Prospects of a Kurdish state and what it means for Armenia

[Vrej1915]

Re: Prospects of a Kurdish state and what it means for Armenia

CHANGES IN TURKEY'S BORDERS?
by MURAT YETKÄ°N

Hurriyet
July 26 2012
Turkey

The fact that some Syrian border posts are no longer controlled by
troops loyal to Bashar al-Assad but by Syrian Kurdish rebel groups, and
that Kurdish flags have been raised in some Syrian border towns with
Kurdish populations, has seriously disturbed the Turkish government.

One group in particular has attracted Turkey's attention, the
well-organized Democratic Union Party (PYD), which according to
spokespersons "shares the same ideology" with the Kurdistan Workers'
Party (PKK). The PKK has been waging an armed campaign against Turkey
for the last three decades, claiming more than forty thousand lives
to date.

Concern about the rise of the PYD caused Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan
to convene an emergency meeting in Ankara with his top security and
foreign policy team members. Another matter of concern to Ankara
was the fact that some of the Syrian Kurdish militants in Syria have
been sheltered and trained by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)
in Iraq, while the KRG's leader Masoud Barzani has promised Erdogan
that he will convince the PKK (based in his territory) to give up
its "armed struggle" against Turkey. The government is going to take
some "additional measures" against the PKK presence along the Turkish
borders with Syria and Iraq, according to a statement issued following
the meeting.

Turkey's border with Iraq was settled in an agreement with the United
Kingdom when it was the mandatory power there, following a serious of
Kurdish uprisings (supposedly assisted by British-backed agitators)
in 1926, three years after the regime change in Turkey from Sultanate
to Republic. The border with Syria was settled when the people of
the border province of Hatay voted to be a part of Turkey rather than
remain with the newly founded Syria under French mandate in 1938.

Actually, the territories of the failing Turkish Empire under the
Ottoman dynasty almost a century ago were "shared" among Britain,
France and Czarist Russia, via a secret agreement to the Sykes-Picot
plan of 1916, which was then exposed in the Brest-Litovsk peace
agreement in 1918 by the Soviet leadership who seized power in Russia
through the Bolshevik revolution of 1917.

Another wave of border changes came about with the collapse of
the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. Some were peaceful, like the
reunification of Germany and the "Velvet Divorce" that gave birth
to the Czech and Slovak Republics. But Yugoslavia was split into six
parts via a human disaster that has not come to an end even today.

Borders in the Caucasus are also not in a stable condition yet, with
ongoing disputes between Azerbaijan and Armenia and Russia and Georgia.

Following the instability of borders in regions northwest and northeast
of Turkey, now the Arab Spring has caused instabilities on Turkey's
southern and southeastern borders, which consist mostly of straight
lines drawn in the sand by Mr. Sykes and Mr. Picot according to
their strategic value as determined by energy resources. As the
territorial integrity of Syria and Iraq is in greater jeopardy with
every passing day, the borders become more unstable and the Kurds
arise as independent actors in regional politics.

Yet there are three countries in the region which have the capability
to expand, rather than shrink: Israel, Iran and Turkey. There are
already political and economic actors trying to push Turkey to claim
some energy-rich parts of Iraq and Syria, which would mean a regime
change such as a federated Turkey, with Kurdish and possibly Arabic
members. But Ankara instinctively resists the idea of border changes,
which could drag the whole region into a chain reaction of wars. The
region is heading towards a dangerously unstable phase because of
the civil war in Syria.

[Vrej1915]

Re: Prospects of a Kurdish state and what it means for Armenia

http://istanbul.blog.lemonde.fr/2012/07/27/le-pkk-prend-le-controle-de-plusieurs-villes-du-nord-de-la-syrie/

[Vrej1915]

Re: Prospects of a Kurdish state and what it means for Armenia

Թուրքական վերլուծաբաններին մտահոգում է «Քրդական գարնան» հնարավորությունը


Հուլիս 28, 2012
Թուրք վերլուծաբանները լրջորեն մտահոգված են Սիրիայում քրդերի ակտիվացմամբ` կարծելով, թե ստեղծված իրավիճակը կարող է քրդական պետության ձեւավորման սկիզբ լինել, այն դեպքում, երբ Թուրքիայի կառավարությունը որեւէ քայլ չի ձեռնարկում:

