linked - Institut kurde de Paris

Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro
de la Prensa-Baszn Ozeti
Kurds warn White House not to adopt
Baker ...Hamilton report December 12, 2006
By Mohammed A. Salih and
Jamal Ekhtiar
The Globe - Erbil
Barzani considered the ISG's
failure to visit Kurdistan dunng
the nine months that they were
- preparing the report "a major
President of the Kurdistan Re- shortcommg that adversely mflugion
dismissed the report by enced the credibility of the (ISG)
the Iraq Study Group (ISG) assessment."
as "unrealistic and inappro- He threatened that Kurds will
priate" and lashed out at the seek mdependence should the
major recommendations of the White House implement key
group, saying it will endanger proposaIs by the Baker-Hamil-
Iraq's territorial integrity and ton report on Kirkuk, federahsm,
that Kurds will "in no way chan,ges in the constitution, and
abide" by il.
control of oil resources.
The furious reaction by Mas- 'The part of the report that caIls
soud Barzani came two days for postponing the implementaafter
the report by the ISG, cochaired
by former D.S. Secretary
of State James Baker III and
former Democratic Congressman
Lee Hamilton, was released last
Wednesday.
The report described the situation
in Iraq as "grave and deteriorating"
and made 79 recommendations
to President George W.
Bush on Iraq and wider Middle
East problems.
"We think that the Iraq Study
Group has made sorne unrealistic
and inappropriate recommendations
for helping the D.S. to get
out of these (Iraq) difficulties,"
Barzani said in his sharply worded
statement released last Friday.
"If under this pretext, these m-
appropriate recommendations are
imposed on us, we declare, on
behalf of the people of Kurdlstan,
that we reject anything that
is against the constitution and the
interest of Iraq and Kurdistan."
tion of the constitutional article
(140) on Kirkuk will lead to an
explosive situation in the country,"
Ghafour Makhmouri, a
member of Kurdistan Parliament
in Arbil, told the Globe.
On Fnday, Barzani told a gathering
of Kurdish lawmakers and
mmisters in Baghdad that the
real problem in Iraq will arise
when Kurds feel there are parties
hindering Kirkuk's annexation to
Kurdistan.
Groups of Turkomans and Arabs
in the city are opposed to the
idea and call for Kirkuk to be
given the special status ofa separate
federal region.
Kurds are also against a major
recommendation of the report
that cautions against Iraq's devolution
into three regions. Along
with Shias, they advocate federalism
on ethnic and sectarian
bases.
They disapprove major changes
to the constitution as weil as
that might imperil their gains of
federalism, "normalizing Kirkuk
situation" and control of oil resources.
Iraq's President, Jalal Talabani,
also a Kurd, expressed support
for the statement by the Kurdlsh
regional president and branded
the report's recommendations as
"dangerous".
The ISG's 96-page report advises
Bush to launch a New Diplomatic
Offensive and engage
Iraq's neighboring countries,
including Iran and Syria and
Turkey, to help the U.S. resolve
Irag's tense situation.
"Politically, Iran and Syna
scored a victory over the D.S.,
and the report's recommendation
10 negoliate with them is an undeniable
proof for that," Kamal
Saadi, Head of Law Department
m Arbil's Salahaddin University
told the Globe.
"It is these neighboring countries
that do not let Iraq administer
itself. They disrupt the
country's security and pohtical
situation and help terrorists infiltrate
into Iraq and are settling
their old scores with America on
Iraq's soi!."
Kurds fe~r the neighboring
countries' involvement in Iraqi
affairs will negatively affect their
position in the country.
Turkey does not recognize
Kurdistan 's federal status and
has threatened to use military
force should Kurds secede from
Iraq.
Likewise, Iran and Syria are
concemed about Kurds' growing
influence and weight in Iraqi
politics.
All three countries have sizable
Kurdish populations with separalist
tendencies, which, they worry,
will be inspired by the gains
of Iheir fellow Kurds in Iraq.
Amld concerns in Iraq and the
U.S. on the report's fate, the
Bush administration has shown
little willingness so far to adopt
the report.
On Thursday, Baker told the
U.S. Senate that Bush should
treat his report as a whole and not
in a selective manner.
Bush, however, is not considering
ail points of the report. During
a joint news conference with
British Prime Minster Tony Blair,
one day after the report was released,
he made it clear that talking
with Iran and Syria is not an
option.
Kurds feel they have not been
rewarded for their assistance to
the D.S. during the war on Iraq
and its aftermath. They fear the
ISG report, if implemented, will
practically lead to a situation
slmilar to 1975, when after the
Aigeria Accord between Iran and
Iraq, Kurdish self-rule in northern
Iraq collapsed and hundreds
of thousands of people were displaced.
"Such positions (in the report)
are against the concepts of democracy
and human rights that
America calls for," Makhmouri
noted.
"It will damage America's credibility
among the peoples who
count on its help for their liberation."
Kurdistan Regional President Massoud Barzani and US ambassador to Iraq Zalmai Khaiilzad talk to each other at a
meeting of Kurdistan parliament ln Erbil May 7,2006.
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