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Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Sta';'pa-Dentro de la Prensa-Basm Özeti THE PEACEKEEPERS Iraqi Kurds Are Wary Of a Turkish-Led Force By C.J. cmVERS KOYA, Iraq, Feb. 20 - The guards .at the walled compound here, in their blue berets and polished armored cars, are striking with their professional Illilitary air. Their uniforms are pressed.' Their weapons look new. Their frames and fit. are mostly lean . They are members of the Peace Monitoring Force, a Turkish-led contingent that has been enforcing a cease-fire between rival Kurdish parties in,northern Iraq since 1997. The force has had many successes. The peacekeepers say they have never suffered an injury or been attacked. The Kurdish parties have stopped fighting, and after an adjournment of several years the joint Kurdish parliament began meeting again last fall. But it is also a measure of the persistent distrust between Iraqi Kurds and their Turkish neighbors that these men in blue beret~ are shrouded in deep suspicion these days. As the possibility of another war nears, this one a campaign to unseat President Saddam Hussein, several accusations can be heard. Kurdish political leaders accuse the peacekeepers of training ethnic Turkmen militias, of preparing to assist a Turkish incursion, and of spying. A war against Mr. Hussein is likely to involve a northern front opening . .from Turkey, and Turkish troops will perhaps follow American soldiers at least part way into p.orthern Ir~q. The Kurdish officials say they worry that the peacekeepers may play an .unexpected role, like guiding Turkish soldiers or providing logistics, military or intelligence support. Whether such fears ultimately prove' justified, Kurdish leaders of parties that once fought eàch other, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Democratic Party, are asking that the peacekeepers' pres- .ence be reassessed. "Now that there. is no problem between the P.U.K. and K.D.P., we think their mission is over, and we would welcome them ~ go back," said Massoud Barzani, president of . the Kurdistan Democratic Party. Dr. Barham Salih, prime minister of the eastern Kurdish zone, controlled by the rival Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, also expressed concerns about the Peace Monitoring Force's' mission. "With the closure of the peace process," he said, "the P.M.F. will no longer be required." The peacekeepers themselves de- .scribe the Kurdish accusations as baseless - the stuff of a "comic strip," one of their officers said. "We will keep to our mission," said Capt. 'Mehmet Emir, a Turkish company commander. "We are a peace mission. We will stay to that." The peacekeepers, 400 strong, began full deployment as British and American diplomats mediated an end to a civil war that had killed an .:estimated 2,500 to 3,000 people. . : They were to patrol the ground between the parties' militias, report- ing violations of cease-fire agree- . ments and making a restrained display of international will. The force's formation represent~ a compromise. Although the peacekeepers are led by TUrkish officers . and sergeants, the rank and file is filled with local Turkmen and Assyrians, forming what former President Bill Clinton once described as a "neutral, indigenous" force. Washington underwrites part of its work. Although the effort. has shown signs of solidifying - for example, the former combatants recently opened political offices in their respective capitals - the peacekeepers say their role remains vital. "I wish for the two parties to agree and settle their differences, but I think it is their habit to be in conflict between themselves, and maybe in a . year or so, they will get into disagreement again," Captain Emir said. Many issues remain unsettled, including how to divide income from petroleum products smuggled into Turkey, territOrial boundaries, and a few lingering personal feuds. Kurds say the peacekeepers want to stay because they have unseen agendas. A chief complaint is that the force, roughly 85 percent Turk- Chang W. Lee/The New York Times Soldiers with the Peace Monitoring Force in northern Iraq, training near Koya, have successfully enforced a cease-fire between warring factions. Kurdish factions are suspicious of peace m9nitors, based in Koya. Time to reassess the peace mission, someKuids say. men, serves as a de facto training program for Turkmen 'militias. For example, the force's personnel policies include rio enlistment contract, and fighters can leave any time, the peacekeepers say. About 10 fighters do so each month, and they are replac~ by recruits who receive a month of training and then typically a year or two of .professional, -, 96
Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro de la Prensa-Basm Özeti 'Westerriized military life. Kurds say that this rate of turnover. roughly 120 soldiers a year for several years, has produced a startling result: hundreds of fighters who have left the force and are available to serve Turkmen parties, some of whom have tense relations with the Kurds. K'}.rds believe that the Turkmen minority in Iraq - roughly 5 percent of the population - is sup- Ported by Turkey and has plans to make land claims against the Kurds in thecities of Mosul and Kirkuk. "I wonder if it is in the interest of the Kurdish people that inside the P.M.F ..military camps, they turn our Kurdistani Turkmen brethren into commandos," one man wrote in. a letter last year to Hawlati. an inde-. pendent newspaper. . SOine officials also accuse the peacekeepers of directly arming or equ\pping ~.group of parties known ,~ the Turkmen Front and of provid- .ing it..with intelligence. Seven Turkmen '
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