•• 00 '., ••••••••••••• 0 •••••••• ; 00 00 ••• 0 ••• 0 ••• 0000 •••••••••••••• 0 •• 0 •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 0 ••••• ; ••••••••••• .: ••• 00 00 .0 ••• 0 ••••••••••• ~ ••••••••••••••••••••• 0 •• 0 •••••••••••••••• 0 0 •••••••••••••••••••••••••• 0 ••• 00 ••• 00 •••• 00 •• ' ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 0 ••••• Revue <strong>de</strong> Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro <strong>de</strong> la Prensa-Basm Öz<strong>et</strong>i lRAQ'S KURDS FINANCIAL TIMES FRIDAY OCTOBER 4 2002 * ..Rival- factions. seek -camman-ground jJy Guy Dinmore ln Arbil, Iraq, llOd Najmeh Bozorgmehr In Tehra~ to r<strong>et</strong>urn to Arbil for a ceremonial opening jointly hosted by his old rival, Masoud Barzani of the KDP: For the first time. in eight "This is a major milestone years, Iraq's rival Kurdish in the reconciliation process factions will today hold a bétween the KDP and PUK," joint session of parliament Fawzi Hariri, a KDP spokesas they search for a united man, said. Iraq's neighbours, str;1tegy ahead of an expected US-led military over-. though no friends of the Baghdad regime, are less throw of Saddam Hussein's than enthusiastic, however. government in Baghdad. The me<strong>et</strong>ing of the In Tehran, an Iranian government spokesman said National Assembly in Arbil in northern Iraq, just 10km that the me<strong>et</strong>ing was a "very domestic. issue for Iraq" and from the front line with Iraqi .forces, follows concerted that Ii-an had <strong>de</strong>clined an invitation to attend as a pressure from the US admin- guest. Turkey and Syria are istration on the Kurds. to . also expected to stay away. bury their differences and. The .three neighbouring establish their <strong>de</strong>mocratic countries, with substantial cre<strong>de</strong>ntials. Kurdish minorities of their The parliament has not m<strong>et</strong> in full session since own, have no <strong>de</strong>sire to pro- mote. a process they suspect 1994, when fighting erupted will eventually lead to a bid b<strong>et</strong>ween the Patriotic Union. by the Iraqi Kurds to s<strong>et</strong> up of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdish. Democratic party an in<strong>de</strong>pen<strong>de</strong>nt state. High on the agenda for the (KDP), leading to their terri- Kurdish p;1rliament is a joint torial division.of the north. proposal to establish a fed- Jalal Talabani, the. PUK eral Iraqi state, divi<strong>de</strong>d lea<strong>de</strong>r, is expected to leave b<strong>et</strong>ween Kurds and Arabs, his stronghold in. Sulaimàni once Mr Hussein is removed. Many Kurds.are sceptical, however, that the two v<strong>et</strong>eran Kurdish lea<strong>de</strong>rs will be able to s<strong>et</strong>tle serious issues, such as unificatIon of their separate admiriistrations and the sharing of revenues. Today's me<strong>et</strong>ing of all 105 members of parliament follows heightened tension just ............................................... 'It is notin our interests to have an in<strong>de</strong>pen<strong>de</strong>nt state. now. But who knows. Jnthe.future?' to the south of Arbil. Three weeks ago observers reported. a heavy build-up of Iraqi armour, tank barrels pointed. to the north. Some have since withdrawn. . But with Arbil lying north of the 36th parallel and protected by a. US- and UK-1mposed no-fly zone, Kurds ish troops already have appear confi<strong>de</strong>rit'that Bagh- bases just insi<strong>de</strong> northern dad will not intervene and Iraq and. support from proxy repeat the events of 1991, Turkman forces in Arbil. when a Kurdish uprising "The battle for Kirkuk will was put down with huge loss be ,no less bloody than the of.1ifeand the flight of 1.5m refugees. war in Baghdad," com- mented an Iranian analyst in Although the main Kurd- Tehran with close ties to the ish factions have bent to US pressure, there is little sign government. Iran's <strong>de</strong>fence minister has stated, howthat the B.ushadministration. ever, that Iranian forces plans to use the 30,000or so have no intèntion of crossing combinèd Kurdish troops to the bor<strong>de</strong>r, which would risk act as a ground force in the event. of an assault on the US r<strong>et</strong>aliation. The parliamentary build- Baghdad regiIDe. ing in Arbil has been Diplomats say the US has spruced up with fresh coats no wish to see the Kurds move just, a short