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KURDISH SUPPLEMENT 1/10/00 7/10/00 * Kurdish clashes leave 22 dead in northern Iraq: faction * Barzani Arrives in Ankara * PUK attacks against PKK, part of a larger plan to eliminate PKK * PUK peshmergas kill five PKK militants in northern Iraq * Kurdish Pkk Rebels Say Ceasefire with Iraqi Kurds * Talabani And Barzani Are Invited to a Summit in London * PUK stops the war NOTE: All articles come from the Kurdish Observer http://members.home.net/kurdistanobserver/2-10-00-AFP-puk-pkk-dispute.html * KURDISH CLASHES LEAVE 22 DEAD IN NORTHERN IRAQ: FACTION DUBAI, Oct 2 (AFP) More than 20 fighters have been killed in two weeks of clashes in northern Iraq between an Iraqi Kurdish faction and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a spokesman for the faction said Monday. Fuad Maassum of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) said his group had lost 10 men on Saturday as PKK fighters tried "to occupy (PUK-held) zones" near the Iranian border. Another 10 PUK fighters were killed on September 15 and two more in fighting on September 17 in the Kardakh region, he told AFP by telephone from London. There was no toll available for the PKK side. Maassum accused the PKK of violating an agreement in June to regroup its fighters in the Jebel Qandil region running along the Iranian border. "But they have since occupied several (PUK) villages," he said. The violence comes after years of good relations between the PKK, which has waged a 15 year armed campaign against Turkey, and the PUK, one of two rival factions which control northern Iraq in defiance of Baghdad. But in July, Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit met PUK leader Jalal Talabani and thanked him for clamping down on the PKK, in a rapprochement with the Iraqi Kurdish group which Ankara previously accused of harbouring the separatists. http://members.home.net/kurdistanobserver/2-10-00-AFP-puk-pkk-dispute.html * KURDISH CLASHES LEAVE 22 DEAD IN NORTHERN IRAQ: FACTION DUBAI, Oct 2 (AFP) More than 20 fighters have been killed in two weeks of clashes in northern Iraq between an Iraqi Kurdish faction and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a spokesman for the faction said Monday. Fuad Maassum of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) said his group had lost 10 men on Saturday as PKK fighters tried "to occupy (PUK-held) zones" near the Iranian border. Another 10 PUK fighters were killed on September 15 and two more in fighting on September 17 in the Kardakh region, he told AFP by telephone from London. There was no toll available for the PKK side. Maassum accused the PKK of violating an agreement in June to regroup its fighters in the Jebel Qandil region running along the Iranian border. "But they have since occupied several (PUK) villages," he said. The violence comes after years of good relations between the PKK, which has waged a 15 year armed campaign against Turkey, and the PUK, one of two rival factions which control northern Iraq in defiance of Baghdad. But in July, Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit met PUK leader Jalal Talabani and thanked him for clamping down on the PKK, in a rapprochement with the Iraqi Kurdish group which Ankara previously accused of harbouring the separatists. http://members.home.net/kurdistanobserver/5-10-00-tdn-barzani-talabani-summi t.html* * PUK ATTACKS AGAINST PKK, PART OF A LARGER PLAN TO ELIMINATE PKK by: Cerdo Birnekir, Oct 4, 2000 The current PUK war against the PKK guerrillas stationed in Southern Kurdistan is part and parcel of a larger plan to eliminate the PKK. The architect of the plan is the Clinton Administration and the Turkish National Security Council (MGK). The roots of the PUKıs obligation to attack the PKK go back to the signing of the Washington and Ankara agreements. By signing these two agreements the PUK shouldered the responsibility to limit, confine and eliminate the PKK together with the KDP and the Turkish army. For now, the KDP seems to be abstaining from joining the attacks against the PKK because of its harmed relations with the Turkish regime due to the Turkoman issue and the embargo on oil trade going through Xelil Ibrahim border gate. However, KDP leader Mesut Barzani is currently in Turkey for a 3 day visit. The negotiations between Turkey and KDP will determine if KDPıs position visa vie the PKK. Mr. Barzani plans to meet with Prime Minister Ecevit today, Oct 4th and with the representatives of the Turkish Chiefs of Staff soon. One of the issues to be discussed with the Turks is when and how the KDP will join the fight. The primary goal of the Ankara and Washington agreements is the elimination of the PKK from Southern Kurdistan. These agreements oblige both the PUK and KDP to stop attacking Saddam or provoking him so that these parties would concentrate their energies on the PKK. They also oblige these two Kurdish parties to cooperate