66 ERBIL Revue <strong>de</strong> Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro <strong>de</strong> la Prensa-Basin Ùzeti Iraqi Kurdistan Iraq's Kurdish lea<strong>de</strong>r in a bind What can Masoud Barzani, the Iraqi Kurds' lea<strong>de</strong>r, actually do? IRAQ'S Kurdish lea<strong>de</strong>rs are <strong>de</strong>sperate to with its lea<strong>de</strong>rs for stoking the crisis. But he forestall-or at least to minimise-TUr- refuses to send his own Peshmerga fighters key's threatened assault against the guer¬ to drive the pkk out of its strongholds; they rillas of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (pkk) tried <strong>and</strong> failed to do that several times in who have been attacking the Turkish army the 1990s, sometimes in co-operation with in Turkey while using the rugged moun¬ the TUrks, <strong>and</strong> got a bloody nose. The days tains of northern Iraq as a haven. In the of Kurd fighting Kurd are over, says Mr Bar¬ past week, the regional government of zani, mindful of the civil war among Iraqi Iraqi Kurdistan, un<strong>de</strong>r the presi<strong>de</strong>ncy of Kurds in the 1990s. Instead, he suggests Masoud Barzani, has used its good offices sending a multinational force into the re¬ to facilitate the release of eight Turkish sol¬ gion to corral the pkk. It is unclear which diers whom the pkk had recently captured countries would contribute to such a force. in Turkey. But the Turks say that Mr Barzani Mr Barzani anyway rejects the charge <strong>and</strong> his American allies must do more if that the attacks on Turkish troops have Turkey is to put off a full-scale attack. been launched from Iraq, claiming that Re¬ Exactly what? Mr Barzani says he is cep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's prime minis¬ ready to help solve the pkk problem- ter, just before Turkey's general election in peacefully. He insists that he is a friend of the summer, said himself that there were TUrkey <strong>and</strong> the Turks but will not co-oper¬ 5,000-odd pkk fighters insi<strong>de</strong> Turkey com¬ ate "un<strong>de</strong>r threats <strong>and</strong> blackmail". He has pared with only 500 or so over the bor<strong>de</strong>r repeated calls for the pkk to stick to its uni¬ in northern Iraq. Mr Barzani also points lateral ceasefire (proclaimed a year ago) out that the heaviest fighting between the <strong>and</strong> not to use its bases in the remote pkk <strong>and</strong> Turkish troops has been in Tunceli mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan to launch at¬ province, more than 100 miles (161km) tacks' across the bor<strong>de</strong>r into Turkey (see west of Turkey's bor<strong>de</strong>r with Iraq. map on next page). Mr Barzani's govern¬ Mr Barzani's nephew Nechirvan, the re¬ ment has closed the offices of the Kurdis¬ gion's prime minister, wrote in the Wash¬ tan Democratic Solution Party, which ington Post this week: "We have con¬ praises the pkk, in Iraqi Kurdistan's two <strong>de</strong>mned <strong>and</strong> will continue.to con<strong>de</strong>mn the biggest towns, Erbil, its capital, <strong>and</strong> Sulay- pkk for its unwarranted attacks in TUrkey. maniyah. Mr Barzani also says that check¬ We insist that its members lay down their points between the main part of his region arms immediately. We do not allow them <strong>and</strong> the pkk zone have been revived, to to operate freely, contrary to what some squeeze the guerrillas by staunching the have suggested." Both Barzanis, presi<strong>de</strong>nt flow of supplies. <strong>and</strong> prime minister, said the Turks <strong>and</strong> the There is no love lost between Mr Bar¬ pkk must negotiate rather than fight. The zani <strong>and</strong> the pkk. He is privately furious uncle noted that Turkey had tried for 23 years to crush the pkk militarily-in vain. In any event, the numbers of pkk guer¬ rillas, in or out of TUrkey, are disputed. In a recent interview, Osman Ocalan, brother of the pick's lea<strong>de</strong>r Abdullah Ocalan, who is injail on the isl<strong>and</strong> ofImrali in the Sea of Marmara, said there were 2,750 pkk guer¬ rillas in TUrkey, 2,500 in Iraq's bor<strong>de</strong>rl<strong>and</strong>s <strong>and</strong> 1,500 in Iran. The last-mentioned lot belong to the Party of Free Life of Kurdis¬ tan, better known as pjak, generally reck¬ oned to be the pkk's Iranian Kurdish branch. Many pkk guerrillas are thought to have moved across the bor<strong>de</strong>r into Iran, which the Turks are unlikely to encroach upon. Some in<strong>de</strong>pen<strong>de</strong>nt watchers put the pkk numbers in Iraq at fewer than 500. The pick says it wants to negotiate <strong>and</strong> that its violence is in response to Turkish attacks-a claim that enrages the Turks; 35,000-plus people in Turkey (most of Eyeing the Turks them Kurds) have been killed since the pkk Black JstanbuL- The Economist November lOtb 2007 *\ ^Ankara TUNCtt Srtvf ° , Ma'imra - ; began fighting in the 1980s. The pkk also insists that, unlike its cousins in Iraq <strong>and</strong> Iran, it no longer seeks autonomy or fe<strong>de</strong>r¬ alism, but just wants Kurdish cultural <strong>and</strong> political rights enshrined in Turkey's con¬ stitution. It also wants Mr Ocalan freed <strong>and</strong> better conditions while he is in prison. Mr Barzani's mollifying gestures have cut little ice in TUrkey, where he is wi<strong>de</strong>ly cast as a villain in the thick of a plot to dis¬ member Turkey by egging on the pkk. Nationalist Turkish commentators call him "insolent" <strong>and</strong> "treacherous". Turkish weapons should be "turned on Barzani," says the editor of Hurrùj et, one of Turkey's biggest daily newspapers. Mr Erdogan has joined the fray, accusing Mr Barzani of aid¬ ing <strong>and</strong> abetting the pkk. Please don't throttle us The Kurdish Iraqis are already suffering from <strong>de</strong> facto economic sanctions im¬ posed by TUrkey, which has been their economic lifeline. The Turks are threaten¬ ing to close the one bor<strong>de</strong>r crossing for heavy lorries, through which vital sup¬ plies of food <strong>and</strong> equipment reach Iraqi Kurdistan. Flights between Istanbul <strong>and</strong> Erbil, the Kurds' capital, have been sus¬ pen<strong>de</strong>d. There has been talk of shutting off electricity from TUrkey, which would hurt the flourishing city of Dohuk. Several Turk¬ ish companies that have been doing good business in Iraqi Kurdistan (such as buildingErbil's airport) have packed up <strong>and</strong>-for the time being-gone. The Barzanis sorely need them back. But how? This week George Bush welcomed Mr Erdogan to the White House <strong>and</strong> assured him that the United States <strong>de</strong>ems the pkk a terrorist group <strong>and</strong> is as keen as TUrkey to squelch it. The administration apparently endorsed limited Turkish military action against the guerrillas <strong>and</strong> has offered to give as much intelligence as it can so that the Turks can i<strong>de</strong>ntify pkk targets. But it has begged the TUrks to refrain from a big¬ ger-scale attack that could drag the Iraqi Kurds into the fray-<strong>and</strong> <strong>de</strong>stabilise the only bit of Iraq that has been peaceful <strong>and</strong> increasingly prosperous. So far, Mr Erdo¬ gan <strong>and</strong> his generals have held back. But no one is sure they will do so for long.
Revue <strong>de</strong> Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro <strong>de</strong> la Prensa-Basin Ôzeti
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