IRAQ'S HUMAN RIGHTS FAILURES

In case you missed it :
INSIDE IRAQ Iraq's human rights failures
Aljazeerah English
19th Feb 2010


Human rights conditions in Iraq continue to be extremely poor - especially for religious and ethnic minorities and displaced families.In many parts of Iraq, sectarian violence continues and families are still forced to leave their homes. However, economic pressures have also led many Iraqis who had left the country to return.But, the government still has no workable plan for these returnees. In Baghdad, only a few of them are able to reclaim their former homes. In rural communities many find their houses destroyed and they lack access to basic services, including water, electricity and healthcare.

With the resurgence of violence in the latter half of 2009, some returnees have found themselves displaced once again.

In addition to this refugee crisis, human rights organisations says they receive numerous reports of torture and other abuses of detainees in Iraqi prisons.

Government-run detention facilities struggle to accommodate about 30,000 detainees. Prisons are totally overcrowded - and some detainees spend years in custody without charge or trial.

The government says it is willing to address these issues, but critics say the current Iraqi leadership is part of the problem rather than the solution.

Jasim Azawi is joined by:
Joe Stork, the deputy director of the Middle East and North Africa division of Human Rights Watch,
Sabah al-Mukhtar, the president of Arab Lawyers, UK,
and Shatha al-Obosi, the deputy chair of the Human Rights Committee in the Iraqi parliament.

KERKÜK - MUHALIF HOYRATI

Juan Cole : What President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said at a press conference in Damascus

http://www.juancole.com/
Extract:

So this is what Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday at a press conference in Damascus:

"Iran, Syria, the Palestinian Resistance and Lebanon are ready to meet any conditions, and we hope that the enemies of the nations of the region will change their course and instead walk beside regional states in cooperation. Insofar as the Zionist regime threatens Lebanon and Syria and prominent personalities of these two countries every day, it must accept its end and grant in their entirety the rights of the Palestinian nation."

That is, Ahmadinejad began by offering an olive branch to any former enemies that wanted to make peace. But he characterized the 'Zionist regime,' i.e. the Israeli government with its current ideology, as intrinsically belligerent, and insisted that this 'regime' must 'accept its own end' and grant Palestinians their full rights (presumably, citizenship and property rights, which they now lack). Ahmadinejad seems to see Zionism as an ideology as essentially unwilling to allow Palestinian human rights, and so calls for it to acquiesce in its obsolescence.

Ahmadinejad did not mention Israel and did not call for any genocides, or anyone to be killed, or war. He asked Zionists to see that their ideology has no future. In the past he has compared his vision of the fall of what he calls the Zionist regime to the fall of the Soviet Union, which happened peacefully and with no annihilation of the population.

Report: Dutch Authorities Arrest Alleged PKK Leader at Turkey's Request

Friday, 26 February 2010

Dutch authorities have arrested a Kurdish man said to be a leader of a terrorist group in Turkey, media in the Netherlands reported Thursday.The Dutch Justice Ministry could not immediately confirm that the man, identified as Hasan Adir, was arrested at Turkey's request.

The Netherlands' state broadcaster NOS said Adir was arrested after crossing the border from Germany, where he has lived since fleeing Turkey in 1995.The broadcaster said Thursday an extradition hearing is set for March 18 in the Dutch city of Roermond.Dutch newspapers cite Adir's lawyer that Turkey considers him a leader in the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, which has been fighting the Turkish military for decades.

The U.S, the European Union and Turkey consider the PKK a terrorist organization.

Round-ups in ItalyItalian police say they have broken up a ring of Kurds who allegedly recruited and trained fighters for terror attacks against Turkey.Venice's anti-terrorism police said in a statement Friday they had issued 11 arrest warrants for 10 Turkish Kurds and an Italian who allegedly supplied fighters to the PKK. They are accused of association with the aim of international terrorism.

Police say the investigation was conducted alongside a parallel French probe and also involved police in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Turkish Weekly is an USAK Publication. USAK is the leading Ankara based Turkish think-tank.
www.usak.org.tr
www.turkishweekly.net
www.usakgundem.com

Büyük Türkmen şahsiyeti ve Değerli insan, Prof. Dr. İhsan Doğramacı’yı kaybettik .....

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

"يَا أَيَّتُهَا النَّفْسُ الْمُطْمَئِنَّةُ، ارْجِعِي إِلَى رَبِّكِ رَاضِيَةً مَّرْضِيَّةً، فَادْخُلِي فِي عِبَادِي، وَادْخُلِي جنتي "

"Ey sükuna kavuşmuş benlik, Dön Rabbine razı etmiş ve edilmiş olarak, Gir kullarımın arasına, Gir cennetime”

(صدق الله العظيم)

*********

Değerli insan, hemşehrimiz Prof. Dr. İhsan Doğramacı'nın Hakk'ın rahmetine kavuşması nedeniyle; yaslı ailesine, öğrencilerine, sevenlerine ve Türkmen milletine Irak Türkmen Cephesi Avrupa Birliği Temsilciliği adına başsağlığı delerim. Bu büyük insanın ahiretteki yeri Cennet olsun ve nur içinde yatsın.

Dr. Hassan Aydınlı

ITC Avrupa Birliği Temsilcisi

Brüksel - Belçika

Prof. Dr. İhsan Doğramacı vefat etti

YÖK`ün kurucu başkanı ve Bilkent Üniversitesi kurucusu Prof. Dr. İhsan Doğramacı vefat etti. Devamı için tıklayınız

Doğramacı`nın, tedavi gördüğü Hacettepe Üniversitesi Hastanesi`nde, ``çoklu organ yetmezliği`` nedeniyle yaşamını yitirdiği bildirildi.


Doğramacı, 9 Kasım 2009 tarihinden bu yana Hacettepe Üniversitesi Hastanelerinde yoğun bakım tedavisi gördüğü kaydedildi.


İHSAN DOĞRAMACI`NIN ÖZGEÇMİŞİ


İhsan Doğramacı, 3 Nisan 1915`de Irak`ın Erbil kentinde doğdu. Doğramacı, son olarak Bilkent Üniversitesi Mütevelli Heyet Başkanlığı, Türkiye ve Uluslararası Çocuk Sağlığı Merkezi Başkanlığı, UNICEF Türkiye Milli Komitesi Başkanlığı ile Uluslararası Pediatri Kurumu Onursal Başkanlığı görevlerini sürdürüyordu.


Londra`da 1971`de Kraliyet Tıp Koleji üyeliği yapan Prof. Dr. Doğramacı, Ankara Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesinde 1947-1954 yılları arasında öğretim görevlisi, doçent ve profesör olarak hizmet verdi.


İhsan Doğramacı, 1955-1967 yıllarında Ankara Üniversitesi Çocuk Sağlığı Enstitüsü Pediatri Profesörü olarak görev yaparken, 1967-1981 yılları arasında da Hacettepe Üniversitesinde çalıştı. Doğramacı, 1963-1965 yılları arasında Ankara Üniversitesi Rektörlüğü`nde bulundu.


Prof. Dr. Doğramacı, ``Orta Doğu Teknik(ODTÜ) Üniversitesi Mütevelli Heyet Başkanlığı(1965-1967), Hacettepe Üniversitesi Rektörlüğü(1967-1975), Tıp ve Sağlık Bilimleri Milli Konseyi Başkanlığı(1974-1981) yaptı. Doğramacı, Yüksek öğretim Kurulu`nun (YÖK) ilk başkanlığını (1981-1992) da üstlendi.


Değişik üniversitelerden fahri doktora unvanı verilen Doğramacı, birçok uluslararası akademi ve pediatri cemiyeti üyesiydi.