with the Turkish regime to eliminate the PKK from the area. This is the true motivation behind PUKıs attacks on the PKK, anything else is an excuse. Elimination of the PKK is on the wish list of Uncle Sam and the Turkish regime. Uncle Sam does not want any radical force or organization in Turkey or in Kurdistan that could ³destabilize the area. Turkey is a strategic ally of the US, a NATO member and a spearhead for US plans concerning the Eurasian continent. Turkish army is to be trusted the task of guarding the East-West Energy Transportation Corridor, i.e., the Baku-Ceyhan and other pipelines that will carry the Caspian oil to the West. It is also supposed to take an increasing role of confining Russia and stabilizing the not so stable Turkic republics of Central Asia, once it completes its modernization and armament plans that will cost Turkey a haughty $ 150 billion in the coming two decades. The PUK, by entangling itself in this inter-Kurdish killing game, is hoping to get a few benefits. One of them is to have Turkey as an ally -instead of Iran which is on the hit list of both the US and Turkey. The other gain that PUK strongman Talabani wishes to accomplish with Turkey is the opening of a border gate between areas under PUK control and Turkey. As shall be remembered, not getting an equitable share of revenues from the Xelil Ibrahim border gate was one of the primary causes of war between the KDP and the PUK. Also, the Turkish army promises to offer more visas for the PUK to use Turkey as a connecting link with the west. As to the Turkish armyıs motivations, they are very clear. The first is to eliminate the PKK physically. Kill or arrest the commanders and leaders and end this chapter of the history of uprisings without conceding any rights to the Kurds. As shall be remembered, the PKK stopped its 16 year guerrilla war and pulled its forces to the South. Having decided to wage a peaceful struggle for Kurdish rights in Turkey, the PKK decided in its 7th Extraordinary Congress to transform itself into a civilian force to bring about democracy in Turkey using Turkeyıs acceptance into EU candidacy as an opportunity. The Turkish regime through Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit has openly declared that it will not allow the PKK to become a civilian, political force in Turkey or anywhere else. The Turkish regime is working on all fronts to isolate and cut PKK from the outside world. Turkey has very recently concluded another set of agreements with Syria to cement the earlier Adana agreement that created joint-monitoring committees to stop once and for all Syrian aid to the PKK. Turkey has been pushing Iran to cut its relations with the PKK, but unsuccessfully so far. In Europe, it works closely with Germany to severe PKKıs links with the Kurdish diaspora in Europe. Similar agreements were worked out with Greece and Russia. Greek government was instrumental in handing Mr. Ocalan to the Turkish special forces in Kenya. Turkey signed agreements with Russia and Georgia to stop PKK activities in those countries and to turn in PKK militants caught in those countries in return for cutting its own aid to Chechen rebels and separatist rebels of Abkhazia. Turkeyıs second motivation is to stop the likelihood of any Kurdish state in the South. Turkey is using the PUK against the PKK. When and if the PUK eliminates the PKK at the expense of weakening itself severely, it will revive its relations with the KDP, and encourage a KDP-PUK shoot out. When KDP eliminates the PUK, Turkey will invite Saddam to take control of the Kurdish enclave. This is in -rough outline-the Turkish dream put into operation. It seems that the blindfolded Kurdish parties are falling for it. However, in the long run, Turkey wants to destroy the solidarity between the Kurds of North and South Kurdistan and open up cleavages. During PKKıs 16 year-old war, Kurds from all parts of Kurdistan participated in the struggle and established friendships that shattered the isolating effect of the official borders. This war linked all parts of Kurdistan and politicized Kurds greatly. Likewise, the Kurdish-Kurdish solidarity that developed in the aftermath of Saddamıs poison gas attack on Southern Kurds and the ensuing flight of Kurds to Turkey. And there, the solidarity that Northern Kurds offered to their Southern brethrens all helped to cement lasting bonds. Turkey wants these bonds and ties of friendship be destroyed at the hands of another Kurdish party, in this case, the PUK, to open up a new round of blood feud among the Kurds and Kurdish parties. Turkey calls this policy ³Let Dogs Kill Dogs.