From DEBRA at OLN.comlink.apc.org Wed May 18 12:51:42 1994 From: DEBRA at OLN.comlink.apc.org (DEBRA at OLN.comlink.apc.org) Date: 18 May 1994 12:51:42 Subject: IRAQI KURD CLASHES By AMBERIN ZAMAN Message-ID: <5P5ZQ5JwNMB@oln-f06.oln.comlink.apc.org> ## Original in: /HRNET/EUROPE&MIDEAST ## date : 17.05.94 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- DATE=5/17/94 TITLE=IRAQI KURD CLASHES BYLINE=AMBERIN ZAMAN DATELINE=ARBIL, NORTHERN IRAQ CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: CLASHES ARE CONTINUING BETWEEN THE MAIN IRAQI KURDISH PARTIES THAT MAKE UP THE SELF-DECLARED KURDISH GOVERNMENT IN NORTHERN IRAQ. NEGOTIATIONS, HOWEVER, ARE GOING ON BETWEEN MASSOUD BARZANI'S KURDISH DEMOCRATIC PARTY, OR K-D-P, AND JALAL TALABANI'S PATRIOTIC UNION OF KURDISTAN, OR P-U-K, TO STOP THE FIGHTING BEFORE IT ESCALATES INTO A FULL-SCALE CIVIL WAR. AMBERIN ZAMAN REPORTS FROM ARBIL. TEXT: NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN THE K-D-P AND P-U-K ARE BEING BROKERED BY THE IRAQI NATIONAL CONGRESS, OR I-N-C. THE NORTHERN IRAQI-BASED ORGANIZATION BRINGS TOGETHER THE MAIN IRAQI OPPOSITION PARTIES SEEKING TO OVERTHROW IRAQI PRESIDENT SADDAM HUSSEIN. FIGHTING IS REPORTED CONTINUING IN THE PROVINCE OF SULEIYMANIYAH NEAR THE IRANIAN BORDER. BUT I-N-C OFFICIALS SAY CONSIDERABLE PROGRESS HAS BEEN ACHIEVED IN SEPARATING P-U-K AND K-D-P FORCES. THIS HAS BEEN HELPED BY THE SETTING UP OF AN I-N-C-MONITORED BUFFER ZONE BETWEEN ARBIL AND THE K-D-P-CONTROLLED TOWN OF AKRA. BUT KURDISH OFFICIALS ARE LESS HOPEFUL ABOUT PROSPECTS FOR IMMEDIATE PEACE. SPEAKING THROUGH AN INTERPRETER, KOSRET RASOUL, PRIME MINISTER OF THE SELF-DECLARED KURDISH GOVERNMENT, SAYS THE MOST IMPORTANT OBJECTIVE OF THE NEGOTIATIONS IS TO RESTORE TRUST BETWEEN THE TWO SIDES. // KOSRET/INTERPRETER ACT // THE MAIN OBSTACLE IS THE LACK OF TRUST BETWEEN BOTH PARTIES. WE MUST FIRST REBUILD THAT TRUST. // END ACT // // OPT // KURDISH OFFICIALS ACKNOWLEDGE THERE WAS LITTLE TRUST BETWEEN MR. BARZANI AND MR. TALABANI TO BEGIN WITH. THE TWO MEN HAVE LONG BEEN COMPETING FOR LEADERSHIP OF THE IRAQI KURDS AND THEIR FORCES HAVE CLASHED MANY TIMES IN THE PAST. // OPT // BUT IT APPEARED MR. BARZANI AND MR. TALABANI HAD SET ASIDE THEIR DIFFERENCES FOR GOOD WHEN THEY JOINED FORCES AND REBELLED AGAINST SADDAM HUSSEIN AFTER THE 1990 GULF WAR. WHEN THEIR REVOLT FAILED, THE WESTERN ALLIES ESTABLISHED A SAFE HAVEN FOR IRAQI KURDS NORTH OF THE 36TH PARALLEL AND PROTECTED THEM WITH COALITION WARPLANES BASED IN SOUTHERN TURKEY. // END OPT // UNDER ALLIED PROTECTION, THE KURDS HELD THEIR FIRST PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS IN 1992. WITH VOTES EVENLY SPLIT BETWEEN THE P-U-K AND K-D-P, MR. TALABANI AND MR. BARZANI ESTABLISHED A COALITION GOVERNMENT. THE TWO SIDES SHARED POWER EQUALLY AND DECIDED TO MERGE THEIR FIGHTERS, OR PESHMERGAS, INTO A UNIFIED ARMY. WESTERN OBSERVERS SAY THE TWO MEN WERE NEVER REALLY ABLE TO OVERCOME THEIR DIFFERENCES, WHICH LED TO THE OUTBREAK OF HOSTILITIES ON MAY FIRST. NORTHERN IRAQ HAS NOW BEEN CARVED UP BETWEEN THE TWO SIDES, WITH THE P-U-K CONTROLLING SULEIYMANIYAH AND ARBIL PROVINCES AND THE K-D-P HOLDING THE PROVINCE OF DOHUK. LEADERS ON BOTH SIDES ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THEIR CREDIBILITY HAS BEEN WEAKENED IN THE EYES OF THE WEST AS A RESULT OF THE FIGHTING. FADIL MIRANI, A SENIOR K-D-P MILITARY COMMANDER, SAID IN A V-O-A INTERVIEW IN AKRA, THAT THERE CAN BE NO WINNERS IN THIS WAR. // MIRANI ACT // THERE IS NO VICTORY FOR EITHER ONE -- NEITHER P-U-K OR K-D-P BECAUSE VICTORY MUST BE AGAINST OUR ENEMY (ED NOTE: MEANING SADDAM HUSSEIN). NEITHER OF US SHOULD BE PROUD OF THIS FIGHTING WHATEVER HE GAINS OR HE LOSES. // END ACT // PEACE NEGOTIATIONS HAVE BEEN COMPLICATED BY THE ABSENCE OF MR. TALABANI, WHO IS NOW IN DAMASCUS. P-U-K OFFICIALS SAY HE WILL NOT RETURN UNTIL HE IS GUARANTEED SAFE PASSAGE THROUGH THE K-D-P CONTROLLED REGION HE NEEDS TO CROSS IN ORDER TO GET BACK TO ARBIL. K-D-P OFFICIALS INSIST THEY HAVE GUARANTEED THE P-U-K LEADER'S SAFETY THROUGH THE AREA. MOST ORDINARY KURDS ARE AGAINST THE FIGHTING. ASAD GHOZE, A SEASONED P-U-K FIGHTER, SAYS THE CONFLICT COULD WELL DESTROY THE KURDS. // GHOZE ACT // WHEN I WAS A PESHMERGA IN THE MOUNTAINS I WAS LIVING ON HOPE. I WAS THINKING I WOULD SEE AN INDEPENDENT KURDISTAN. BUT NOW I SEE CIVIL FIGHTING IS DESTROYING OUR HOPES, DESTROYING KURDISTAN, DESTROYING WHAT WE BUILT IN THE PAST THREE YEARS. // END