Prof. Dr. Doğramacı, 1985`te Türkiye`nin ilk özel üniversitesi Bilkent Üniversitesini kurdu; 1963`de Hacettepe Tıp ve Sağlık Bilimleri Fakültesinde entegre eğitim sistemini uyguladı. Ankara`da Hacettepe Üniversitesi, Erzurum Atatürk Üniversitesi ve Trabzon Karadeniz Teknik Üniversitesine birer Tıp Fakültesi kurulmasında öncülük eden Doğramacı, YÖK Başkanı olarak Kayseri-Erciyes, Samsun-Ondokuz Mayıs, Sivas-Cumhuriyet, Eskişehir-Anadolu Üniversitelerinin kurulmasına da destek verdi.


İhsan Doğramacı, uluslararası birçok kuruluşta ve örgütte onursal başkanlık, başkanlık, yönetim kurulu üyeliği, üyelik, danışmanlık görevlerini de yürütmüştü.


İhsan Doğramacı`nın 80`den fazla mesleki periyodiklerde, özellikle çocuk ve halk sağlığı ve tıp eğitimi hakkında yayınlanmış makaleleri; ayrıca Prematüre Bebek Bakımı, Annenin Kitabı isimli kitapları bulunuyor.


Prof. Dr. İhsan Doğramacı, TÜBİTAK Hizmet Ödülü, Leon Bernard Vakfı Ödülü(Dünya Sağlık Örgütü), Christopherson Ödülü (Amerikan Pediatri Akademisi), Maurice Pate Ödülü (UNICEF) sahibiydi. Ayrıca, Officier de la Legion d`Honneur(Fransa), Gran Oficial, Orden del Merito de Duarte, Sanchez y Mella(Dominik Cumhuriyeti), First Rank Commander of the Order of the Lion of Finland(Finlandiya), First Rank Commander of the Order of Merit of Poland(Polonya), Gran Cruz Placa de Plata de la Orden Heraldica de Cristobal Colon(Dominik Cumhuriyeti) nişanları ve T.C. Devlet Üstün Hizmet Madalyası almıştı.


İhsan Doğramacı`nın, Bilkent semtinde babası ``Doğramacızade Ali Paşa`` adına yaptırdığı bir cami bulunuyor.


İngilizce, Fransızca, Almanca, Arapça ve Farsça bilen İhsan Doğramacı, evli ve Bilkent Üniversitesi Rektörü Prof. Dr. Ali Doğramacı ile birlikte 3 çocuk babasıydı.

http://www.bizturkmeniz.com/tr/index.asp?page=article&id=18811

CULTURAL CLEANSING IN IRAQ

Les Halles de Schaerbeek en het BRussells Tribunal nodigen u uit:
Zaterdag 20 maart om 20.30u
Voorstelling van het boek CULTURAL CLEANSING IN IRAQ
(gevolgd door een debat)

reservation@halles.be

- 00 32 2 2182107

Inkom: €5

President Barack Obama heeft het vertrek aangekondigd van de meeste Amerikaanse soldaten uit Irak tegen eind augustus 2010. Hij was vol lof over de bereikte vooruitgang, maar waarschuwde: “Irak is nog niet veilig en er staan ons nog moeilijke tijden te wachten.”

De militaire veroveringsstrategie en de bezetting hadden tot doel een permanente koloniale, militaire aanwezigheid op te bouwen met strategische militaire bases, met een niet te onderschatten contingent van koloniale,militaire adviseurs en gevechtseenheden.

De brutale koloniale bezetting van een onafhankelijke seculiere staat, met een sterk nationaal verleden, een vooruitstrevende infrastructuur, met een gesofistikeerd militair en politiek apparaat, met goed uitgebouwde openbare voorzieningen en een uitgebreide alfabetisering, leiddde natuurlijk tot de groei van een brede waaier aan militante en gewapende anti-bezettingsbewegingen.

BOEKVOORSTELLING & DEBAT INLEIDING - Lieven De Cauter

DE VERNIETIING VAN DE IRAAKSE STAAT

Hana Albayaty

DE MOORD OP IRAAKSE ACADEMICI

Dirk Adriaensens

COUNTERINSURGENCY OORLOG EN DOODSESKADERS

Max Fuller

Locatie : Les Halles, Koninklijke St-Mariastraat, 1030 Schaarbeek

http://www.brussellstribunal.org/Newsletters/bookpresentationNED/posterned.htm

Our Kurdish problem, by Justin Raimondo

FLASHBACK -
below is an article written by Justin Raimondo in OCTOBER 2005


Our Kurdish Problem
by Justin Raimondo, October 06, 2005

It didn’t take long for the “liberated” Iraqis to turn on each other. While no one expected the Sunni Arabs of central Iraq to take the de-Ba’athification of the country lying down, the Iraqi “constitution” had barely been printed up and distributed before large cracks began to appear in the edifice of the nascent Iraqi state. “President” Jalal Talabani, head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), just the other day called on the Iraqi prime minister to resign, and while he backtracked a bit later on, the future of a united Iraq is looking grim. On the eve of Iraq’s long-awaited constitutional referendum, the country shows every sign of imploding.

The Kurds didn’t even wait for the ink to dry on the proposed constitution before they started pushing for de facto independence – and pushing Arabs and Turkmen out of Kurdish-controlled cities.

Eager to seize control of oil-rich Kirkuk [.pdf], which they claim as their historical Jerusalem, the two major Kurdish factions are demanding that the city be turned over to them – and that thousands of Arabs and others settled there during the reign of Saddam Hussein be uprooted and sent back to wherever.

That the ethnic cleansing of Kurdistan hasn’t been completed yet is Talabani’s biggest beef: the goal of the two big Kurdish parties, the PUK and the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP), has always been the creation of a “pure” Kurdish state, and the politics of post-Saddam Iraq have speeded up the implementation of their program. The Kurdish parties are mobilizing all their resources in preparation for the coming census, which will determine the voter lists for the upcoming parliamentary elections in January. They want to ensure that they control not only the three provinces in which they hold a majority – Dohuk, Irbil, and Suleimaniya – but also seek to grab control of Kirkuk, which is split almost evenly between Kurds and Arabs, and includes a sizable Turkish minority that hardly looks forward to Kurdish dominance.

Kirkuk was a garrison city maintained by the Ottomans as their local military base until the breakup of the Ottoman empire, when it reverted to the Arabs. It wasn’t until oil was discovered in the 1920s that the Kurds came to their “Jerusalem” – as their propaganda portrays it – when the oil companies had to bring in workers. The population remained fairly evenly divided between Arabs and Kurds, even under Saddam Hussein – whose “resettlement” policies were aimed at driving an Arab wedge into Kurdish resistance to Ba’athist rule. However, today, in “liberated” Iraq, the Kurdish party militias (known as “peshmerga,” which translates as “those who are willing to die”), are carrying out an ethnic cleansing of their own. Middle East expert Dilip Hiro recounts the sad story:

“Assisted by Kurdish-dominated local security forces, tens of thousands of Kurds have forced Arabs from their homes, creating at least 100,000 new refugees living in squalid camps in north-central Iraq. This has engendered widespread anti-Kurdish feeling among Arabs in the region and beyond. Anti-Kurdish graffiti, attacking Kurds for collaborating with the ‘infidel occupiers,’ is a commonplace in the Shia districts of Kirkuk. … Viewing Iraq as a whole, it is safe to say that if the country slides into a civil war, it would not be between Sunnis and Shias, but between Arabs and Kurds – and it will start in Kirkuk….”

Arab and Turkmen families are being turned out at gunpoint. The Kurds, unleashed by their American “liberators,” have engaged in a program of systematic kidnapping, in which anyone who resists their rule is “disappeared” and spirited away to an underground jail, as the Washington Post reported. A grand total of 50 have so far been released, and the U.S. military is taking credit for negotiating this display of Kurdish magnanimity. Since the abductions were carried out under U.S. auspices, and often with the assistance of American Army units in the region, this is less admirable than it seems. Hundreds, perhaps more, still languish in Kurdish prisons, where they are routinely tortured.