² Will the Kurds fall for it? Looking at the carnage between the two Kurdish parties, it seems that Turkey is succeeding. Very soon Turkey itself will use these clashes as an excuse and join the PUK (and perhaps the KDP). More Kurdish mothers are to grieve. PUK claim that PKK is attacking PUK territory is not only preposterous, but also a propaganda ploy to deceive the Kurdish masses. The PUK has specific instructions to confine the PKK to a specific valley whereby the Turkish army will strike in winter and slaughter the PKK personnel. In response to this danger, the PKK has spread its forces in a larger area to avoid being struck by Turkey. So Mr. Talabani is wittingly or unwittingly involved in this game of herding the PKK fighters into the slaughtering grounds. This is not only stabbing another Kurdish party in the back, but also cutting the branch he is sitting on. For the elimination of the PKK is PUKıs own elimination. It is just a matter of time. The Kurds will never be free unless they stop this inter-Kurdish fighting. Without inter Kurdish unity, they will always be victims and a subservient nation. More than this, they will be assimilated by the overlord states and finally they will vanish. In this respect, in relation to Kurdish freedom, the PUK attacks on the PKK are an attack on the future of all Kurds. It should stop RIGHT AWAY. http://members.home.net/kurdistanobserver/4-10-00-tdn-puk-pkk.html * PUK PESHMERGAS KILL FIVE PKK MILITANTS IN NORTHERN IRAQ Oct 4, 2000 Tunceli - Reuters Fighting between rival Kurdish factions continued for a fourth day in northern Iraq on Monday after an Iraqi Kurdish militia killed five PKK terrorists overnight, a Turkish military official said. Turkish military officials told Reuters that members of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), which controls a strip of territory bordering Iran, killed five militants of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The PKK has used northern Iraq as a base for its armed struggle for autonomy in southeastern Turkey, and many of its forces retreated to the mountainous region after the 1999 capture of its chief, Abdullah Ocalan. But two rival Iraqi Kurdish factions have controlled much of northern Iraq since seizing the region, which is protected by U.S. and British air patrols, from Baghdad after the 1991 Gulf War. A PUK representative said the latest fighting was started by the PKK. "The PUK doesn't allow them to infiltrate the region [it controls]," he said. "There is no campaign by us against them -- it's a campaign by them against us." Iraqi Kurds and PKK groups say fighting between the PKK and the PUK has killed dozens of people in the last few weeks. A PUK representative in Ankara said fighting had ended with seven of its militiamen dead. Turkey stops journalists visiting northern Iraq, making independent confirmation of reports difficult. Turkey frequently sends thousands of troops into northern Iraq during offensives against PKK militants and has fought them alongside the other principal Iraqi Kurdish faction, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). http://members.home.net/kurdistanobserver/5-10-00-Reu-pkk-announce-ceasefire .html * KURDISH PKK REBELS SAY CEASEFIRE WITH IRAQI KURDS ISTANBUL, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Separatist Turkish Kurds announced on Wednesday a unilateral ceasefire with an Iraqi Kurdish faction they have fought for weeks in a Western guarded enclave of northern Iraq in which dozens of people have died. The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) has used northern Iraq, which slipped from Baghdad's control after the 1991 Gulf War, as a base in its 16-year campaign for autonomy in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast. Turkey has fought the PKK in northern Iraq alongside a Kurdish militia that controls territory on its border. It has also has consulted with Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), which controls the eastern part of the region, on measures to take against PKK guerrillas. "We hope that the PUK will see that this war does no one any good and respond positively to the ceasefire," the PKK's Chairmanship Council said in a statement quoted on the website of the Ozgur Politika journal, which is close to the PKK. Representatives of the PUK, which has charged that Iraqi authorities are using the PKK to undermine its position in northern Iraq, said fighting continued and they had heard nothing of a proposal to end hostilities. "They are still attacking our positions, particularly from the region of Mount Qandill (near Turkey's southeastern border and Iran)," a PUK representative in Ankara told Reuters. "I have no knowledge of any agreement on a ceasefire, but if they want to stop, let them stop." Turkey frequently sends troops into northern Iraq in offensives against the PKK. Talabani visited Ankara in July for talks with Turkish officials, who said the two sides discussed coordination to rein in the PKK's activities in PUK territory http://members.home.net/kurdistanobserver/5-10-00-tdn-barzani-talabani-summi t.html * TALABANI AND BARZANI ARE INVITED TO A SUMMIT IN LONDON Oct 5, 2000 Saadet Oruc Ankara - Turkish Daily News Massoud Barzani, leader of