and sentenced to death by a Turkish court in 1999, but the sentence was reduced to life imprisonment in October 2002 after Turkey abolished the death penalty. Fighting dwindled after Ocalan's capture and it also led to a ceasefire and the withdrawal of rebel fighters from Turkey. Ocalan, after his capture, emphasized the importance of winning rights for the Kurds through political rather than armed struggle. That encouraged the rebels to establish a new political wing known as KONGRA-GEL in November 2003. Renewed Violence In June 2004, the PKK announced the end of its ceasefire and told investors and tourists to stay away from Turkey. In April 2006 authorities blamed the PKK for rioting between pro-Kurdish protesters and security forces in Turkey's southeast in the worst civil unrest since the mid-1990s. The PKK is considered a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union. Nasrallah in public for first time since Israel war Yemen tracks killers of Belgian tourists Israel continues Gaza blitz despite UN concern Dutch govt ready for anger over anti-Islam film UN names George Clooney "messenger of peace" Comments 1 - mr nusi [ Tuesday, November 13, 2007 ] there is no turkish pkk fighters,,and also there is not launch attacks on civilian targets in Turkish territory pkk is kurdistan workers party. you must go ture ahead. you as a arab webside but there is not diffrentes between you and a turkish racism., we will win as kurds and we will kill turkish soldiers like mouse. never read your web anymore. down for all kurdish enemy 2 - Yarrak PKAKA-meanin P S*** [ Wednesday, November 14, 2007 ] PKK is a fascist group. They fight 4 kurdish nationalism. They kill Turkish Mothers, Fathers, sons and daughters. Marxism-Leninism teaches there is no nationality, there is no such thing as a country, that the working class of all countries should unite yet u barstard kurds fight 4 a kurdish homeland at all costs. U would kill ur own mum 2 follow this ideology, and the sad thing is well known PKK memners 2 kill their entire families off just 2 protect their secrecy and the group. Ur Marx is dead, ur lenin is dead Leave a Comment [Analysis] The Kurdish Crisis and the Image of the State Abdullah Iskandar Once again, the current Turk-Kurdish crisis reinforces the argument that the image of nation and state in the Arab world is a matter open to different interpretations and exploitations. As far as politics and political interests are concerned, it matters not whether the image of the nation and the state is exploited for any purpose instead of maintaining it as a value free of all political agitation. The Kurdish problem in Turkey is a Turkish problem, pertaining to how a national centralized and egalitarian state deals with a significant ethnic and cultural minority. The emergence of the Kurdish Workers Party out of this issue has not contributed to reinforcing the recent opening of the Turkish state to the Kurdish cultural and humanitarian demands. As this party moved to North Iraq where a Kurdish majority resides as a result of the decline of the Iraqi state following the war to liberate Kuwait, the security problem imposed by this party has also shifted to Iraqi Kurdistan. The new Kurdish "authority" in this region, the Turkish state, and the Iraqi state, however, have failed to take into consideration the existence of internationally recognized borders and the presence of national sovereignty. They have also failed to recognize that when security-oriented activities exceed the standards of relations between neighboring countries, they turn into violations that create new problems without solving the original problem in the first place. While previous Turkish incursions are justified and legitimized by several security agreements with Baghdad, have exacerbated the crisis. The previous regime in Baghdad considered the Turkish incursions in the north as a source of power in its confrontation with the Iraqi Kurds who opposed the centralized authority and who were attempting to make the best out of its weakness as a result of the sanctions imposed by the Alliance both in the north and south. To some extent, this situation legitimized the violation of Iraq's national sovereignty and the state's waiving its right to maintain order within its borders. Almost a similar procedure is repeated in the current crisis. The attitude of the Iraqi state toward this state of affairs is determined in the light of current political interests and not in recognition of clear concepts and regulations that govern the relations between independent and sovereign states. The Iraqi Kurdish leadership, represented at the presidential level, declares its impotence in controlling the Kurdish Workers Party in Iraq. However, it is suspected that this impotence results from the failure