Clipmarks | abailart's 'kurdistan' clips

Turkish Troops Enter Iraqi Kurdistan

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:41:30 GMT

clipped by: abailart

About 300 Turkish troops have crossed into northern Iraq, officials in Iraq have said.

The lightly-armed soldiers entered Iraq overnight and moved up to three kilometres (1.9 miles) inside, an Iraqi Kurdish spokesman said.

So far Ankara has not confirmed the reports.

It is believed to be the first major Turkish deployment of troops in Iraq since the Cabinet backed the move last month, in a bid to hunt Kurdish rebels.

The Turkish army blames rebels from the Kurdistan's Workers' Party (PKK) of using bases inside Iraq to launch attacks on Turkey.

The deployment came just two days after Turkey sent up to 50 planes to attack PKK bases inside northern Iraq, in what was seen as an escalation of weeks of cross-border tensions

Ankara has massed up to 100,000 troops near the mountainous border with northern Iraq, backed by tanks, artillery and warplanes.

But Iraq and the US have urged Turkey not to carry out its threat.

Tags: kurdistan, iraq, turkey

Tehran Calls Iranian Kurds "Terrorists"

Fri, 14 Dec 2007 06:59:10 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: In an exclusive interview with Newsmax recently in Berlin, Ahmadi says that Iran was now working hand-in-glove with Turkey to get PJAK labeled as a terrorist organization.

“Iran knows they can’t make trouble for us directly because they have such bad relations with Europe. That’s why they are going through Turkey.”

The Iranian regime has been telling journalists and diplomats that PJAK and the PKK (the Kurdistan Workers Party) are the same. “But we are an Iranian party, and have nothing to do with Turkey,” he says.

PJAK has become a serious threat to the regime in Tehran because it is fighting to overthrow the clerical regime in favor of a secular republic and because it favors equality between men and women, Ahmadi asserts. The group has around 2,500 armed guerilla fighters, 40 percent of whom are women.

Clip Source: www.newsmax.com

Unable to defeat rebel Kurds in their mountain strongholds in Northern Iraq, the Iranian regime has launched a campaign of terror against its own Kurdish citizens in an effort to paint regime opponents as terrorists.

“The regime is planning to blame this attack on PJAK, even though their own agents carried it out,” a well-placed Iranian source tells Newsmax. “They did the same thing in Sistan-va-Balouchestan province earlier this year, then went to [neighboring] Pakistan demanding the extradition of Balouchi activists.”

A PJAK liaison representative in Washington, D.C. denied that the group had any involvement in the Sanandaj explosion, calling the allegations “an Iranian fabrication.”

“PJAK does not carry out operations against civilians,” Saif Badrakhan tells Newsmax. “Iran is behind this kind of operation to terrorize the Kurdish population.”

PJAK President Rahman Haj-Ahmadi, the prime target of the Iranian regime effort, has lived in Germany for the past 35 years

Tags: iranian kurds, pjak, tehran, turkey, europe, terrorists

Iraqi Kurdistan Defies Baghdad over Oil

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 08:34:45 GMT

clipped by: abailart

Clip Source: www.atimes.com

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

Turkey Authorises Iraq Strike

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 17:26:11 GMT

clipped by: abailart

Clip Source: english.aljazeera.net

The Turkish government has authorised the army to carry out strikes against separatist Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's prime minister, said: "We made a decision at the cabinet meeting on November 28 and, with the president's approval, the Turkish armed forces were authorised regarding a cross-border operation."

Faced with mounting violence, the government secured parliamentary approval last month to order a cross-border military operation against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Answering journalists' questions on television, Erdogan did not give any indication whether such action was imminent.

Tags: turkey, iraq, kurdistan, pkk, us=iraqi+turkish diplomacy

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

Short-Term US Deal with Sunni Tribes Arming New Militia?

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 20:20:34 GMT

clipped by: abailart

Clip Source: www.stratfor.com

U.S. military commanders said Nov. 29 that they have forged a security pact with some 6,000 Sunni residents in northern Iraq near the town of Hawija.

the U.S. military also was quick to caveat that it will carefully control the growth of these "neighborhood patrols" and "concerned local citizens'" (CLC) checkpoints -- an acronym adopted by the military in Anbar, where the practice began

Some 50,000 volunteers are manning CLC checkpoints in much of the country now. More than 25,000 additional volunteers have already registered. But despite the short-term security benefits, the practice (which relies heavily on Sunni populations) does not sit well with the predominantly Shiite government. As the practice pushes northward, it also is bumping up against the Kurdistan Regional Government and the impending Kirkuk referendum.

Tags: iraq, clc's, sunni tribes, shite government

Turkish Police Break Up Kurdish Rally

Sun, 18 Nov 2007 09:00:53 GMT

clipped by: abailart

Clip Source: english.aljazeera.net

Ten people have been arrested as Turkish police used warning shots and tear gas to break up a rally by a Kurdish party that authorities are trying to ban.

Police broke up demonstrators chanting slogans in favour of Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Turkey's NTV news channel reported.

As many as 2,000 demonstrators loyal to Ocalan rallied in the city of Van on Saturday.

The demonstration was organised by the country's main Kurdish political movement, the Democratic Society Party (DTP) – a group accused by Ankara of colluding with PKK fighters.

The DTP, which holds 20 seats in Turkey's 550-member parliament, rejects charges of links to the PKK.