The Kurds have enjoyed a largely undeserved reputation as the most democratic, admirable, and American-like of Iraq’s minorities, mainly on account of their Official Victim status. They were, after all, treated horribly by the Ba’athists: Saddam slaughtered them by the thousands, ruthlessly crushing a series of rebellions against Baghdad’s rule – albeit at the invitation of the Kurdish Democratic Party, which today shares power with Talabani and the PUK.

Now that they are on top, however, the Kurds are instituting their own reign of terror, one with the potential to be every bit as brutal as the Ba’athist version. Meet the new boss – same as the old boss. It’s an old song, and the lyrics aren’t any different when they’re sung in Kurdish.

The Kurds are the Kosovars of the Middle East: that is, they are unrelentingly aggressive, fanatically tribal, and willing – nay, eager – to place themselves completely at the disposal of the Americans (or whomever) in order to achieve their dream of an ethnically pure Kurdish state. Theirs is the bloody legacy of 19th-century romantic nationalism, which caused two world wars and birthed twin totalitarian monstrosities, national socialism and Bolshevism. Rival nationalist and supranational ideologies initially fought it out on the battlefields of Europe, but the scene of the collision has lately shifted to the Middle East – portending a tragedy that towers above the first.

To envision the future of Kurdistan, one has only to look at the reality of Kosovo today: the result of the “liberation” of that former province of Yugoslavia has been the forced removal of practically all the Serbs and the establishment of a thugocracy lorded over by the Kosovo “Liberation” Army. In a single year, over 300 Serbian Orthodox churches were destroyed by Kosovar terrorism, all under the watchful eye of the NATO occupiers. Today, Kosovo is run by the Albanian equivalent of the Mafia: the main industries are drug-smuggling, human trafficking, and the contraband arms trade. The place is a terrorists’ shopping mall.

Like Kosovo, Kurdistan is dominated by various clans, each with their traditional territory and ancient grievances. The Kurds, however, have it worse, in some ways, because they are saddled with two competing gangs of thugs, the PUK and the KDP, which extort protection money from smugglers and local businessmen and often engage in internecine wars. The two parties are ostensibly devoted to the idea of Kurdish independence, but in the past both have been so busy colluding with outsiders – the KDP cuddling up to Saddam, the PUK allying with Iran – and advancing their own narrow partisan and economic interests that this goal has often been forgotten. Yet now the Kurds are remembering it and pressuring their leaders to act.

The U.S., which needs them to fight the insurgency, is cooperating in every way possible short of calling for their formal independence. U.S. forces, ostensibly pursuing insurgents coming in through neighboring Syria, have attacked the Turkmen city of Tal Afar, effectively supplementing the Kurdish ethnic cleansing campaign by bombing the area and leveling the city.

As Patrick Cockburn, writing in the [UK] Independent, reminds us:

“Days after the fall of Saddam the Kurdistan Democratic Party appointed its own mayor called Abdul Haleq in the city. He ran up a yellow Kurdish flag outside his office. He was told by local people to take it down or die. He refused and was killed the following day. His office, along with the yellow flag, was burned by an angry crowd.”

Now the Kurds – wielding the American military as their instrument – have had their revenge. The yellow flag will soon be raised over the smoking ruins of the city, and the voter registration rolls will be filled with Kurdish – and not Turkish – names. “Democracy” triumphs once again, and we all ought to be properly inspired. Why, it’s almost enough to bring tears to my eyes.

Aside from the overwhelming American presence, there is also the less obtrusive but no less important presence of the Israelis. Seymour Hersh broke the story of how the Israelis have penetrated Kurdistan in the wake of the American invasion and are using it as a forward base from which to keep a close eye on the Iranians. This piece, which first appeared in Le Figaro, reports some trouble on that front, a “conflict of interests” between the Israelis and Talabani, who has a history of good relations with the
Iranians and has to keep up the pretense of upholding the fictitious unity of the Iraqi state:

“Yet the conflict helped retighten the partnership between Mossad, the Israeli secret service, and Kurdish officials – allies for thirty years against the nationalist regime in Baghdad. For Israel, it was a question of promoting the Kurds’ federal aspirations and of containing Iranian influence in Iraq. ‘After the hostilities, the Israelis, worried to see thousands of so-called Iranian pilgrims penetrate Iraq, tried in vain to convince Americans to close the Iran-Iraq border,’ Patrick Clawson, Associate Director of the American research center Washington Institute for Near East Policy, explained to Le Figaro. But the United States, anxious not to obstruct their Iraqi Shi’ite allies, played deaf.

“The Israelis, observing that their allies were getting stuck, then decided to take things in hand. In Erbil and Suleymanieh, Israeli instructors, often disguised as businessmen, were charged with improving the training of the Peshmerga, the Kurdish militia. According to French military intelligence, at the beginning of 2004, about 1,200 agents from Mossad or from Israeli military intelligence were operating in Kurdistan. Their mission: to get Kurdish commando groups on their feet that would be strong enough to counter the Shi’ite militias in southern Iraq, the latter more or less manipulated by Tehran.”

Due to growing American displeasure, however, the number of Israeli agents in Kurdish territory has now supposedly been reduced to around 100. Or perhaps the others are merely keeping a low profile. Have the Israelis meekly submitted to the Americans and largely abandoned Kurdistan? Le Figaro doesn’t give us any reason to believe it:

“‘We’ve gotten strong pressure from Washington to stop our maneuvers with the Kurds,’ confides an Israeli sent to Erbil under academic cover. ‘The Americans are no longer in agreement with Israeli plans,’ he asserts. Washington no longer wants to tolerate a presence embarrassing for its interests.”

Well then, what is this Israeli “academic” doing there, exactly? Washington may not want to tolerate the Israelis egging on the Kurds, but U.S. policymakers and military leaders may not have much choice. The Kurdish-Israeli relationship, as author Georges Malbrunot avers, is some 30 years old and not about to be dissolved by an American edict. Kurdistan is crawling with Israeli agents who have the ability to make plenty of trouble for the central government in Baghdad – and the Americans.

A three-way civil war, pitting the Kurds against both the Shi’ite south and the Sunni-led insurgency, is a looming possibility, one made more probable by the American (and Israeli) presence, which acts as a spur to Kurdish separatism. This would be but the prelude to a regional struggle that would draw in not only Iran but also Turkey and Syria, which have their restive Kurdish minorities, as well as Jordan and perhaps even the Saudis.

It isn’t just Iraq that’s imploding: it’s the entire region. This is what the neocons have always wanted: Michael Ledeen hails “creative destruction” as the operating principle of the “revolutionary” Bush Doctrine, which is supposed to be spreading capital-D Democracy throughout the Middle East.

However, as we are seeing in Kurdistan, and throughout Iraq, what is spreading is not democratic liberalism but sectarian hatred – and war. A civil war, to start, morphing quickly into a regional conflagration.

The irony is that all the factors supposed to be standing in the way of this tragic result – the U.S. military, the Iraqi “constitution,” the once and future elections – are only exacerbating the crisis. The Americans level Tal Afar – and encourage the Kurdish rampage. The “constitution,” which is supposed to settle outstanding ethno-religious conflicts and regional rivalries, instead only worsens them. The elections are an occasion of a scrambling for advantage, with the majority Shi’ites holding the upper hand – a result, as we have seen, that the Kurds are not about to accept without a fight.

As Iran and Israel face off on Iraqi terrain and the country falls into chaos and civil war, U.S. troops are caught in the crossfire – and still our politicians do nothing. Both parties, as Cindy Sheehan has discovered in her meetings with Republican and Democratic warmongers alike, are committed to our foreign policy of global intervention, especially when it comes to Iraq. Chuck Schumer’s aide told her the war is “good for America” – a crackpot belief shared by John McCain and the neocon-run Republican party.

