More Arab fighters join Kurdish-led SDF in fight for Raqqa

Raqqa – Thousands of Arab fighters have joined the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the fight against ISIS in Raqqa.

One of the main Arab factions currently participating in the SDF’s Euphrates Wrath Operation for Raqqa is the Syrian Elite Forces.

Muhedi Jayila, Commander of the Syrian Elite Forces, said in an exclusive interview with ARA News that they have joined the SDF campaign to liberate Raqqa Governorate from Islamic State’s (ISIS) militants.

“We have participated in the first and second phases of the Euphrates Wrath Operation against ISIS in Raqqa. We have been supporting the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) since the begging of this campaign, and we’re now ready to join the third phase of the operation,” Jayila said.

The Arab commander confirmed that over 3,000 of their fighters have joined the battlefront in Raqqa, fighting alongside Kurdish and Christian troops.

“More than 3,000 fighters from the Syrian Elite Forces joined the SDF in the third phase of Euphrates Wrath Operation. All our fighters are from Deir ez-Zor Governorate,” he told ARA News.

“Today we’re fighting here [in Raqqa] and we are looking forward to also fight ISIS in our hometown Deir ez-Zor soon,” the commander said. “ISIS terrorists have forcibly displaced thousands of our people and suppressed many more.”

Muhedi pointed out that the Syrian Elite Forces work closely with other SDF factions to secure Raqqa, with the support of the US-led coalition.

“Our relationship with the Kurdish-led SDF forces is great and we have a high level of coordination and cooperation. We have also received support from the US-led coalition, similar to other factions of the SDF,” the Arab commander told ARA News in Raqqa.

He also hoped that the new Trump Administration would increase its support to their effort in eliminating ISIS in the group’s de facto capital of Raqqa. “With the new American Administration we hope for more support, especially with regard to heavy weapons and armoured vehicles.”

“Regarding Deir ez-Zor, we hope that the governorate would be liberated soon, bur we’re waiting for the coalition’s decision to wether start an anti-ISIS battle there as well [similar to Raqqa],” he said.

“We are well prepared for this campaign, and we have already started coordinating with local tribal groups to liberate the area from ISIS very soon,” said the commander of the Syrian Elite Forces.

The Syrian Democratic Forces on Saturday announced the launch of the third phase of Euphrates Wrath Operation in Raqqa, a campaign aimed at isolating the Islamic State (ISIS) radical group in its de facto capital.

Kurdish-led SDF forces seize Raqqa train station amidst ISIS decline

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Monday seized control of a train station in southeastern Raqqa city, military sources reported.

The progress followed heavy clashes between the US-backed SDF troops and Islamic State’s (ISIS) militants.

Dozens of ISIS militants were killed or injured in the clashes on Monday, according to officials.

The station, located in the Qasta al-Sukun district, was used by ISIS as a military base.

“Liberating the train station was another victory for our forces against this radical group,” SDF officer Habun Osman told ARA News.

Also on Monday, the SDF alliance drove ISIS out of the Jarqa town–20km east of Raqqa.

In early March, the SDF troops seized control of a main road that was used by Islamic State’s jihadists as a supply line between the cities of Deir ez-Zor and Raqqa–the group’s de facto capital in Syria.

This comes as part of the third phase of the Euphrates Wrath Operation, aimed at liberating Eastern Raqqa from ISIS jihadists, launched by the SDF on 4 February.

During the first phase of Euphrates Wrath, which began on November 6, 2016, the SDF liberated roughly 560 km² in Northern Raqqa.

On 10 December, the SDF launched the second phase of the Euphrates Wrath, during which it captured over 2500 km² in Western Raqqa.

The campaign is ultimately aimed at isolating the ISIS radical group in its de facto capital.

What's Behind Sudden Clashes In Northwestern Iran?

Clashes erupted this month between Kurdish fighters and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), with each side claiming to have inflicted casualties on the other. The country's heavily censored media have even reported the fighting and acknowledged fatalities on the government side. But why the sudden flare-up?

Who is fighting and how widespread is the violence?

The past two weeks of fighting have reportedly pitted official forces against members of the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI), with deadly clashes between the IRGC and Kurdish rebels in heavily Kurdish northwestern Iran, near the border with Iraq. Combat was reported on June 15-16 in Oshnavieh, in Iran's West Azerbaijan Province. More fighting followed in the nearby Sarvabad, Mahabad, and Marivan regions.

On June 28, the IRGC said its forces had killed 11 Kurdish rebels in the Sarvabad region. An IRGC commander, Mohammad Hossein Rajabi, said three of his troops were also killed in the clashes. The KDPI claims that several of its fighters and more than 20 IRGC members have been killed, and it accuses Iranian forces of shelling villages on the border over the weekend.

