1//KurdishMedia.com 03/02/2005
http://www.kurdmedia.com/news.asp?id=6198 DISGRUNTLED TURKEY AWAITS RICE WITH GROWING CONCERN OVER IRAQ
ANKARA, Feb 3 (AFP) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrives here at the weekend facing the tough task of allaying Turkish fears that an independent Kurdish state -- Ankara’s long-standing bete noire -- is taking shape in Iraq as Washington turns a blind eye.
Ties between the two NATO allies have failed to fully recover since hitting an all-time low prior to the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, when Turkey stunned Washington by denying it access to its territory to mount an attack on Iraq from the north.
Analysts fear new tensions may be now looming, with Ankara increasingly frustrated over what it sees as US reluctance to rein in Kurdish moves to take control of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk in northern Iraq as part of a suspected plot to break away from Baghdad.
"The issue of northern Iraq is of vital importance for Turkey. The Americans say they understand Turkey but when it comes to action on the ground there is no reason for trust," said Bahadir Koc from the Ankara-based ASAM think-tank.
Independence-minded moves in northern Iraq, Ankara fears, will embolden separatism across the border in southeastern Turkey, where a Kurdish rebellion has already claimed some 37,000 lives.
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As the Kurds braced for large political gains, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan slammed the United States this week, charging that "forces who say they came to the region to bring democracy have preferred to remain indifferent to anti-democratic ambitions."
He warned that "any step taken without consideration for Turkey’s rights will yield no result other than fanning the fire in the region."
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2//KurdishMedia.com, UK 03/02/2005
http://www.kurdmedia.com/news.asp?id=6195 NEW FREEDOM IN KURDISH AIR
By Aaron Glantz
KIRKUK, Feb 3 (IPS) - Two members of Kurdish parties are touring a soccer stadium turned refugee camp on the southern outskirts of Iraq’s northern oil-rich city Kirkuk on a sunny morning. They are carrying a petition asking Kurds whether they want ethnic federalism in Iraq or Kurdish independence.
The politics of freedom is very much in the air. Kurdish parties are already hinting that they have won a victory in local council elections. And already they have begun to make noises about independence.
Ahmed Hassen Aziz, like everyone else in the camp, wants an independent Kurdistan.
”I feel that Kurds were under oppression,” he said, ”and I felt the discrimination of the former regime. Now I’m stamping my hand for Kurdistan. This way we will reach our potential and have all our rights as Kurds in independent Kurdistan.”
This is the third time since the start of the U.S. occupation about two years ago that Kurds have launched a petition drive for independence. On the other two occasions, more than 1.5 million Kurds stamped their thumb-print to separate from Iraq, but the impact on overall political dynamics was minimal.
This time, however, the situation is different. Because Kurdish refugees were allowed to vote in last weekend’s election, Kurds were doubtless able to carry a strong majority of the vote.
Now, the local government plans to organise a referendum on inclusion of oil-rich Kirkuk under the authority of Iraqi Kurdistan -- a move bitterly opposed by the city’s Arab population, which boycotted the election in protest.
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