Kurd Archives

The Middle East, Democracy’s Frontline Starts with the Pershmerga

July 12, 2014 By administrator

By Kaziwa Salih

The Middle East, particularly Iraq and Syria turned into a triangle battlefield, amongst fanatical groups with diverse titles and similar aims, creating an Islamic state with Stone Age approaches. There are two tyrannical Governments completing this dimension which are Iraq and Syria. The Peshmarga of Kurdistan is the only force defending freedom, and confronting the atrocities inflicted by these groups.

Since U.S. administration revealed that democratization could become a true mission of American foreign policy, they have been involved in so-called spreading democracy and the brining of stability to Middle East. Presumably, they are the vanguard of this impossible mission. However, the consequences attest to this process of democratization have turned to an hideous war and might lead to a Third World War eventually.
What America considers democratization, universally defined as Americanization, and is depicted in Middle East as occupation of their land..These allegations have been getting more legitimacy with U.S. foreign policy’s overlooking Peshmerga of Kurdistan’s achievements and their roles in the area.

The United States of America disregard Peshmerga forces that are true defenders of democracy, by dehumanizing them within the countries that U.S government allegedly helps. Thus creates distrust toward the U.S. intentions and uprooting of democracy and peace. So far, neither America nor the governments of Iraq and Syria were able to fight the Islamic States of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) to achieve stability in the region, the way the Peshmerga of Kurdistan has attained.

The Peshmerga of Kurdistan are the strongest and the best bulwark against ISIS advances in both Iraq and Syria. Peshmerga forces are controlling the Kurdish areas and turning them into safe havens for people in both countries. They brought stability and security to the region during Bashar Al-Assad atrocities and now during ISIS invasions. The Kurdish Peshmerga tries to stop the influx of Iranian militias entering Iraq via Kurdistan by controlling the border. Turkey has jailed Abdullah Ocalan, the most influential Kurdish leader and one of the hundred most influential characters in the world. Yet, the Kurds and the Kurdish Peshmerga have been seeking a democratic and peaceful decree with Turkey for decades. Further, the democratization of Turkey has always been their mission. The Kurdish Peshmerga groups are the only force in the Middle East who do not decapitate people; do not loot; do not rape; do not use chemicals, and they are not invaders of any country. Rather they are the existence of Kurdish suffering and oppression. Their doctrine and honoured reputation have attracted many people around the world to affiliate and struggle for Peshmerga’s principles.

For outsiders and the media, different names of Peshmerga emerges, such as the Kurdish Army group, the Kurdish force, Rebels, PJAK, DTP, PKK, PYD,YPJ, …etc. But for insiders and Kurds, they are all Peshmerga, and have one mission, which is to end persecutions of Kurdish people, alongside other minorities, especially Christians. Whereas fighting terrorists by stopping the advancement of ISIS in Syria and Iraq.
The security and peace, people have enjoyed so far in these areas under their watch full eye of Peshmerga, accomplished by not only one Kurdish Peshmerga group, but all the groups. This proves that all Peshmerga forces are freedom and peace fighters, not only selective ones. As U.S labels some as terrorists while others are freedom fighters. Terrorists have one aim, which is annihilation; however, all Kurdish groups’ aim is to fight long for protection.
U.S. foreign policy should rethink its strategy towards the Kurds; readjust their terrorist list, and consider the Peshmerga of Kurdistan as a frontline of democracy. The current situation and the historical achievements of the Peshmerga against the terrorists and their significant roles in peace initiatives should be the foundation of the suggested reconsideration.
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Kaziwa Salih: a Kurdish author, anti-genocide and war scholar, the publisher and editor of two Kurdish magazines. She is the author of 12 books, and has received several international awards. In 2010, she founded the Anti-Genocide Project to bring together the voices of genocide victims living in Canada. She is the 2014 PEN Canada Writer-in-Resident at George Brown College.

Iraq foreign minister fired, sources say

July 12, 2014 By administrator

In a possible portent of growing factional conflict, a leading Kurdish minister was removed from Iraq’s government, and the Kurdish semi-autonomous government took over two oilfields in the north, the CNN reports, citing officials.

Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, the face of Iraqi diplomacy for a more than a decade, was removed Friday by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, two senior Iraqi government officials said.

Zebari’s ouster occurred as Kurds in Iraq’s government launched a boycott followed comments made Thursday by al-Maliki, who purportedly linked ISIS extremists and Baathists to the Kurdish Regional Government in Irbil.