What are the militants after, and why now?

The KDPI has been waging a battle for independence and greater rights for Iranian Kurds for decades. The KDPI's military operations and confrontation with the Iranian regime surged following the 1989 assassination of the party's leader, Abdol Rahman Ghassemlou. But the group, whose fighters are mostly based in northern Iraq, announced a cease-fire in 1997.

The fresh clashes follow an announcement by the KDPI's secretary-general, Mostafa Hejri, urging Kurdish youths to join its ranks and unite "the struggle in the cities and in the mountains." Hejri's statement, made in March to mark the Persian New Year, Norouz, was interpreted as a call to renew the armed struggle against Iran.

But KDPI officials have suggested that the group is merely trying to expand its contacts with Kurds inside Iran and recruit new forces.

"We are not trying to launch a war -- the war with the Islamic republic [Iran] has been going on for the past 37 years," Rostam Jahangiri, a member of the political office of the KDPI, told RFE/RL last week in a reference to the postrevolutionary establishment nearly four decades ago of Iran's theocratic government.

Kamran Matin, a senior lecturer in international relations at the University of Sussex, says the KDPI claims it no longer has to sacrifice its own interests -- meaning Iranian Kurds' interests -- to ensure the security of Iraq's Kurdistan regional government.

"They feel it's time for them to be present inside Iranian Kurdistan," Matin says of the heavily Kurdish region of Iran. "It's important to note that they don't claim they have initiated a new round of armed struggle. They claim they simply send their troops to be present, they're acting in self-defense. But then, in military terms, if an armed group is inside Iranian territory, it's highly likely to be attacked by the Iranian security forces."

Stockholm-based journalist Saman Rasoulpour says the KDPI's leadership appears to believe that confrontation with Iranian forces might win the group new supporters among Iran's estimated 8 million Kurds, who have long complained of discrimination, repression, and political underrepresentation.

"The leaders of this party believe that military activities -- which according to their interpretation are defensive actions [against Iranian forces] -- is a sign of a party's dynamism that could strengthen their base within the population," Rasoulpour says.

"In a way, in their eyes, armed struggle means that they're active and that they can create challenges for the [Iranian] establishment," he adds.

KDPI officials have signaled that the group's fighters will continue their excursions into Iranian territory.

"Our party is determined to fulfill our pledge to interlock the struggle [of the Kurdish forces] in the mountains with the struggle [of the Kurdish people] in the cities," Hejri was quoted as saying by the KDPI's website on June 19.

What are Iranian authorities saying publicly about the violence?

IRGC commanders have said they have been fighting "terrorists with ties to counterrevolutionary groups." The IRGC has warned that its forces are carefully monitoring "any movement" in the border region and will not allow the "sustainable peace and security" of the people to be disrupted by "terrorists."

The commander of IRGC ground forces, Mohammad Pakpour, has warned that Iran could launch raids on KDPI positions in Iraq's Kurdistan region.

"Since the main bases of these terrorists is in northern Iraq, if they fail to act on their commitments not to engage in anti-security measures, their bases will be targeted wherever they are," Pakpour was quoted as saying by domestic media earlier this week.

In 2011, Iran targeted the camps in Iraq of another Kurdish rebel group, the Party of Free Life Of Kurdistan (PJAK).

Does this fighting represent any genuine threat to Iran?

Despite claims by KDPI leaders about the group's strength and support among Iranian Kurds, analysts generally agree it does not possess the capability to pose a serious military threat to Iran.

"The KDPI doesn't have that level of force to conquer territory and hold it or to inflict massive casualties on Iranian troops, simply because of the demographic proportion of the Kurdish population in Iran. Also because they have not been engaged in military activities for almost two decades, so even on a very simple military training [level], they're not really ready to cause any large-scale problems for the Iranian state," analyst Matin says.

Is this in any way related to Iranian military involvement elsewhere in the region?

The clashes are not likely to affect Iran's involvement in Syria.

If the violence in northwestern Iran continues and Tehran acts on its pledge to attack KDPI bases inside Iraq, that could create tensions in the region.

Matin says it remains to be seen how Iraq, the United States, and countries such as Turkey will react. "It can escalate," he says.

But Matin speculates that Iraqi Kurdish parties, due to their "strategic dependence" on Iran, are unlikely to allow the KDPI to continue its operations against Iran "for any extended period of time."