«Այն, ինչից մենք վախենում էինք տարիներ շարունակ, այսօր տեղի է ունենում ոչ կոմպետենտության եւ սահմանափակ մտածողության պատճառով»,-կարծում է CNNturk-ի գլխավոր խմբագիր, վերլուծաբան Մեհմեդ Ալի Բիրանդը:

Նրա խոսքով, որքան շատ Բաշար Ասադն իր ուշադրությունը կենտրոնացնի Դամասկոսի պաշտպանության վրա, այնքան շատ քրդերը հնարավորություն կունենան լցնել վակուումը, որը ձեւավորվել է Սիրիայի` Թուրքիայի հետ սահմանին: «Քաղաքական սխալ հաշվարկների պատճառով մենք կորցնում ենք հարցի լուծումը: Կամ էլ թուրքական կառավարությունն այնպիսի նուրբ շախմատային խաղ է կատարում, որը մենք ի վիճակի չենք հասկանալ: Եթե դա այդպես է, պատրաստ եմ ներողություն խնդրել: Եթե ոչ, ապա կշարունակեմ գոռալ, որ իմ երկիրը գտնվում է բաժանման եզրին, եւ մեղավորները պետք է պատասխանատվության ենթարկվեն»,-գրում է Բիրանդը «Hurriyet Daily News»-ում:

[Vrej1915]

Re: Prospects of a Kurdish state and what it means for Armenia

KURDS SEIZE OIL-BEARING REGIONS OF SYRIA. THEIR AIM - TO SECURE EQUAL RIGHTS WITH SYRIANS, AND IDEALLY TO OBTAIN FULL AUTONOMY
by Konstantin Volkov

Izvestiya
July 25 2012
Russia

Syria's Kurds have begun an organized advance in the northeast of
the country, occupying cities left without government control. The
aim is the creation of an autonomous formation along the lines of
the one that exists in northern Iraq.

"The central authorities are currently leaving cities in the territory
traditionally inhabited by Kurds," Radwan Ali Badini, an activist of
the Kurdish Liberation Movement, told Izvestiya. "And we are helping
these population centres to create a new administration."

According to Badini everything is happening peacefully and there are
no clashes with the armed opposition or with the regular army.

Furthermore the Kurds, who live along the whole length of the
Syrian-Turkish border, regard themselves as something along the lines
of a border guard.

"To some extent Damascus has an interest in our presence along the
border line, otherwise Ankara might get the idea of taking advantage
of the unrest to enter Syria," Badini explains.

The Kurdish movement gained strength in the 1950s when its demands
were finally formalized as follows: the granting of broad autonomy,
equal rights with the main population of Syria, education in the
national language, and the right to self-determination within the
country. Over the past year some of the demands have been met. In
particular, Damascus granted Syrian citizenship to some of the Kurds
and promised them autonomy.

Nonetheless many of them still do not have the right to use their
own language in education or in business and also they cannot build
Kurdish schools or publish books in their native language.

That is why they are now continuing to insist on the continued
fulfilment of their demands, although they are also interested in
the resolution of the Syrian conflict by peaceful means.

At the same time, the influence of the new force is extending further
and further. The next objective is the city of Qamishli, centre of
Syria's oil industry.

"If we enter it, it will be by peaceful means," Badini says. "But
I wish to stress that the city now represents itself, there are
interruptions to the fuel supply, and it is difficult for the
residents, finding themselves in conditions of anarchy, to cope with
their problems themselves."

The emergence of a Kurdish autonomous formation is a very real
prospect, the activist believes. All the preconditions exist to assert
that this region will consent to nothing less. All the conditions
currently exist for us to obtain our rights without the use of force.

"Some of the Kurds really want democracy and the preservation of
Syria's integrity, while some are geared to secession and full
independence, as happened in Iraqi Kurdistan," Mahmud Khamo, member
of the Syrian National Council, says.

According to Khamo there are fighters active among the Kurds who
underwent training in Iraqi camps for the training of the peshmerga
(semi-guerrilla formations of Kurdish separatists), as well as
activists of the Workers Party of Kurdistan (PKK).

True, they will hardly be able to establish themselves along the
Syrian-Turkish border; Ankara will not permit the unification of the
Kurds living in Turkey with their Syrian fellow tribespeople. As far
as obtaining full autonomy is concerned, not only the Bashar al-Asad
regime but also the Syrian opposition is against this.