Tags: kurds, pkk, dtp, turkey

Internet Myth: Blood Kurdling

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 08:31:07 GMT

clipped by: abailart

Clip Source: www.atimes.com

well known Turkish clothing firm LC Waikiki (LCW). For about two weeks the Internet has been awash with unfounded rumors that LCW has been sold

to Leyla Zana, the first Kurdish woman to take a seat in the Turkish Parliament. The result of the cyber-gossip has been a fourfold increase in visits to the LCW website; the number of visitors spiraled from 60,000 a month to 280,000 in five days. On the face of it that sounds like good news, but not if it is coupled with a 15% drop in sales revenue.

in 1991 when she took her oath as an MP by starting it in Turkish but finishing it in Kurdish.

she recently referred to the incarcerated head of the PKK, Abdullah Ocalan, as a "leader"

proposal to reorganize Turkey into a set of federal states, one of them being Kurdistan

According to the electronic whispering campaign, Zana now owns LCW and the money made from its products is being directed to the PKK.

In fact the company is at a loss to know how the rumors came about

Tags: kuristan, turkey, internet myths

Turkey Claims Iraq Border Tension Easing

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 08:34:37 GMT

clipped by: abailart

Clip Source: english.aljazeera.net

Iraq's president says the prospect of a Turkish "invasion" of his country is fading.

A week after meeting with his US and Turkish counterparts, Jalal Talabani said cross-border tensions were easing.

But Al Jazeera's Mike Hanna found the picture on the streets of Istanbul quite different and Turkey continued to mass troops along the border.

Despite the Ankara government appearing to have succeeded in calming the emotions that were running high in recent weeks, the Turkish public continues to thirst for revenge and expect a mass military deployment into northern Iraq, he said.

Erdogan denied there had been cross-border attacks but said Turkey was ready to strike [EPA]

Tags: turkey, pkk, iraq, kurdistan

PKK Child Fighter Lays Down Arms

Sat, 10 Nov 2007 09:22:11 GMT

clipped by: abailart
clipper's remarks: A good interview/article. One of those that give more insight than a million facts and stats.

Clip Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

With her Kalashnikov folded in half to stop it dragging on the ground and ammunition strapped around her tiny waist, Zerya was 12 when she became a Kurdish fighter in the Turkish mountains after running away from home.

Sixteen years later her body bears the scars of countless battles with Turkish soldiers and her eyes are haunted by the memories of friends she has lost. No longer a guerrilla for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), she is trying to fit back into society, using a mobile phone for the first time and discovering treats such as ice cream and pizza that she never had in the mountains.

Instead of studying, gossiping about boys and listening to pop music, Zerya spent her teenage years fighting Turkish soldiers, living off scraps of food and sleeping wherever she found shelter.

taught her that the problem can be solved only by agreement between both sides

The PKK offered a new way for both sides to step away from confrontation yesterday.

Tags: pkk, turkey, kurdistan, kurdish struggle, mideast, iraq

US Iraqi "Success" in Context

Sun, 11 Nov 2007 10:15:34 GMT

clipped by: abailart
clipper's remarks: I never realised there was a limit of ten tags so have had to leave five out.

Clip Source: www.atimes.com

Just as the White House claims it has finally turned the corner in what it defines as the "central front" in the "war on terror" - Iraq - it has found itself desperately trying to contain new crises on the war's periphery stretching east to Pakistan, west to Turkey and south to the Horn of Africa.

growing impression that Washington has ever more become hostage to forces and personalities far beyond its control or understanding.

perceived enemies, be they Sunni jihadis or the allegedly Tehran-led "axis" of Syria, Hezbollah and Hamas.

ack of concrete progress on the Israel-Palestinian peace process,

political impasse in Lebanon, and still-mounting tensions between Iran and the US.

war between Somalia and Ethiopia

Afghanistan

Islamist uprising in Saudi Arabia,

a major Turkish incursion,

200,000 US troops fighting on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan

Pakistan

Tags: iraq, eritea, somalia, pakistan, palestine, syria, african horn, 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

Turkey Not Welcome in Europe

Wed, 07 Nov 2007 08:47:02 GMT

clipped by: abailart

Clip Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

A growing number of prosecutions against writers and academics is damaging Turkey’s case to become a fully fledged member of the European Union, an annual assessment report said yesterday.

The country has made little progress in the past year and its failure to end torture, improve minority rights or guarantee freedom of expression were all highlighted as significant stumbling blocks to EU membership.

One of the key demands was for the repeal of Article 301 of the Turkish penal code, which makes it a crime to insult Turkish identity. The article has been used to prosecute the Nobel prize-winning author Orhan Pamuk and the murdered journalist Hrant Dink for commenting on the killings of Armenians by Turks in the early 20th century.

“Turkey needs to create the conditions for the predominantly Kurdish population there to enjoy full rights and freedoms.”

Tags: turkey, kurdistan

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

Turkish Invasion Halts for Winter?

Sun, 04 Nov 2007 09:43:58 GMT

clipped by: abailart

Clip Source: www.atimes.com

As Turkish troops mass along the border with Kurdish northern Iraq, chief of the Turkish General Staff General Yasar Buyukanit has promised to make the rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) "grieve with an intensity they cannot imagine".

While an attack on northern Iraq seems imminent, important questions are being raised in Ankara about the effectiveness of a cross-border operation.

The difficulty for Ankara is that a quick raid on PKK installations in Iraq is likely to have little long-term effect.

The onset of winter usually marks the end of the PKK's campaigning season until spring,

Economic sanctions and border closures present an alternative

cutting supplies of electricity to northern Iraq, and the evacuation of Turkish contractors responsible for most of the rebuilding and infrastructure creation in northern Iraq. Over 600 Turkish construction firms are currently at work in northern Iraq.

Tags: pkk, turkey, iraq