Kurds Are Restless

Published on September 28, 2004 By stevendedalus In Politics

As if there weren’t enough problems in Iraq, now the Kurds are demanding that two hundred thousand Arab settlers from the Saddam regime pack up and leave northern Iraq. This is reflective of ethnic cleansing in Kosovo by way of exodus. The US commander in the region fears that this political stirring could eventuate a civil war. In addition, Turkey is against “Kurdization” of the major city Kirkuk, which is feared will be the capital of an expanding Kurdistan. Turkey, long opponents of Kurdish independence, expects the region to remain multicultural, otherwise a border war could follow. Potentially this is another problem added to the myriad list of hot spots in Bush’s war.

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Comments

Myrrander

on Sep 28, 2004

It's interesting that American went to war in Iraq because Saddam Hussein had ties with al-Qaeda. All evidence points to the idea that any al-Qaeda facilities that existed in Iraq existed in the autonomous Kurdish North. The Kurds are a displaced people, and Turkey wants to keep them that way. And of course they haven't forgot that Saladin was a Kurd. It's a similiar problem as with the Palestinians: Arab states would be happy to have the Palestinians take over Jewish lands, but they refuse to give any of their own lands to their Arab "brothers." Likewise, Turkey and Iraq both don't want and independant Kurdistan because it would mean territory losses. It puts cracks in this idea of Muslim solidarity.

stevendedalus

on Sep 29, 2004

Let alone solidarity for democratization. Good comment.

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