The Kurds strongly dispute al-Maliki’s allegations and say he wants to scapegoat the Kurds for his failures in northern Iraq and divert attention from how ISIS militants have poured into Iraq and waged warfare against the government, a senior Kurdish official said.

The senior Kurdish official accused al-Maliki of trying to turn a conflict between al-Maliki’s Shiite-dominated government and Sunnis – some of whom have supported the extremists from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria — into a dispute between Arabs and Kurds.

Appointed as interim foreign minister was Hussain Shahristani, a Shiite and an al-Maliki adviser who is deputy prime minister for energy affairs, two senior Iraqi government officials said.

With Peace Process in Muddle, PKK Gets More Recruits

July 11, 2014 By administrator

By RUDAW yesterday at 07:42

Murat Karayilan, a key figure in the Kurdistan Worker’s Communities (KCK) which acts as the PKK’s political wing, has said the deadline for Ankara to act on the peace process is right after the August 10 elections. Photo: AFP

ANKARA, Turkey – Twenty one university students in Turkey are joining the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) movement, saying Ankara has been “fooling Kurds” with a peace process it has done nothing to advance.

Speaking on behalf of fellow students, Leila Nusaybein said they were declaring allegiance to the group after losing faith in Ankara’s sincerity toward the peace process, and because PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan remained jailed in his Turkish island prison.

The announcement by the students, who come from 13 different universities, comes as PKK fighters are expected to continue withdrawing from Turkey to bases in the Qandil Mountains in Iraqi Kurdistan by this autumn.

“The process will be over unless they make a move right after the elections. Those moves may not come on the first day after the election, but if they make no move in one or two weeks, everyone should know that the process is over,” Karayilan said.

In its latest move, the Turkish government has proposed a “Draft Law to End Terrorism and Strengthen Social Integration,” which aims to legalize direct and indirect talks between the government and top PKK officials, including Ocalan. The bill would also disarm PKK militia fighters and grant them amnesty from prosecution.

Because Turkey designates the PKK as a terrorist organization, talks can easily be categorized as a crime under Turkey’s existing anti-terror legislation. Ocalan has welcomed the draft as an “historical development.”

Turkey’s Kurdish peace process is seen as key to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s presidential hopes in the August polls. He has exhausted his three permitted terms as prime minister and is therefore eyeing the presidency.

Ocalan, who is serving a life sentence for treason since 1999, is still perceived as a partner in the Turkish-Kurdish peace process, and plays a monumental role inside his highly extended and organized movement.

Iraqi Kurds take over two oil fields in north amid growing dispute with govt.

July 11, 2014 By administrator

July 11, 2014 – 16:14 AMT

Iraqi Kurds have taken over two oil fields, Iraq’s oil ministry says, amid a growing dispute with the government in Baghdad, BBC News reported.

Kurdish peshmerga forces seized control of production facilities at Bai Hassan and the Kirkuk oil fields, in the north of Iraq, on Friday, July 11 the ministry adds.

Kurdish MPs have also withdrawn from Iraq’s central government.

They did so after Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki accused the Kurds of harbouring extremists.

Kurdish forces have moved into areas of north-western Iraq abandoned by the Iraqi army during the advance of Islamist insurgents led by the Isis (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) group over the past month.

The Kurds have since declared plans to hold a referendum on independence in the areas seized, escalating tensions with Iraq’s central authorities.

Photo: Khalid Mohammed / AP

Kurdish ministers to boycott Iraq Cabinet meetings

July 10, 2014 By administrator

Iraqi Kurds say they will withdraw their ministers from the Cabinet and suspend their participation in the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in protest at his remarks.

The Kurdish political bloc made the announcement on Thursday after Maliki accused the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region of becoming a safe haven for terrorist groups fighting Baghdad a day earlier.

Maliki said the region has turned into an operation center for the Takfiri militants and Ba’athist terrorists, adding Kurds have taken advantage of the circumstances and expanded their grip on Iraqi lands.

Deputy Prime Minister Roz Nouri Shawez, a senior Kurdish official in the government, told reporters that such remarks “are meant to hide the big security fiasco by blaming others, and we announce our boycott of Cabinet meetings.”

Kurds also hold posts for foreign affairs, trade, health and immigration and displacement in the Cabinet of Maliki’s government.

The president of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), Masoud Barzani, said in a statement posted on his website late Wednesday that Maliki “has become hysterical and has lost his balance.”

