The Kurdish Conflicts in Iraq

[stk at schism.antenna.nl]

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zonehero at aol.com writes:

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      The Kurdish Conflicts in Iraq

                          By Students for Social Responsibility (SSR)

The following is a fact sheet published by SSR concerning the present
Kurdish conflicts in Iraq. We know that hearing a limited amount of
information concerning separate Kurdish factions, groups of Kurds in Iraq,
Iran, Turkey, and Syria, and even who the Kurds are can be confusing, so
we have decided to inform you about this situation. The great majority of
people who hear about any issue develop an opinion on it, and we recognize
that all opinions are different, and believe that informed opinions that
can be substantiated by using established facts are the best opinions. The
purpose of this handout is not to tell you what opinion to develop, but
rather to aid you in developing an informed opinion.
	First of all, we will explain who the Kurds are. The Kurds are the
world s largest ethnic minority with no independent homeland. Their
language is Kurdish, which is related to Farsi (Persian), the language of
Iran. Most Kurds live in Turkey and are Sunni Muslims. The name of the
region in which the Kurds live is called Kurdistan, and it includes parts
of Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and a very small part of Syria. In 1925, the Treaty
of Sevres established an independent Kurdish state called Kurdistan, but
this treaty was violated by Turkey. Throughout time the Kurds have fought
for the creation of an independent Kurdistan, and have been persecuted by
totalitarian governments which rule over traditionally Kurdish areas.
Turkey has limited the Kurds  democratic means of promoting their struggle
for cultural and national rights and atrocities by this government against
the Kurds have been documented, so Kurds have resorted to terrorism. After
the conclusion of the Gulf War, the people of Iraq were encouraged to rise
up against Saddam Hussein by President George Bush. The Kurds heeded this
call and revolted, perhaps expecting aid from the United States. Instead
of receiving any foreign aid, the world watched as they were once again
massacred.     
	The Kurds have had dark moments in their history. They have
terrorized their Armenian neighbors to the north and west. A traditional
enemy of the Kurds is the Assyrians, who claim descent from the ancient
Assyrian empire based in Nineveh which is mentioned in the Old Testament.
They occupy the same areas of the Near East as the Kurds do. In the past
Kurdish tribes have looted Assyrian villages.
	The present conflicts are in the Republic of Iraq, and Hussein s
Sunni Muslim government has always dealt harshly with other ethnic groups,
whether they be Jews, Shi ite Muslims, Assyrians, or Kurds. Involved in
these conflicts are two major Kurdish factions, the Kurdish Democratic
Party (KDP) led by Massoud Barzani and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan
(PUK) led by Jalal Tablani. Although both claim to be fighting for the
Kurdish cause, these two groups have been fighting with each other since
at least 1994. In late July, several Iranian troops moved into northern
Iraq in pursuit of Kurds from Iran. They pulled out two days later but
left behind weapons for Tablani s troops. In response to this, Barzani
sent a fax to Secretary of State Warren Christopher complaining about the
Tablani-Iran alliance and presumably requesting aid from the United
States. Much later, on August 22, when the United States failed to
respond, Barzani sent an obsequious letter to Saddam calling him "your
excellency" and "pleading" with him to intervene on the KDP s behalf. This
was probably a last resort for Barzani, given that Hussein s greatest
contribution to the Kurds was to use mustard gas on thousands of them
prior to the Gulf War. Hussein agreed to intervene in order to keep
Iranian influence out of Iraq, preserve Iraq s territorial integrity, and
show the world that, despite the rulings of the United Nations, he still
controls all areas of the country over which he rules. 
	When President Bill Clinton saw Saddam moving into Irbil, the
"capital" of Iraqi Kurdistan located in the "no fly zone" in northern
Iraq, he launched 44 cruise missiles into southern Iraq, an operation
which cost the government about $50 million. The rational behind this
decision is that many of Iraq s key military and industrial sites are
located in southern Iraq. This strike served to send a message to Iraq.
There are widespread allegations that this was a ploy by Clinton to
increase his popularity in the presidential race. 
	These are all important facts about the situation of the Kurdish
people in Iraq. If anybody notices errors in this information, please
contact SSR. For those interested in the Kurdish people, the World Wide
Web has a great wealth of information concerning this and virtually every
other subject, and more information about them is available by request
from SSR. Please pass this information on to a friend or recycle it when
you are done reading it. Thank you.

                                                Works Consulted
al-Khalil, Samir. Republic of Fear. Parthenon Books, New York: 1989.
Fisher, Sydney N. "Kurdistan." World Book Encyclopedia. World Book, Inc.,
Chicago: 1988.
Slavin, Barbara. "Critics: Saddam coddled again." USA Today. 6 September
1996. 
Various email articles by different authors concerning the Kurdish
conflicts. 



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Solidaritygroup Turkey-Kurdistan
Memberorganisation of Foundation Initiativegroup Kurdistan
P.O. Box 85306
3508 AH Utrecht
The Netherlands
stk at schism.antenna.nl
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