ACT // THE DEEPER WORRY FOR MANY KURDS IS THAT THE IRAQI PRESIDENT WILL TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE INFIGHTING TO ATTACK THEM. BUT WESTERN MILITARY SOURCES SAY THEY BELIEVE SADDAM HUSSEIN HAS NO INTEREST IN ATTACKING THE KURDS BECAUSE HE IS WELL AWARE THAT IN DOING SO HE WOULD UNITE THEM AGAINST HIS REGIME ONCE AGAIN. (SIGNED) NEB/AZ/SKH/CMN 17-May-94 3:53 PM EDT (1953 UTC) NNNN From DEBRA at OLN.comlink.apc.org Wed May 18 12:51:44 1994 From: DEBRA at OLN.comlink.apc.org (DEBRA at OLN.comlink.apc.org) Date: 18 May 1994 12:51:44 Subject: IRAQ\TURKEY: CHEM WEAPONS USED AGAI Message-ID: <5P5Zhy.BNMB@oln-f06.oln.comlink.apc.org> ## Original in: /HRNET/EUROPE&MIDEAST ## author : GWUVM.BITNET!DSALCEDO at cdp.apc.org ## date : 13.05.94 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13 May 1994 AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE HUMAN RIGHTS ACTION NETWORK (AAASHRAN) IRAQ AND TURKEY -- SUSPECTED USE OF CHEMICAL AGENTS AND OTHER WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION AGAINST CIVILIAN KURDISH POPULATION AND VILLAGES CASE NUMBER: IR9412KURDS ISSUES: Misuse of science to deal with civil disturbances. Massive attacks, some using suspected chemical agents such as nerve and mustard gas in Iraq, and napalm and phosphorous in Turkey, have been directed by government security forces against Kurdish civilian population centers in violation of the rules of war and humanitarian law. FACTS OF THE CASE: In reaction to political unrest and acts of insurgency by Kurdish rebels, the governments of Iraq and Turkey have been waging massive warfare against Kurdish population centers. In Turkey it is estimated that 1000 Kurdish villages have been bombarded since 1990, with over a million Kurds displaced from their destroyed homes and communities. Last year alone, 452 villages were forced to evacuate. The Washington Post reported (on 12 May 1994) that "since the Turkish Kurds' insurgency began in 1984, more than 11,000 people have been illed, about a third of them last year." Physicians for Human Rights and Human Rights Watch, among others, have received numerous reports of the widespread use of chemical weapons against Kurdish civilians of Halabja and many other Kurdish villages in Northern Iraq in the years 1987-89. According to a forensic team assembled by Physicians for Human Rights, soil samples from bomb craters taken from Kurdish villages in the northern part of the country were found to contain trace elements of nerve and mustard gases, chemical agents declared illegal under international law. Allegations concerning the use of napalm and possibly phosphorus agents against Kurdish civilians also have been made against Turkey, but these allegations have not been confirmed by forensic specialists as they have in the case of Iraq. An international medical conference convened by Medico International, held in Brussels on March 12 and 13, 1994, cited "widespread killings, the destruction of civilian property and the ill-treatment of detainees" by the government of Turkey, but did not make any reference to alleged use of chemical weapons by the Turkish government. In other respects, the military campaigns mounted against Kurdish civilian population centers in Iraq and Turkey are strikingly similar in terms of purpose and effect. Use of certain chemical agents, such as nerve and mustard gas, is banned under all circumstances under international law (Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or Other Gases and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare). Other types of chemical agents such as napalm are not banned as such, but the use of these or any other weapons of mass destruction against civilians and civilian population centers would be contrary to the principles of humanitarian law as embodied in the Geneva Conventions dealing with armed conflict. These Conventions, which also are being applied as the basis for prosecuting alleged war crimes in former Yugoslavia, include a Protocol dealing with the special circumstances of internal armed conflict of the type taking place in Iraq, Turkey and Yugoslavia. This Protocol specifies that civilians and those not taking direct part in hostilities "are entitled to respect for their person," and that military action or other violence against them is strictly prohibited (Article 4). In particular, "Acts or threats of violence the primary purpose of which is to spread