"In Syria the Kurds are about 10-15 per cent, that is not enough for
secession," Khamo suggests. "In the northeast of the country there are
also Arabs, Armenians, Assyrians, and Chaldeans, and the Kurds do not
form a majority, although they are the most active in political terms."

If a referendum on secession from Syria was held they would not be
supported, according to the Syrian National Council member. Nor will
it happen by force; the Free Syrian Army, which is fighting against
the al-Asad regime, will not permit separation.

[Translated from Russian]

[Alexandros]

Re: Prospects of a Kurdish state and what it means for Armenia

The Kurds deserves to have their own country. They have been opressed for too long in this region.

[Vrej1915]

Re: Prospects of a Kurdish state and what it means for Armenia

Crisis in Syria emboldens country's Kurds

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-19021766

By Wyre Davies
BBC News


What is happening in Syria cannot be taken in isolation. The protracted upheaval in one of the Middle East's biggest, most powerful and most influential countries is affecting the entire region and, most critically, its immediate neighbours.

Like Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon Turkey has already absorbed - almost without hesitation - thousands of Syrians fleeing the fighting, in particular from the northern cities of Hama and Aleppo.

Turkey is understandably concerned that the number of civilians fleeing across its relatively open southern border will increase as the fighting intensifies in Syria.

Some of those refugees also bring their own political baggage with them and there have already been disturbances in the border camps.

Occasionally ethnic and regional tensions spill over as thousands of displaced Syrians live cheek by jowl in tents under the blisteringly hot summer sum.

But for Turkey, the refugee issue is a mere inconvenience compared to what it thinks will be the biggest fall-out of the Syrian crisis - the Kurds and Kurdistan.

In an almost mirror image of what happened in Iraq after 1991, Kurdish nationalists in northern Syria are making the most of the turmoil and violence in the rest of the country to strengthen their own identity and position.

'Govern ourselves'
For Turkey, it is like a red rag to a bull.

As the Assad regime pulls in regular Syrian troops from peripheral areas for the military assault on Aleppo, there is clear evidence that others are almost seamlessly moving in to the vacuum left behind.

And in some Kurdish parts of northern Syria the opposition forces of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and other smaller factions have all but taken over.

The leader of the PYD, Salih Muslim, spoke to the BBC in recent days about his movement's strategy and aspirations.

"We are able to govern ourselves - we have the power for it," he said.

Mr Muslim was careful to insist, at this stage at least, that he wasn't calling for an independent Kurdistan but an autonomous region within a new, democratic Syria.

It is thought that Kurdish militias now control at least four main towns and cities in northern Syria. They reportedly include at least parts of Qamishlo, Efrin, Amude, Terbaspi and Ay El Arab.

More remarkable is that although there were sporadic clashes and some loss of life many of them appear to have been secured without much of a fight.

"We warned them to leave the Kurdish areas, otherwise we would resort to different measures," says Muslim, referring to civil administrators and officials from Damascus who used to run the towns."

They were aware of the people's demands and that's why they gave in without blood being spilled."


Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan sees a Kurdish enclave in Syria a direct threat to Turkey
Erdogan's "terrorist" threat
Quite deliberately choosing to describe the region of northern Syria as "West Kurdistan" the PYD leader said most people in the region stood with the movement and supported their aims.

Those aims are certainly not supported by the Turkish government, which has, for decades, fought its own often bloody battles with Kurdish separatists and nationalists of the PKK - the Kurdish Workers' Party.

In a blunt message at the end of this week, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan made it abundantly clear he saw the creation of a separate Kurdish enclave in northern Syria as a direct threat to his own country's interests and security.

Mr Erdogan said that Ankara would not accept the creation of a "terrorist" structure in the region.

"It is our most natural right to intervene (in northern Syria) since those terrorist formations would disturb our national peace," said the Prime Minister in a television interview.

Turkey, a one time ally of the Assad regime in Syria for pragmatic and economic reasons as much as anything, has all but given up on Damascus.

On more than one occasion Mr Erdogan has called on President Bashar al-Assad to stop the onslaught against his own people and to step down before more lives are lost.

Assad handover?
Some in Turkey also believe that a desperate President Assad has deliberately abandoned, or handed over, the northern regions to the PYD in order to create tensions with Turkey and also divide the already fractious opposition movements in Syria.


