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Thread: Turkey mainly, Iraq and the Kurds (2006-2014)

  1. #161
    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
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    Default The Kurds: a complex dynamic factor

    A wide ranging article:
    The middle-east’s power-balance is in flux amid state tensions and political conflicts. In a two-part article, Bill Park - who was recently in Ankara and Erbil - examines the impact of these changes on Turkey and its neighbours, especially the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) of northern Iraq.

    In part one, he looks at the Iraqi dimension; in part two, at Syria’s conflict, sectarianism and the wider Kurdish question.
    Link:http://www.opendemocracy.net/bill-pa...gional-dynamic

    I'd not say it was a 'new' factor, just one that persists and every so often raises its profile. I can recall the time when Iran and Israel supported the Kurds in Iraq, then suddenly Iran and Iraq made an agreement, leaving the Kurds somewhat exposed.
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  2. #162
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    DIYARBAKIR, Turkey: Kurdish militants killed 10 soldiers and wounded at least 60 when they fired rockets at a military convoy in eastern Turkey on Tuesday, security sources said.

    The past few months have seen some of the heaviest fighting since the PKK, considered a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, took up arms in 1984 with the aim of carving out a Kurdish state.

    http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Mid...#ixzz29O3XjMOS
    (The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)
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  3. #163
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    Iraq urges the Kurdish autonomy to approve the deployment of troops on the border with Turkey to prevent the Turkish troops' entering Iraq, as well as to stop air strikes on the country against the militants of Kurdistan Workers' Party, head of the Iraqi parliamentary security committee Iskander Witwit told Trend on Wednesday.
    http://www.turkishweekly.net/news/14...perations.html
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  4. #164
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    As the confrontation between Turkey and Syria escalates, Ankara is readying not only for possible war against Syrian President Bashar Assad, but also against Kurdish separatists. Turkey fears they may be emboldened by the situation in Syria and resurrect their cause.
    http://www.spiegel.de/international/...-a-861396.html
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  5. #165
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  6. #166
    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
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    Default Turkey’s Kurdish policy: sleepwalking to crisis

    An article by Bill Park, with aspects my media watching had not spotted, e.g.:
    ..more than 600 Kurdish prisoners are entering the eighth week of a hunger-strike...
    Then there is the political decision to:
    The vigorous crackdown on even relatively moderate Kurdish leaders removes the most likely interlocutors from the political scene, and surely serves to harden Kurdish sentiment
    Demography could alter the scene, my emphasis:
    More compelling is the recent estimate by the Turkish statistical institute that there are over 22 million Kurds in Turkey, constituting more than 30% of the republic’s population. Furthermore, the Kurdish birthrate in Turkey is reckoned to be at least twice that of ethnic Turks. Although these figures are fuzzy around the edges, they suggest that within a couple of generations, Kurds could well make up the majority of Turkey’s population. True, many are already assimilated; but can the government really believe that the current campaign of political repression and marginalisation, and violence rather than dialogue, stands any chance of assimilating the remainder of them - ever, let alone before such time as Kurds outnumber Turks?
    Link:http://www.opendemocracy.net/bill-pa...king-to-crisis
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    Iraq’s premier has warned Kurdish regional security forces not to advance towards government troop positions, a military spokesman said on Monday, after deadly clashes in a flashpoint northern town.

    Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s office warned the Kurdish forces, known as peshmerga, “not to change their positions or approach the [federal] armed forces,” Iraqi military spokesman Colonel Dhia al-Wakil said in a message received by AFP.
    http://english.alarabiya.net/article...19/250558.html
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  8. #168
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    TUZ KHURMATU, Iraq — A shootout over an unpaid gasoline bill in this small but hotly contested town has sent tensions soaring between the Iraqi government in Baghdad and the northern region of Kurdistan, threatening to ignite the Arab-Kurdish conflict that many have long feared.

    On Tuesday, the Iraqi army rushed thousands of troops and reinforcements to the area after the Kurdish regional government placed its pesh merga militia forces on high alert along the arc of disputed territory that spans the borders of the semiautonomous Kurdish enclave.
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/...l?tid=socialss
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  9. #169
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    Iraqi leaders in the central government and the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region appear to be stepping back from the brink of open warfare.

    They agreed Monday to withdraw the thousands of troops deployed in the past week to Iraq's disputed territories, following a fatal Nov. 16 shootout between the two sides. The deal appears to be holding despite deadly bombings Tuesday in Kirkuk and Baghdad that may have been designed to provoke conflict.
    http://www.iraqoilreport.com/securit...s-easing-9380/

    RAS AL AYN, Syria -- A tense truce between Syrian rebels and a Kurdish militia held Tuesday in the city of Ras al Ayn, fast against the border with Turkey. But neither side hid its disdain for the other, and both continued to hold prisoners in a standoff that suggests rebel hopes to push their control further east faces an all but certain challenge.
    Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/11/27...#storylink=cpy
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  10. #170
    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
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    Default Now they talk Turkey and PKK's leader

    Turkey is holding talks with the jailed head of the PKK Kurdish militant group, Abdullah Ocalan, to push for its disarmament, officials say.....The Turkish prime minister's top political adviser said the government had concluded that it would be unlikely to defeat the outlawed PKK militarily.
    Prime ministerial adviser Yalcin Akdogan said the intelligence services were holding discussions with Ocalan:
    The goal is the disarmament of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party)...The government supports any dialogue to this end that could result in a halt to violence. You cannot get results and abolish an organisation only with armed struggle.
    Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20880944

    Interesting timing when one looks at the international aspects of the conflict next door in Syria.
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  11. #171
    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
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    Default The era of armed struggle is over - Ocalan says

