Bulletin de liaison etd'information - Institut kurde de Paris

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Revue de Presse-Press Re-çiew-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivîsta Stampa-Dentro
de la Prensa-Bastn Özeti
NeW-stine (PUK) February 26, 2002
'PM: Kurdistan as à Model for Future ,Iraq Kurdistan
Sulaimani - In an address to the cadet graduates of a course organized by the Peshmerga High Command, the
Kurdistan regional Prime Minister Dr. Barham Salih stated that the experience of self-governance in the Kurdistan
region is successful and fruitful such that it can serve as a model for a future Iraq. In his remarks the PM referred
to possible dramatic developments in the region, which require from all sides to be fully prepared with a unified
Kurdish political platform to safeguard national interest in order to achieve permanent and co~prehensive peace
through fulfilling all the obligations undertaken in the Washington Peace Agreement.
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Dr. Salih added that strengthening the Kq.rdistan governance model, especially in the economic sphere and the
building of civic institutions to provide public servic~s to the citizens, would demonstrate to the world that our
people of Kurdistan are fully capable of govemingthemselves under the rule of law. "This will surely be a suitable
model for future democratic Iraq", he said.
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The northern, Iraq quandary ,
Feb. 26, 2002 Hürriyet
by Sedat Ergin
(from TON Press Scanner)
Disclosing his impressions of a recent visit to northern Iraq, Hugh Pope, head of the Istanbul office of the Wall
Street Journal, indicates that the Kurds in northern Iraq do not exactly favor a potential U.S. military intervention
in northern Iraq. Massoud Barzani, the most powerful figure in northern Iraq, explains the reason in the following
manner: "We cannot be a party to any project that would endanger our acquisitiqns todate."
, .
Iraqi Kurds have a significant condition to support such a scenario: An official nature must be given to the existing
de facto autonomous struçture. Pope writes that the United States is not making that concession to the Iraqi
Kurds because Turkey is opposing that. Iraqi Kurds are obviously happy with the status quo since it enables them
to "protect and enhance their acquisitions." The central Iraqi government's failure to rule over no~ern Iraq,
Saddam Hussein's sitting in Baghdad helplessly, serves the Iraqi Kurds' interests.
Turkey is upset by this process, seeing this as something
",
leading to an independent Kurdish state. However, wary
of alienating the United States, it cannot take steps to bring this process to a halt. '
This deadlock ené\bles the Iraqi Kurds to bolster the institutions they have creàted the way they like.
According to Pope, one of the major steps being taken by the autonomous Kurdish administration in northern Iraq
is aimed at "defining the Kurdish culture." In this context, efforts are being made to unify the various dialects of
Kurdish. Karwant Akray, a Kurdistan Satellite TV channel executive, says, "For the first time, all Kurds are able to
understand one another." . ,_
-Last year alone, 250 books were reportedly published in Kurdish in the region. Meanwhile, "A Dictionary of
Administrative Terms" has been prepared. This is a hitherto unneeded kind of terminology.
One of the leading publishers, Badran Hasib, says: ','Thelanguage isgaining more depth and becoming more beautiful.
Now we are not as scared as we were in the past. We are laying down the foundations of a state."
At this point, Ankara is faced with yet another quandary. Ankar,a is worried aboutall these developments in northern
Iraq. Ankara thinks that the status quo is taking shape in favor of the kind of formation the continuation of
which Ankara does not desire. At the same time, Ankara is trying to persuade the United States not to stage a military
operation against Iraq's Saddam Hussein. Yet, seen from the opposite direction, it is obvious that the United
States' remaining idle in the face of Saddam Hussein, too is causing a continuation of the status quo. This dilemma
is clearly putting a strain on Ankara.
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