of the central authority in Baghdad to recognize its own right to interfere in Kurdish affairs (which explains rejecting the recent agreement between the Iraqi and Turkish ministers of interior in Ankara) on the one hand. On the other hand, there are suspicions about cross-border Kurdish-Kurdish solidarity, even if this solidarity eventually leads to military confrontations and to violating the national sovereignty of Iraq. The Arab Iraqi parts are not far off from this process. The Shiites express reservation by virtue of their alliance with the Kurdish coalition, the primary constituent of the current government. Moreover, their agreement with the Kurds over the federation recognizes the Kurdish-Turkish nature of the conflict and Kurdish sensitivities. Sunni Arabs, on the other hand, believe that any military Turkish intervention in north Iraq will weaken the Kurdish autonomy and by default, the demand for federalism and the division of power within the centralized government. Iraq's neighbors, also home to Kurdish minorities, namely Syria and Iran, have a stake in the Kurdish question, and despite their calls for a political and peaceful resolution, justify the Turkish intervention. While Iran insists on such a resolution, it fails to adopt one, but to the contrary, it cannot stop from firing its guns at the Iraqi borders. Syria too, while its efforts to clarify its position, recognizes that Turkey has the right to adopt the appropriate means to strike the Kurdish terrorist threat. In both cases, neighbors overlook Iraq's national sovereignty as an independent state in favor of weakening the Kurdish hinterland which is accused by Teheran and Damascus of supporting the demands for cultural and human rights by the Kurds in both countries. As for Turkey, the rabble-rouser, it discovered that the "external" Kurdish threat is an entry to reconciliation between the military establishment and the ruling party, and that the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) - even as a terrorist organization - remains an expression of a Turkish- Kurdish situation, not an Iraqi one. Thus, it requires an internal Turkish solution rather than a further violation of Iraq's sovereignty by a process liable to be used by several sides for their benefit without actually resolving the problem itself. * Published in London-based DAR AL-HAYAT on September 23, 2007. Nasrallah in public for first time since Israel war Yemen tracks killers of Belgian tourists Israel continues Gaza blitz despite UN concern Dutch govt ready for anger over anti-Islam film UN names George Clooney "messenger of peace" Comments 1 - resident in U.S. A.Weis [ Tuesday, November 13, 2007 ] This Article includes good Information but also some distortion.The Kurdish Problem did not start as a reaction of sovereignity of inhabited countries.While Kurds never wanted to harm Turks ,Arabs and Persians in the first place those folks did everything possible including inviting foreign forces-Turkish 1992-2003,Syrian 1962- 1963,Egyptian 1962-1963.to supress its Kurdish minority .It is their opinion that Kurds belong to them outright and as 3rd. class sitizens,references are too many about this.Kurds are Jointly more than Persians,Turks in Turkey and Arabs in Syria.in addition to common history and faith they are neighbours and that cannot be changed. Did the Arabs ,Turks and Persians ever think one time in last 85 years to treat Kurds as equals and neighbours?instead of killing and gassing them ,while crying loudly about Jews. Historical Justice cannot be limited by 50 or 60 years .it is definitive.Are we going to send all Arabs back to their motherland Yemenand Turks to Mongolia.Folks you have no choice but to accept Kurds as Equals and Neighbours if you want peace and prosperity.Muslims today have a big problem on their hand and they think if ignored can go away! no sir it doesn't,better to aknoledge it and try to find a solution. 2 - killer counries jak [ Tuesday, November 13, 2007 ] it is obivioius that Kurds' soil were invaded by turkey, iran,iraq and syria, and kurds have been massacared by these colonialists for many years. I think, our civilized world has to fight against these stuation, and stop these killer countries. The history shows us it is not turkey's first crime against humans, i affraid if we can't stop this country, one day it will threat us as they do in the past. We even never forget turkish genocide against armanians and other ancient civilizations. Leave a Comment Analysis] Is the crisis in Turkey only about the PKK? Khaled Salih "Is the latest crisis in Turkey really only about the Kurdistan Workers Party [PKK]?" a friend recently asked ironically. A reasonable answer would be both yes and no. This is certainly an issue with special complexities of its own, including a