As we fall into the Middle Eastern abyss, there is no one to throw us a rope or so much as an outstretched hand: we are falling, falling, falling, imagining what it will feel like when we hit bottom.
http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2005/10/05/our-kurdish-problem/

Tony Blair: Israeli officials were part of decision to invade Iraq

Saed Bannoura
IMEMC , February 20, 2010

In his recent testimony to the UK Committee investigating the Iraq war, British Prime Minister Tony Blair admitted that Israeli officials influenced and participated in the decision by the US and UK governments to attack Iraq in 2003.

During testimony regarding his meetings in Texas with then-US President George W. Bush in 2002, Blair stated, "As I recall that discussion, it was less to do with specifics about what we were going to do on Iraq or, indeed, the Middle East, because the Israel issue was a big, big issue at the time. I think, in fact, I remember, actually, there may have been conversations that we had even with Israelis, the two of us, whilst we were there. So that was a major part of all this."

Professor Steven Walt, co-author of the book 'The Israel Lobby', wrote an op-ed following Blair's admission describing how he and co-author John Mearsheimer were attacked by the US media and by right-wing lobbyists for Israel when they made that claim in 2003. Now, Walt says, he feels vindicated because Tony Blair himself has had to admit publicly the extent to which the invasion of Iraq by the US, the UK, and other armies, was influenced by Israel's strategic interests in the region, and Israeli officials themselves.

Walt stated, " Professor Mearsheimer and I made it clear in our article and especially in our book that the idea of invading Iraq originated in the United States with the neoconservatives, and not with the Israeli government....We also pointed out that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and other Israeli officials were initially skeptical of this scheme, because they wanted the U.S. to focus on Iran, not Iraq. However, they became enthusiastic supporters of the idea of invading Iraq once the Bush administration made it clear to them that Iraq was just the first step in a broader campaign of 'regional transformation' that would eventually include Iran."

The two Harvard professors were vehemently attacked at the time by many prominent Jewish leaders in the US, who accused Mearsheimer and Walt of anti-Semitism for their 'preposterous' claim that Israeli officials had any impact at all on the US and UK governments' decision to attack Iraq.

In his recent op-ed, Professor Walt also noted that the attacks against him and Professor Mearsheimer were made despite many articles and statements by prominent Jewish organizations and writers in the US. In one example, he referred to an editorial in the Jewish newspaper Forward, published in 2004, which stated, "As President Bush attempted to sell the war .. in Iraq, America's most important Jewish organizations rallied as one to his defense. In statement after statement community leaders stressed the need to rid the world of Saddam Hussein and his weapons of mass destruction. Some groups went even further, arguing that that the removal of the Iraqi leaders would represent a significant step toward bringing peace to the Middle East and winning America's war on terrorism".

The editorial also noted that "concern for Israel's safety rightfully factored into the deliberations of the main Jewish groups."

No apologies have been made to Professors Walt and Mearsheimer by any of the groups or individuals who attacked them, even after British Prime Minister Tony Blair recently admitted that Walt and Mearsheimer's claims were true.
www.uruknet.info?p=63493

The Iraqi Turkmen Front campaign continues

21st February 2010

Turkmen voters’ support for the Iraqi Turkmen Front candidates continues to grow.

The Iraqi Turkmen Front Kerkuk deputy candidate Mr. Erşet Salihi, visited Yahyawa and Laylan townships which are connected to Kerkuk city.

Mr. Erşet Salihi made a speech saying that the Iraqi Turkmen Front will always continue to defend the Turkmens’ rights and that voting for the candidates of the Iraqi Turkmen Front would strengthen the role of the Turkmens in Iraq and provide positive developments in the Turkmen regions.

Kerkuk.net

ITC Kerkük Adayları Taze ve Beşir'de Paneller Düzenledi

ITC Kerkük Adayları Taze ve Beşir'de Paneller Düzenledi
Cumartesi, 20 Şubat 2010 22:12
http://www.iraqhrc.org/tr/haberler/78-itc-kerkuk-adaylari-taze-ve-besirde-paneller-duzenledi.html

ITC Kerkük Adayları Taze ve Beşir'de Paneller Düzenledi.
ITC Kerkük Milletvekili adayları Erşat Reşat Fethullah ve Jale Yunus Neftçi bugün seçim panelleri düzenledi.

Kurdish militia tighten grip on non-Kurdish districts in Iraq’s Mosul

by Zeena Sami
Azzaman, February 18, 2010

A senior official in the Province of Nineveh of which Mosul is the capital has denounced the presence of Kurdish armed militias in several provincial districts and towns.In response, the militias, known locally as peshmerga, have tightened their grip on these areas, arresting and harassing people and officials resisting their rule.

Osama al-Najaifi accused the Kurds of forging documents and counts in order to legitimize their occupation of these areas."The Kurds have controlled these areas through their militias in an attempt to annex them to their region. This is a move which flagrantly violates the law," he said.Kurdish militias are even present in Mosul itself.

At least half of Mosul, the part on the left bank of the Tigris River, is under Kurdish militia occupation.Most attacks targeting Iraqi minorities, particularly Iraqi Christians, have taken place in areas under Kurdish militia control in Mosul.Officially, the provincial districts which the Kurds control, are part of the Province of Nineveh.But Kurdish militias have the last say in them and this week they mounted an arrest campaign which observers say is politically motivated as it comes a few days before the general elections.

The Kurds have put behind bars Hussain Hamadi, the head of the municipal council in the Christian district of Hamdaniya and the head of the police force in the district of Tal Kaif, a few kilometers away from Mosul.

A representative of Yazidis, a religious minority of several hundred thousand followers to the north-west of Mosul, said Kurdish militias of Kurdistan Democratic Party headed by Massoud Barzani, head of the Kurdish region, were interfering in his election campaign.

:: Article nr. 63453 sent on 20-feb-2010 02:33 ECT
www.uruknet.info?p=63453

IRAQI TURKMEN FRONT- EUROPEAN UNION REPRESENTATION
BRUSSELS-BELGIUM

IRAK TÜRKMEN CEPHESİ- AVRUPA BİRLİĞİ TEMSİLCİLİĞİ
BRÜKSEL-BELÇİKA

ممثلية الجبهة التركمانية العراقية لدى الاتحاد الأوربي
بروكسل- بلجيكا

Tel : +32 /(0) 495 44 06 29 +32/(0) 65 31 40 21
e-mail : htwalli@skynet.be website : www. Kerkuk.net

Brussels 18th February 2010.

To the attention of the President of the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC): Baghdad – IRAQ

Copy to:-

The Director of the Office for the voting of the Iraqis living outside Iraq: IHEC office in Erbil-Iraq.
The Director of the Office responsible for the voting of the Iraqis in Holland: IHEC office in The Hague –The Netherlands.



Dear Sirs,

The Iraqi people are looking forward with great hope and high expectations to the next Parliamentary elections, scheduled to take place on 7th March 2010 inside Iraq, and on 5th, 6th and 7th of March 2010 in 16 foreign countries for the voting of Iraqis living outside Iraq.

All patriotic Iraqis who love their country and aim at serving the Iraqi people by defending their rights and rebuilding their country after years of war, destruction and occupation, hope that these coming elections will be fair and clean, without any cheating, ballot rigging, manipulation, threats or intimidations which unfortunately took place in the past two parliamentary elections in Iraq.

Iraqis expect that these coming elections will take place in a peaceful and democratic environment so that the majority of them can participate and cast their votes during these elections, the results of which will hopefully reflect the true representation of all the components of the Iraqi people, without discrimination, marginalization or assimilation of any community, ethnic group or political organization representing any of the communities composing the Iraqi people.