terror among the civilian population are prohibited," and the civilian population, as well as individual civilians, "shall not be the object of attack" (Article 13). Numerous international human rights standards guaranteeing the right to life and prohibiting discriminatory actions taken against particular racial or ethnic groups also would cover the type of repressive treatment being focused on the Kurds by Iraq and Turkey. These nondiscrimination standards include Articles 2 and 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and Articles 6 and 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. As a member of the Council of Europe, Turkey also is bound by the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, including protections relating to the right to life (Article 2), nondiscrimination (Article 14) and the right not to be forcibly expelled from your country (Article 3 of Protocol 4), which has been one of the results of the civilian assaults in Turkey. RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send faxes, telegrams or airmail letters to officials in both Iraq and Turkey: o stressing that the international scientific and human rights community does not take sides in political disputes, but must speak out against the misuse of science to violate basic humanitarian and human rights standards; o condemning the misuse of chemical agents and weapons of mass destruction against civilian population centers in violation of humanitarian law, and for purposes that violate international human rights standards; and o requesting an end to indiscriminate bombings and military assaults against Kurdish civilian populations and villages. (Sources of information on this case include Human Rights Watch/ Middle East, Physicians for Human Rights and the Kurdistan Human Rights Project.) APPEAL AND INQUIRY MESSAGES SHOULD BE SENT TO: For Turkey: Prime Minister Tansu Ciller Basbakanlik 06573 Ankara TURKEY (Faxes: 011-90-312-417-04-76) (Salutation: Dear Prime Minister:) Mr. Sabri Yavuz Insan Haklari Arastirma Komisyonu Baskani (Parliamentary Human Rights Commission) TBMM, Ankara TURKEY (Faxes: 011-90-312-420-5394) (Salutation: Dear President Yavuz:) Copies Should Be Sent To: Ambassador Nuzhet Kandemir Embassy of the Republic of Turkey 1714 Massachusetts Ave., N.W. Washington, D.C. 20036 Turkey Desk Officer U.S. Department of State Washington, D.C. 20520 Human Rights Watch Helsinki/Turkey Desk 485 Fifth Ave. New York City, New York 10017 For Iraq: H.E. Ahmad Hussain Khudayyer al-Samarra'i Prime Minister Karadat Mariam Baghdad IRAQ (No Fax Number Available, and postal services to Iraq have been suspended, so Telegrams are encouraged to: Prime Minister al-Samarra'i, Baghdad, Iraq, or send letter appeals through the Iraqi Interests Section, 1801 P Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036) (Salutation: Your Excellency;) Mr. Joost Hiltermann Human Rights Watch/Middle East 1329 Delafield Place, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20011 Please also send AAAS copies of any appeals you write, and keep us informed of any responses you receive, so that we can keep all members of the alert network updated. Reference can be made to the AAAS alert if you wish, although more personal appeals written on your organization's letterhead tend to be given greater weight. The keys to effective appeals are to be: courteous and respectful; accurate and precise; impartial in approach; and as specific as possible regarding alleged violations and the international human rights standards and instruments that apply to the situation. For further information do not send replies directly to this message (the Listserv does not forward them), but contact Morton Sklar at AAAS, 1333 H Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20005, Tele: (202) 326-6799; E-Mail: MSKLAR at AAAS.ORG on the Internet System; Fax: (202) 289-4950. Between May 9 and 25, if you need an immediate response, please send your E-Mail messages to NEVAGELI at AAAS.ORG. PLEASE NOTE: On our AAASHRAN alert of 9 May 1994 (a follow up to a 20 April alert regarding the detention of members of the Health Workers' Union in Turkey) we reported that the police were authorized to hold Firdev Kirbiyik and Fatime Akalin until 2 May 1994, but that we did not know if they were actually released on that date. We have since learned that they WERE released on 2 May. Upon their release, along with twelve others, all of them confirmed the allegations that they were tortured while in custody as reported in the 9 May alert. Thank you to all who wrote letters and we apologize for the delay in obtaining this information. 