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A Kurdish state is emerging in Northern Iraq?

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  • A Kurdish state is emerging in Northern Iraq?

    Kurds' new constitution angers US, Iraq

    Sam Dagher, Baghdad

    July 11, 2009

    IRAQ'S Kurdish leaders are pushing ahead with a new constitution for their semi-autonomous region, alarming Iraqi and US officials who fear the move poses a new threat to the country's unity.

    The constitution, approved by the Kurdish parliament two weeks ago and scheduled for a referendum this year, underscores the level of mistrust and bad faith between the region and the Federal Government in Baghdad. It raises the question of whether a peaceful resolution of disputes between the two is possible, despite intensive cajoling by the United States.

    The proposed constitution enshrines Kurdish claims to territories and the oil and gas beneath them. But these claims are disputed by both the Federal Government and other ethnic groups, and were supposed to be resolved in talks begun quietly last month between the Iraqi and Kurdish governments, sponsored by the United Nations and backed by the US. Instead, the Kurdish parliament pushed ahead and passed the constitution, partly as a message that it would resist pressure from the US and Iraqi governments to make concessions.

    The disputed areas, in northern Iraq, are already volatile: there have been several tense confrontations between Kurdish and federal security forces, as well as frequent attacks aimed at inflaming sectarian and ethnic passions.

    The Obama Administration, which is gradually withdrawing US troops from Iraq, was surprised and troubled by the Kurdish move. Vice-President Joseph Biden, sent to Iraq on July 2 for three days, criticised it in diplomatic and indirect, though unmistakably strong, language as "not helpful" to the Administration's goal of reconciling Iraq's Arabs and Kurds.

    US diplomatic and military officials have said the potential for a confrontation with the Kurds has emerged as a threat as worrisome to Iraq's fate as the remnants of the insurgency.

    Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is already not on speaking terms with the Kurdish region's president, Massoud Barzani. Iraqi political leaders have vociferously denounced the constitution as a step towards splintering Iraq.

    "This lays the foundation for a separate state - it is not a constitution for a region," said Osama al-Nujaifi, a Sunni Arab member of the national parliament. "It is a declaration of hostile intent and confrontation."

    Kurdish officials defended their efforts to adopt a new constitution that defines the Kurdish region as comprising their three provinces and also tries to add all of hotly contested and oil-rich Kirkuk province, as well as other disputed areas in Nineveh and Diyala provinces. Iraq's federal constitution allows the Kurds the right to their own constitution, referring any conflicts to Iraq's highest court.

    Susan Shihab, a member of the Kurdish parliament, said she no longer had faith that the rights of Kurds under the federal constitution would be respected. "What is missing the most in the new Iraq is confidence," she said.

    At the same time, though, some Kurds acknowledge that they have grown frustrated with the halting talks to resolve territorial disputes and other issues involving the Kurds' political power in Iraq.

    "This is a punch in the face. We are fed up with them," said a senior Kurdish official, referring to the Government in Baghdad.

    But many in the Kurdish region are troubled by how hastily the constitution was passed and the powers it gives the region's president.

    NEW YORK TIMES

    Link

  • #2
    Re: A Kurdish state is emerging in Northern Iraq?

    It might be more than that Alexandros. It seems the Kurds might be willing to make a deal with enemy. As you know Turks want Northern Iraq.
    This is from Turkish source.......I won't be suprised if there is any truth to it.


    N Iraq better off in Turkey:

    ISTANBUL - While the United States has always been a crucial ally for Iraqi Kurds, the prospect of losing Washington as their direct protector is compelling Kurdish leaders to approach Turkey as the only viable alternative, according to a report.

    The International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based American think tank, said in a report titled "Iraq and the Kurds: Trouble Along the Trigger Line" that Kurdish leaders began to talk openly concerning the need to deal with Turkey since 2007.

    The report also quoted an unnamed Kurdish official as saying: "We have the right to be independent, but if that doesn’t work out, then I’d rather be with Turkey than Iraq." It expressed the consistent improvement of the ties between the Regional Kurdish Authority in northern Iraq and Ankara following the re-election of the ruling Justice and Development Party.

    "If the Shiites choose Iran, and the Sunnis choose the Arab world, then the Kurds will have to ally themselves with Turkey," the report quoted Fuad Hussein, chief of staff of Massoud Barzani, the leader of the regional administration in northern Iraq, as saying. "In turn, Turkey will need the Kurds in that case. We are compelled to be with Turkey, and from Turkey’s perspective they have no other friend or partner in Iraq."

    Turkish protection

    He also noted that Kurdish officials are convinced that U.S. President Barack Obama will act in accordance with the timetable he announced, adding that Kurdish leaders are of the opinion that Iraq will collapse in the aftermath. Under these circumstances, he said, Kurds will avail Turkish protection. He added that Turkey, in return, will attain the opportunity of having direct access to the huge oil and gas reserves in the Kurdish region. "Turkey will have Kirkuk indirectly. It’s the only way for Turkey to get it."