deep conflict in Turkey between civilians and the military and an ambition for regional domination. In recent weeks, the military confrontation between the PKK and the Turkish military has reached a new level. Inside Turkey, demonstrations, talk-shows, extensive media coverage and a general sense of war have led Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to publicly express concerns that some commentators were acting as "public servants working for provocation." The question is, what are they provoking? If Erdogan's fear is provocation of a war with the PKK, it is already a fact. Erdogan said it has become "inevitable for Turkey to start a more intense military process against terrorism. The operations in the region are under way." If the intent is to provoke a wider and more extensive war in which fighting the PKK is only one element or a pretext, as Kurdish commentators and politicians suspect, then the parallel is not the Turkish military's resolve to demonstrate strength - as it did in 1998 against Syria, leading to the expulsion of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan. Rather, one has to look at a previous Turkish military adventure: the invasion and occupation of Northern Cyprus in 1974, in which the 1960 Treaty of Guarantee (between Turkey, Greece and the United Kingdom) was invoked. Turkey's rationale then was to use its right to take unilateral military action ostensibly to restore constitutional order and ensure Cyprus' independence and sovereignty. Instead, Turkey ended up dividing the island, occupying 37 percent of its territory and displacing 160,000 Greek Cypriots and 50,000 Turkish Cypriots. Provoking a wider war for regional domination implies that some people within the Turkish political and military establishments would like to see an incursion into the Kurdistan region in Iraq that ends with a longer-term invasion and occupation. If Iraq disintegrates entirely, the final stage of occupation would then be extended to annexation. Many would say that we have not seen any justification in Turkish propaganda preparing for a second scenario that leads in that direction. However, the Turkish chief of the General Staff, General Yasar Buyukanit, made the point clearly at the Turkish War Academies a month ago when he said, "Iraq is rapidly moving toward a confederation. Division in Iraq is very close. An independent state in the north of Iraq would be not only a political threat but also a security threat. Turkey must look at the north of Iraq from a political, military and psychological perspective." It is fully possible that if an incursion takes place we will hear two arguments during the subsequent stages of invasion, occupation and annexation, in addition to the Kurdistan region being portrayed as a political, security, military and psychological threat to the Turkish Republic. One is the idea that Mosul should be returned to Turkey because no Turkish government has ever accepted the 1926 Anglo-Turkish Agreement under which Mosul became part of Iraq based on a decision reached by the League of Nations. The other is that anticipated tensions between Turkmens in the Kirkuk region and the Kurds resulting from a Turkish military adventure will be cited by the Turkish military and the "public servants of provocation" to justify Turkish occupation (and if possible also annexation) of Kirkuk to protect their kinsmen. No one has better expressed Erdogan's fear regarding a wider war than the president of the Kurdistan regional government Massoud Barzani, who said recently, "The continuous, direct threats of Turkey against the Kurdistan region ... have created a doubt, leading us close to the conviction that exactly this is the aim. The Kurdistan region is the target." Erdogan has also hinted, equally strongly, that the "public servants of the provocation" might want the moderate Islamist government not only to be embarrassed but also to face a third round of brinkmanship with the military - the first two being confrontations over the election of the president in 2007 in which the governing Justice and Development Party ultimately gained clear-cut democratic support. If Erdogan fails to prevent a massive incursion into the Kurdistan region by almost 100,000 Turkish troops to combat 3,000 to 4,000 PKK fighters, he will not only put Turkey in an extremely difficult position with the Kurds in Iraq, the United States, NATO, the European Union and the United Nations, but he will also risk the military winning this third round of brinkmanship in the struggle by the civilian government to control the military. At that point, EU attempts to promote democracy and peaceful conflict resolution and to coordinate European foreign policy with Turkey will face a severe challenge. * Published in Lebanon's THE DAILY STAR November 