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

REVUE DE PRESSE-PRESS REVlEW-BERHEVOKA ÇAPÊ-RNISTA
STAMPA-DENTRO DE LA PRENSA-BASIN ÖZETi
turkish daily news / December 21, 1993
Iraqi Kurds join leadership, prepare to crackdown on PKK
Turkish Daily News
ANKARA- The two majority/arties in Kurdish-c~ntroIled
northern Iraq are expecte t~ take stronge~ actIOn
against Turkey's outlawed KurdIstan Workers Party
(PKK) in the coming days.
On Saturday, the pohtburos of Masoud Barza~!'s Ku~distan
Democratic Party (KDP) and Jalal Talabam s Patn"
-{JtieUnion of Kurdistan (PUK) metto conclude an agreemcntto
create a strategic alliance between their forces.
The process had started on Oet. 18 when the KDP and
PUK established a joint communique to prepare the grounds
for a strategic agreement.
Having finalized work in this field, Talabaili and Barzani
signed this weekend a major decision to create a joint
leadership committee, for all of Iraqi Kurdistan.
One of the highlights of the agreement was the decision
to send all questions concerning domestic and foreign issues
to the new leadership council. The KDP and PUK
would thus act according to the decisions of this committee.
Based on Iraqi Kurdish sourres, the council is to con~ist
of Barzani, Talabani, the Parliament speaker, the Kurdish
prime minister and two members from both the KDP and
the PUK. Kurdish relations with Baghdad and neighlloring
countries wil} be decided by this council.
In a statementlssued after the meetIng, the Kurds stre~sed
thatthis council "will decide on all major issues re~arding
Kurdistan." The statement also noted that "relations
with other Kurdish movements and specifically the PKK,"
would be decided by this council as well.
Sources now report that preparations in north~rn Iraq
are underway to introd~ce sen~us m~asur~s. agalnst,the
PKK and to obstructthls orgamzatlon s activities against
Turkey. Barzani, who has lashed out atthe PKK for not
abiding by its ~revious agreements with the
Kurds, is also mclined to throw the organization
out of the Zaleh region on the Iranian
border. About a thousand militants are based
in Zaleh, some 250 kilometers from the
Turkish border, where they!train and head
back into Turkey either over Iran or through
northern Iraq. "Very soon, there will be serious
measures introduced against the PKK,"
a source close to Barzani
Daily News on Monday.
told the Turkish
"We will use force if necessary to prevent
its elements from entering our
Barzani told the London-based
territory,"
Arabic AI
Hayat newspaper over the weekend. "I am
against the methods of the PKK. It presents
the most sicnificanl danger for the future of
the Kurdish nation," he s~lid,
Barzani currently describes the PKK as a
terrorist organization and argues that its
methods of warfare, which have so far claimed
more than Il,000 lives in the Turkish
southeast, justify this definition.
PUK leader Talabani, on the other hand,
brands the PKK as "a nationalist movement
with extremist policies."
Asked whether Talabani was less enthusiastic
to contend with the PKK. ßarzani said
recently, "Sometimes my brother Jalal is
even more enthusiastic hut sometimes he is
less. My enthusiasm.
permanenl."
on the other hand. is
Barzani and his KDP have sulTered the
most from PKK activities in the region
which have frequcntly sparked off Turkish
air raids durinp which civilian ~ettlements
allegedly have Deen hit as well.
Tlle KDP is a dominant political force in
the border area. On several occasions, in retaliation
to PKK attacks, Turkish warplanes
have even hit ßarzani's hometown of Barzan.
The Kurdish leader claimed such activities
were meant as a warning to him, but
cautioned in turn lhal such policies would
hackfire on Turkey.
The hordeI' area wa, evacuated by Kurdish
peasants two years ago following an
Iraqi attack and has since been uninhahlted.
The Iraqi Kurd, insist that to repopulate these
areas, Turkish air raids mllst cease. "The
people ,arc otherwise afraid to retllrn," Rarzalll
s:lId.
The Kurds have a trained army force of
some 4,000 peshmerges in northern Iraq in
contrastto Turkey's 140,000 troops in the
southeast region.. . .
The Kurds inslstthat border secunty IS a
jointtask and Turkey, with its greater resources,
could have a much better chance of
guarding the border area than they. Talabani
recently told the TDN that most of the PKK
militants were crossing into northern Iraq
from Turkey and called on Ankara to do
more 10 secure its borders.
Observers believe that with the new agreement
between the PUK and KDP, the Iraqi
Kurds will be obliged to take the strong action
they have promised against the PKK
and prevenlthat organization from using the
area 10 attack TurkIsh targets.
Report: Western oil
firms talk with Iraq
Relllers
NICOSIA- Several Western oil companies,
U.S. majors, have held extensive exploratory
including
talks with
Iraq on future oil production, the Middle
Survey (MEES) said on Monday.
East Economic
The newsletter said Iraq had been holding
talks with foreign oil firms since mid-1991.
intermittent
''It can only be assumed that the American firms have
received some sort of green light from Washington before
holding such senior level meetings," MEES said.
It saId senior Iraqi oil officials and representatives of a
sizeable number of American and European oil companies
held extensive rounds of exploratory talks in Anunan over
the past three weeks on possible upstream activities ~nd
projects. Discussions covered possible production shanng
agreements and technical service contracts.
Any agreements would depend on the lifting of U.N.
sanctions, but Iraq plainly wants to position itself to move
quickly once they are lifted. .
Diplomats and analysts say the earliest the general ban
on buying Iraqi oil could be lifted is mid-1994 and many
say itls unlikely before the end of 1994 or early 1995.
MEES said the areas being discussed included discovered
but undeveloped fields in south Iraq, and exploration
and appraisal of other acreage such as tlie western desert,
the central area and the northwestern region near the S'yrian
border. "Iraq offered to provide the companies with seIsmic
and geological data during the next round of talks, provided
that these meetings are held in Baghdad from now on,"
MEES said. The newsletter said the frrms Iraq had earlier
been holding talks with had been ~rincipally France's Total
SA and Elf Aquitaine and Italy s Aglp SpA, as well as
some independent U.S. oil companies.
"It is expected that a stron~ competitive play will gather
momentum during the next few months over the establish:
ment of a stake m the highly promisin$ and rewarding
acreage that Iraq is opening for foreign jomt ventures when
the sanctions are lifted," MEES conunented.
The newsletter interpreted the freeing over the past two
weeks of British, French and German prisoners as the
removal of one' more obstacle in the way of the lifting of
sanctions.
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