On Wednesday, Maliki also warned the KRG against a decision to hold a referendum on the fate of Kirkuk, saying Kurds are burning bridges with Baghdad, which would backlash, as both the militants and Kurdish leadership will eventually lose.

This came as Barzani said earlier this month that measures are being taken for holding a referendum on Kurdistan’s future within months.

Iraqi PM Maliki accuses Kurds of ISIS ties

July 9, 2014 By administrator

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has accused Kurdistan of assisting ISIS fighters. The accusation could further fray cross-cultural ties in the multiethnic country.

On Wednesday, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki accused Kurdistan of becoming a haven for fighters for the “Islamic State,” until recently known as ISIS, an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant.

During the fighting, Kurdistan’s Peshmerga militia (pictured) has taken control of several areas previously disputed with Iraq’s central government. The accusations come days after Kurdistan President Massoud Barzani asked the regional parliament to set a date for an independence referendum, which Maliki has called unconstitutional.

“We cannot stay silent as (Kurdish capital) Erbil is turning into a headquarters for operations pursued by the Islamic State, the outlawed Baath, al Qaeda and terrorists,” Maliki said Wednesday, vowing action, though he did not provide any evidence to support his allegations.

In power since 2006, Maliki, a Shiite Muslim, faces stiff opposition in his bid for a third term. His critics accuse him of monopolizing power and marginalizing Iraq‘s Sunni Muslim minority.

Whether Maliki will continue as prime minister has dominated talks on forming a new government that would represent Iraq’s major ethnic groups. Those talks have reached an impasse more than once.

Meanwhile, south of Baghdad on Wednesday, Iraqi police announced that they had found 53 dead bodies with their hands tied and shot in various places.

‘A moral duty’

The archbishops of Baghdad, Mosul and Kirkuk have said that Christians could completely abandon Iraq. War and sectarian conflict have shrunk the population to about 400,000 Christians from the 1.5 million there before the US-led invasion in 2003. Now even those who stayed through the worst of it have begun to leave for Turkey, Lebanon and Europe, the prelates said on a visit to Brussels Wednesday to seek EU help.

“Europeans have a moral duty vis-a-vis Iraq,” said the country’s most senior Christian leader, Chaldean Patriarch Louis Sako, who flew into Brussels to meet with EU officials, including European Council President Herman Van Rompuy. At a news conference on Wednesday, Sako called himself “extremely anxious” about the fate of Christians fleeing areas held by ISIS fighters, though they “so far have not been targeted as a group.”

Kirkuk’s Chaldean Catholic archbishop, Youssif Mirkis, added that, even in the safer Kurdish zone, he has seen members of the community leave at a rate of several hundred a day: “Our presence was a symbol of peace, but there’s so much panic and few Christians see their future in Iraq,” he said.

mkg/hc (Reuters, AFP, dpa, AP)

Egypt’s Sisi says independence for Iraq’s Kurds would be ‘catastrophic’

July 6, 2014 By administrator

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Sunday a referendum on the independence of Iraq’s Kurdish region would lead to a “catastrophic” break up of the country, which is facing an onslaught by Sunni Islamist militants.

The comments from Sisi, leader of the most populous Arab nation, indicate a growing fear in the region that the division of Iraq could further empower the insurgents who have declared a “caliphate” on land seized in Iraq and neighbouring Syria.

“The referendum that the Kurds are asking for now is in reality no more than the start of a catastrophic division of Iraq into smaller rival states,” Egypt’s MENA news agency quoted Sisi as saying during a meeting with local journalists.

The president of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish north, Massoud Barzani, asked the region’s parliament on Thursday to prepare the way for a referendum on independence.

Iraq’s five million Kurds, who have ruled themselves in relative peace since the 1990s, have expanded their territory by up to 40 percent in recent weeks as the Sunni Islamist militants seized vast stretches of western and northern Iraq.

Egypt, a traditionally regional diplomatic heavy weight, has been embroiled in domestic turmoil for three years since a 2011 uprising ousted autocratic President Hosni Mubarak.

Sisi said he warned the United States and Europe about the ambitions of the Islamic State militants, which have shortened their name from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

“ISIL had a plan to take over Egypt,” Sisi said. “I had warned the United States and Europe from providing any aid to them and told them they will come out of Syria to target Iraq then Jordan then Saudi Arabia.”

Sisi, Egypt’s former army chief, last year orchestrated the ouster of the state’s Islamist President Mohamed Mursi, who was elected in a free vote, in reaction to mass protests against his rule.