05, 2007. Khaled Salih is Kurdistan regional government spokesman. He is also a senior lecturer in Middle East politics at the University of Southern Denmark. The views expressed here are personal. His commentary first appeared at bitterlemons-international.org, an online newsletter. Nasrallah in public for first time since Israel war Yemen tracks killers of Belgian tourists Israel continues Gaza blitz despite UN concern Dutch govt ready for anger over anti-Islam film UN names George Clooney "messenger of peace" Comments 1 - Cyprus is greatest proof that Turkey wants peace, not war Sevket Zaimoglu [ Thursday, November 15, 2007 ] It is interesting to see that Khaled Salih points to Cyprus as an example, but he conveniently forgets to add that in 1974, there had been a coup d'etat led by the terrorist organization EOKA under the leadership of Nikos Sampson, and that the president of Cyprus, Archbishop Makarios had to flee the island. He also fails to note that thanks to the presence of the Turkish forces, Cyprus has been an island of peace, with no suicide bombings, assasinations, bombings or massacres taking place, amid all the chaos in the eastern Mediterranean. He finally fails to note that it was Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots, who overwhelmingly said YES to the UN peace plan, whereas the Greek Cypriots said NO (OXI). The simple fact is that the Turks want peace in the region, the Greek Cypriots want the conflict to continue. As to the pending Turkish operation to northern Iraq, the Iraqi central government and the Iraqi Kurdish leaders must make a decision between supporting terrorism and being a responsible, peaceful neighbor. The two cannot exist together. If they stop allowing PKK to flourish within their territory, they will find that Turkey is their best friend and Turkey will do its best to help rebuild a peaceful, prosperous Iraq. Leave a Comment [Facts] Who are the Kurds? The fight with Turkey Autonomy in Iraq Persecution in Iran Silent minority in Syria -- The Kurds are a non-Arab, mainly Sunni Muslim people, speaking a language related to Persian and living in a mountainous area straddling the borders of Armenia, Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey. -- For most of their history they have been subjugated. In modern times Iran, Iraq and Turkey have resisted an independent Kurdish state and the Western powers have seen no reason to help establish one. -- Perhaps the most famous of all Kurds is Saladin (1138–1193), who gained fame during the Crusades as one of the greatest rulers in Islamic history. -- Contemporary Kurdish nationalism stirred in the 1890s when the Ottoman Empire was on its last legs. The 1920 Treaty of Sevres, which imposed a settlement and colonial carve-up of Turkey after World War One, promised them independence. The fight with Turkey -- Three years after the 1920 Treaty of Sevres promised independence to Turkey's Kurds, Turkish leader Kemal Ataturk tore up the document. Kurdish revolts in the 1920s and 1930s were put down by Turkish forces. The Kurds were not recognized as a separate people or allowed to speak their language in public until 1991. -- The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), named in 1978, took up arms against Turkey in 1984 with the aim of creating an ethnic homeland in the southeast. Since then more than 30,000 people have been killed in the conflict. -- PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan was captured in 1999, tried and sentenced to death. That was reduced to life imprisonment in October 2002 after Turkey abolished the death penalty. -- Fighting eased after Ocalan's capture, leading to a ceasefire and the withdrawal of rebel fighters from Turkey. Ocalan put new emphasis on seeking Kurdish rights through political, rather than armed struggle. -- Today, some 3,000 Turkish PKK fighters are based in northern Iraq and launch attacks on security and civilian targets in Turkish territory. A few thousand PKK rebels are also believed to be inside Turkey. -- Around 40 Turkish soldiers have been killed in fighting in the past month alone. Erdogan's government is under heavy domestic pressure to pursue the PKK into northern Iraq. -- Turkey has mobilized some 200,000 soldiers to the southeast, half of them along Turkey's border with Iraq, to stop PKK fighters crossing into Turkey from mountain bases in northern Iraq. Autonomy in Iraq -- The Kurds fared little better in northern Iraq where, under a British mandate, revolts were quashed in 1919, 1923 and 1932. -- Under leader Mustafa Barzani, the Iraqi Kurds waged an intermittent struggle against Baghdad after World War Two. -- Kurdish northern Iraq won autonomy from Saddam Hussein with U.S. help in 1991, and has benefited from more than a decade of economic development. There has