12 May 1994 Mrs. Tansu Ciller Basbakanlik 06573 Ankara TURKEY FAX: +90 312 417 04 76 Dear Prime Minister: On behalf of the Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), I am writing to express our concern about the alleged use of chemical weapons by the Turkish government against the civilian Kurdish population. As a scientific organization we do not take sides in political conflicts, but we do have a special concern about the misuse of science (in this case chemistry) against civilian populations. We have received reports of the use of napalm, and possibly phosphorus, against Kurdish civilians in Turkey. We understand that certain groups within the Kurdish community are engaged in terrorist acts against the government of Turkey. However, the Geneva Conventions on armed conflict clearly bar the use of weapons of mass destruction against civilian populations. The Geneva Conventions specify that civilians and those not taking direct part in hostilities "are entitled to respect for their person," and that military action or other violence against them is strictly prohibited (Article 4). In particular, "Acts or threats of violence the primary purpose of which is to spread terror among the civilian population are prohibited," and the civilian population, as well as individual civilians, "shall not be the object of attack" (Article 13). We therefore urge the government of Turkey to bring to an end the use of chemical weapons and any other forms of assault against Kurdish civilian populations and villages. The AAAS, with 296 affiliated scientific societies and 134,000 individual members, is the largest organization of natural and social scientists in the United States and the world's largest federation of scientific associations. The AAAS publishes Science magazine and concerns itself not only with substantive problems of science but also with the role of science in the world and the rights and responsibilities of scientists. The AAAS Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility, formed in 1976, focuses on this latter concern and seeks to defend the professional and human rights of scientists everywhere. The Committee uses the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the U.N. in 1948, as a guideline for its human rights activities. We thank you for your attention to this important matter. Sincerely, C.K. Gunsalus Chair, AAAS Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility From DEBRA at OLN.comlink.apc.org Thu May 19 22:41:14 1994 From: DEBRA at OLN.comlink.apc.org (DEBRA at OLN.comlink.apc.org) Date: 19 May 1994 22:41:14 Subject: Turkish News: 11 May 94 Message-ID: <5P9ab7SRNMB@oln-f06.oln.comlink.apc.org> ## Original in: /HRNET/EUROPE&MIDEAST ## author : trh at mcimail.com ## date : 11.05.94 ----------------------------------------------------------------- New Pro-Kurdish party formed in Turkey ANKARA (MAY 11) DPA - Forty-one members of the pro-Kurdish Democracy Party (DEP) Wednesday submitted a petition to the interior ministry to form a new party under the name of the Peoples' Democracy Party (HADEP). HADEP Founding Chairman Murat Bozlak, a former DEP secretary-general, insisted that the new party was not a continuation of the DEP, which faces closure pending a Constitutional Court case against the party for activities aiming to divide the country. "We are a new party, but a party which believes that a lot of the things that DEP defends are right," Bozlak told reporters. "If (the DEP) is closed there will be no one to defend rights. It will lead to a huge vacuum. We have formed the party to fill the gap." The DEP was founded in 1993 before the Constitutional Court ruled for the closure of its predecessor HEP (People's Labour Party), to enable its deputies continued representation in parliament under a new party. Six DEP deputies had their immunity lifted and were detained earlier this year. They are awaiting trial for activities threatening the national and territorial integrity of Turkey. DEP which set out to defend the cause of the Kurdish people in Turkey, is regarded by the public opinion as the "parliamentary arm" of the militant separatist Kurdish Workers' Party waging a guerilla war for an independent Kurdish state in southeast