Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris

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Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro de la Prensa-Basin Özeti Unprecedented Turns On Turkey's Kurdish Question www.al-monitor.com By: Cengiz Çandar for Al-Monitor Turkey Pulse. T March 11, 2013 urkey is a dazzling country. For years, I have been saying that nobody can claim to be an “expert on Turkey." Developments in the last couple of months have proven how right I was. Actually anyone can reach the same conclusion by looking at two photographs I saw. A photograph printed on the first pages of Turkish dailies in July caused a furor. Two women members of the parliament from the Peace and Democracy Party [BDP] known to be following the line of the notorious PKK and accepted as a Kurdish party in the parliament that is perceived as "Turkey’s Sinn Fein” were in the photograph. One of them is the current co-chair of BDP and the other was the previous co-chair. They were photographed embracing armed PKK militants who had cut off a road and were checking identifications at a point near the Iraqi border. Many people believed that the BDP people who had taken several journalists and TV cameramen with them had made a deal with the PKK and the photographs were scripted. In the hot summer days of 2012, meanwhile, the war between the Turkish state and Kurdish insurgents of the PKK were raging in full on the mountainous region near the Iraqi border. The PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, who is serving in life sentence on Imrali Island near Istanbul, was in full isolation. Nobody had heard from him for more than a year. As women have 50% representation at every level of BDP leadership structure, as instructed by Ocalan, there is also a woman co-chair. The obviously delighted appearance of Gulten Kisanak, the current co-chair and Aysel Tugluk, the previous one, (whom the PKK calls "guerrillas" and “terrorists” in official Turkish political jargon) caused understandable anger in Turkish public opinion. Turkish public and political circles interpreted the possibly scripted meeting and the embraces as an effort of “legitimatizing terror." In the last quarter of 2012, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan suddenly upped the bar and declared that those who “support terror by embracing terrorists” had no place in the parliament and should someone propose to lift their parliamentary immunity, his ruling party [AKP] would support it. In the last days of 2012, this issue kept Turkey occupied. BDP countered by saying that if their immunities were lifted, they would withdraw from the parliament as a political party in entirety. Moreover, lifting parliamentary immunities would bring about their judicial prosecution and they would most likely to be arrested. There was a similar case in 1994. Several parliamentarians of the Democratic Party [DEP], the forerunner of BDP, were arrested in the parliament and carted off to prison where they spent long terms, including three who served 10 years. That period is remembered as the darkest and worst violent era in Turkey’s history with its Kurdish issue. The possibility that BDP co-chairs could be arrested brought to mind those dark days and Turkish citizens entered the New Year with considerable anxiety. Then, a few days before the New Year's Eve, the Prime Minister announced on TV that negotiations had begun with Abdullah Ocalan and that he was optimistic about the outcome because he was seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. On Jan. 3, something unprecedented happened. Two Kurdish parliamentarians were taken to Imrali Island to meet with Ocalan. It took one and a half months for the second BDP team to go to the island. We are told that Erdogan had vetoed a visit by two co-chairs because of their "embrace of terrorists” in July 2012. Then three parliamentarians approved by Ocalan, including one ethnic Kurds take part in a demonstration calling for the release of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan (depicted on yellow flags), in Strasbourg, eastern France, Feb. 16, 2013. (photo by REUTERS/Jean-Marc Loos) Turk and another seen as religious-conservative on the “same frequency with Erdogan," went to Imrali and met with Ocalan for more than three hours. If this had been all, it wouldn’t be seen as an important development. But the delegation left the island with a mission to deliver a letter from Ocalan to the PKK leadership based at Iraq’s Kandil Mountains. A short time later the two co-chairs whose visit to Imrali had been vetoed by Erdogan, and others who had met with Ocalan, went to Kandil as a single delegation. The officials of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani’s Patriotic Union of Kurdistan escorted the delegation to Kandil. Murat Karayilan, who after Ocalan is considered to be at the top of the PKK hierarchy, accompanied by other top PKK leaders, met the BDP delegation. The PKK officials were in their military fatigues in front of a huge PKK flag and Ocalan poster. Gulten Kasanak and Aysel Tugluk who were in the July 2012 embrace photo were in the same frame, again looking delighted. The photograph was distributed by a PKK organ, the Firat News Agency [ANF]. The Turkish press used the photograph distributed by the banned ANF in their pages and websites. And, there was no furor in Turkey this time. It was definite that the PKK-BDP meeting, including the two co-chairs, was endorsed by Erdogan. Ocalan was expected to declare a “a lasting cease fire" on the eve of 21 March Newroz celebrated as the Kurdish New Year along with a plan and calendar for the armed PKK to leave Turkey as Erdogan demands. Those who had “embraced terrorists” in July 2012 and accused of “legitimizing terror” were somehow transformed to peace doves flown from Imrali Island to Kandil Mountain. Developments are taking place at a pace that exceeds the imagination of many. Prime Minister Erdogan even opposes the new initiative to be labeled as the “”Imrali process” that illustrates Ocalan’s authority over the PKK and his influence over the Kurds in general. Erdogan has asked the media to use the label “Solution process" instead. It would be excessive daydreaming to expect the Kurdish issue that dates back to the declaration of Turkish Republic to solve it in a week or two, in a couple of months and even one or two years. The said process, no matter what it is called, is fragile enough to be derailed any moment. But then we have never had such a process that created so much optimistic expectation of the right course for a solution and peace. Now eyes are on the Imrali-Kandil traffic. We are waiting for the response of Kandil to Ocalan and another BDP shuttle mission, all to culminate in a historical declaration by Ocalan, to be followed by new steps Erdogan (who has the most to gain in short run) will take. Coming days are prone to dramatic developments. Probably in terms of writing the foreword of this unprecedented process, we are in the last crucial days. ❐ 25