been some violence but it has not approached the levels seen in Baghdad. -- Saddam's fall deepened the desire for autonomy and in September 2006 the president of Iraq's Kurdistan ordered the Kurdish flag to be flown on government buildings instead of the Iraqi national flag. Persecution in Iran *Twice as many Kurds live in Iran as Iraq, but the national movement has had much less success, with a series of Kurdish leaders put to death by the Iranian government. *Ismail Agha Simko led a major revolt in the 1920s but was killed by the Iranian government in 1930. *In 1946, the Iranian Kurds established a short- lived Kurdish Republic, the only one in the 20th century. After destroying the state, Iran hanged its president, Qasi Muhammad, in March 1947. *In 1981, Ayatollah Khomeini’s forces quashed an attempted revolt by the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI). In 1989, Iranian agents assassinated KDPI leader Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou in Austria. His successor,Sadegh Sharafkiandi was assassinated at a restaurant in Germany in 1992. Silent minority in Syria *There are around one million Kurds in Syria who live in separate parts of the country and are poorly organized. *Syria's Baathist regime has denied citizenship to many Kurds and bans Kurdish cultural centers, bookshops and similar activities. A 1992 decree prohibits the registration of children with Kurdish first names. *It has been suspected that in return for giving Turkish rebels sanctuary in Syria for many years, the PKK has kept a lid on any Kurdish unrest in the country. Nasrallah in public for first time since Israel war Yemen tracks killers of Belgian tourists Israel continues Gaza blitz despite UN concern Dutch govt ready for anger over anti-Islam film UN names George Clooney "messenger of peace" Comments 1 - Thank you al arabia Deyary Rakhtawan [ Tuesday, November 13, 2007 ] it is a great feeling when you see a respected arab media telling the truth about the plight of Kurdish people. this shows that ordinary arabs are good people and only their regimes are bad. 2 - progress in democracy cwan [ Wednesday, November 21, 2007 ] Nowdays we notice a big interest in Al arabia Media showing and explaning kurds issue and their milestones ,all kurds people in Syria appreciat your your interst too much ,and wish for Al arabia Media flourish progress in democracy media . Leave a Comment [Facts] Nationalism pre-PKK -- The armed struggle for Kurdish independence did not begin with the founding of the PKK in 1979. It can be traced back to almost a century of persecution and segregation. -- The 1908 Young Turk Revolution initiated dissent against the Ottoman Empire and laid the foundation for the 1922 Atatürk revolt. Its strong nationalist sentiments urged the elimination of minority populations -- the Kurds, Armenians and Assyrians. -- Over the past eighty years, hundreds of thousands of Kurds have been killed by the Turkish state. The violent suppression of occasional uprisings also claimed many Kurdish lives. Sheikh Said Piran rebellion in 1924-1927, the declaration of the Republic of Ararat in 1927, and the 1937- 1938 Dersim uprising are but a few examples. -- The Turkish government has routinely imprisoned Kurdish members of parliament and human rights activists, and assassinated journalists and intellectuals. -- The Turkish state has also imposed a policy of forced assimilation on Kurds which American congressman Bob Filner terms "cultural genocide." It had banned the Kurdish language from media outlets and government institutions, denied the Kurdish part of Turkey's history, and forced the settlement of Kurds in non-Kurdish areas. -- The PKK's violent response made it easier for the Turkish government to label Kurds as "terrorists" and justify its campaign of segregation and persecution. It also gained the sympathy of Western powers already susceptible to the paranoia of "terrorism." -- It was only in 2002, when Turkey's human rights record became an obstacle to its EU membership, that the Turkish government permitted broadcasting Kurdish radio and TV programs and allowed private Kurdish education. (Compiled by Sonia Farid). Nasrallah in public for first time since Israel war Yemen tracks killers of Belgian tourists Israel continues Gaza blitz despite UN concern Dutch govt ready for anger over anti-Islam film UN names George Clooney "messenger of peace" Comments 1 - This is true? Englishman [ Thursday, November 15, 2007 ] What a load of bull***s! I was in Turkey only a year ago and there is kurd tv and radio and media everywhere. Nearly all kurds in Turkey see them self as Turkish. The general population of Kurds oppose the PKK terrorist organisation. 