Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris
Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris
Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris
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Revue <strong>de</strong> Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka.Çapê-Rivista<br />
Stampa-Dentro <strong>de</strong> là Prensa-Basm Oz<strong>et</strong>i.<br />
40<br />
Mam Jalal: All of them have beèn signed, and all have been endorsed by the two si<strong>de</strong>s, and, with the wish of God, all would<br />
be iII1l?leIllent~d.<br />
Terrorism<br />
Is there any cooperation b<strong>et</strong>ween the two ruling parties in Iraqi Kurdistan region against Islamic extremist groups?<br />
Lea<strong>de</strong>r Barzani: Of course, and it has not been <strong>de</strong>ci<strong>de</strong>d now. It was before the current opportunity and [recent] visits b<strong>et</strong>ween<br />
the two si<strong>de</strong>s. We have the same stance and work tog<strong>et</strong>her against terrorism. Now, this cooperation will certainly<br />
increase<br />
* * * *<br />
..Turkey, Mindful of Kurds, Fears Spillover if U.S. Inva<strong>de</strong>s Iraq<br />
New York TImes 3 October 2002 By CRAIG S: SMITH<br />
The traditionally rebellious Kurds of this hardscrabble hill town live hundreds of miles from the Iraq bor<strong>de</strong>r, but tensions<br />
that bristle so obviously here could erupt into fresh violence against the Turkish government if the United States inva<strong>de</strong>s<br />
Iraq.<br />
At least, that's what the Turkish government contends.<br />
The virtual autonomy enjoyed by Iraqi Kurds - thanks to American and British enforcement of a no-flight zone over northern<br />
Iraq - is likely to increase if the government of Saddam Hussein is ousted<br />
In<strong>de</strong>ed, Iraqi Kurds are asking for a Kurdish administrative district within an Iraqi fe<strong>de</strong>ration. That, Turkish officials say,<br />
would reawaken Kurdish natiomilism here, feeding dreams of the same kind of in<strong>de</strong>pen<strong>de</strong>nce for Turkey's estimated 12<br />
million to 20 million Kurds. .<br />
"It's already having an effect on the political atmosphere in southeastern Turkey, and that effect will increase," said Umit<br />
Ozdag, chairman of the conservative Turkish policy institute Asam. "Kurds are going to ask for the same political framework<br />
in Turkey" that the Iraqi Kurds would enjoy in a post-Hussein Iraq. [Turkey's prime minister, Bulent Ecevit, un<strong>de</strong>rscored<br />
the government's concerns about Kurdish nationalism in an interview published Tuesday in Hurriy<strong>et</strong>, a Turkish<br />
daily. "Many steps have already beèn taken toward the establishment of a separate state," he said. "Turkey cannot accept<br />
this to be taken further. "]<br />
Turkey is pressing the Bush administration to restrict the rights and territory granted Iraqi Kurds in any future Iraqi<br />
government, arguing, for example, that the country's northern oil fields should be kept out of Kurdish hands. But many<br />
Turkish Kurds insist that northern Iraq has nothing to do with the tension here and that Turkey simply wants to avoid<br />
giving them full cultural and political rights. .<br />
In August, Turkey's Parliament did approve constitutional changes abolishing the <strong>de</strong>ath penalty and legalizing private<br />
Kurdish-language education and Kurdish-language broadcasts. The hotly <strong>de</strong>bated changes are required to qualify for<br />
membership in the European Union, which Turkey would like to join. But the reforms have y<strong>et</strong> to be carried out, and Kurds<br />
complain that their rights are still being <strong>de</strong>nied.<br />
Turkey fought a IS-year civil war against the Kurdistan Workers' Party, which once hoped to establish an in<strong>de</strong>pen<strong>de</strong>nt<br />
Kurdistan. Serious fighting stopped three years ago when the party <strong>de</strong>clared a cease-fire and withdrew its battered forces<br />
to the Kurdish regions of Iraq. While some Turkish Kurds warn of a new uprising if Turkish oppression continues, many<br />
say they are fed up with war and have abandoned the dreams of in<strong>de</strong>pen<strong>de</strong>nce. Encouraged by a birthrate that suggests .)<br />
they could eventUally overtake Turks as the country's main <strong>et</strong>hnic group, Kurds have turned to politics to pursue full<br />
rights.<br />
"Kurds in Turkey don't favor separation, nor are they standing with a request for fe<strong>de</strong>ration in their hand," said Murat<br />
Bozlak, former chairman of the recently disban<strong>de</strong>d Kurdish political party, Ha<strong>de</strong>p, at the party's headquarters in Ankara.<br />
"Their only wish is to be given <strong>de</strong>mocratic and cultural rights equal to those of every citizen."<br />
But those rights have been slow in coming, in part, some Turks say, because politicians and the ever-powerful militaryare<br />
reluctant to countenance <strong>de</strong>mocracy overall. "Of course there's a danger Kurds may want a fe<strong>de</strong>ral state in Turkey as well,<br />
but that's their <strong>de</strong>mocratic right," said Dogu Ergil, a political science professor at Ankara University. "The fear isn't of what