the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) and Jalal Talabani, leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) have both been invited to London. The British government wants to welcome both leaders, Western diplomatic sources said. Diplomats said that as the co-sponsors of the Ankara( Washington) process, both Washington and London wanted to accelerate efforts for a reconciliation in northern Iraq. On his way to London, Massoud Barzani, accompanied by Sami Abdurrahman, general secretary of his party and top generals of his peshmerga units, came to Ankara, where he had a three-day schedule of official talks Barzani met with National Intelligence Organization (MIT) Undersecretary Senkal Atasagun and some British, U.S. and Egyptian diplomats in Ankara on Wednesday. The KDP leader is expected to meet with Faruk Logoglu, Foreign Affairs Ministry undersecretary, and will visit the General Staff headquarters. When asked at the airport about his Ankara talks, Barzani did not want to elaborate, but said that the recent clashes between the PUK and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) would be raised during the talks. Sources close to Barzani said that all economic and security matters would be discussed in Ankara, where Barzani planned to have an open agenda. On the other hand, Western diplomats said that a general invitation had been conveyed to both leaders, Talabani and Barzani. However, when asked at the airport, Barzani said that he did not know whether Talabani planned to visit London. Barzani was welcomed by Turkish parliamentarians from the Southeast. Motherland party (ANAP) Diyarbakir Deputy Hasim Hasimi, Adiyaman Deputy Mehmet Mir Dengir Firat and Hakkari Deputy Macit Piruzbeyoglu went to the airport to welcome the Kurdish leader. Health services in northern Iraq and the Southeast Piruzbeyoglu, who is also a relative of Barzani, had appealed to Parliament to improve health services in Turkey`s Southeast. These are so poor that patients are going to hospitals in northern Iraq and Iran. Health Minister Osman Durmus confessed that health services in the Southeast are not sufficient and admitted that measures should be taken to rectify the situation. Speaking to the Turkish Daily News, Piruzbeyoglu said that he did not find the minister's promises particularly persuasive. http://members.home.net/kurdistanobserver/6-10-00-op-fighting-stoped.html * PUK STOPS THE WAR Ozgar Politika, Oct 6, 2000 It was announced that the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), in response to the cease fire called by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), had stopped the war as of noon two days ago. The news which appeared in the PUK's press organ the Kurdistani Niwê newspaper stating that the PUK would abide by the PKK's cease fire was based on the comments of a spokesman for the peshmerga command. The spokesman at the same time stated that the condition for the continuation of the cease fire was that the PKK guerrillas leave regions that they had taken during the war and return to their former positions. Clashes continued until afternoon It was stated that, entering the third day of the cease fire declared by the PKK, clashes continued intensely from the preceding evening up until that afternoon. Information obtained said that close to 30 peshmergas had lost their lives in clashes that were concentrated in the Kanicenge area. It was reported that 3 guerrillas were killed and 5 wounded in the same conflicts. There were also intense clashes at Zele and Karox. According to information received, PUK peshmergas assaulted the Kanicenge area with mortars, cannons, and anti-aircraft guns in an attack that started the other night about 2:00 AM and lasted until morning. At the same time, peshmergas who conducted assaults against guerrillas who had taken hill-tops between Zele and the city of Ranya were repelled and forced to retreat. It was also reported that at the same time clashes continued at Kanicenge, intense clashes occurred in Karosh after peshmergas went on the offense. PKK sources state that clashes had ceased after noon on the day before yesterday. PUK will regroup Meanwhile, local sources have stated that PUK officials were to have held an important meeting today. It was expected that the officials would evaluate the current situation at the meeting and that it would be the stage of intense disagreement. Local sources state that those who were to attend the meeting were divided into two camps, with one side defending the view that the PUK should itself declare a cease fire and reach an agreement with the PKK and the other side supporting a continuation of the war. -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a discussion list run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq For removal from list, email soc-casi-discuss-request@lists.cam.ac.uk Full details of CASI's various lists can be found on the CASI website: http://www.casi.org.uk