2 - Thank you Sonia!!!! Pshtiwan [ Thursday, November 15, 2007 ] Everything in your article is truth and nothing but the trusth,but for som people who call himself englishman the truth can be very difficult and har to digest,No one can deny the brutality of the turks untill these days and stiil the kurds in turkey can not use kurdish names and there is no freedom of expression,its an insult to democracy to call turkey democracy. I wounder how could this so called Englishman ask evey Kurd in turkey if they can see them selvs as Turks?Most of the kurds in north KURDISTAN are supporting the PKK and that is what scare the turks to death,Just take a look at the turkish history to realize who is the terrorists. Pshtiwan Al-Sulaymania South Kurdistan 3 - you have just said little about the kurdish issue ARAM [ Friday, November 16, 2007 ] if anyone wants to be sure about the kurdish issue in turkey, just read about the recent turkish approach to the kurdish MPs. the crime of some of them is that, during the elections spoke kurdish.. 4 - facts about Kurdish history eamad j mazouri [ Friday, November 16, 2007 ] Dear Sonia What you mentioned is no more than facts in Kurdish history, these facts are mentioned in every history book pertains to Kurds, their sufferings, struggle and sucrifices.The Kurdish nation is grateful to you and any other friend who try to tell the truth.Mr. Englishman is obviously a Mr. Turkishman and an ultranationalist one who until this very day deny the very existence of Kurds quite in line with Attaturkism and its racist philosophy. The modern Kurdish history has been nothing other than successive uprising against Ottomans and later against Turkish state. Every single one was savagely crashed.Points you mentioned are only few salient ones. Regrettably some circles in Turkey until today like to continue on that same destructive path and keep on denying Kurds their legitimate rights.Turks need to open their eyes and see the light.There are no partial solutions here but to rewrite the constitution and recognize Kurds as such with all their rights , political, cultural, economicand administrative.Anything short of that not going to resolve the issue and the conflict will continue.Turkey needs courageous and visionary leaders who truly understand the history of the region and have an insight into the near future.Turkey has no future within Kemalism and must disregard that and embrace democratic principles. This is the right approach for Turkey to turn into a strong democratic state with a powerful economy, and the Kurds and other ethnic and religious groups are the main players and partners. Anything short of that will bring chaos, military rule,poverty and bachwardness to Turkey.Or rather Turks should ask themselves why have they failed to catch up with Europe while under Ottomans the same country was way ahead of them?The answer to that because the embraced change, human values, tolerance while Turks stood against every one of those principles. 5 - Turkey Jill [ Wednesday, November 28, 2007 ] Here are some tidbits of information on the REAL Kurdish situation in Turkey today.  Turkey’s ethnic Kurds are first class citizens.  Turkey, like the United States, is a multi-ethnic, multi- cultural nation. “Turks,” much like “Americans” represent a large variety of ethnic and religious backgrounds. Kurdish ethnicity is one of many other ethnicities in Turkey, which include Circassians, Abkhaz, Georgians, Bosnians, Albanians, Laz, Azeri, Turkmen, Tatar and many more.  Turkey has taken laudable steps to open space for ethnic cultures and Kurdish culture in recent years: radio and television broadcasts in Kurdish have not only been liberalized, but Turkish Public Television now broadcasts in Kurdish. Private language instruction in Kurdish is free. There is no doubt that Kurds in Turkey preserve their ethnic identity, language and local cultures.  Turks of Kurdish ethnicity are well represented in government and in business and industry. They have been Presidents, Prime Ministers, and have been well represented in the Turkish parliament.  As co-religionists, Kurds and Turks of other ethnic backgrounds have intermarried and lived peacefully together for centuries. The vast majority of Turkish Kurds is well integrated into society and has the same rights and liberties as all other citizens. Restrictions that existed on cultural expressions of ethnic identities have long been lifted.  The southeast of Turkey, where a large number of Kurdish Turks live, has received the greatest per capita public investment, totaling well over 150 billion dollars through the course of the past three decades. In the past few years only, investments to the southeast of Turkey have surpassed 20 billion dollars in contrast to the fact that the region generates a miniscule contribution to the overall GNP of Turkey.  