This can only be achieved if the elections take place under the strict control and vigilant supervision of IHEC, with the participation of an adequate number of international observers, from the U.N., the E.U, and some well known and well established international NGOs which have experience in supervising elections and have been active in the field of promoting democracy in countries where its concept is relatively new and its application is still facing some problems and difficulties as in Iraq.

Your organization, the IHEC, bears a huge responsibility in making the coming Parliamentary elections a success by duly informing the Iraqi people, by effectively promoting the democratic process in Iraq, by doing your utmost in contributing to provide a peaceful environment during the electoral campaign as well as during the voting day all over Iraq.

It is of extreme importance that all Iraqi citizens can freely access to the polling centres to cast their votes for the list and for the candidate of their own free choice and then safely return to their homes after accomplishing their democratic duty.

We, the representatives of the Iraqi Turkmens’ political and civil society organizations in the European Union, in Turkey and in Syria have noticed and witnessed clear shortcomings of the IHEC with respect to informing the Turkmens in their own language (Turkish) even in areas and regions of Iraq which are densely populated by Turkmens, such as in the governorates of Mosul, Erbil, Kerkuk, Salah Al-din, Diyala and Baghdad.

Indeed, a few days ago we have seen on Turkmeneli TV an intolerable discrimination against the Turkmens during a meeting organized by IHEC to which some Turkmen civil society representatives had been invited, and for which IHEC had prepared booklets and banners written in Arabic, Kurdish and Assyrian only, and nothing in Turkish ! Even though the IHEC know very well that the Turkmens represent Iraq’s third main ethnic group and Kerkuk’s main ethnic community.

The above example is a flagrant violation of Turkmens’ constitutional rights, as the constitution recognises the Turkmens’ language (Turkish) as an official language in Iraq, wherever Turkmens represent a high density of population.

We, Turkmens, deplore this shortcoming and demand that from now on all publications by IHEC, related to the elections concerning the governorates and regions of Iraq where Turkmens live and represent the first, the second or the third community, be published also in the Turkish language alongside the other two official languages of Iraq (Arabic and Kurdish).

These electoral material and publications which are published by IHEC for the coming elections may include informative booklets, procedures, electoral lists, and posters.

We request that any such IHEC material also be sent to all foreign countries where the Turkmen Diaspora exists in great number and where elections will be organised such as in Canada, Denmark, Germany, Holland, Iran, Jordan, Syria, Sweden, Turkey, UK, USA etc...

Participation to the next Parliamentary election is not only a fundamental right given to all Iraqi citizens above 18 years of age, but it is also the duty of all Iraqis who are eager to establish a true and solid democracy in Iraq.

We, Turkmen representatives in the European Union, Syria and Turkey, are doing our best in promoting the upcoming election and encouraging our community members and all our Iraqi compatriots to participate in the next election.

We aim at contributing to make this coming election a success, consolidating the political process and establishing a real democracy in Iraq.

We trust that you will respond positively to our legitimate requests soon and we wish you all the best and success in your important task.

May God help all patriotic and sincere citizens of Iraq.

Yours truly,

Dr. Hassan AYDINLI
Iraqi Turkmen Front
E.U. Representative
Brussels - Belgium.

Ganim AUTHMAN
Iraqi Turkmen Front
Germany Representative
Berlin – Germany

Sundus ABBAS
Iraqi Turkmen Front
U.K. Representatıve
London – U.K.

Sadun KÖPRÜLÜ
Iraqi Turkmen Front
Turkey Representative
Ankara – Turkey

Dr. Suphi N. TAVFIK
Iraqi Turkmen Front
Syria Representative
Damascus – SYRIA

Iraq-Turkey railroad to bring neighbors closer, stimulate trade

The successful journey of a passenger train from Iraq to Turkey through Syria has marked the reopening of the line after a 30-year hiatus and symbolizes hopes for increased economic cooperation between the three nations.

Thirteen people were aboard the train, which began its journey in Mosul, when it stopped in Mardin, where a welcoming ceremony was organized at the Nusaybin Railway Station. Passengers disembarking were pleased with the train journey, saying it was not marred by any of the many inconveniences presented by international bus travel. Passengers aren't the only ones happy about the train line, though.

The railroad is of great symbolic importance to the relations between Turkey and Iraq as well as Syria.

Speaking at the arrival ceremony in Mardin, Nusaybin District Governor Yücel Gemici said the opening of the train line was an important step for Iraqi-Turkish bilateral relations. “The train will further strengthen the ties between the people of the two countries. It will make important contributions both socially and economically speaking. This train will lessen the distance between two already close, brother peoples,” he said.

Nusaybin Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Mahsun Özmen said that trade between Iraq and Turkey would be boosted by the passenger train line’s reopening, expressing pleasure over the development on behalf of regional businesspeople.

The trade volume between Turkey and the autonomous regional administration in northern Iraq amounts to an annual $10 billion, with 80 percent of goods sold in the region originating from Turkey. Turkey is revitalizing its plans to introduce high-speed trains in the region, with Iraq also planning major investments in its railroad system. Turkey’s new goal is to bring to life a new railroad upon which a high-speed train will travel from Turkey through Iraq all the way to Pakistan.

Many locals and NGO representatives were also present at the ceremony, after which the train departed to continue its journey to Gaziantep. Wars and civil unrest in Iraq have taken a heavy toll on the nation’s railroads for the past 30 years, with no regular train travel to neighboring Syria or Turkey since the 1980s.

Passengers praise convenience of train line
The train departed from Mosul at noon on Tuesday and reached its final destination of Gaziantep Train Station at 8:30 a.m. after entering Turkey and stopping at the train station and customs checkpoint in Mardin’s Nusaybin district. The entire trip from Mosul to Gaziantep took about 17 hours. Passengers were delighted with the journey and the convenience it would offer them in traveling back and forth between Turkey and Iraq to visit family members.

Iraqi national Sabira Er was among the train’s passengers, along with her daughters Lara and Hediye. Er resides in Mardin with her Turkish husband and expressed satisfaction with the train trip. “Train travel is much more comfortable when compared to traveling by car. I’m married and live in Mardin; schools went into session last week, and my children had to come back to go to classes. But I heard that a train line would be starting up, and so I waited. Because the train has beds, it was very comfortable for my kids. Now, I’ll be able to travel back and forth between here and my relatives in Iraq easily,” she said.

A large crowd welcomed the train when it arrived in Gaziantep and a reception ceremony was held with the participation of Gaziantep Governor Süleyman Kamçı, Gaziantep Mayor Asım Güzelbey, Turkish State Railways (TCDD) General Manager Süleyman Karaman, Sanko Holding Executive Board President Abdulkadir Konukoğlu and a large number of onlookers. The passengers disembarking from the train were met with flowers, and said they had had a comfortable journey. Iraqi passenger Nadia Aydın traveled from Mosul to Gaziantep with her children and said it was a very easy trip compared to other forms of travel. “We used to have to take three different buses to get to our home in Gaziantep. And the buses were constantly being stopped for visa checks. With the train, though, we had a comfortable trip; my two daughters and I traveled in a sleeper car,” she said.

18.02.2010

TODAY’S ZAMAN

Erdoğan lashes out at EU: Open your eyes on Cyprus

A meeting with ambassadors of European Union member countries accredited to Ankara on Thursday offered Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan an opportunity to express his belief that the EU's tendency to become an isolated body is discouraging for both the European and the Turkish public.

Erdoğan hosted a luncheon for the EU ambassadors only a day after members of the European Parliament endorsed an annual report evaluating EU candidate Turkey's progress in 2009. The report made several calls on Turkey to contribute to ongoing reunification talks on the divided island of Cyprus, calls that were interpreted by Ankara as placing all the responsibility for the lack of a resolution to the decades-old Cyprus issue on the shoulders of Turkey. “Are the eyes of the European Parliament blind to the Cyprus issue within the framework of the ongoing negotiations in Cyprus? They should open their eyes.