The crisis has emboldened Syria's Kurds but some analysts say their relationship with the FSA is tense
"In the North, (Assad) has already allocated five provinces to the terrorists (Kurds)," Mr Erdogan was quoted as saying by a Turkish news agency last week. Ankara simply regards the Syrian PYD as a branch of its own, outlawed PKK.

But the criticism and allegations of trying to create regional instability aren't limited to the pariah that is the regime in Damascus.

The autonomous Kurdish administration in northern Iraq has now admitted it has been training Kurdish-Syrian fighters on its territory.

In a recent interview the regional leader, President Massoud Barzani, openly confirmed the presence of a military training camp where "a good number of young Kurds" have been trained.

Tension with FSA
With as many as 20million Kurds in Turkey alone, watching their brethren to the east quite literally marking out their territory, the famously nationalist Turks are, to put it mildly, concerned.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davatoglu is being dispatched to northern Iraq in the coming days where, according to reports, he will talk with Kurdish officials there about the situation in Syria and Turkish "sensitivities."

Many things are still unclear; relations between the Syrian Kurds and other opposition groups (the Free Syria Army) are said to be tense.

In some Syrian Kurdish towns under the de-facto control of the PYD, pro Assad troops have remained in their barracks, raising questions about a deal, of sorts, between Damascus and the Kurds.

And, the biggest question of all, will Turkey carry out its threat to intervene militarily in northern Syria to prevent the creation of a Kurdish "entity".

One thing is certain. If and when President Assad is driven from power, the country he leaves behind will for some time be divided, damaged and violent.

[Vrej1915]

Re: Prospects of a Kurdish state and what it means for Armenia

http://www.lorientlejour.com/category/Moyen+Orient+et+Monde/article/770664/Les_Kurdes_tentent_de_s%27unir_pour_preparer_la_Syrie_de_demain.html

"L'orient le Jour", is the "Le Monde" of Beirut, famed to be 'serious'.
Unfortunately, it fell in very partisan hands, for more then a decade now.
It is controlled by Hariri, wich is a vassal of Turkey in Lebanon.
So one must not be surprised by the approximations.
Nevertheless, it is interesting to read the 'turkish' point of view...

[Vrej1915]

Re: Prospects of a Kurdish state and what it means for Armenia

Hurriyet, Turkey
July 27 2012


Get Over Your Kurd Phobia Already!


Interview by Faruk Balikci with Co-Chairman of PYD Salih Muslim in Al-Qamishlo


Co-Chairman of the PYD [Democratic Union Party], which is known to be
close to the PKK [Kurdistan People's Congress, KGK] Salih Muslim said,
"The Turkish rulers have a Kurd phobia. I beg of you, let them
overcome this phobia." A graduate from Istanbul Technical University
Department of Chemical Engineering, Muslim explains how he lived in
Istanbul for seven years: "I have Turkish friends; we have a fraternal
bond. Understand us. We do not want bloodshed. We are defending
ourselves in our region."

PYD Co-Chairman Salih Muslim stated that Turkey had to get over its
Kurd phobia and said, "Understand us correctly." Muslim stressed that
they were protecting themselves from the war on their borders and that
they wanted to avoid bloodshed. Co-Chairman of the PYD, which is known
to be close to the PKK, Salih Muslim explained that he completed the
Istanbul Technical University Department of Chemical Engineering as a
middling student and that he lived seven years in Istanbul.

We Are Protecting Ourselves

I was not into politics as a student. I only felt sympathy. I used to
look on from afar. I never felt like a stranger. I have Turkish
friends and good relations. I never felt any enmity. The Turkish
rulers have a Kurd phobia. I beg of you, let them get over it. We have
historical, social and fraternal bonds. What we are doing here is not
against anyone. We are acting simply to protect our society from the
war that is pressing on our borders. Tanks have entered Kobani. They
were going to pass through our area and hit the Arabs. The people did
not allow it. They resisted. We are only protecting ourselves in our
region. The people rose up themselves to protect their region. This is
their natural right.