In addition to public investment, Turkish civil society organizations, particularly charitable organizations that support education and healthcare, have poured millions of dollars in donations into projects specifically designed for the needs of this region.  In sum, Kurds enjoy equal opportunity to pursue their political, social and economic ambitions in Turkey. The vast majority of Kurds does not support the PKK, a Marxist-Leninist terrorist organization that has rejected Turkey’s democracy for violence and terror to pursue the illegal aim of secession. Leave a Comment Facts] Autonomy in Iraq Kurds in northern Iraq won autonomy from Saddam Hussein with U.S. help in 1991. Saddam's fall deepened the desire for autonomy, and in September 2006, the president of Iraq's Kurdistan ordered the Kurdish flag to be flown on government buildings instead of the Iraqi national flag. Turkey fears Iraqi Kurds could embolden Turkish Kurds. It has mobilized some 200,000 soldiers to the southeast, half of them along Turkey's border with Iraq, to stop PKK fighters crossing into Turkey from mountain bases in northern Iraq. But Iraq's Kurdistan government has called upon the PKK to eliminate violence and armed struggle as a mode of operation, calling for the current problems should be solved through political and diplomatic methods. Here is a history of Iraq's Kurks struggle for autonomy: 1918: Sheikh Mahmoud Barzinji becomes governor of Suleimaniah under British rule. He and other Kurdish leaders who want Kurdistan to be ruled independently of Baghdad rebel against the British. He is defeated a year later. 1923: The Treaty of Lausanne between Turkey and the allied powers invalidates the Treaty of Sevres, which had provided for the creation of a Kurdish state. 1925: After sending a fact-finding committee to Mosul province, the League of Nations decides that it will be part of Iraq, on condition that the U.K. hold the mandate for Iraq for another 25 years to assure the autonomy of the Kurdish population. The following year Turkey and Britain signed a treaty in line with the League of Nation’s decision. 1970: The Kurdistan Democratic Party, lead by Mustafa Barzani, reaches an agreement with Baghdad on autonomy for Kurdistan and political representation in the Baghdad government. By 1974, key parts of the agreement are not fulfilled, leading to disputes. 1971-1980: The Iraqi government expels more than 200,000 Faili (Shia) Kurds from Iraq. 1975: The Iraqi government signs the Algiers Agreement with Iran, in which they settle land disputes in exchange for Iran ending its support of the Kurdistan Democratic Party and other concessions. 1983: The Iraqi government disappears 8,000 boys and men from the Barzani clan. In 2005, 500 of them are found in mass graves near Iraq’s border with Saudi Arabia, hundreds of kilometers from the Kurdistan Region. 1987-1989: The Iraqi government carries out the genocidal Anfal campaign against Kurdistan’s civilians, of mass summary executions and disappearances, widespread use of chemical weapons, destruction of some 2,000 villages and of the rural economy and infrastructure. An estimated 180,000 are killed in the campaign. On 16 and 17 March 1988, Iraqi government airplanes drop chemical weapons on the town of Halabja. Between 4,000 and 5,000 people, almost all civilians, are killed. 1991: The people in Kurdistan rise up against the Iraqi government days after the Gulf War ceasefire. Within weeks the Iraqi military and helicopters suppress the uprising. Tens of thousands of people flee to the mountains, causing a humanitarian crisis. The U.S., Britain and France declare a no-fly zone at the 36th parallel and refugees return. Months later, Saddam Hussein withdraws the Iraqi Army and his administration, and imposes an internal blockade on Kurdistan. 1992: The Iraqi Kurdistan Front, an alliance of political parties, holds parliamentary and presidential elections and establishes the Kurdistan Regional Government. 1994: Power-sharing arrangements between the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) fall apart, leading to civil war and two separate administrations, in Erbil and Suleimaniah respectively. 1998: The PUK and KDP sign the Washington Agreement, ending the civil war. 2003: The Peshmerga, Kurdistan’s official armed forces, fight alongside the coalition to liberate Iraq from Saddam Hussein’s rule. 2006: At the start of the year, the PUK and KDP agree to unify the two administrations. On 7th May, Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani announces a new unified cabinet. (Source: Kurdistan Regional Government) Nasrallah in public for first time since Israel war Yemen tracks killers of Belgian tourists Israel continues Gaza blitz despite UN concern Dutch govt ready for anger over anti-Islam film UN names George Clooney "messenger of peace" Comments Leave a Comment