The report they have released has created disappointment in Turkey,” Erdoğan said in a speech ahead of the luncheon.

“The European Parliament is acting like a spokesperson for the Greek Cypriot side,” Erdoğan said, echoing the harsh reaction outlined in a written statement released by the Foreign Ministry earlier on Thursday.

The report, penned by Dutch Christian Democrat Ria Oomen-Ruijten, calls on Turkey to hand over a Turkish Cypriot town to Greek Cypriots and to immediately begin the withdrawal of Turkish troops. The European Parliament “calls on the Turkish Government actively to support the ongoing negotiations, and to contribute in concrete terms to the comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus issue, based on a bizonal, bicommunal federation, in line with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and the principles on which the EU is founded; calls on Turkey to facilitate a suitable climate for negotiations by immediately starting to withdraw its forces from Cyprus, by addressing the issue of the settlement of Turkish citizens on the island and also by enabling the return of the sealed-off section of Famagusta [Gazimağusa in Turkish] to its lawful inhabitants in compliance with Resolution 550(1984) of the United Nations Security Council.”
The Foreign Ministry described the report as “unilateral and not in compliance with facts,” while warning that its wording may have negative impacts on Turkey’s EU accession process.

“The fact that promises given to Turkey by the EU are not mentioned in the report, while expectations from Turkey are listed, is additionally thought provoking. In the report, ongoing comprehensive negotiations and the Turkish Cypriot side’s constructive efforts toward resolution are virtually disregarded, while facts concerning those who have responsibility in emergence of the Cyprus issue have been ignored,” the Foreign Ministry said.

“This approach, which is away from all kinds of feelings of justice, has, with the slightest expression, led to great disappointment. The European Parliament’s function should not be to act as a spokesperson for the Greek Cypriot side and meet all their groundless claims and demands. We feel sad over seeing that the European Parliament, in its first test concerning Turkey during the new legislation period, has fallen hostage to domestic policy motivations,” the ministry added, while, nonetheless, highlighting that Turkey will continue claiming its vested rights and proceed toward its goal of becoming an EU member despite certain circles’ negative manner and efforts to prevent Turkey from reaching its goal.

Turkey sent its troops to Cyprus in 1974 following attacks on Turkish Cypriots by Greek Cypriot groups favoring unification with Greece and eventually a Greek-inspired coup on the island.
Cyprus joined the EU as a divided island when Greek Cypriots in the south rejected a UN reunification plan while the Turkish Cypriots in the north overwhelmingly supported it in twin referendums in 2004. Turkey has called on the EU to fulfill its commitment to end the isolation of the Turkish Cypriots as a condition for opening its ports and airports to traffic from Greek Cyprus. The EU unveiled a plan to ease the isolation of the Turkish Cypriots by establishing direct trade with Turkish Cyprus after they voted for the UN plan to reunite the island, but it was never implemented.

Erdoğan, meanwhile, stated that continuing to debate Turkey’s “Europeanness” of Turkey is nothing but a waste of time, adding that it is high time for the EU to remember its pledges to Turkey.

“The European Union is demoralizing us by opening the pledges it made to us and signatures we signed to debate. The steps Turkey takes are the biggest guarantee for the EU. Our determination for EU accession should no longer be questioned. We will continue to do our part as we have done so far,” Erdoğan added. He also complained about the opposition’s stance regarding the government’s steps to pass reforms for eventual EU membership, adding that his government is continuing its way toward accession despite all obstacles posed by the opposition.

12.02.2010

News

TODAY’S ZAMAN

http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-201317-erdogan-lashes-out-at-eu-open-your-eyes-on-cyprus.html

Comments to article "War Correspondent Scott Taylor Visits USAK" published in Turkish Weekly

The comments I sent to Turkish Weekly regarding the article "War Correspondent Scott Taylor Visits USAK " (see text below) in which it is stated that :

“the 200,000 Iraqi’s that were killed during the Gulf War cannot be deemed genocide according to the Geneva Conventions”

have NOT been published...

http://www.turkishweekly.net/news/97092/war-correspondent-scott-taylor-visits-usak.html


Below are the comments I sent to Turkish Weekly:

The number of 200,000 Iraqi deaths mentioned in the article does not reflect the reality.

There are an estimated 1.366.350 Iraqi deaths due to U.S. invasion of Iraq see:
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq


A study, published in prestigious medical journal The Lancet, estimated that over 600,000 Iraqis had been killed as a result of the invasion as of July 2006. Iraqis have continued to be killed since then. The death counter provides a rough daily update of this number based on a rate of increase derived from the Iraq Body Count. (See the complete explanation.)

The estimate that over a million Iraqis have died received independent confirmation from a prestigious British polling agency in September 2007. Opinion Research Business estimated that 1.2 million Iraqis have been killed violently since the US-led invasion.

Morevover, thousands of Iraqis will continue to die of cancers long after the U.S. have left Iraq, because of the contamination due to depleted Uranium weapons used by the U.S. military.

There is also a large number of Iraqi babies who are born with grave deformities due to the contamination caused by D.U. weapons used by the U.S. in Iraq.


The fact is that the U.S. and the U.K. have committed GENOCIDE in Iraq



Hereunder the article published in Turkish Weekly:

War Correspondent Scott Taylor Visits USAK



Thursday, 4 February 2010The International Strategic Research Organization (USAK) had the pleasure of hosting Scott Taylor; a professional soldier, and editor and publisher of Esprit de Corps. He held the lecture, “From the Outside Looking in: A Canadian in the Caucasus.”Mr. Taylor’s address spanned multiple topics from his latest book, “Unreconciled Differences” and provided an engaging forum to discuss the issues at hand in the Caucasus. He stressed the importance and sensitivity surrounding the occupation of the Nagorno Karabakh region and the magnitude of each word when discussing and researching the matter; every sentence is weighted down by such a complex history.

Mr. Taylor covered the Balkans for years as a war correspondent and is no stranger to the term genocide being used to describe various horrific events in history. He believes that the word genocide has become devalued with it’s over usage. He argues that the Holocaust is undeniable; however, the events in Hocali, the Balkans, and even the 200,000 Iraqi’s that were killed during the Gulf War cannot be deemed genocide according to the Geneva Conventions. He stated that even massacres of that size were never labeled genocide; yet, the Armenians demand this out of the massacres and tragedy that took place in 1915.

Mr. Taylor added that “History should be decided by historians and not by foreign governments,” referring to the passage of a bill by the Canadian government to label the events of 1915 as genocide; a bill that was pushed by the Armenian Diaspora in the country.

Mr. Taylor argues that it is important to look at the events leading up to the disputed 1915 resettlement; the decline of the Ottoman Empire, the Armenian resistance, and the weak condition of the soldiers who were ordered to carry out what Armenians declare genocide. He also discussed his travels through the region; lamenting on the Armenian people, the disputes and mentality of those involved in the takeover of Nagorno Karabakh.

Scott Taylor has an impressive background that includes working as a war correspondent and reporting from such global hot spots as the Persian Gulf, Cambodia, Western Sahara, Croatia, Bosnia, Iraq, Turkey, Yugoslavia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Azerbaijan and Afghanistan.Since August 2000, Mr. Scott has made a total of 21 trips into Iraq to report on the effects of the UN sanctions, the ravages of depleted uranium following the 1991 Gulf War, and the heightening tensions with the United States. In September 2004, he was held captive by Ansar al-Islam mujahedeen in northern Iraq, and his release generated a wave of international media coverage.

