Problems Turkey/ Kurds et al

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hiphop

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The Kurdish people are controlling Kirkuk at the moment, the city that holds the second biggest oil reserves in Iraq.

On one hand, the Kurds have fought against Saddam for a very long time, and lost many lives doing so. They claim their right, thy want a Kurdish state.

On the other hand, Turkey is against. There are some kurds minorities in Iran too, but Turkey is the most skeptical country and has ten thousands of soldiers at its borders.

The whole situation is still very explosive.

Mubarak (Egypt) and the Saudis say the U.S. should give the Iraqis a chance to decide for their future government on their own and retreat from the area.
 
ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish Foreign Minister
Abdullah Gul said on Thursday Turkish military observers would
be in Kirkuk soon to track U.S. promises not to allow the
northern Iraqi oil hub to be controlled by Kurdish forces.
Kurdish peshmerga fighters swept into the city they say is
historically Kurdish on Thursday, news that rattled Turkey.
Gul told NTV television that the United States had assured
him the Kurds would not be allowed to stay in control.
``The 173rd U.S. parachute unit will be in Kirkuk within a
few hours. Turkish armed forces observers will enter too,'' Gul
said during the live interview.
Turkey has a large force poised to enter northern Iraq to
prevent any breakaway Kurdish state there, but Gul said Turkey
was satisfied by U.S. pledges not to allow that.
"In the face of these guarantees there is no need for any
tension,'' he said.

ISTANBUL (AP)--Turkey is sending military observers to the oil rich city of Kirkuk following an Iraqi Kurdish move into the city, Turkey's foreign minister said Thursday.
Turkey has repeatedly said that it will not accept Iraqi Kurdish control of Kirkuk.
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said he spoke with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell Thursday and Powell offered to let Turkey send military observers to Kirkuk to make sure that Iraqi Kurdish fighters withdraw from the city. "We've accepted this," Gul said.


I think Turkey is partially afraid about this spilling over in to its own country. There are kurds in southern Turkey as well.
 
Good, great, wonderful. The Kurds are going to occupy this place. It's been said that the Kurds should have been given their own country, called Kurdistan, instead of having their lands sliced up between three countries, Turkey, Iraq and Iran. In fact the person who said that this was a mistake (not creating a Kurd state) was Winston Churchill's grandson. Interesting.
 
Syria is against the Kurds? own state too.

I don?t know... I guess they?ll end up with nothing, but don?t ask me.
 
thanks for posting this..i've been trying to find some links to this.
 
I'm the first to admit I don't know a huge amount about this issue, but surely if people support the principle of self-determination then they would have to support a Kurdish state being formed in areas where Kurds are the majority (ie Northern Iraq and areas of Turkey).

I just hope that Kurdish people won't be harmed if the US tries to take Kirkuk from them. After all, the Kurdish people have been seen as an ally of the US during this war.
 
A little outdated but nevertheless interesting:

From http://www.cbc.ca/news/iraq/players/syria_iraq030328.html

March 28, 2003

Population: 16,728,808

Position: On March 28, 2003, the United States accused Syria of sending military equipment to Iraq, warning that it considered this to be a hostile act.

"We have information that shipments of military supplies have been crossing the border from Syria into Iraq, including night vision goggles," U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told reporters at a Pentagon briefing.

"These deliveries pose a direct threat to the lives of coalition forces. We consider such trafficking as hostile acts and will hold the Syrian government accountable for such shipments."

A day earlier, American networks reported activity on the Syria/Iraq border. Syria does not support the attack on Iraq as it did during the last Gulf War. In 1991, it provided armed forces to help the U.S.-led coalition.

Syria's highest Muslim religious authority, Mufti Kaftaro, called on all Muslims to use "all possible means to defeat the aggression, including martyrdom (suicide) operations against the invading combatants."

Syrian officials said the mufti was expressing a personal point of view but Syrians in the thousands have backed their religious leader, taking to the streets to protest against the war.

In the weeks leading to the war, Syria called on Arab countries to refrain from offering assistance to any military operation that would threaten the security, safety and territorial integrity of Iraq. When U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell asked Syria to back the second UN Security Council resolution allowing a pre-emptive attack on Iraq, it refused.

Like Jordan, Syria is preoccupied with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and considers that problem to be more important than the Iraqi situation. Syrian President Basher al-Assad is not fond of Saddam Hussein but has been involved in trying to improve relations between Iraq and Iran.

Syria is included on the U.S. State Department's list of sponsors of terrorism.

Quick Facts
Source: CIA Factbook

History: The French administered Syria following the breakup of the Ottoman Empire after the First World War until its independence in 1946. In the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, Syria lost the Golan Heights to Israel. Since 1976, Syrian troops have been stationed in Lebanon, in a peacekeeping capacity.

Geography: Eastern Syria has a 605-km border with Iraq.

Economy: While petroleum accounts for 65 per cent of Syria's exports, oil production is levelling off.

Ethnic groups: Arab 90 per cent; Kurds, Armenians, and other 9.7 per cent.

Religions: Sunni Muslim 74 per cent; Alawite, Druze and other Muslim sects 16 per cent; Christian 10 per cent; Jewish (tiny communities in Damascus, Al Qamishli, and Aleppo).
 
nbcrusader said:
Now this is an issue the UN should try and handle - whether or not to create an independent Kurd state.

I'm not so sure. They don't have the best nation-building track record and you don't have to look any further than Israel for that. [and no, I'm not taking a stance on the Israel/Palestine issue by saying that].

I'll have to dig a little but does someone know what role -- if any -- the UN had on dividing the Middle East in to nations?
 
sharky said:


I'll have to dig a little but does someone know what role -- if any -- the UN had on dividing the Middle East in to nations?


The dividing up of the Middle East into the current nations predated the UN. Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia--these countries came into existence in the 1920's. So the screw-up of not creating an official Kurdistan predates the UN also. BTW very interesting, but not surprising that Syria is opposed to an independent Kurdish state. It might be quite a powerful political entity.
 
It seems like *some* people are entitled to their own state, and some are not. For whatever reason everyone is against the Kurds having their own state. Why? I don't know. There is alot of fear around there. The Arabs don't like the Kurds, and most likely the feeling is mutual. The question "can't we all get along?" comes up.
 
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