Clipmarks | abailart's 'kurdistan' clips

Iraqi Kurdistan Defies Baghdad over Oil

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 08:34:45 GMT

clipped by: abailart

Despite opposition from the national government in Baghdad and its neighbors, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has refused to be held back by the indecision and infighting that characterizes the central government. They have charged ahead, passing their own Oil and Gas Law and forming four regional oil-related companies - the Kurdistan Exploration and Production Company, Kurdistan National Oil Company, Kurdistan Oil Marketing Organization and Kurdistan Organization for Downstream Operations - and signed seven new exploration deals with both Kurdish and international petroleum firms. Kurdish officials claim they are well within their legal right to go forward with the exploration deals and that fears of the KRG monopolizing subsequent oil revenues are unfounded.

the oil deals threaten to exacerbate their fragile and historically hostile relationship with Turkey.

Tags: kurdistan, syria, turkey, iran, iraq, oil, shiite government

Us in Covert War on Iraq-Iran Border

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 17:34:51 GMT

clipped by: abailart

Clip Source: www.atimes.com

While the PKK has been in the international spotlight in recent weeks, with Turkey mounting cross-border raids and threatening to launch an invasion of Iraq, not so much attention has been given to the Iranian offshoot, the PJAK. The group has been waging an insurgency against Tehran since 2004, which recently has escalated. A guerrilla leader told the New York Times last month that PJAK fighters had killed at least 150 Iranian soldiers and officials in Iran since August.

Iran accuses Washington of backing the group, and while the US denies this, local and foreign intelligence sources say the accusation is most likely true. According to a former US Special Forces (SF) commando currently based in Iraq who spoke on condition of anonymity, Special Forces troops are currently operating inside Iran, working with insurgent forces like the PJAK. "That's what the SF does," he said. "They train and build up indigenous anti-government forces."

Tags: iran, iraq, us trained militia, kurdistan

The Kindness of Kurds

Thu, 08 Nov 2007 09:01:18 GMT

clipped by: abailart

Clip Source: timesonline.typepad.com

From being invited to join a mountain barbeque after I interrupted the festivities by quizzing some of the guests on the risk of shelling in the area to being offered a boiled sweet from an impossibly poor family, the constant generosity made me wonder whether people in Britain would behave in the same way to a stranger.

Clip Source: timesonline.typepad.com

Tags: kurdistan, kurds

PKK: We Want Peaceful Settlement with Turkey

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 09:08:21 GMT

clipped by: abailart

Clip Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

President Bush will hold crisis talks today in Washington where he hopes to stave off the prospect of a new and perilous front of fighting in Iraq.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish Prime Minister, has delayed a final decision on whether to take military action against Kurdish rebels across the border with Iraq until he hears what Mr Bush has to say in their talks today.

The much-anticipated meeting comes as eight Turkish soldiers, captured by the PKK a fortnight ago, were enjoying their first full day of freedom after being released by their captors.

The PKK was also keen to make the most of the moment, noting that the “prisoners of war” had been well treated and released without conditions. “This is the proof that we do not want war, we want to solve the problem peacefully through dialogue,” said Abdul Rahman Chaderchi, a spokesman.

Tags: pkk, turkey, iraq, kurdistan

Turkey: Wave of Internal Dissent over Invasion Plan

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 08:32:34 GMT

clipped by: abailart

Clip Source: www.zmag.org

Protests erupted this past week in Turkey and Iraq over Turkey's decision to authorize an invasion of Iraq in order to fight Kurdish separatists.

In addition to the Kurdish Parties in Turkey, both the Labor Party of Turkey and the Communist Party of Turkey rejected a bill put forward by Prime Minister Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party to authorize an invasion of Iraq to pursue Kurdish separatists affiliated with the Kurdish Workers' Party or PKK.

Evoking Bush-style demagoguery, Erdogan accused opponents of the bill of supporting terrorism.

the Labor Party said

"Our country and our peoples – both Kurds and Turks – will suffer from the results of this war."

Accusing Turkey of using the threat to attack Iraq and subsequent destabilization as a tactic to pressure President Bush to speak out against a US congressional resolution condemning the Armenian genocide, Murat Karayilan added, "Turkey's aim is to attack Iraqi Kurds" not PKK members.

Tags: turkey, iraq, kurdistan

Kurdish Demands for Kurdistan

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 08:53:46 GMT

clipped by: abailart

Clip Source: www.iraqupdates.com

In its anniversary, the Kurdish community in diaspora have set up a campaign to annul the Lausanne Treaty of 1923. The treaty replaced the Treaty of Sèvres (August 10, 1920), which promised to establish a Kurdish state. The camping’s main motor is “I am a Kurd. It is my right to have a nation-state.”

Haji Anwar, one of the leading activists of the campaign who is a Swiss citizen, spelled out the objectives of the campaign. “We set out five main objectives for this campaign. Firstly, we demand demolishing the Treaty of Lausanne and replace it with a treaty that allows Kurds to establish their own nation-state, which should include northern Kurdistan, currently known as part of Turkey.

we expect the UN to take a solid stance on the Turkish denial of the Kurdish existence

implementation of Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution regarding normalisation of Kurdistan areas outside the current Kurdish administration, known as KRG.”

Tags: kurds, lausanne treaty, sevres, kurdistan, iraq, turkey

Oil Fuels Dow Jones Panic

Sat, 20 Oct 2007 07:40:15 GMT

clipped by: abailart

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

The Dow Jones plunged almost 370 points in a perfect storm of surging oil costs, a sliding dollar, and fresh fears of paralysis in the credit markets.

Twenty years to the day since Black Monday, when the Dow slumped 508 points in a day, Wall Street was rocked by rumours of defaults and heightened fears that the US economy may be heading for a recession.

There were frantic scenes in the last hour of trading on Wall Street yesterday, as traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange fell over one another to place sell orders in all of America's biggest companies.

On the currency markets, there was further pressure against the dollar, with the euro rising to a record $1.4318 against the greenback and the global dollar index plumbed fresh depths amid concerns that the worsening US housing slump will lead to an exodus of foreign investors.

Oil hit an all-time high of $90.02 a barrel on supply shortages and tensions on Turkey's border with Iraq

Tags: dow jones, oil, kurdistan, finance, economics, credit defaults, debt