Baath In Barracks, Kurds On Patrol

We Want To Avoid Bloodshed

We do not want confrontation or bloodshed. We do not have the
authority to make decisions by ourselves. We have been organizing the
people for two years and we are now getting results. We want to avoid
bloodshed. Nobody should be disturbed by this, least of all Turkey. We
are a fraternal people. If the Turkish authorities want to discuss
this I will speak with them. We are shouting out what it is we want: a
democratic regime in Syria and recognition of the Kurdish identity. We
want a structure in which the Arabs, the Assyrians and the Armenians
will also be free. Among the Kurds there are those who want autonomy,
an autonomous federation. But that is not our priority. We do not want
Al-Asad's forces or anyone else's forces here. There should have been
a democratic revolution in Syria, but that never happened.

How Did It Come To This?

Where Are The Kurds Currently In Control?

We Have No Bond With The PKK

We have no organic bond with the PKK. Not one armed force has crossed
the border. The PKK has a lot of sympathizers among the people in the
border region. However, we make our own decisions. The Kurd Supreme
Council makes the decisions. If there is foreign intervention in Syria
Al-Asad's Stinger missiles are pointed at Israel. In this situation
Israel would use chemical weapons. However, Al-Asad is going to resist
for a long time in order not to go.

Checks Along Al-Qamishlo Highway

Militants of the People's Defence Units (YPG) are conducting vehicle
and ID checks at a check point on the Derik-Al-Qamishlo highway. The
militants who are carrying out these checks are unarmed and are
organized into defence committees formed in every neighbourhood inside
the Kurd region. There are defence committees formed by the residents
in almost every neighbourhood in the Kurd region.

[Translated from Turkish]

[Vrej1915]

Re: Prospects of a Kurdish state and what it means for Armenia

Mehr News Agency (MNA), Iran
July 27, 2012 Friday

Turkey's chameleon policy toward Syria


TEHRAN, July 27 (MNA) -- Since the start of the political unrest in
Syria, Turkey has changed its policy toward its neighbor several
times. Initially, Turkey made efforts to maintain its strategic
relations with Syria, and the two countries were expected to reap the
benefits of a decade of cooperation. Then Turkish officials demanded
that the Syrian government adopt a softer stance toward the
opposition.

However, as the internal conflict intensified, Syrian refugees flooded
into Turkey, and Ankara began to officially criticize Damascus.
Currently, Turkey has allied itself with the Syrian opposition, which
is trying to drive President Bashar al-Assad out of power, and
relations between the two countries are seriously strained. Turkey's
ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has adopted very unusual
policies toward Middle Eastern countries ever since they came to power
in November 2002. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was once
a good friend of Muammar Gaddafi and received the Al-Gaddafi
International Prize for Human Rights. However, after the outbreak of
war in Libya, Erdogan quickly changed his stance and began calling for
the ouster of Gaddafi. In Egypt, he took advantage of every
opportunity to establish closer ties with former dictator Hosni
Mubarak, but when the Egyptian revolution neared victory, Erdogan
suddenly established warm ties with the Muslim Brotherhood. In Syria,
Erdogan successfully normalized Turkey's relations with its neighbor
in all areas, i.e., the political, economic, security, and cultural
spheres. However, after the escalation of the crisis in Syria, Erdogan
criticized Assad, saying he was stifling the democratic aspirations of
the Syrian people. In this criticism, Turkey aligned itself with
governments like Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which are some of the most
undemocratic countries in the world. The main goal of Turkey's
ever-changing foreign policy is the protection of its economic
interests, and it has nothing to do with democratic values or freedom
of expression. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who is the
architect of Turkey's diplomacy, has been seriously criticized inside
the AKP for his failure to realize the policy of zero problems with
neighbors. Currently, Turkey has problems with Syria, Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Iran, and Iraq, and instead of attempting to extricate the
country from the current problematic situation, Turkey's foreign
policy team is only making things worse day by day. AKP leaders seem
to have come to the conclusion that by supporting the United States'
policies in the Middle East, Turkey can improve its economic and
political situation. However, if the U.S. fails to realize its
objectives in Syria, Turkey will have great difficulty maintaining its
position in the region. Seyyed Asadollah Athari is a senior research
fellow at the Institute for Middle East Strategic Studies in Tehran
and an expert on Turkey. MS/HG END MNA

[Vrej1915]

Re: Prospects of a Kurdish state and what it means for Armenia

Turkey: For Ankara, Fears of a Kurdistan Rising

http://www.eurasianet.org/node/65724

July 30, 2012 - 9:10pm, by Yigal Schleifer The Turko-file Kurdish Issue Turkey-Syria Relations Turkish Foreign Policy
The continuing violence and bloodshed in Syria may be troubling, but for Ankara, the real worry right now is actually about what's happening in the place where things are quiet, across the border in Syria's Kurdish region, where the Assad regime has now ceded control to local militias as it tries to consolidate its forces in order to protect Aleppo and Damascus from rebel forces.