Mr. Taylor is the author of five best sellers- Tarnished Brass: Crime and Corruption in the Canadian Military, Tested Mettle: Canada’s Peacekeepers at War (both with Brian Nolan), Inat: Images of Serbia, Diary of an Uncivil War: The Violent Aftermath of the Kosovo Conflict and Spinning on the Axis of Evil: America’s War against Iraq. He is also the author of Among the ‘Others’: The Forgotten Turkmen of Iraq which deals with his experiences in northern Iraq. This past spring, his first memoir was published entitled Unembedded: Two decades of Maverick War Reporting.


Thursday, 4 February 2010
Journal of Turkish Weekly

The war within - PTSD in the US military

To watch the video please click on:
http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/general/2010/02/20102464829780817.html

Out of two million US soldiers who have served in Afghanistan and Iraq, psychiatrists estimate that one in three may, at some point, develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
PTSD is a ticking time bomb with a decades-long fuse - a problem whose true magnitude is difficult to determine.

After years of denial, the US army is only now coming to terms with how to address this problem.

The war within: PTSD in the military addresses the US army's HR dilemma and features the stories of those who have had to come to terms with the physical and psychological wounds suffered from fighting a war that is increasingly unpopular in their home country and around the world.

It is the story of five American soldiers stricken with PTSD. One is on trial for murder, two committed suicide, two others are still in the army, struggling to get treatment.

IRAQ: Legislative election Campaign in Türkmeneli, interview of Dr Hassan Aydinli

Dr Hassan Aydinli, ITF EU Representative

TRANSLATION

Note: the original text in FRENCH was published in Irak Actualité

IRAQ: THE LEGISLATIVE ELECTION CAMPAIGN IN TURKMENELI

- 3 QUESTIONS TO DR. HASSAN AYDINLI, ITF EU REPRESENTATIVE

BY GILLES MUNIER

1) How many Turkmen parties will be represented at the upcoming legislative elections, in which coalitions?

There are two categories of parties:

- Those created by the Turkmens themselves which really defend the Turkmen cause.

- Those formed and financed by the Kurds (Barzani and Talabani). These are Turkmen in name only and they are serving Kurdish interests.

The first category is composed of:

-The Iraqi Turkmen Front, a political organization composed of several parties and Turkmen civil associations, presided by Dr. Sadettin Ergeç . The Iraqi Turkmen Front presents its own list in the provinces of Erbil and Suleymaniya, everywhere else in Iraq, the Iraqi Turkmen Front has entered in coalition with the Iraqiya list, led by Mr. Iyad Allaoui.

-The Islamic Union of Iraqi Turkmens, party presided by Mr. Abbas al-Bayati. It presents its candidates and has entered in coalition with the list of Dawlat al-Kanoun, led by Nouri al-Maliki.

-The AlKarar al Turkmani party, presided by Mr. Farook Abdullah, is also part of the Dawlat al-Kanoun coalition of Nouri al-Maliki.

-The Türkmeneli party, presided by Mr. Riyad Sarikahya presents itself in the elections in the coalition led by Ammar al-Hakim, Head of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council.

-The Turkmen Sadrist Movement of Mr. Fawzi Akrem Terzi, is also part of the Ammar al-Hakim coalition. He is head of the list in the province of Erbil.

-The Adalat Turkmen party, presided by Mr. Anwar Bayrakdar has entered in the Al-Tawafuk Al-Iraqi coalition of Usama Tawfiq Mukhlif.

As for the other so-called ‘Turkmen’ parties which present themselves at the upcoming elections, they are three. They are all in the Kurdish coalition Barzani + Talabani. I neither wish to remember their names nor say anything whatsoever about them. For us, these are “cartoon parties”, i.e. fabricated by the Kurds in order to divide the Turkmens and assimilate those who are under their control or who are employed by them.



2) What are their main demands?

The main demands of the six parties I mentioned are:

-To preserve the unity of Iraq.

-For Iraqi Turkmens to be recognized as the third main ethnic community in Iraq, with rights and duties equal to those of the Arabs and Kurds in Iraq, namely: the recognition of the Turkmen language (Turkish) as the third official language of the country; the effective participation of the Turkmen community at all levels of power in Iraq, by the inclusion of their political representatives in the supreme institutions which govern the country, such as the Presidential Council, Government Council, Parliamentary Presidency, Supreme Council of Justice, Chief of Staff of the Army, of the Police and of the Security. Turkmens have been excluded from these institutions since the invasion of Iraq, as the political power, under the anglo-american occupation, from 9th April 2003, has been attributed on an ethnic-sectarian basis and exclusively to the parties who collaborated with the Occupiers (Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis).

-Either modify the Iraqi constitution or write a new modern constitution compatible with our time, eliminating the absurd terminologies which have been included in the present constitution, namely the contested territories and the obsolete articles, such as Article 140 which concerned the future of Kerkuk Province, re-named Al-Tamim by the former regime in 1972. The central question is the future and belonging of its capital, Kerkuk, with its enormous oil reserves, which has been historically and culturally Turkmen for over 8 centuries.

It is necessary to remember that Kerkuk has been subjected to two successive policies of ethnic modifications during the past four decades: a planned and systematic arabization policy and ethnic modification in favour of the Arabs by the previous regime between 1968 and 2003; then a planned kurdification and ethnic modification in favour of the Kurds. The latter has been more extended, more rapid and more violent than the former. It started on 10th April 2003 when the militias of the Kurdish parties “Peshmerga” of Barzani and Talabani occupied Kerkuk with authorization and complicity of the U.S. invasion forces.



-To obtain cultural autonomy for the Turkmens of Iraq in their region, i.e. in the region known as Türkmeneli, where the Turkmens constitute the majority, and which is situated between the region mainly inhabited by Arabs and the region with a Kurdish majority. Türkmeneli stretches from Tel Afer, at the West of Mosul, until Bedre, at the East of Bagdad.

-To recuperate all the properties and agricultural lands belonging to the Turkmens which have been confiscated by the previous regime and which have not yet been liberated or returned.

-To recuperate all the properties and agricultural lands belonging to the Turkmens which have been occupied and confiscated by the Kurdish militias since 10th April 2003.

-To liberate Iraq from foreign occupation forces.

-To make Iraq a unified, democratic and modern country, where all citizens will be equal.



3) What about the situation in Kerkuk?

The present situation in Kerkuk, which continues since 10th April 2003, is neither satisfying nor acceptable for the Turkmens. Since that date, Barzani and Talabani have been authorized, for their collaboration with the Occupier, to install their Peshmerga and over 600.000 individuals coming from the autonomous Kurdish region, in order to modify the demographics of the city. Among them, some non-Iraqi Kurds… This intolerable situation is also denounced by the Arabs of Kerkuk.



If the new electoral law has been so difficult to be voted, it is because it has been contested by the Turkmens and Arabs of Kerkuk. This is why the election results for the Province will only be valid for one year. They will be conditioned to the verification of the authenticity of the voters’ lists established by the Kurdish authorities. If it appears that they have been exaggerated in favour of the Kurds, a new list will be established and new legislative elections will take place in Kerkuk Province.

We, Turkmens, hope that the legislative elections of 7th March 2010, which will take place according to the principle of open lists, will bring to the Parliament a majority of patriotic and more nationalist Iraqis, who will be less sectarian. We hope that they will maintain Kerkuk in a unified Iraq. Finally, we hope that the new majority will categorically reject the unjustified hegemonic demands of the Kurds over the city and over the so-called “other contested territories” in Iraq.

Irak: La campagne législative en pays turkmène – 3 questions au Dr. Hassan Aydinli, représentant du Front turkmène en Europe

Gilles Munier

Dr Hassan Aydinli, Représentant du Front Turkmène Irakien (ITC)

en Europe

Nouvelles d’Irak
La campagne législative en pays turkmène

Gilles Munier

Mardi 2 février 2010

3 questions au Dr. Hassan Aydinli Représentant du Front Turkmène Irakien en Europe

1) Combien de partis turcomans seront représentés aux prochaines élections législatives, dans quelles coalitions ?

