From pnmideast at igc.apc.org  Wed Jun  3 23:04:59 1992
From: pnmideast at igc.apc.org (PeaceNet Middle East Team)
Date: Wed, 03 Jun 1992 15:04:59 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Iraq: Iraqi Kurds pledge neutrality
Message-ID: <APC.1.0.54efc655.13b@igc.apc.org>

From: <pnmideast>
Subject: Iraq: Iraqi Kurds pledge neutrality

/* Written 12:05 am  Jun  1, 1992 by newsdesk in cdp:ips.englibrary */
/* ---------- "Iraq: Iraqi Kurds pledge neutrality" ---------- */
Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Area: Africa, southern
Title: Iraq: Iraqi Kurds pledge neutrality toward Turkish brethren


an inter press service feature

by nadir mater

istanbul, may 29 (ips) -- denying that turkish kurdish guerrillas
operate from their territory, kurds in northern iraq have dashed
the turkish government's hopes that they might assist the turks in
quelling the eight-year-old war in south-eastern turkey.

''the pkk (kurdish workers party) is not here,'' said an kurdish
democratic party (kdp) official in the iraqi town of zakho during
a recent visit to iraqi kurdistan.

yet, minutes later a pkk guerrilla in the same building as the
kdp colleague, declared: ''i feel at home here.'' code-named zeki,
the guerrilla said he had arrived in kurdistan, northern turkey,
four months ago after being on the run from turkish authorities.

describing a recent pkk assault on a turkish border post, a
senior aide official said the guerrillas were operating largely
from iraqi territory with some rebels joining from the turkish
side.

during the past two weeks, the pkk has launched two major attacks
on turkish targets. at least 29 turkish soldiers and 100
guerrillas were killed when the pkk attacked the isikveren
gendarme station on the turkish-iraqi border in mid-may.

last tuesday, the rebels assaulted another station in uzumlu,
provoking the turkish armed forces to penetrate seven to eight kms
into iraqi territory in hot pursuit of the attackers. at least 16
soldiers, two civilians and 21 guerrillas were killed.

iraqi kurds, including kdp leader mesoud barzani, claim that
turkish border operations usually cause more casualties among
innocent civilians than among the rebel force.

countering turkish assertions that recent elections in iraqi
kurdistan would increase regional instability, barzani told a news
conference on the eve of the vote: ''this election is the only way
to achieve to border security.''

barzani also warned the pkk that it would not be allowed to carry
out military operations from iraqi kurdistan.
''if the pkk wants
to fight turkey, they can fight there. they can stay here as a
political force, not as a military force...''

at the same time, barzani said that there is no conflict between
iraqi kurds and the pkk. ''we have no intention to fight the
pkk.''(more/ips)

iraq: iraqi kurds pledge neutrality toward turkish brethren(2-e)

iraq: iraqi kurds (2)

northern iraq has become more significant as a pkk base following
last month's expulsion of the guerrilla movement from the syrian-
controlled beqaa valley in eastern lebanon.

led by damascus-based abdallah ocalan, the pkk began its
guerrilla war against turkey in 1984. since then, some 3,000
people have been killed in the fighting. the kurds, who make seven
percent of turkey's 56 million population are fighting for self-
determination.(end/ips/ip/nm/jmd/92)


From antennae at gn.apc.org  Fri Jun  5 00:00:32 1992
From: antennae at gn.apc.org (antennae at gn.apc.org)
Date: 04 Jun 1992 23:00:32 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: Kurds support Mandate at UNCED
Message-ID: <APC.2.0.4a15267c.020@gn.apc.org>






APPEAL BY THE IRAQI KURDISTAN FRONT FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A
WORLD COURT OF JUSTICE FOR THE ENVIRONMENT.



The links between human rights abuse and environmental
destruction are clear.  Perhaps nowhere are these links more
vividly demonstrated than in the suffering of the people of
Kurdistan.

The world now knows of the crimes against humanity suffered by
our people.  The United Nations' special investigator into human
rights in Iraq reported "genocide like" operations against our
people.  Hundreds of thousands of Kurds were forcibly displaced
from their homes, many died.  At least 170,000 innocent Kurdish
men, women and children have "disappeared" and international
human rights organisations have found mass graves throughout
Kurdistan.  In addition to the use of conventional weapons
against our people chemical weapons were also used extensively,
in one attack alone over 6,000 Kurdish civilians were killed in
Halabja.

The destruction of our people became a war against the land
itself.  Thousands of Kurdish towns and villages were
systematically dynamited and levelled, wells were concreted and
springs poisoned.  In certain areas "killing zones" were
established where all living things, human and animal, were
destroyed on sight.  Our flocks and herds were slaughtered,
orchards uprooted, forests felled.  Today our land is polluted
with millions of mines that daily lead to deaths and
amputations, principally among Kurdish children.

The regime has also perpetrated global environmental crimes, in
deliberately spilling oil into the Gulf and firing oil wells,
poisoning the atmosphere.  Today the regime reportedly poisoning
areas of the Southern Marshes in an attempt to dislodge and
control the indigenous marsh people.  Yet for all these crimes
there is no international court to which we can turn to redress
the suffering of our people and to call the regime to account.

We are aware that, around the world, many other peoples are
unable to invoke the rule of law to stop the destruction of
their lands.  Many have their homes, livelihood and health
destroyed by environmental disasters, not of their making, which
they are powerless to prevent and against which they have no
legal redress.

We, the Iraqi Kurdistan Front, add our voice to this appeal, at
the UNCED Conference, for the establishment of a World Court of
Justice for the Environment, where justice is freely available
to all to protect the environment on which we all ultimately
depend.

From antennae at gn.apc.org  Fri Jun  5 00:02:16 1992
From: antennae at gn.apc.org (antennae at gn.apc.org)
Date: 04 Jun 1992 23:02:16 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: Kurds support Mandate at UNCED
References: <APC.2.0.4a15267c.020@gn.apc.org>
Message-ID: <APC.2.0.4a15267d.090@gn.apc.org>


To find out more about the Mandate and why the Iraqi Kurds are
supporting its call for the establishment of a World Courtof Justice
for the Environment, please go to conference 'mandate'.