IPS:IRAQ: Turkish Kurds the main lo

[PeaceNet Middle East Team]

From: <pnmideast>
Subject: IPS:IRAQ: Turkish Kurds the main losers

/* Written 12:04 am  Oct 29, 1992 by newsdesk in cdp:ips.englibrary */
/* ---------- "IRAQ: Iraqi Kurd puts down his gun," ---------- */
Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: IRAQ: Iraqi Kurd puts down his gun, refuses to fight PKK/RELATE/


an inter press service feature

by nadire mater

att edit)rs: please relate the following item to 'iraq: turkish
kurds the main losers in a five-sided clash of wills', moved
earlier from zakho, iraq.

istanbul, oct 26 (ips) -- a former iraqi kurdish fighter, who put
down his gun rather than fight his brethren, has accused his
leadership of ''collaborating'' with the turkish army to drive the
pkk kurdish guerrilla group out of northern iraq.

he further charges that recent newspaper reports referring to
pleas by the iraqi leadership for the turkish army to stay out of
the civil war is nothing more than propaganda following a fait
accompli.

''is it only now that they realise that the intervention of the
turkish armed forces is a flagrant violation of their
sovereignty?'' asks 30-year-old kawa akra. ''they are convinced
that the pkk has been rendered ineffective. that is the reason
they are doing it now. why not on the very first day?''

the iraqi kurdish peshmergas (fighters) and the pkk have been
engaged in a vicious civil war for the past three weeks with each
kurdish group laying claim to the territory known as kurdistan in
northern iraq.

the iraqi kurds are reported to have got the upperhand in the
battle with the pkk forced on the retreat following over the
weekend ground and air attacks by the turkish military.

the turkish government has been involved in an eight-year-old
battle with the pkk (kurdistan workers party) which has been
fighting for the right of self-determination of the minority
kurdish population in turkey.

last month, the army launched a series of attacks on the pkk,
forcing the guerrillas to leave their bases in south-eastern
turkey and cross the iraq border where they joined with their pkk
brethren -- already engaged in a verbal battle for control of the
region.

those words turned into violence on oct 4 -- the same day the
iraqi kurds declared a federal state in the region, at the same
time warning the pkk that time was running out for them to leave
the area.

but on the hunt for a home base after being flushed out of the
syrian-controlled bekaa valley in april by syrian forces, and
similarly forced to abandon camp in south-east turkey, the pkk
stood their ground -- and the war started. (more/ips)

iraq: iraqi kurd puts down his gun, refuses to fight pkk/relate/(2-e)

iraq: iraqi (2)

in the weeks leading up to the war, the iraqi kurdish leadership
was in constant discussion with the turkish authorities, and it
therefore came as a surprise to akra when turkish newspapers this
week reported that the iraqi kurds were calling on the turkish
government to stop the bombings.

''they (iraqi kurds) gave the army the coordinates of the pkk's
camps,'' charges akra. ''how else could the planes have
distinguished the pkk camps at batufa and saranis which are just
500 metres from the peshmerga camps. why do they (turkish
warplanes) never miss their aim?''

now in istanbul and dressed in a western-styled suit, akra says
he does not share the militant views of the pkk, but he has a lot
of friends in the group and could not bring himself to fight
against his brethren.

''for the first time in my life, i watched an armed struggle and
did not get involved myself,'' he says. ''i got within 600 metres
of the fighting and all i could feel was pain.''

having made up his mind to start a new life -- he plans to get
married soon and have children -- he has vowed never to take up
his kalashnikov again -- unless it is to fight against the forces
of iraqi dictator saddam hussein.

and akra says that he is among a majority rather than a minority
as far as shared iraqi kurdish feelings are concerned about the
whole situation. he recalled a recent meeting with one of his
comrades who was just returning from a day of fighting in zakho --
a border town in iraq where one of the several scattered battles
are taking place.

''now we are 'cahs' (traitors) to the turkish kurds,'' akra
quoted his friend as saying. ''how could we forget the help we
received from them on the border when saddam was in hot pursuit of
us last year?''

his reference was to a series of iraqi government forces attacks
on the kurds in northern iraq after baghdad had been defeated by
the allied forces in the gulf war. the united nations subsequently
declared the area a 'no fly zone' an to enforce it put operation
poised hammer' in place -- an allied airforce, based in southern
turkey.

an ips correspondent now in northern iraq has also carried out
several on the spot interviews in which the iraqi peshmergmas have
expressed reluctance to fight against their pkk brethren.

it only reached this stage, stressed akra, because of the
militant ideology of the pkk, which he said wanted to establish a
''free, independent kurdistan, only with kurds''. the pkk did not
want the united nations, any non-governmental organisations or any
allied forces in the region, he says, ''whereas we don't feel we
can do without them''.(end/ips/rp/nm/cpg/92)