Information and liaison bulletin - Institut kurde de Paris
Information and liaison bulletin - Institut kurde de Paris
Information and liaison bulletin - Institut kurde de Paris
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Revue <strong>de</strong> Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro <strong>de</strong> la Prensa-Basin Ôzeti<br />
losses clawing them out of their<br />
strongholds.<br />
KRG officials have previously called<br />
for a political solution that would<br />
address concerns about Turkey's<br />
treatment of its Kurdish minority, <strong>and</strong><br />
TIME<br />
Nov. Ol. 2007<br />
suggested an amnesty for PKK re¬<br />
bels.<br />
Both the PKK <strong>and</strong> the KRG have in the<br />
past <strong>de</strong>nied Turkish claims that the<br />
rebels use Iraqi territory for crossbor<strong>de</strong>r<br />
attacks.<br />
Mr Zebari spoke in advance of a<br />
conference in Istanbul on Saturday<br />
bringing together Iraq <strong>and</strong> its neigh¬<br />
bours. Iraq does not want the PKK<br />
issue to dominate talks but says the<br />
focus should be on security, refugee<br />
<strong>and</strong> energy issues.<br />
Turkey should show restraint over<br />
Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq so as<br />
not to make the situation worse but its<br />
security concerns are un<strong>de</strong>rst<strong>and</strong>a¬<br />
ble, a Kremlin spokesman said yes¬<br />
terday, Reuters reports from Moscow<br />
Crocker to Turkey: Stay Out of Iraq<br />
Bu Scott MacLeod/Doha<br />
U.S. ambassador in Baghdad Ryan Croc¬<br />
ker is urging Turkey to <strong>de</strong>monstrate<br />
"strategic patience" over recent attacks by<br />
Kurdish fighters insi<strong>de</strong> Iraq, warning that a<br />
cross-bor<strong>de</strong>r Turkish military strike is exac¬<br />
tly what the PKK rebels are trying to pro¬<br />
voke. Such an action, he told TIME in an<br />
interview on the eve of Friday's meeting in<br />
Turkey between Iraq <strong>and</strong> its neighbors,<br />
would be "highly <strong>de</strong>stabilizing" in Iraq, <strong>and</strong><br />
would not necessarily achieve the results<br />
<strong>de</strong>sired by Turkey.<br />
Crocker also cited progress in reconciling<br />
Iraq's Sunni <strong>and</strong> Shi'ite communities during<br />
the two months since he <strong>and</strong> General David<br />
Petraeus reported to Congress. Despite re¬<br />
cent Bush Administration saber-rattling on<br />
Iran, Crocker also said that he expects to<br />
hold another round of talks with Iranian<br />
officials about mutual concerns in Iraq. He<br />
credits the U.S. troop surge for some of the<br />
success in driving Osama bin La<strong>de</strong>n's follo¬<br />
wers from Anbar province, but admits, "al-<br />
Qaeda is not <strong>de</strong>feated."<br />
TIME: What are the latest changes you<br />
see in Iraq?<br />
Crocker: The change in Anbar is the most<br />
dramatic. Levels of violence in Anbar are<br />
down to just about nothing. Fallujah <strong>and</strong><br />
Ramadi, which became like Beirut in the<br />
early '80s synonyms for unchecked vio¬<br />
lence <strong>and</strong> terror, are two of the quietest cites<br />
in Iraq right now. The Anbaris stood up<br />
against al-Qaeda. That was occasioned, of<br />
course, in large part by al-Qaeda's own ex¬<br />
cesses they provoked a counterreaction.<br />
But I'm not sure that would have happened,<br />
or would have had the effect it did, if it had¬<br />
n't been for the surge. The tribes knew that<br />
they weren't going to be alone in this.<br />
TIME: Anything else?<br />
Crocker: That phenomenon; al-Qaeda<br />
excesses elsewhere; people just being tired of<br />
years of violence, wanting something better;<br />
the surge it all started to multiply, through<br />
Baghdad, Diyala, the whole area around<br />
Baghdad, <strong>and</strong> it happened quick. I came in<br />
March, these kinds of things we're seeing<br />
now you couldn't even imagine then. This<br />
doesn't mean it's success. It's not. I wouldn't<br />
say we've turned a corner. There are huge<br />
challenges out there. Al-Qaeda is not <strong>de</strong>fea¬<br />
ted. But it really is different now.<br />
TIME: What about political progress?<br />
Crocker: The Iraqi government moved<br />
pretty quickly to try <strong>and</strong> take advantage of<br />
this change <strong>and</strong> consolidate it. There are now<br />
about 25,000 young Sunnis in Anbar who<br />
12<br />
are wearing the uniforms of the Iraqi police<br />
<strong>and</strong> getting their salary from the Ministry of<br />
Interior in Baghdad to keep the peace in<br />
Anbar province. You have some political<br />
movement you just didn't see before. The<br />
