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

Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-bentro
de la Prensa-Basm Özeti
thing else in the bazaar, are, of hard-line Communists to radical
course, smuggled. The goods have Islamists - but they have no illuall
come into Kurdish territory ille- sions about the fact-that they exist
gally. Produce and computers at the pleasure of the PUK and
come through Iran, vacuum clean- KDP. "The PUK and the KDP really
ers and.BMWs from Turkey. Food eontrol the situation here," said
and gas are brought from Baghdad. Omar Abdul Aziz, a spokesman for
by enterprising traders who risk the Kurdistan Islamist Union, "but
the journey into Saddam-held ter- not all the details."
ritory because they can buy goods HiS party, for example, has been
so much cheaper there. Plenty of given nominal control of the Juscars
come on that route ioo - tice Ministry. "But there is some
shipped to Baghdad' from the intervention from the PDK." It's
United Arab Emirates, then driven PDK members who write the laws,
north to Kurdish territory past for example - and run the courts
bribed checkpoint guards.
too.
In a brilliant normalizing man- The words "democracy, human
oeuvre, the Kurdish government rights, self-determiIiation" may
bankrolls itself by taxing the smug- appear in the logos of both parties,
gling. Kurdish traders are free to but the territory is still governed
bring illegal goods over the. bor- on patronage and alliances. "Traders,
providing they pay up at the ditionally' there is no such thing
customs office. The government here as human rights," said Safwat
also collects transit fees from each Rashid Sidqi, director of the Kurof
the 1,500 huge oil trucks that distan Human Rights Organizasteam
north from Baghdad toward tion. "Now it's on all.the banners
Turkey each day along Kurdish and in the party slogans, every
roads, defying the sanctions with leader is calling for democracy.
the export of oil that earns Mr. But in practice, if they could be in
But the division is absurd. There power as totalitarians, they would
do it for their own goals.
are two phone networks, and one "We saw this in the internal
cannot call KDP territory from fi th h
PUK areas. There are two sets ofli- . ghting of e 1990s, were 'every
principle of human rights was viocence
plates for an area a bit more lated. There was killing of political
than half the size of New Brunsprisoners,
confiscation of propwick.
And to make the pie big erty, deportations, discharging
enough to divide, they have set up people from their jobs."
a plethora of government minis- Mr. Sidqi prefers to call the curtries
(human rights, humanitarian rent situation "a margin of freeneeds,
peshmerga affairs) and of- dom" _ though he acknowledges
fices (one new building to register that his organization is free to
births, another for deaths). "Aren't publicly criticize. Though the parwe
civilized?" one minister asks ties "don't like our existence," the
with a wry smile. human-rights group's complaints .
There are another dozen politi- are tolerated.
cal parties here. - ranging from However, Mr. Sidqi said, there
are still people arrested without century there will b-e a military
warrant. He has attempted to de- ruler," PUK head Jalal Talabani
fend people jailed for work against said last week. "Why'can't we rule
the PUK or KDP, and been told at ourselves? We are cap~ble .... We
the jail that no lawyer would be re- are for ending dictatorshipand required:
"This one came with or- placing it with an elected federal
ders from the politburo - 'Keep system."
him until we send for him.' " . The' opposition proposes a tran-
The primary targets these days sitional government made up of
. àre members of Ansar al-Islam, a Kurds, Shiites and exiles, paired
splinter group of radical Islamists with dissidents from inside the
whom both the Kurdish govern- country - though Kurdish leaders
ment and the United States say is say privately that they know the
working with al-Qaeda.
U.S. will be running Iraq.
bloated bureaucracy has actually The Kurdish vision of a federal
done little to improve health or state seems to have some sympaeducation.
And while there is a pa- thy in Washington. To pull it off,
tina of prosperity in the cities, though, the PUK arid the KDP are
most Kurds stilllive in small, con- going to have to settle their differcrete-brick
village houses, where ences quickly. There are signs of
the icy chill of winter is held at bay movement in' this direction: MI.
with just a small dish of burning Talabani said the two sides have
charcoal. agreed to a joint military com-
Yet the greatest advantage ofllie mand of the peshmerga for the
here is less tangible. "The most coming war,' and ministries are
important thing is that I feel that I being merged. The test will be the
am free," said Fouad Tawfiq, an grappling between Mr. Talabani
engineer who spent 14 years and and PDK head Masoud Barzani
nine months in a Baghdad prison, over who becomes leader of the
accused of supporting the PUK. united Kurds. "
He was released in the arni1esty Both sides' are counting on the
Mr. Hussein decreed last October. .idea that the achievements of their
"In the old days, there were mini-state will be enough to win
nights when I couldn't even get to them a key role in the next governmy
house on the edge of town' be- ment in Baghdad, whoever leads
cause there were too many men it. "Our self-government experiwith
guns in the way. Now, I can ence is truly relevant to the future
say we are safe - not 100 per cent, of Iraq," said Mr. Salih, the prime
because Saddam is still there. But minister. "In reality, how could we
safer. "
be sidelined? It is not as if freedom
The latest U.S. plan for postwar could be delivered without us
Iraq would see a military governor Kurds." .
in charge for at least a year, a plan
the Kurdish leadership (like the
rest of the Iraqi opposition in
Stephanie Nolen writes on foreign
affairs for The Globe and Mail.
exile) flatly rejects. "I cannot agree
that in the beginnin~ of the 21st
,
. . .
Turkish troops 'unwanted guests
Tanks,soldiers stake ground in Iraq
Kurds determined to see Turkey leave
.'".
.,",' "
.;;'-.'"
~PHOTO
Turk,lstJs()'~lersgt,lar~ ~ border ~rossing along Turkey's ~outhern.
. hontler with Iraq yesterday. Tur key says it has 12;000 troo,,~.
stationed in patche~,of the Kurdist1autonomous arëa in northern Iraq:
92
. '~ ..,
SANDRa CONTENTA
EUROPEAN BUREAU
AMADIYAH, IRAQ-A heavy snowfall
has brought. this ancient
moUntaintop capital of Kurdish
tribal chieftains and noble fami-' ,
lies to a halt
The steep road in front of the
town hall is clogged with cars
. spiJ:ming their wheels, a snowplow
~t has picked the worst
of days tobreak down, and a
crQwd of men with nothing bet- .
ter to do thim to 'stand and
watch.
Next to the town hiill,at the
summit of this Kurdish town,
two Turkish tanks are rumbling
to and fro; and a handful of
Turkish soldiers are shovelling