Turkey. ------------------------------------------------------------------- [This article has been excerpted.] GERMAN COURT SAYS KURDS MAY BE SAFE IN TURKEY BERLIN, May 10 (Reuter) - A German appeals court...Tuesday ordered a lower court to prove that Kurds from southeastern Turkey had no safe haven anywhere in their country before granting them political asylum here. In a ruling that could affect the asylum chances of thousands of Kurdish refugees, Germany's highest administrative judges overturned a Bavarian regional court's decision in favour of a Kurdish family. The Federal Administrative Court in Berlin said the Bavarian judges must...decide whether the Kurds would be safe in western Turkey, away from a 10-year-old war between Turkish troops and southeastern Kurdish rebels. Human rights groups charge Kurds are persecuted and tortured in Turkey, which Ankara denies. Hundreds of Turkish citizens, many of them Kurds, come to Germany each month seeking political asylum. Only a handful are granted their wish but those rejected by asylum authorities, like the family in the Bavarian case, can appeal to the courts for a final decision. It was not...clear what impact on other cases the Berlin ruling would have, but it could establish a precedent. Kurds in Germany and their struggle for an independent homeland in Turkey have been at the centre of several diplomatic rows between Bonn and Ankara, including a brief ban on military aid to Turkey. Bonn resumed arms supplies to NATO partner Turkey last week after suspending the aid for a month to investigate charges by human rights activists that Ankara's forces were using armoured cars from Germany to fight Kurdish civilians. Chancellor Helmut Kohl's government found there was no proof for the allegations in photographs taken by German rights observers in Turkey. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Turkish human rights group says violations on the increase ANKARA (MAY 11) DPA - The Turkish Human Rights Association (IHD) which released its monthly report Wednesday, stated that human rights violations in the country were showing an increase by the month. IHD Secretary General Akin Birdal told a press conference that there had been 21 cases of executions without sentence and deaths by torture in custody in Turkey last month. He reported 44 cases of bans on associations and publications, 379 deaths during clashes, nine bomb attacks on premises and 1,757 detentions in April. "The human rights abuses in April illustrates how human rights is agonizing in Turkey," Birdal stated. The secretary-general added that his association had come under increased pressure in the past few days, and that the activities of its Adana, Iskenderun and Bursa branches had been suspended. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Turkey says Kurd exodus to northern Iraq a ploy by separatist PKK ANKARA (MAY 11) DPA - Ankara Wednesday denied reports that thousands of Kurds had fled Turkey to northern Iraq to escape raids by Turkish troops. A government spokesman said that Kurds were being taken to northern Iraq either willingly or by force in a campaign staged by the separatist Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) to give the world the impression that Kurds were fleeing Turkish oppression. "There can be no question of the security forces raiding villages and forcing its citizens to flee to another country," Turkish Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ferhat Ataman declared. Neither had air raids had been made. Ataman said that, on the contrary, Turkish forces had evacuated villages to protect residents from PKK attacks. He said the evacuees had been transferred, mostly at their own request, to safe areas and that villagers were being compensated for damage caused in clashes with the PKK. The reports of a supposed exodus came as no surprise to officials in Ankara because Turkish intelligence units had learnt of the PKK plans, he added. A United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesman in Baghdad put the number of Turkish Kurds involved at 3,600, but Ataman said he had no figures available. Meanwhile, authorities in Turkey's south-east said on Wednesday that 12 PKK guerrillas had been killed Tuesday in separate military offensives in the provinces of Hakkari, Sirnak, Diyarbakir, and Bingol. More than 11,000 people are reported to have been killed since the PKK, which is fighting for the creation of an independent