Bulletin de liaison etd'information - Institut kurde de Paris

Revue de Presse-Press' Review'-BerhevokaÇapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro de la Prensa-Basm Outi
Veysi Boka, who manages local Gun TV a station that was banned for a year last week for airing a Kurdish song critical
of Turkish soldiers expressed his frustration. "They are always looking for somet!ung to punish us for," he said.
Meanwhile, Turkey and Iraq its neighbor to the southeast, which is also concerned about Kurdish nationalism began
discussing their economic ties this week amid mounting concern in both countries that Baghdad could be the next
target of U.S. military strikes.
A Turkish diplomat told Agence France-Presse that senior diplomats from Iran and Iraq met in Ankara on Monday
and "took up the economic aspect of our relations, and also international developments." The diplomat said the talks
were part of regular political consultations between the two countries. The head of the Iraqi delegation, Mohammed
Ahmed, said Baghdad was willing to boost trade with Turkey.
"Trade is constantly improving, and both sides are;willing to further c;ievelop the relations," Anatolia news agency
quoted him as saying. :l'urkey, a member of NATO and a key Muslim ally of the United States, has recently stepped
up efforts to revitalize trade with Iraq, which has been badly affected by U.N. sanctions imposed on Baghdad for its
1990 invasion of Kuwait.
Turkey puts its trade losses as a result to about $40 billion.
While the Iraqi diplomats met with their Turkish counterparts, a group of U.S. congressmen held a separate meeting
at the Foreign Ministry in Ankara to promote Turkish-American friendship.
UPI February 15, 2002
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Kurds have doubt about US military action in,lraq
IRAQI KURDISTAN -- The two parties that govern the autonomousarea in Iraqi Kurdistan have made it plain that
they are less than enthusiastic about a possible U.S. military intervention to bring down Saddam Hussein -- at least
as things stand now. With recent statements from Secretary of State Colin Powell and the print media awash with
articles about President Bush's determination to rid Iraq and the world of Saddam, the Kurds are yet to be convinced
that the military option would be a good thing for them.
That part of Iraqi Kurdistan ruled, not from Baghdad, but by the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union
of Kurdistan, could provide an extensive area from which to mount operations into adjacent Kurdish areas under
Saddam's control, the major oil center of Kirkuk, and on to Baghdad and the south oflraq. .
As well as desirable real estate, the Kurds also possess militias with a combined strength of about 60,000 men that
could prove very useful in dealing with Saddam's forces. However, the Kurds fear that the stability and relative prosperity
they have enjoyed in the area of the Kurdish Regional Government could be destroyed.
While Powell was telling the world that the administration is studying ways of getting rid of Saddam, the president
of the KRG parliament, Rozh Shaways, was on a visit to London. He told reporters that the Kurds are worried about
what they could lose as a result of a U.S. military intervention. Free of rule from Baghdad since 1991 and with war "
between the two parties halted in 1997, recent years have brought generally better conditions than those of Iraqis
living under Saddam's control. .
-'
Shaways' views have been repeatedly voiced by representatives' of both the KDP and PUK during visits to
Washington over the past year.
The Kurds have managed so well because, as they acknowledge, because the United States with Britain maintains a
safe haven for them. It was established in 1991 and is protected by U.S. and British air patrols that enforce the exclusion
of Baghdad'splanes from the area. The success of the campaign'in Afghanistan appears to have given Bush
confidence that a military operation could succeed. First of all, though, the administration is pursuing a diplomatic
plan involving the United Nations. It is seeking to have the Security Council order Saddam to re-admit the weapons
inspectors he expelled in 1998.
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