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

Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhevokil Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro de la Prensa-Baszn Özeti
.Kurds ask U.S.' tobarTurks
,.
Legislators want no regional powers to enter Iraq
By C.I. Chivers da~ and distrustful of the Thrkish military:. trioûc Union of Kurdistan and the Kurdistan
The New York TImes .which has. fou~t a l?ng war against Thrkey's Democratic Party, have acted as hosts to
:own Kurd~~ mInonty: . . American intelligence teams since last fall
ARBIL, Iraq: In a vote that has exposed ~~:ty ~as eVId:mutes ~ the and toned down nationalist rhetoric to comfrustration.
over elements of the U.S. war :id the ~~ fienight' me Turkish0f ~liam~t ply with the administration's wilL .
plans, the Kurdish Parliament in' northern . . y wo a .. military ID-, Kurds stilllargely support military action.
. Iraq has asked Washington to prevent Turk- curslon ~emselves. "I ~m~ ~ns (or 12 But in recent weeks, as the United States has
ish military forces from entering Iraq iil the .~ lI8!llDStthe Iraqi ~me," .saId Rizgar signaled a willingness to allow Thrkish
event of a war to oust Saddam Hussein. . ~: Ka~ ~ormTherksguerrillawho ~ now a l~- .forces into Iraq, many Kurds have soured to
The Parliament's unanimous vote Thes- IS or. e r en~ Kurdistan, I will America's notion of how to conduct the war,
day, for a resolution demanding noninterfer- carry ~apons all of my lif~" . .. . and said Washington haS been too compliant
ence in Iraq from regional countries, formal- KayIl warne~ that Bush nsked al}enatlDg a in acquiescing to Thrkish demands. '
ized intensifying misgivings in the Kurdish st.a unch ally. .If Thrkey eJ?-ters In~O Kur- Kurds worry that Thrks will use a presence
zone about the Bush administration's negoti- dlStan, the. UnIted States wIll lose Its best in Iraq as pretext for campaigns against
ations with Thrkey to allow American troops friend, which is the Kurds " he said. . Kurds. The Kurdish government, which has
to open a northe~ front ~inst Iraq's army. A State Department official said Kurdish administered nor!hem Iraq since it broke
It was carefully timed, comIng hours before concerns while genuine, were premature,' free from Saddam In 1991,fears Thrkey wants
Zalmay Khalilzad,. President George W. because tbe United States and Turkey have to squelch Kurdish advances before the ex-
Bu~h's s.pecial envoy to the Iraqi. opposition, not yet completed plans. "The Kurds do not ample spreads to Thrkish ~rds. .
amved. In northern Iraq for meetIngs. have to feel that there is some sort of separate ~e vote Thesd~y also ~ave VOIC~to frus-
.TensiOns between Th;rksand Kurds, a~ready peace between the United States and Thr- ~tions that ~rdlSh parties ~~ tned solvhigh..
have ~cala~ SInce Yasar Y~ the key/' the official said Ing by more qUiet means. In a JOI~tletter to
ThrklSh .foreign }DJ?1St~,suggested .this week Eve~ts Thesday were indications of a tum- Bush on ~eb. 13,Massou~ Barzan!, leader of
that, whIle on mISSIOnsID Iraq, Turkish troops. about In Kurdish attitudes toward the United the Kurdistan Democratic Party, and Jalal
might try to disarm Iraq's Kurds. States. Tala~ani, leader of the Patriotic Union of
It was regarded here as nearly the perfect For months Kurds have enthusiastically Kurdistan, wrote that Kurds fear "Turkey's
insult to Kurdis~ sensibilitie~. Iraq's Kurds supported American plans to remove Sad- real agen?a is to crush our" experiment in
are proud of thel~ armed resistance to Sa4- dam. The principal Kurdish parties, the Pa- democratic self-govemlDent.
THE KURDS
4 Killed in Suicide,Bombing at Checkpoint in
Northern Iraq
By c. J. CHIVERS
ERBIL, Iraq, Feb. 26 - A man
detonated a bomb he was wearing
near à Kurdish military headquarters
in northern Iraq today, killing
himself and three others in what the
authorities described as the. first
Kurdish suicide bombing.
The authorities said the attack, a.t
a military checkpoint iIi Zamaqi, waS
probably the work of Ansar al-Islam, .
a militant Islamic group that the .
• United States contends has connections
to both Al Qaeda and President .
Saddam Hussein of Iraq. It occurred '
, late in the mornmg, when a sport
utility vehicle used as' a taxi was
stopped àt a checkpoint by Kurdish
guards. A Kurdish sec.urity official
said the guards were suspicious of
the taxi's passenger and asked him
to leave the vehicle for an inspection.
"When he was about to be checked,
he pressed the button," the official
said.
The blast, from a bomb made from
an estimated 10pounds of explosives
packed with, metal shards, killed the
taxi driver and one of the guards
outright. A second guard died soon
afterward, the official said.
The checkpoint was on a military
road roughly a three-minute drive
from a headquarters where Kurdish
forces supervise military action
against Ansar, which occupies a
front and a series of bases in the
area. The headquarters has been frequented
by American intelligence
teams.in.:l'ecent months,
Ansar al-Islam did not immediately
claim responsibility for the bomb-
.ing, althoùgh in pàst actions, includ-
.ing military attacks and the assassination.of
a Kurdish mmister of Par-
Fears that a militant
.Islamic gro(JP has
adopted a new tactic
in a Kurdish area.
liament, the group has waited a day
or two before announcing its role.
If Ansar is respOnsible, it would be
the group's first successful suicide
bombing. The authorities here accuse
Kurdish Islamists of trying sui- .
cide bombings three times last year,
.all of wtlich failed when the bombers
were caught.
Late last year, a Kurdish security
. official, Col. Wasta Hassan, said that
Ansar had trained,50 men for suicide
attacks, and that more attempts
were imminent. He said many of the
potential bombers had been videotaped
preparing for attacks, an activity
apparently copied from Palestinian
bombers.
Dr. Barham Salih, prime minister
of the eastern Kurdish zone, denounced
the bombing today and of.
fered it as an example of the need for
militàry action against Ansar's
bases along the Iranian border.
"This ongoing terrorist threat can
only be eradicated through a concentrateq
international response;" he
..said. "It is time for resolute response."
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