Subject: [Homestead] Kurds, prosperous island of democracy, stability in chaotic Iraq
Date: Sat, 02 Oct 2004 12:50:32 -0700
And who should recover the Saddam-stolen Kirkuk and Kirkuk oilfiields
now occupied by Sunni Baathists.
Iraq is probably now in the process of dissolution, more than any
large-scale rebuilding, and facing a huge three-way fight over control
of Iraq, by Shiites, Sunni's and Kurds. The only possible way to defuse
this is by firm guarantee of minority rights, so the Shiite majorithy
will not run roughshod over the nasty Iraq Sunnies and good-guy
Kurds---a very unlikely outcome, like expecting a peacable outcome from
three wildcats fighting in a gunnysack.
Kurds Demonstrate for Kirkuk's Incorporation in Autonomous Region
The Associated Press
Published: Oct 2, 2004
Advertisement
SULEIMANIYAH, Iraq (AP) - About 100,000 Kurds demonstrated outside
provincial government offices Saturday, demanding that the turbulent,
oil hub of Kirkuk be made part of the autonomous Kurdish region in
northern Iraq.
A tense confrontation has been building in Kirkuk, with hardline Kurdish
politicians demanding the departure of some 200,000 Arabs who settled
here during a campaign by Saddam Hussein's regime to increase the Arab
population in oil-rich parts of northern Iraq.
"Kurdistan means nothing without Kirkuk," read banners carried by the
demonstrators marching in Suleimaniyah. They called for a referendum to
decide the future of all Kurds in Iraq. They also demanded that the two
main Kurdish parties that now control the north unite under one banner.
A second, similar protest, drawing about 1,000 demonstrators, occurred
in Kirkuk itself. Demonstrations were reported in other northern cities.
Demonstrations such as Saturday's appear aimed to increase pressure
ahead of Iraq's general election in January, with the Kurdish parties
looking to bring Kirkuk province into the orbit of the autonomous
Kurdish lands.
Sunni Arabs in particular oppose incorporating the city into the Kurdish
zone.
"We, as Kurds, demand that Kurdish people have a say in the vague
political process in Iraq," said one of the Suleimaniyah protest
organizers, Sherko Becks. "Kurdish leaders and officials in the central
government should heed our opinion regarding the future Iraq. The
Kurdish people have suffered a lot in the past, so we want our full
rights, especially geographical ones."
Under the fallen regime, the Kurdish minority were brutally persecuted,
but an autonomous region was created for them in the north following the
1991 Gulf War.
The Kurds, who make up about 20 percent of Iraq's 25 million people,
have been promised that their autonomous region in the north will be
maintained under the new constitution due to be drawn up after the
January elections.
AP-ES-10-02-04 0834EDT
[Homestead] Kurds, prosperous island of democracy, stability in chaotic Iraq,
Tvoivozhd, 10/02/2004