distance of paint and new panes of glass. Yellow ribbons were south and take the oil-rich cut yesterday to celebrate towns of Mosul and Ku-kuk. the inauguration of a closed- Non<strong>et</strong>heless, there are indi- circuit television system and cations that the. Kurds will the broadcasting of proceedattempt to do just that if. ings. they can reach a power-shar- As one <strong>de</strong>higate coming agreement. mented: "We are waiting, This in turn has prompted like everyone else, for the Wi<strong>de</strong>spread speculation in attack on Baghdad. It's not Arbil that Turkish govern- in our interests to have an ment forces would intervene in<strong>de</strong>pen<strong>de</strong>nt state now. to secure Mosul, which his- Everyone around us is territorically has had a large Turkmen population. Turkfied of that. But who knows in the future?" International Herald Tribune Friday, October 4, ?002 <strong>Paris</strong> and Berlin fail to fix gap over Iraq The New York TImes Schroe<strong>de</strong>r, who was having his first. The position taken by Chirac and . me<strong>et</strong>ing with Chirac since his narrow Schroe<strong>de</strong>r came .onthe eve of a Security PARIS: The lea<strong>de</strong>rs of France and , victory in German elections Sept. 22, Council briefing in New York by the Germany have jointly stated their oppo- said he was "touched" by Chirac's un- chief UN inspector, Hans Blix, on the sition to any effort to alter the condi- <strong>de</strong>rstanding of the German refusal of agreement reached in Vienna this week tions un<strong>de</strong>r which United Nations in- military involvement. . with Iraq. Asked wh<strong>et</strong>her France could spectors will operate in Iraq, but they "We respect the French position," he approve of the r<strong>et</strong>urn of the inspectors did not bridge their fundamental policy said. "Our positions are close." But he by force, Chirac replied that the respondifference on the commitment oftroops said he remained committed to keeping sibility belonged to Blix. to any militaryaction there. Germany out of militaryaction. Berlin's opposition to war has Briefing reporters Wednesday after a Chirac said that he and Schroe<strong>de</strong>r re- . tangled German ties to Washington, dinner at the Elysee Palace with Chan- mained "totally hostile" to any UN res- and last week Schroe<strong>de</strong>r flew to Loncellor Gerhard Sçhroe<strong>de</strong>r of Germany, olution that would "immediately give don, apparently to ask Prime Minister Presi<strong>de</strong>nt Jacques Chirac of France an automatic character to military in- Tony Blair to help mend the rift with the . sought to highlight common ground be- terveIition." United States. tween the twQ countries without <strong>de</strong>ny- On that point, he said, "the positions The Bush administration was also ing theirdisagreements. of France and Germany are the same." angered over a campaign remark re- Addressing German resistance to any The Bush administration has been portedly ma<strong>de</strong> by the German justice military involvement in action against irked by insistence in <strong>Paris</strong> that the Se- minister, Herta Dael,lbler-Gmelin, that Iraq, Chirac said he could "naturally un- curity Council approve two resolutions, compared Bush's tactics to those of . <strong>de</strong>rstand" the German view. "Our ap- one that would <strong>de</strong>mandcompliance by Hitler. proach is the same," he said. "We all <strong>de</strong>- Iraq with UN inspectors, and a second Asked Wednesday wh<strong>et</strong>her he inten- . sire that Iraq be stripped of arms of mass spelling out the consequences, includ- <strong>de</strong>d to apologize to Bush, Schroe<strong>de</strong>r <strong>de</strong>struction, and that this can be veri- ing strikes, if Baghdad failed to me<strong>et</strong> the replied evasively, "I don't un<strong>de</strong>rstand. fied by inspectors, without conditions." <strong>de</strong>mands. the question." . 6
Revue <strong>de</strong> Pres,se-PressReview-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro <strong>de</strong> la Prensa-Basm Öz<strong>et</strong>i Les Kur<strong>de</strong>s d'Irak refont leur unité dans la perspective d'une guerre contre Bagdad Dans un message à leur Parlement, Colin Powell soutient la réconciliation <strong>de</strong> leurs chefs N 00N lU Il< CD t~, 0 l-V0 .... ., ë z :J ... ID lU %: v Z ~ ë
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