    The report underlined the point that although Barzani has not yet held talks with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Turkish President Abdullah Gül, senior Kurdish officials have had contacts with Turkish officials several times.

    "These developments have revived the notion of ’Mosul vilayet,’ Iraq’s old Mosul province to which post-Ottoman Turkey laid claim," noted the report, highlighting the point that "the impetus is coming not from Turkish nationalist circles but from the Kurdish side, even at senior levels."

    It also included the expressions of both Kurdish and Turkish officials regarding the betterment of ties between the two parties without citing their names. "We have the right to be independent, but if that doesn’t work out, then I’d rather be with Turkey than Iraq, because Iraq is undemocratic," said a senior Kurdish leader. The best way forward, he said, was for the Kurdish region "to join Turkey as part of a new ’Mosul vilayet’ and for Turkey to join the EU, with a solution for the situation of the Kurds in Turkey."

    Ankara, which does not want Iran to increase its influence over Iraq, seeks to boost its ties with Baghdad in order to strengthen the central government in the country, said report.

    ISTANBUL - While the United States has always been a crucial ally for Iraqi Kurds, the prospect of losing Washington as their direct protector is compelling...
    Last edited by Eddo211; 07-10-2009, 07:08 PM.
    B0zkurt Hunter

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    • #3
      Re: A Kurdish state is emerging in Northern Iraq?

      Ineteresting article Eddo.Here`s another article published in ZAMAN about this subject.


      GÜRKAN ZENGİN [email protected] Columnists

      Turkey won’t accept the Mosul carrot

      11 July 2009, Saturday

      In a recent report released by the International Crisis Group (ICG) on July 8, Fouad Hussein, Massoud Barzani's chief of staff, was quoted as saying, "If the Shiites choose Iran, and the Sunnis choose the Arab world, then the Kurds will have to ally themselves with Turkey."

      Moreover, a Kurdish minister said: "I'd rather be with Turkey than Iraq, because Iraq is undemocratic. [The best way forward is for] the Kurdistan region to join Turkey as part of a new Mosul vilayet and for Turkey to join the EU, with a solution for the situation of the Kurds in Turkey."

      The ICG report asserts that these developments have revived the notion of “Mosul vilayet,” Iraq's old Mosul province to which post-Ottoman Turkey laid claim, but this time the impetus is coming not from Turkish nationalist circles, but from the Kurdish side, even at senior levels.

      Reading this report, one can get the impression that Kurdish groups in northern Iraq are extending a Mosul carrot to Turkey. Yet, we must note in advance that Turkey has no intention of eating this carrot.

      In their tensions with the central government with respect to mandate, territory and underground resources, Kurdish groups are trying to play the Turkey card against Baghdad, but they are doing it wrong.

      This implies that the Kurdish groups in northern Iraq are still unable to correctly understand Turkey's new position in the region.

      What they must realize is that Turkey's northern Iraq policy is not independent from its Iraq policy. More generally, its Iraq policy cannot be seen as independent from its Middle East policy.

      In other words, Turkey looks at the big picture in the Middle East in order to understand Iraq. This is what its new vision requires. This vision requires simultaneous assessment of relations with Iran or with Syria or with Lebanon or with Gulf countries. (At the time of the publication of this report, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu was hosting the foreign ministers of six Gulf countries).

      Of three basic principles that are strictly followed by Turkey in its policies toward the Middle East, one requires Turkey to keep political dialogue mechanisms open at all times, while another requires preservation of multiculturalism, and the last is the creation of mutual economic dependency.

      In its vision concerning the region, Turkey aims to create a sphere of economic integration that may in turn have positive political results. These positive political results imply the creation of a peaceful atmosphere for everyone and the achievement of freedom and development for everyone.

      In other words, Turkey's foreign policy does not allow irredentist policies. The new Turkey does not aim to go through old records with a view to find new maps.

      In Turkey, both the political authority and the civilian-military bureaucracy are aware of the fact that the country's supreme interests entail a Turkey which has attained political stability, which gives priority to its economic development and which is at peace with its neighbors.

      Turkey is well aware of the fact that being a regional power requires a country that is open to the world, a democratic, secular, social state governed by the rule of law. (The only ingredients lacking for this formula until now have been economic performance and problematic relations with neighboring countries. The process of addressing these problematic areas is under way.)

      Both Barzani and Jalal Talabani must understand that there are no officials in Ankara who are dreaming about a Mosul vilayet.

      The Kurds in northern Iraq should better understand that their future lies with the agreements they will arrive at with the Baghdad administration on reasonable grounds. They already know what the framework of these reasonable grounds is.