Kurdish state in south-eastern Turkey, began its campaign in 1984. From DEBRA at OLN.comlink.apc.org Sat May 28 21:46:54 1994 From: DEBRA at OLN.comlink.apc.org (DEBRA at OLN.comlink.apc.org) Date: 28 May 1994 21:46:54 Subject: The Kurdish Mess in Northern Iraq Message-ID: <5PjDSMcRNMB@oln-f06.oln.comlink.apc.org> ## Original in: /HRNET/EUROPE&MIDEAST ## author : msaosu at magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu ## date : 27.05.94 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Views expressed on MSANEWS do not necessarily represent those of MSANEWS, the Ohio State University or any of our associated staff and "WATCHERS". MSANEWS is a medium of exchange of news and analyses (standard and alternative) on Muslim World affairs. Information provided for "fair use only." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mideast Mirror May 23, 1994 SECTION: THE ARAB / ISLAMIC WORLD; Vol. 08, No. 97 HEADLINE: Iraqi Kurds dismayed by internecine strife as efforts get under way toenforce fresh cease-fire deal A joint committee including representatives of the two main Kurdish factionsin the Western-protected enclave in northern Iraq is working on separating combatants from the two sides after a cease-fire on Friday halted 20 days of fighting between them, according to Monday's pan-Arab al-Hayat. Up to 300 people are believed to have been killed in the clashes that erupted on May 1 between fighters of Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and Masoud Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), the two factions that share power in the regional government the Kurds set up in northern Iraq after they gained control of the region with Western help in the wake of the 1991 Gulf war. Wire reports from Salaheddin on Friday said KDP and PUK leaders voiced cautious optimism as they emerged from a six-hour meeting in the town, where theopposition Iraqi National Congress (INC), which has mediated in the conflict, isheadquartered. "I hope it will work; let us see," Barzani told reporters. The agreement is being implemented by the leaders themselves working out of a joint operations room at INC headquarters. The accord calls for the separation of forces in the central governorate of Erbil, the withdrawal of forces approaching Erbil and their return to their original positions, and implementation of previous agreements. The latest agreement was the fruit of intensive mediation efforts led by INCexecutive council chairman Ahmad Chalabi, who has previously sent INC units to separate the combatants. After lengthy negotiations on Thursday, Barzani ordered a cease-fire appeal in his name to be read on Kurdish television. He urged the combatants to end what he called "a bloody and suicidal catastrophe," saying it had "put the fate, future and gains of our people beforegrave dangers." o DISMAY: Several earlier cease-fire accords had failed to halt the fighting, which has cut northern Iraq roughly into a KDP-held west and a PUK-held southeast with Erbil between them. The city of Erbil, capital of the Iraqi Kurdish regional government, has remained relatively calm, but clashes have erupted in the strategic town of Shaqlawa to the north, closing the main road linking one half of northern Iraq to the other. The KDP-PUK fighting has rocked the fragile Kurdish entity in northern Iraq and dismayed many ordinary Kurds. It has also disrupted international relief efforts and alarmed the Western powers which shield the region from the Baghdad government. "We Kurds have a sickness, like cancer," said Jassem Jamil, 22, who owns a shoe shop in Erbil bazaar. "Whenever we achieve something, we destroy it by fighting among ourselves," he told Reuters' Alistair Lyon. Lyon, writing from Erbil Friday, noted that the KDP and PUK have a history of rivalry, but are now ostensibly allies with no major ideological differences. The fighting of the past three weeks, sparked by a petty land dispute in Qala Dizeh, has paralyzed the regional government and made a mockery of Kurdish democratic aspirations. "The leaders are to blame," said Hadi Ibrahim, a statistics graduate who nowruns a carpet shop in Erbil. "They have big houses and cars and get foreign money, but they work in their own interests, not in the interests of the Kurdishpeople." Many Kurds have similarly bitter views about the sudden conflict that has fuelled insecurity in a region already prey to fears about the intentions of Baghdad