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Ankara gets positive reaction from the
United States on Iraq pipeline flushing
Tile Associated Press
WASHINGTON- The United States has given a
positive response to Turkey's request that it be allowed
to flush oil from an Iraqi pipeline and use the oil for its
own purposes, a Turkish official said.
Ozdem Sanberk, undersecretary of the Turkish
Foreign Ministry, said he would spend two more days
next week trying to work out the project with the U. N.
Security Council which is enforcing sanctions including
an oil embargo against Iraq.
The pipeline which carried oil from Iraqi deposits
across Turkey to the ~editerranean, w~s.c1osedby the
embargo. But it contams about 12 ffillhon barrels of
~. .
Turkey has been trying to gain an exemp\1on from
the embargo to flush the oil out of the pipeline and
refill it twice in what Sanberk called a "rescue operation"
to keep the line in operating condition.
Turks also argue that the move would give them some
deserved finanCIalrelief from the oil transit revenues lost
as a result of-the embargo.
"Turkey should not be penalized as a result of the
embargo,' Sanberk said. "The embargo is on Iraq, not
Turkey."
The United States, while praising Turkey's cooperation
with the Gulf War allies and acknowledging its economic
sacrifice, has been resisting releasin~ oil from the
pipeline on the grounds that it would weaken the embargo.
Sanberk was asked whether he got a positive reaction
m two days of talks with U.S. officials on the pipeline
request. "Yes, definitely," he said. .
U.S. State Department officials, asked about the talks,
did not return a phone call.
Sanberk said complicated problems remain to be
worked out with the Security Council including the question
of payment for the 24 million barrels of oil which
would be worth about $4()() million on the open mart..l:l.
More than two-thirds of the oil belongs to Iraq, the rest to
Turkey.
Sanberk said that the oil would not be sold on the
international market but would be used by Turkey. He
said that after the pipeline was flushed and refilled twice
it would be closed again. Sanberk said the Turkish government
does not link the oil release with Turkey's permission
for the allies to use Turkish facilities to maintain
a protective air umbrella over Kurds exercising autonomy
from Saddam Hussein in Northern Iraq in Operation
Provide Comfort.
But he said there are members of the Turkish parliament,
which must a~prove extensions of the permIssion,
who make the link. 'We think we are entitled to request
it," he said. "We have committed ourselves to protecting
the Iraqi Kurds. But this should not mean damage to our
own country. We have made great sacrifices."
Les peshmergas se sont déchirés pendant cinq semaines
A près
Retour au calme au Kurdistan irakien
un bon mois de combats
fratricides entre fac-
tions kurdes irakiennes, un énième
cessez-le-feu semble à présent
respecté, depuis Que les
chefs des deux camps en présence
se sont rencontrés dimanche
à Erbil, c capitale • du
Kurdistan. MassoLatBarzani, du
PDK, et Jalal Talàbani, de l'UPK,
se sont donc enfin parlé ...-;-au
cours d'une réunion décrite par
l'envoyé du britannique c Independent.
comme tendue à souhait
-, alors Qu'au moins Quel-
Que Quatre cents Peshmer~as
(combattants kurdes) auraient
déjà été tués dans des combats
QUI ont divisé en deux cette
partie de l'Irak échappant au
contrOle de Saddam Hussein
depuis 1991 et l'instauration
d'une zone de protection aérienne
assurée par les avions alliés
stationnés en Turquie. En outre,
les protagonistes s'accusent
mutuellement d'avoir procédé à
des exécutions sommaires de
prisonniers.
L'origine des heurts serait une
banale Querelle de nature fon-
cière entre propriétaires des
clans rivaux. Mais la. rapidité
avec laquelle les combats se
sont étendus dans le Kurdistan
irakien, et la férocité de ceux-