Sisi’s interim government that ruled until his election had cracked down on Islamists. Thousands of Islamist activists and members in Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood group have been jailed since Mursi’s ouster last July and hundreds of street protesters were killed.

The Muslim Brotherhood group, the state’s oldest and most organised movement, is now banned and declared a terrorist organisation.

(Reporting by Yasmine Saleh; Editing by Sophie Hares)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.

Kurdish forces not to leave Kirkuk: Barzani

July 3, 2014 By administrator

The leader of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region says the Kurdish Peshmerga forces will not withdraw from the Iraqi city of Kirkuk.

Masoud Barzani said the Kurdish forces will not leave areas under their control.

The Kurdish leader also noted that he had warned the Iraqi government of Takfiri groups’ threat six months ago but Baghdad ignored the warning.

He also called on the Kurdish parliament to set a date for holding a referendum on independence from Iraq.

On Tuesday, Barzani told the state-run BBC that measures are being taken for holding a referendum on Kurdistan’s future within months.

His remarks came only two days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu supported the creation of an independent Kurdistan state.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Wednesday rejected the attempt by the Kurdistan Regional Government to hold the independence referendum, saying the move is unconstitutional and will “damage them a lot.”

The Iraqi premier further emphasized that the Kurdistan region is part of Iraq and must act within the boundaries of the country’s constitution.

Militants from the Takfiri terrorist group, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), have attacked Iraq’s northern provinces with the aim of capturing the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.

The crisis in Iraq escalated after the ISIL militants took control of Mosul on June 10, which was followed by the fall of Tikrit, located 140 kilometers (87 miles) northwest of Baghdad.

Kurdish forces attack Iraqi military bases in Kirkuk: Military commander

June 29, 2014 By administrator

A senior Iraqi military commander says Kurdish Peshmerga forces have seized heavy weapons and military equipment in Kirkuk governorate.

Lieutenant Abdul Amir al-Zaidi said on Sunday that the Kurdish forces attacked military bases and disrupted the security situation in Diyala and Kirkuk.

This comes after the president of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said on Friday that the KRG will not return the oil-rich hub of Kirkuk to Baghdad.

Masoud Barzani’s comments sparked angry reactions from some Iraqi politicians who warned of an armed conflict with the Kurds in the near future. Also, some lawmakers have accused the Kurdish forces of having relations with Israel.

Kurdish security forces took control of Kirkuk after Iraqi troops entered a battle with the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) earlier this month.

The latest developments come as tensions rise between the Kurdistan’s regional leaders and the central government in Baghdad.

The Iraqi government has repeatedly slammed the Kurdistan region for exporting oil without Baghdad’s consent.

Baghdad says it has the sole right to export the country’s crude, but the Kurds say they are entitled to market the resources of their own region

The regional government has recently used a pipeline to the Turkish port city of Ceyhan for crude oil exports.

A spokesman for the regional government says the money has been deposited in Turkey’s Halkbank.

Most refineries are reluctant to get involved in the trade which the Iraqi central government has called smuggling.

Baghdad has also opened arbitration against Turkey for allowing and facilitating the sales and has threatened to pursue buyers.

Iraqi Kurdish leader Barzani says Kurdish self-rule in Kirkuk to stay

June 27, 2014 By administrator

ARBIL – Agence France-Presse

Members of the Kurdish Peshmerga celebrate in the city of Kirkuk, June 24. REUTERS Photo

Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani said June 27 there was no going back on autonomous Kurdish rule in oil-rich city Kirkuk and other towns now defended against Sunni militants by Kurdish fighters.

“Now, this [issue] … is achieved,” he said, referring to a constitutional article meant to address the Kurds’ decades-old ambition to incorporate the territory into their autonomous region in the north, over the objections of successive governments in Baghdad.

Kurdish forces stepped in when federal government forces withdrew in the face of a jihadist-led offensive earlier this month.

Speaking at a joint news conference with visiting British Foreign Secretary William Hague, Barzani said the Kurds had been “patient” up to now. “We have been patient for 10 years with the federal government to solve the problems of these [disputed] areas. There were Iraqi forces in these areas, and then there was a security vacuum, and [Kurdish] peshmerga forces went to fill this vacuum,” he said.

The swathe of territory in question stretches from Iraq’s border with Iran to its frontier with Syria, and is one of several long-running rows between Baghdad and Kurdish authorities in Arbil.

The disputes have been cited by analysts and diplomats as among the biggest long-term threats to Iraq’s stability.

June/27/2014