and of neighboring countries hostile to the Kurdish experiment in self -rule. KDP and PUK officials acknowledge the damage their feuding is inflicting on their government's credibility and the democratic image they have so often boasted of, Lyon wrote. They know they risk losing the diplomatic, financial and military support ofthe outside world and the presence of more than 400 international staff in more than 40 organizations. o SEPARATION: Al-Hayat's Iraqi Kurdish specialist Kamaran Karadaghi, who slammed the PUK and KDP in a sharply critical editorial last week, Monday reports that the joint body set up by the PUK, KDP, INC and Iraqi Kurdistan Front is continuing its efforts to "normalize" the situation in the enclave after the fighting stopped on Friday. He quotes Kurdish sources as saying the forces of the two sides are being separated and the process has already been completed in one sector, namely the road between Erbil and Khoi Sanjak, a town around which fighting erupted last Thursday. Karadaghi says measures agreed to "normalize" the situation include the handover of 13 positions seized by fighters in Erbil and Dohuk provinces to INC units and the elimination of all new outposts set up by the protagonists. o TURKISH KURDS: Meanwhile, a UN official said on Sunday that more than 4,600 Turkish Kurds fleeing Turkish military attacks have now taken refuge in northern Iraq. A UN High Commission for Refugees official in the border town of Zakho said UNHCR was helping 4,637 people, including 2,638 children, who had crossed the mountains to escape Turkey's conflict with separatist fighters of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). The refugees say their villages, mostly in the Uludere region near the border, have been destroyed by Turkish air strikes or suffered persistent shelling and shooting. The UNHCR official said the refugees would be moved soon to a camp about 50 km from Zakho where they would be safe from Turkish attacks. "A few of them have guns now, but they will be completely disarmed in the new camp, where they will be protected by the (Iraqi Kurdish) local authorities," he said. From DEBRA at OLN.comlink.apc.org Tue May 31 10:18:55 1994 From: DEBRA at OLN.comlink.apc.org (DEBRA at OLN.comlink.apc.org) Date: 31 May 1994 10:18:55 Subject: 'Undeclared demise' of the local Ku Message-ID: <5PvKoCVBNMB@oln-f06.oln.comlink.apc.org> ## Original in: /HRNET/EUROPE&MIDEAST ## author : msaosu at magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu ## date : 30.05.94 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Views expressed on MSANEWS do not necessarily represent those of MSANEWS, the Ohio State University or any of our associated staff and "WATCHERS". MSANEWS is a medium of exchange of news and analyses (standard and alternative) on Muslim World affairs. Information provided for "fair use only." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mideast Mirror May 27, 1994 SECTION: THE ARAB / ISLAMIC WORLD; Vol. 08, No. 101 HEADLINE: 'Undeclared demise' of the local Kurdish administration ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The ongoing clashes between Talabani's and Barzani's fighters could prompt a "regional-international agreement" to turn a blind eye to an intervention by Saddam's forces in the northern Iraq enclave, warns Asharq al-Awsat ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The ongoing fighting between the two main Kurdish factions in northern Iraq has led to the "undeclared demise" of the Kurdish regional government in the enclave and could prompt its Western protectors and regional powers to tolerate an intervention by President Saddam Hussein's forces, the leading Saudi daily Asharq al-Awsat warns Friday. Press reports say the clashes between fighters of Jalal Talabani's PatrioticUnion of Kurdistan (PUK) and Masoud Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) which erupted early this month have resumed after a short-lived cease-fire. Pan -Arab al-Hayat Friday quotes Talabani as charging that KDP and Islamist fighterswere receiving military support from Iranian Revolutionary Guards. () DEMISE: Asharq al-Awsat, in a London-datelined dispatch, quotes "independent Kurdish sources" as accusing both sides of committing serious humanrights violations during the armed hostilities that broke out on May 1 between the PUK and KDP, which share power in the regional government the Kurds set up in northern Iraq