      We do not know who is trying to give what message to whom with the bombs exploding in Kirkuk or Tal Afar in the last two weeks, but we know well about the message given by the Kurdistan Regional Government Constitution adopted last week by the Kurdish parliament in Arbil. Let us note how this move was perceived by Ankara: Kurds cannot keep their ambitions in tight check.

      Why do you think Davutoğlu has been delaying his visit to Iraq for some time?

      Link

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      • #4
        Re: A Kurdish state is emerging in Northern Iraq?

        Well the concept of the Kurds ever allying themselves with Turkey is a joke. Kurds want Kurdistan...and they won't budge from that. Whatever this idiot crisis group thinks is irrelevant, maybe its the OSCE Minsk group for Kurds?

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: A Kurdish state is emerging in Northern Iraq?

          Hmm....just wondering how this will bode for the Assyrians, don't get me wrong I am for Kurdish independence, but not at the cost of Assyrian independence

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: A Kurdish state is emerging in Northern Iraq?

            The Assyrians are already fighting side-by-side with the Kurds/PKK in Iraq and Turkey so I think they should be rewarded by the Kurds with at least an autonomous region within this future Kurdistan.
            Azerbaboon: 9.000 Google hits and counting!

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: A Kurdish state is emerging in Northern Iraq?

              Originally posted by Federate View Post
              The Assyrians are already fighting side-by-side with the Kurds/PKK in Iraq and Turkey so I think they should be rewarded by the Kurds with at least an autonomous region within this future Kurdistan.
              In case anyone wants to look at old maps and borders in parts of the world, I found this site:

              They have Turkey/Anatolia back to the 1700's

              http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/serv...owseByCategory

              This one is in French, but shows Western Armenia... in 1742... as well as Kurdistan

              http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/serv...8~1&mi=3&trs=8

              I don't know why, but whenever I see a map without Israel, I get a warm fuzzy feeling, lol.
              Last edited by KanadaHye; 07-11-2009, 09:06 AM.
              "Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you're a man, you take it." ~Malcolm X

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: A Kurdish state is emerging in Northern Iraq?

                @ Pedro Xaramillo and Federate


                In the new Kurdish constitution Assyrians, Armenians and other minorites will be granted local or regional autonomy where these form the majority in communities or regions.Let me quote some excerpts from an article:

                The regional parliament in Arbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, passed the draft constitution last week. Now it is for the citizens of the federal state to vote for or against the new constitution at the presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for 25th July [2009].
                ---

                The wishes of all nationalities have been respected in the new constitution. Article 15 says: “The people of the federal state of Iraqi Kurdistan is made up of Kurds, Arabs, Turkmens, Chaldaic Aramean Assyrians, Armenians and other citizens of Kurdistan /Iraq.” Article 35 says: “This constitution guarantees the national, cultural and administrative rights of the Turkmens, Arabs, Chaldaic Aramean Assyrians and Armenians including their right to regional autonomy in the regions and communities in which these ethnic groups form a majority.” Article 36 guarantees complete freedom of religion also for the Christian denominations and the religious community of the Yezidi.

                Apart from the Kurdish and Arab languages Turkmen, New Aramaic and Armenian are recognized as languages of the smaller nationalities. In communities or regions where these form the majority local or regional autonomy is granted. The right to native language instruction is guaranteed by the constitution from primary school to university.

                An electoral law for Kurdistan also sets down that eleven of the 111 seats in the regional parliament are reserved for non-Kurdish nationalities:

                five seats each for Turkmens and Christians and one seat for the small Armenian ethnic group. For the provincial councils also a comprehensive quota system has been introduced. In Sulaimaniya one seat has been reserved for the Chaldaic Aramean Assyrians, In Arbil there are three seats for the Turkmens, two for the Aramaic-speaking Christians and one for the Armenians, while in Dohuk two seats are reserved for the Aramaic-speaking Christians and one for the Armenians. The smaller peoples will be having as a result of their guaranteed seats in all bodies more representatives than corresponds to their percentage in the total population.

                In Kurdistan/Iraq there is today a Turkmen and a New Aramaic school system with 58 Aramaic, 16 Turkmen and two Armenian schools. Both nationalities have media (press, radio, TV and culture institutes) in their languages. There is also a private Turkish university and a theological seminar of the Chaldaic Catholic Church for the training of priests, which following the recent mass flight of Christians from Baghdad was transferred to the Kurd capital of Arbil.
                Link
                Last edited by Alexandros; 07-11-2009, 10:01 AM.

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                • #9
                  Re: A Kurdish state is emerging in Northern Iraq?

                  Excellent find Alexandros. Too bad the number of Iraqi-Armenians greatly diminished further with the recent war. But regardless, a victory for our people and good to see the Assyrians finally having some say in their regions.
                  Azerbaboon: 9.000 Google hits and counting!

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                  • #10
                    Re: A Kurdish state is emerging in Northern Iraq?

                    Yes thanks Alexandros for the find and the good news for all the minorities in the region.

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