Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris

REVUE DE PRESSE-PRESS REVIEW-BERHEVOKA ÇAPÊ-RwISTA
STAMPA-DENTRO DE LA PRENSA-BASIN ÖZETi
Kurdish protesters block Iraq-Turkey highway
Reuters
BAGHDAD- A dispute over the. sup~ly
of electricity to the northern KurdIsh cIty
of Oahouk has stranded hundreds of Turkish
and U.N. trucks in the Kurdish rebelheld
areas, a senior U.N. official said on
VVednesday. '
Mohamed Zejjari, U.N. coordinator in
Iraq told Reuters.that Kl!rdish demonstrators'
fraitl DalrÖuk;' protesting against the
suddèn cut 'in their power supply two
months ago, were preventing food and aid
trucks from reaching Mosul and other
parts of Iraq. "They are protesting against
the lack of electricity in that city, and the
population of Oahouk has been blockin~
the road to Mosul since Sept. 28," Zejjan
said.
Zejjari said the U.N. humanitarian assistance
to Iraq and the Kurdish population in
Irbil and Sulaimaniya had been affected by
the action. "VVeare very concerned about
this situation and my delegate in Dahouk is
in continual contact with the pr~testers and
local authorities to find a solutin," he
said. He said that he had failed in his repeated
attempts to persuade the protesters
to let the trucks pass. He also saId that his
continued contacts with the Iraqis, to reconnect
power supplies to the Kurds, had
so far led to nothing.
"Our trucks must pass. VVe're trying to
get them through, but so far have not succeeded,"
he said.
Zejjari said electricity had not been supplied
to Oahouk since August 5.
"They (the Kurds) are very much disturbed
by the lack of electncity. I have
been in contact with the Iraqi government
for the past few weeks on this," he'said.
Dahouk is linked to the national grid
through Mosul. Mosul residents, contacted
by telephone, told Reuters they themselves
now suffer many hours of power cuts every
day.
Turkey Pushes for an End
To U.N.'s Embargo of Iraq
By JAMBS
M. DoRSEY
Special to THE WALL STIlBBT JOURNAL EUROPE
ISTANBUL - Turkey, one of the West's
staunchest allies in the Persian Gulf war
against Iraq, is advocating lifting the United
Nations embargo against its Middle Eastern
neighbor. ,
In a move that could drive a wedge
between Turkey and its Western allies,
Turkish leaders argue that-aside from Iraq,
their country has been hardest hit by the
sanctions and that it can no longer tolerate
the losses incurred by the U.N. embargo.
On her first visit to the U.S. since
becoming prime minister in July, Tansu
Ctller hopes this week tÔ';tol1vmcePresident
Bill Clinton that Turkey at the very least
deserves to be compensated for an esti.
mated $5 billion in losses since the war.
During talks with President Boris Yeltsin
in Moscow last month, Mrs. CIller and
t!te Russian leader declared that they
would coordinate efforts to achieve a lifting
of the U.N. embargo agalnst Iraq.
Mrs. Ctller's efforts appear to have
been boosted by a recent Iraqi decision to
disclose details of its now-banned weaPons
programs, including Ute names of companies
that contributed to. the programs
prior to the U.N. embargo. The U.N.
demanded these disclosures as a key
condition for lifting the ban .on Iraqi I)il
exports.
Message for Saddam Hussein
The Iraqi moves follow a visit to
Baghdad last. week by former Turkish
Interior Minister Ismet Sezgin, who conveyed
a message from Turkish President
Suleyman Demirel to Iraqi leader Saddam
Hussein urgfng him to accept U.N. condftions
for a lifting of the oil embargo
according to Turkish officials. '
Earlier this year, Turkey broke ranks
with .the West by reopening its embassy in
9aghdad, which had been closed in the wake
of the August 1990' Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.
Egypt, another ally of the West in the
war against Iraq, made a similar move at
the time.
"We are hoping that the embargo on
Iraq will be lifted, because we do not want
the Iraqi people to suffèr ;any longer. We
wànt Iraq to reintegrate with the family of
nations," said Turkish Foreign Minister
Hikmet Cetin.
Mr. Cetin estimates that the closure of
the 985-kilometer pipeline from Iraq' to
a Turkish oil terminal on the Mediterranean
coast is costing Turkey $750,000 a day.
Moreover, before its invasion of Kuwait
Iraq was one of Turkey's most important
trading partners, with Turkish contractors
involved in a large number of Iraqi projec~.
Stuck In the Plpellne
"If 100 million barreis of oU Dows
through the pipeline, our earnings from this
would be $1 billion. We also have to take
into consideration our trade and our contractors
with projects there," Mr. Demirel
said in a recent interview.
At the very least, Mrs. Ctller hopes to.
get U.S. technical support to pump out 7.2
million barreis of oil, valued at as much as
$1.5 billion, that has been stuck in the
pipelilie for the past three years, threaten-
Ing it With corr05ion. About half of that oil is
THE WALL STREET -October 14, 1993
TurkiSh property, and the other haIf IS'
owned~by Iraq, according to Turkish officials
and analysts.
In addition, Mr. Cetin says Turkey
has sought guarantees from Iraq that it
will in the future export its oil through
Turkey rather than through alternative
pipelines in the Gulf in exchange for
Turkey's efforts to get the oil embargo
lifted.
But Turkish efforts to gain favor with
Iraq aren't motivated merely by economics.
Concerned that h.ard-line poliCies by Iraq
toward its. three million. Kurds could push
the Kurdish enclave in the northern
part of the country closer to independence,
Turkish officials are advising Saddam
Hussein that they could assist him in
bullding bridges to the Kurds.
Fears of Escalation
Ita. ~ political groups controlling
the enClave, which is protected by the
Western allies, are dependent on Turkey for
transit of goods arid people; Turkey fears
that the emergence of an independent
Kurdish state in northern Iraq will only fuel
the nlne-year-old Kurdish guerrilla war in
southeastern Turkey that has already cost
mon: than 7,200 lives.
"TerroriSt activity in southeastern Turkey
has gained momentum becaUse of the
lack of authority in northern. Iraq. The
time has come for the United -States and
the West to review its policy. Turkey can
no longer tolerate this unjust policy," said
Ecmel Barutcu, a former Turkish ambassador
to the North Atlanttc Treaty Organilll~
tion.
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