    A Turkish newspaper report, which opens with:
    Terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) leader Abdullah calan stated that the era of armed struggle to achieve the political goals of the Kurds is over. He was speaking in a meeting with two Kurdish lawmakers, who made rare a visit to the PKK leader, being held on an island prison, on Thursday, signaling that Turkey is negotiating with the terrorist organization over ending a conflict that has killed tens of thousands over the past three decades.
    Ocalan in jail since 1999 has power:
    his order, made after a visit from his brother, to end a 68-day hunger strike by PKK terrorists in prisons across Turkey was immediately obeyed.
    Link:http://www.todayszaman.com/news-303039-.html

    It is curious that an imprisoned leader can make such decisions. How a nation and its opponents in an insurgency / terrorist campaign use law enforcement, with imprisonment, as a tactic to get results is an perplexing question. It took a long time for the UK to think through a LE approach in Northern Ireland, even then it took PIRA just as long. Both Italy and Spain have used the tactic with great effect, but is little understood or documented IMO in English.
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  12. #172
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    Default Moderator at work

    This long running thread has been closed, a new thread has been created 'The Kurds are a changing' at:http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...ad.php?t=17311
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  13. #173
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    Default The Kurds in Syria: winners

    An excellent article on the changing situation in Syria for the small Kurdish minority and the interplay with the PKK who seek a new form self-determination for the Kurds in Turkey:http://syriaintransition.com/2013/01...ns-philosophy/

    It opens with:
    One of the few winners of the Syrian uprising are the country’s Kurds. For the first time Syrian Kurds are running their own affairs independently of Damascus under the tutelage of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan.

    (Concludes)In contrast, the Arab opposition has brought death and destruction upon its towns and populations, with no guarantee of a favorable outcome or of having the necessary capacity to administer areas under its control effectively. Once the regime in Damascus collapses, it is doubtful whether the sacrifices of (predominantly) Sunni Arabs will compare favorably with the rewards that they will reap. The Kurds of Syria have taken the cash in hand and waived the rest.
    davidbfpo

  14. #174
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    Published a few days ago by ICG 'Syria’s Kurds: A Struggle Within a Struggle'; too long to find a good quote:http://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/F...mpaign=mremail
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  15. #175
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    Default Where are the Syrian Kurds heading amidst the civil war in Syria?

    An Open Democracy comment by a Kurd, rather lengthy so no quote found:http://www.opendemocracy.net/zana-kh...l-war-in-syria

    I do wonder if the regime starts to gain strength, how will the Kurds respond to the prospect of the army etc appearing close to their enclaves?
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 07-23-2013 at 01:56 PM.
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  16. #176
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    Default Updates on the Kurds

    The position of the Kurds in Syria re-appeared last week with news of a large exodus across a new pontoon bridge into Iraqi Kurdistan, which was briefly reported and then - as the Kurds know too well - disappeared. See:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23745201

    Here is a report, with more details on the fighting between the Kurds and the Jihadists:http://www.opendemocracy.net/rozh-ah...nd-mass-exodus
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  17. #177
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    Default Kurds on the offensive

    Syria’s Kurds have strengthened their hold on the north-east of the country, carving out territory as they drive out #Islamic militant fighters #allied to the rebellion and declaring their own civil administration in areas under their control.

    This week’s moves could be a first step toward creating an autonomous region similar to the one Kurds run across the border as virtually a separate country within Iraq. But the Kurds’ drive has angered rebels fighting to topple Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.
    Link:http://www.scotsman.com/news/world/s...grip-1-3191214
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  18. #178
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    Default Explaining Iraqi Kurdistan’s Policy Towards Syria, Interview With Wladimir van Wilgen

    The conflict in neighboring Syria has provided both opportunities and problems for Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). Kurdish President Massoud Barzani and to a lesser extent the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) have attempted to forge ties with Syrian Kurds and shape events there to their benefit. These have only met with limited success as the Syrians have their own agendas. To help explain this policy is Wladimir van Wilgenburg who until recently was based in Irbil, and is an analyst for the Jamestown Foundation out of Washington DC, and writes for Al Monitor.

    continued

  19. #179
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    MERIA, Fall 2013: The Resurrection of Syrian Kurdish Politics
    …Despite differences and rivalries among the Kurdish parties, they all have the same goals. These include autonomy for the Kurdish region or the Kurdish right to self-determination, constitutional recognition of the Kurds as a distinct nation with their fundamental rights, and use of the Kurdish language in education. Unlike the Sunni Arab opposition dominated by dozens of radical Islamist groups, the Kurdish YPG is the only armed force charged with the protection and the defense of the Kurdish population and the Kurdish areas. So far there has been no serious internal fight among the Kurds that could harm the YPG's monopoly that could be detrimental to their future….

  20. #180
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    Default Kurds In Syria

    The main Kurdish group in Syria are the PYD who are a branch of the PKK from Turkey. They want an autonomous region, which they declared in the north a couple months ago. They do not want independence however as that is not a goal of the PKK either in Syria or in Turkey. The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) which is the dominant Kurdish party in Iraq has constantly tried to put together other Kurdish groups in Syria to be rivals of the PYD but have failed again and again. The KDP has come out against the autonomous region, while other Iraqi Kurdish parties like the PUK and Change have supported it. The events in Syria put to rest the idea that there is a single unified Kurdish agenda in the Middle East and shows the divisions that exist within the community, which is true for all the communities in the area whether that be Arabs or Sunnis or Shiites or whatever other kind of groupings that are usually applied.

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