26 Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro de la Prensa-Basin Özeti Maliki Puts Kurds on Spot Over Oil Payments www.al-monitor.com By: Abdel Hamid Zebari for Al-Monitor T March 11, 2013 hrough the ratification of the Iraqi Public Budget Law for the year 2013 in parliament based on the principle of "majority" rather than "consensus" — amid a Kurdish boycott of the parliamentary session — it seems that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has put difficult choices before the Iraqi Kurds, which may manifest in the coming days. The Iraqi parliament approved on Thursday [March 7] the country’s general budget of $119 billion. The session was boycotted by Kurdish deputies, and had been delayed for weeks due to several disagreements, most notably over the payments of foreign oil companies operating in the Kurdistan region. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has asked the Iraqi government to pay the remaining dues of foreign companies, estimated at about $4.5 billion, while the federal government has only agreed to pay $750 million. The dispute erupted in September 2012, after the Iraqi government paid around 650 billion Iraqi dinars [$558 million] out of 1 trillion [$858 million] owed, on condition that the Kurdistan region would produce 250,000 barrels of oil daily. Payment of the remaining dues was delayed, with the Iraqi government providing various excuses, prompting the Kurdistan region to stop the export of oil from the region’s wells through the Turkish Ceyhan line. As soon as the federal budget law for this year was approved, the KRG announced its rejection of many sections of the law. It noted that the political parties that approved the law based on the principle of majority have overlooked the proposals and observations made by the Kurdistan region on the budget law, violated the rights of the people of Kurdistan and aborted the principle of national consensus and genuine partnership in power. The KRG pledged to take all possible legal and constitutional action against this attempt, which aims to harm the interests and lives of the citizens of Iraqi Kurdistan. The presidency of the Kurdistan region described the manner with which the budget law was passed as marginalization of a key component, a supposed founding partner of the political process and rebuilding the state, and a major ethnic group in determining the future of the country. The position of the presidency of Kurdistan came after President of the Kurdistan Region Massoud Barzani called for an urgent meeting of all members of the Kurdish bloc in the government and parliament in Erbil to discuss the issue. A presidential statement declared that "in a remarkable step that reinforces division in the Iraqi national ranks and monopoly of political power and the country's leadership, the federal budget was passed by the State of Law coalition led by Maliki without taking into consideration a major nationalist point of view.” The Kurdistan presidential statement adds: “As we are forced to take this position, which is open to all options, we hold the State of Law coalition, Maliki, and their collaborators responsible for what might ensue, and possible positions and developments.” Maliki has put the Kurds in a difficult position in the face of foreign companies operating in the Kurdistan region, which are demanding their dues after having waited for a long time, especially since they had been promised by the KG that it would resolve its legal differences with Baghdad. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki (L) speaks next to Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Hussain al-Shahristani during a meeting of the Council of Ministers in Kirkuk, May 8, 2012. The KRG has so far signed 50 contracts with foreign companies, which have invested $15 billion to $20 billion in oil exploration and production in the region. However, these companies cannot export oil without the consent of Baghdad or use it in any way because the company in charge of oil export is the Iraqi Oil Marketing Organization(SOMO), and returns go to the Iraqi fund. The proportion of the general budget allocated to the Kurdistan region is over 15 trillion Iraqi dinars [$12.9 billion] for 2013, according to the 17% quota set for it within the Iraqi public budget. Should the KRG pay the due payments to foreign companies, it would lose half the budget. This would also put the Kurdistan region in an unnecessary financial quandary as it seeks more development and reconstruction. Oil analyst and expert Wajid Shaker says that the federal government’s procrastination in paying the dues of foreign companies will force the Kurdistan region to pay the amount from the returns of oil being produced in oil wells in Kurdistan. He told Al-Monitor: “I suppose that the Kurdistan region will take a position. The way to deal with the situation will be based on the KRG’s decision. However, I believe that [the KRG] is able to export oil and pay the dues of foreign companies.” Last year, the KRG exported crude oil from wells in Kurdistan via Turkey, but in small amounts and without the consent of Baghdad, saying it adopted this plan to fill the shortage in oil derivatives after the Iraqi government stopped providing it with them, especially since the existing refineries in Kurdistan are unable to process the quantities needed by the local market. Sources indicate that the Iraqi government’s insistence on not paying the dues of foreign companies operating in the Kurdistan region is a step it took to force these companies to stop signing contracts with the Kurds, despite the government’s constant warnings directed at these companies. Shaker said that this would not prevent companies from coming to the Kurdistan region because they are carefully examining the issue: “Big companies like ExxonMobil and Chevron have legal and technical departments that correspond to the governmental technical departments in Iraq. They also have fields worldwide and enjoy a prominent status in the world of oil. They have studied the issue, know their interests and can obtain their rights.” Shaker added, “It seems that the Kurdish position so far is limited to threatening to withdraw from the government headed by Maliki, then withdrawing from the political process in the country. In the final stage, [the Kurds] might adopt a tougher stance, the details of which the Kurdish leaders are withholding, since it is early to do that."While Kurdish political analyst Abdul-Ghani Ali Yahya said in an interview with Al-Monitor that “the ratification of the Iraqi budget for 2013 by the Iraqi parliament, despite a boycott by the Kurdish bloc, contradicts the principle of consensus that has dominated political life in Iraq, albeit on a small scale, and will inevitably lead to the majority government advocated by the State of Law coalition, which is opposed by the Kurds and ⇒
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