Il y a deux catégories de partis :
- Ceux créés par les Turkmènes eux-mêmes et qui défendent réellement la cause turkmène.
- Ceux formés et financés par les Kurdes (Barzani et Talabani). Ils n’ont de Turkmène que le nom et sont au service des intérêts kurdes.

Dans la première catégorie, il y a :

- Le Front Turkmène Irakien est une organisation politique composée de plusieurs partis et associations civiles turkmènes, présidé par le Dr. Saadettin Ergeç. Le Front Turkmène Irakien présente sa propre liste dans la province d’Erbil, partout ailleurs en Irak, le Front Turkmène Irakien est entré en coalition avec la liste Iraqiya menée par Monsieur Iyad Allaoui.

- L’Union Islamique des Turkmènes d’Irak, parti présidé par Monsieur Abbas al-Bayati. Il présente ses candidats et est entré en coalition avec la liste de Dawlat al-Kanoun menée par Nouri al-Maliki.

- Le parti AlKarar al Turkmani, présidé par Monsieur Farook Abdullah, fait également partie de la coalition Dawlat al-Kanoun de Nouri al-Maliki.

- Le Parti de Türkmeneli présidé par Monsieur Riyad Sarikahya se présente aux élections dans la coalition menée par Ammar al-Hakim, chef du Conseil suprême islamique irakien.

- Le mouvement sadriste turkmène de Monsieur Fawzi Akrem Terzi, fait aussi partie de la coalition d’Ammar al-Hakim. Il est tête de liste dans la province d’Erbil.

- Le Parti d’Adalat Turkmène, présidé par Monsieur Anwar Bayrakdar est entré dans la coalition d’Al –Tawafuk Al-Iraqi de Ussama Tawfiq Mukhlif.

Les autres partis, soi-disant turkmènes, se présentant aux prochaines élections sont au nombre de trois. Ils sont tous dans la coalition kurde Barzani + Talabani. Je ne tiens ni à retenir leurs noms, ni à dire quoi que ce soit à leur sujet. Pour nous, ce sont des partis « cartooniques », c’est-à-dire fabriqués par les Kurdes pour diviser les Turkmènes et assimiler ceux qui sont sous leur contrôle, ou qu’ils emploient.

2) Quelles sont leurs principales revendications

Les principales revendications des six partis que j’ai cités sont :

- Préserver l’unité de l’Irak.

- Faire reconnaître les Turkmènes d’Irak comme étant la troisième communauté principale d’Irak avec des droits et des devoirs égaux à ceux reconnus aux Arabes et aux Kurdes en Irak, notamment la reconnaissance de la langue turkmène (le Turc) comme la troisième langue officielle du pays, la participation effective de la communauté turkmène à tous les niveaux du pouvoir en Irak par l’inclusion de leurs représentants politiques dans les organes suprêmes qui dirigent le pays, comme le Conseil de la Présidence, le Conseil du gouvernement, la Présidence du Parlement, le Conseil supérieur de la justice, les états majors de l’armée, de la police et de la sécurité. Les Turkmènes sont exclus de ces organismes depuis l’invasion de l’Irak car le pouvoir politique, sous l’occupation anglo-américaine, dès le 9 avril 2003, a été attribué sur une base ethnico-confessionnelle et exclusivement aux partis ayant collaboré avec les occupants (Kurdes, chiites, et sunnites).

- Modifier la constitution irakienne ou bien écrire une nouvelle constitution moderne compatible avec notre temps en éliminant les terminologies absurdes inclues dans l’actuelle, notamment les territoires contestés et les articles périmés, comme l’article 140 qui concernait l’avenir de la province de Kirkouk, dénommée Al-Tamim par le régime précédent en 1972. La question centrale est l’avenir et l’appartenance de sa capitale, Kirkouk, avec ses énormes gisements pétroliers qui est historiquement et culturellement turkmène depuis plus de 8 siècles.

Il est nécessaire de rappeler que Kirkouk a subi deux politiques successives de modifications ethniques ces quatre dernières décades : une politique planifiée d’arabisation systématique et de modification ethnique en faveur des Arabes par le régime précédent entre 1968 et 2003 ; puis une politique préétablie de kurdification et de modification ethnique en faveur des Kurdes. Cette dernière a été plus étendue, plus rapide et plus violente que la précédente. Sa mise en œuvre a débuté le 10 avril 2003 avec l’accord et la complicité des forces d’invasion américaines, quand les milices des partis kurdes « peshmerga » de Barzani et Talabani ont occupé Kirkouk.

- Obtenir pour les Turkmènes d’Irak l’autonomie culturelle dans leur région, c’est à dire la région à majorité turkmène d’Irak appelée la Turkmeneli, située entre celle à majorité arabe et celle à majorité kurde. La Turkmeneli s’étend de Tel Afar à l’ouest de Mossoul jusqu’à Bedre, à l’est de Bagdad.

- Récupérer toutes les propriétés et les terres agricoles appartenant aux Turkmènes qui ont été confisquées par le régime précédent et qui n’ont pas encore été libérées ou rendues.

- Récupérer toutes les propriétés et les terres agricoles appartenant aux Turkmènes qui ont été occupées et confisquées par les milices kurdes depuis le 10 avril 2003.

- Libérer l’Irak des forces d’occupation étrangères.

- Faire de l’Irak un pays unifié, démocratique et moderne, où tous les citoyens seront égaux.

3) Qu’en est-il de la situation à Kirkouk ?

La situation actuelle à Kirkouk, qui perdure depuis le 10 avril 2003, n’est ni satisfaisante ni acceptable pour les Turkmènes. Depuis cette date, Barzani et Talabani ont été autorisés, en collaboration avec l’occupant, à installer leurs peshmergas et plus de 600.000 individus venus de la région autonome kurde pour modifier la composition démographique de la ville. Parmi eux, il y a même des Kurdes non-Irakiens… Cette situation, intolérable, est également dénoncée par les Arabes de Kirkouk.

Si la nouvelle loi électorale a été aussi difficile à être votée, c’est bien à cause de sa contestation par les Turkmènes et les Arabes de Kirkouk. Grâce à elle, le résultat des élections pour la province ne sera valable qu’un an. Il sera conditionné à la vérification de l’authenticité des listes d’électeurs établies par les autorités kurdes. S’il s’avère qu’elles ont été gonflées en faveur des Kurdes, une nouvelle liste sera établie et de nouvelles élections législatives auront lieu.

Nous, Turkmènes, espérons que les élections législatives du 7 mars 2010, qui se dérouleront selon le principe de listes ouvertes, amèneront au parlement une équipe plus patriotique et nationaliste irakienne et moins confessionnelle. Nous espérons qu’elle maintiendra Kirkouk dans un Irak unifié. Nous espérons enfin que la nouvelle majorité rejettera catégoriquement la revendication hégémonique et injustifiée des Kurdes sur la ville et sur les soi-disant « autres territoires contestés ».

© G. Munier/X.JardezPublié le 2 février 2010 avec l’aimable autorisation de Gilles Munier
http://www.france-irak-actualite.com/article-irak-campagne-electorale-en-pays-turkmene-44102360.html

(31/1/10)

Lire aussi :
Les Turcomans : peuple oublié ou marginalisé (mai 2007)
http://www.france-irak-actualite.com/pages/turcomans-peuple-oublie-ou-marginalise-mai-2007--1982366.html
Interview du Dr. Hassan Aydinli (janvier 2005)
http://www.france-irak-actualite.com/pages/Turcomans_Interview_du_Dr_Hassan_Aydinli_20105-1985558.html


Source : Bulletin des Amitiés franco-irakiennes

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