Sunni vice presi<strong>de</strong>nt went down to Najaf in<br />
October <strong>and</strong> called on Ayatollah Sistani.<br />
Ammar al-Hakim, the heir apparent to Ab¬<br />
dûlaziz [al-Hakim, lea<strong>de</strong>r of the largest<br />
Shi'ite party in the government], went out to<br />
Ramadi to visit the [Sunni] sheikhs of Anbar.<br />
The sheikhs of Kerbala <strong>and</strong> Anbar have had<br />
two big meetings together, Shia <strong>and</strong> Sunni,<br />
<strong>and</strong> the two governors are coordinating on<br />
security arrangements for the Haj [the an¬<br />
nual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca]. There is a<br />
new dynamic going on. The dynamic has<br />
become clearer. We were seeing the begin¬<br />
ning of this before the testimony [to<br />
Congress] <strong>and</strong> referred to it, but it has be¬<br />
come consi<strong>de</strong>rably more pronounced since<br />
then.<br />
TIME: Yet, the Iraqi government still<br />
hasn't moved on key U.S. benchmarks,<br />
like <strong>de</strong>-Ba'athification reform.<br />
Crocker: What we are seeing is national<br />
reconciliation, not through national legisla¬<br />
tion, but through actual reconciliation. There<br />
is a lot of dysfunction in the Iraqi govern¬<br />
ment. There is no question about it. You see<br />
it as they grapple with these major pieces of<br />
legislation. They need to show they can do a<br />
better, more focused job on this.<br />
TIME: How do you see Iran <strong>and</strong> the<br />
Shi'ite issue now?<br />
Crocker: You have Iranian influence, which<br />
is extremely negative. But even there, you see<br />
among the Shi'ites a reflection of what you<br />
see among the Sunnis. It is not as dramatic,<br />
but it's there.<br />
TIME: How do you read the situation<br />
in northern Iraq with the Turkish<br />
threats?<br />
Crocker: The north, clearly a problem. The<br />
PKK found ungoverned space, <strong>and</strong> they are<br />
using it to carry out a terror campaign<br />
against Turkey. It is not a sustainable situa¬<br />
tion. Something is going to have to give here.<br />
We think it's very important that something<br />
comes through efforts by the Iraqis <strong>and</strong><br />
others as appropriate to find ways to shut<br />
them down <strong>and</strong> eventually get them out, not<br />
through Turkish military strikes.<br />
TIME: What do you tell Turkey about<br />
how you will h<strong>and</strong>le it?<br />
Crocker: It's the Iraqis who are going to<br />
h<strong>and</strong>le it. They are talking about steps to try<br />
to interdict the flow of goods <strong>and</strong> people into<br />
W.":.<br />
<strong>and</strong> out of that area. Heightened security at<br />
airports to ensure they are not flying in from<br />
Europe, going through the airport <strong>and</strong> going<br />
into the mountains. Arresting them where<br />
they can be found. Tightening down with a<br />
view to disrupting their ability to organize up<br />
there.<br />
TIME: Does that address Turkey's<br />
concerns?<br />
Crocker: What we tell the Turks is, look, we<br />
un<strong>de</strong>rst<strong>and</strong> your outrage. We share it. But<br />
you also have to think about consequences. If<br />
you are thinking about a military action, will<br />
it work? Will it achieve your end result? And<br />
what about uninten<strong>de</strong>d consequences? I<br />
think the PKK is trying to trigger a Turkish<br />
military action. That's why they are doing<br />
this. Why? So that the Turks will do some¬<br />
thing that will really inflame Kurdish opinion<br />
in eastern Turkey. And give them what they<br />
lost in '99, which is an environment where<br />
they can resume a presence <strong>and</strong> operations<br />
insi<strong>de</strong> Turkey. That's what they want. That's<br />
obviously what the Turks would presumably<br />
have an interest in not giving them. Again,<br />
it's going to take some strategic patience.<br />
TIME: What are the uninten<strong>de</strong>d<br />
consequences for the U.S. <strong>and</strong> Iraq?<br />
Crocker: It could be highly <strong>de</strong>stabilizing in<br />
Iraq as well. I can't go off into wild hypotheticals.<br />
It would <strong>de</strong>pend on what they did. But<br />
you are talking about a large-scale military<br />
operation. Large-scale military operations<br />
have consequences.<br />
TIME: Are you going to talk to Iran<br />
again?<br />
Crocker: I expect we will have another<br />
round. I can't say when. I'm certainly open to<br />
doit.<br />
TIME: What's holding it up?<br />
Crocker: It comes at the initiative of the<br />
Iraqis. I told them I'd be prepared to sit<br />
down. They'll tell me when.<br />
TIME: Is Iran resisting?<br />
Crocker: I really don't know.