With a Kurdish autonomous region already well established in northern Iraq, a nascent Kurdish autonomous region now in Syria and with its own Kurds increasingly making autonomy part of their demands, Turkey is now confronting what has long been one of the country's biggest fears: the rise of, as columnist Mehmet Ali Birand recently put it, the "mega Kurdish state."

From Ankara's perspective, there's certainly a lot happening to justify these fears, particular with regards to Syria's northern Kurdish region. With the departure of Assad's forces from the area, the Kurdish-led Democratic Union Party (PYD), which is considered to be close to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), has stepped in to fill the vacuum. In response, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared last week that Turkey would "intervene" in Syria should the PKK set up camp there, while the Turkish military has started moving military hardware and personnel towards the Syrian border.

As political analyst and Today's Zaman columnist Ihsan Dagi writes, the fears about a Kurdistan rising that are gripping Turkey are providing a major test for Ankara's efforts to forge a new path on the decades-old Kurdish problem and for its self-stated goal to support regional moves towards greater justice and democracy:

Almost all commentaries published in Turkish media have told the story with great concern. The prime minister and the minister of foreign affairs have stated that if it becomes necessary, Turkey will not hesitate to intervene in Syria. The opposition has started to accuse the government of idly watching the establishment of a second Kurdish entity on its borders.

Underlying all these reactions is the assumption that developments in favor of the Kurds in the region constitute a threat to Turkey. It is thus inferred that Turkey would prefer the Kurds being ruled by dictators like Saddam Hussein and Bashar al-Assad instead of having a say in their own future.

This is awkward, impossible to justify on any ethical or even practical ground. It is of course obvious that such an unethical position is the result of the security concerns of the state. Or, to put more accurately, it is due to the fact that there are demands from the Kurds of Turkey concerning their political and cultural rights. Once there is an emergence of a new entity populated by Kurds that provides the Kurds with more rights and freedoms, Turkey becomes worried that such improvements may set a “bad example” for its own Kurds. The well-being of Kurds thus is to be prevented by Turkey.

It is futile to try to build a future on the misfortune of the Kurds. Besides, in a world of changes towards democracy and self-government, it is unrealistic to assume that the Kurds will remain under the yoke of this or that nation or dictator. As the world transforms it is normal that the Kurds, too, are increasingly gaining their democratic rights and improving their standard of living.

Furthermore, the developments in northern Syria's Kurdish region are testing Ankara's newly strengthened ties with the leadership of the Kurdistan Regional Government in northern Iraq. As described in a previous post, Turkey has been working on improving its relations with the KRG and its leader, Massoud Barzani, for economic reasons but also in the hope that by drawing Barzani closer and providing him with a route to ship his region's oil and gas westward, Ankara will be able to enlist his help in its efforts to shape the future of the Kurdish issue, which would include assisting in sidelining the PKK by reducing its freedom to operate. But it appears that Ankara was caught completely by surprise when it turned out that Barzani helped broker a deal between the various factions in the Kurdish area of Syria that effectively gave the PKK-friendly PYD control over large parts of that region.

Turkish policymakers should not have been surprised. Barzani -- correctly reading that the "Arab spring" could easily turn into a Kurdish one -- for some time now has been working to set himself up a kind of Kurdish paterfamilias who can help bring his people closer towards independence (and perhaps not just in northern Iraq). Here's what he had to say to Al Jazeera's Jane Arraf in a wide-ranging and telling interview that was posted online today:

JA: You've been such an essential part of the history of not just the Kurdish region, but the Kurdish people regionally. How would you like your legacy to be seen?

MB: I have a clear conscience as I have done whatever I have been able to do for the sake of our people. From my childhood, I have done everything to free our people, to liberate our land. The judgment will be left to the people.

JA: Is the region ready for an independent Kurdistan?

MB: It's a natural right of the people. But when and how it will be ready is a different question.