with Western help in the wake of the 1991 Gulf war. The sources said fighters from both sides engaged in systematic killings of opponents as well as torture to force them to disavow their party or extract confessions from them. Unarmed civilians have also been killed, the sources said. They said the fighting had led to "the undeclared demise" of the two-year-old regional government and parliament. Government institutions have ground to a standstill and members of government and parliament have given partisan loyalty precedence over national affiliation. The sources expressed fear that this will spell the end of the Kurdish experiment in local government and cost Iraqi Kurds the protection afforded their enclave by Turkey-based Western forces. The perpetuation of this situationmight even lead to "a regional-international agreement to turn a blind eye to Iraqi militry action in the Kurdish areas (ostensibly) to put an end to the armed hostilities." Asharq al-Awsat says information coming from Iraqi government-controlled areas indicates that government troops are massing on the Kirkuk-Erbil front andthat the Iraqi authorities have reconstituted pro-government Kurdish units on the Mosul front, apparently signalling that these units might attempt to thrust into the Kurdish-run area with the backing of army regulars. () TALABANI: Al-Hayat, in a London-datelined dispatch, reports that the PUK-KDP clashes resumed earlier this week, shattering a truce mediated by the opposition Iraqi National Congress (INC) last week. It quotes Talabani as charging in a telephone interview from Damascus that Iranian Revolutionary Guards were bombarding some areas of Iraqi Kurdistan with artillery and rockets to help an alliance of the KDP, the Islamic Movement of Iraqi Kurdistan (IMK) and the "Revolutionary Hizbollah led by Adham Barzani." Talabani, who accused the KDP of breaching the cease-fire, said "Iranian intervention" in the clashes in the area bordering Iran had "become clear." "We have asked the authorities in Tehran to stop sending groups (of combatants) into our areas, but to no avail," Talabani said. Talabani charged Iraqi Islamists of being Iran's surrogates when his forces fought fierce battles against IMK fighters last December in which at least 200 people were killed. The two sides eventually signed a peace pact in February. In his remarks to Friday's al-Hayat, Talabani also claimed that Turkey had opened the border near Zakho and that "huge quantities of Iraqi oil" were being transported to Turkey in contravention of UN sanctions against Iraq. Talabani accused his rivals of torturing and liquidating PUK prisoners, saying he had "tapes to prove" that some of them had their ears and noses cut off. Talabani said he hoped that "wisdom would prevail over bigotry" and that theINC-sponsored cease-fire agreement would be promptly implemented. He expressed confidence that Masoud Barzani was "exerting efforts to end the internecine fighting which we view as a painful blow to the Kurdish democratic experiment" in northern Iraq. Talabani said he wanted to return quickly to the area and would pursue "any path... to contribute to a political settlement." Al-Hayat said it was earlier told by PUK sources that Talabani had asked the Turkish authorities to provide ahelicopter to fly him back to northern Iraq, but an INC source attributed the delay in Talabani's return to the enclave to fear that he could come under attack, thus triggering "massacres" in the area. However, KDP member Hoshiar Zebari, representative of the Iraqi Kurdish administration in Britain, denied that Iranian Revolutionary Guards had infiltrated into Iraqi Kurdistan. The attempt to associate Iran and Islamist groups with the conflict was intended to "throw dust in the eyes," Zebari told al-Hayat in a telephone interview from Washington. "We defy the PUK to produce the Revolutionary Guards it says were taken prisoner," Zebari said. He dismissed fears of an attack on Talabani as "illusions," saying Barzani had been urging him to return and given him "guarantees" for his safety, but thePUK leader "constantly changes his mind." Another London-based KDP spokesman also denied that his group was cooperating with the Islamists and accused the PUK of violating the cease-fire. Noting that there was a long-standing conflict between the PUK and Islamists, hesaid: "(If) they (Islamists) are exploiting the fighting, we have nothing to do with this."