Kurdish War - The Bumpy Road to Peace

The Turkish government recently noted that the national fertility rate is a near-stable 2.08 off-spring per woman (2.1 children per woman is considered to be the population replacement rate.)  The replacement rate in the pre-dominantly ethnic Kurd (and rural) southeast, however, is much higher –almost four children per woman.  In other words, Turkish Kurds in southeastern Turkey are having more children per family than any other major ethnic group or region in the country. Over the long term this means there will be more ethnic Kurd voters in Turkey –or, should the peace process collapse, more Kurd rebels. The driving reasons for the peace process between the government and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) are (1) the grinding war is expensive and (2) the Kurds and the Turks are both tired of fighting a no-win war. The PKK’s senior commander, Abdullah “Apo” Ocalan may have seen the Arab Spring revolutions and the mess in Syria as an optimal moment to strike a bargain. The Kurd fertility rate, however, is not a totally irrelevant factor. (Austin Bay)

June 28, 2013: Turkey acknowledged that the PKK withdrawal is going slower than expected. The government now believes the withdrawal will be completed in mid-autumn.  The withdrawal began in early May 2013.

 

June 27, 2013:  Turkish police and pro-PKK protestors once again battled in the city of Cizre (Sirnak province).  A senior Turkish police commander was injured when a protestor struck him with a home-made fire bomb. Police and demonstrators have clashed in Cizre several times this month. The latest clashes are more serious. The Turkish government said that PKK militants in the city have organized their own police unit (a public order unit). The unit is manned by members of the Movement of Patriotic and Revolutionary Youth (also called the Patriotic Revolutionist Youth Movement, YDG-H). The YDG-H has allegedly set up traffic control checkpoints in Cizre.  A member of the YDG-H called on everyone who is for Kurdish rights in Turkey should join what he called the Gezi Park resistance movement. This clearly an attempt by PKK extremists to join their issue with the nation-wide demonstrations against prime minister Erdogan. The demonstrations began in late May when citizens of Istanbul objected to the government decision to cut down trees in Gezi Park (on Taksim Square, in Istanbul) as part of an urban renewal project.

 

Turkish security officials reported that a group of armed attackers raided a chromium mine in Tunceli province. The attackers did not injure anyone but they burned six vehicles and several buildings.  The attackers took an unknown number of hostages.  The regional Gendarme Command is pursuing the attackers. Security officers have yet to determine if the raiders are members of the PKK. Armed raiders, using similar tactics (property destruction), also attacked a village in Tunceli province earlier in the day.

 

Syrian rebel accused Syrian Kurd Democratic Union Party (PYD) gunmen of killing three people and wounding several more in the town of Amuda (Syria’s Hasakeh district).  The PYD fighters fired on demonstrators who were demanding that the PYD free several anti-Assad regime activists that the PYD militia had arrested. Syrian rebel groups accused the PYD of collaborating with the Assad dictatorship.

 

Provincial officials in Turkey’s Bitlis province reported that two construction engineers the PKK kidnapped on June 21 have been released. The two men were freed near the town of Caglayan.

The Iraqi government continues to oppose the PKK withdrawal from Turkey into Iraq and will permit Iraqi citizens to withdraw to Iraqi territory but regards the withdrawal of non-Iraqi PKK fighters as an infringement of Iraqi sovereignty. 

 

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has decided to let the Kurdistan Democratic Solution Party (PCDK) participate in future elections. The PCDK is basically the PKK’s actor in Iraqi politics. The PCDK has been banned in Iraq since 2006. Iraqi Kurdistan’s two major parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK),  tend to regard the PCDK as either a nuisance (it does not have very many supporters) or a source of unnecessary political trouble with Turkey. However, the KRG decided to let the PCDK participate since the Turkish government is engaged in a peace process with the PKK.

 

June 26, 2013: Turkey’s prime minister Erdogan said that only 15 percent of the PKK fighters inside Turkey have withdrawn to Iraq.  Since there were an estimated 2,000 PKK fighters in Turkey before the withdrawal began, this means around 1,700 fighters are still in Turkish territory. Erdogan made the figure public at a meeting of the Wise People Commission (WPC), which is tasked with working out a detailed peace agreement between the government and the PKK.

 

An Iraqi Kurdish political coalition won the most seats in an election in Iraq’s Nineveh province.  The Taakhi and Taayish List won 11 of 39 seats in the provincial legislature. The Sunni Arab Mutahidoon List won eight seats. Nineveh is a predominantly Sunni Arab region of Iraq, though many ethnic Kurds live in the province.

June 25, 2013: Abdullah Ocalan released a statement which said the peace process has entered a second phase.  He implied that the process is in a political phase where participation in democratic politics is essential.  In an interview conducted in Iraq (presumably earlier this month) but released on June 25, PKK field commander Murat Karayilan stated that when the peace process is completed PKK commander Abdullah Ocalan will be released from prison. Karayilan said that Ocalan’s release will occur when the third phase of the peace process is completed.

 

June 24, 2013: The Turkish military released casualty figures for the Kurdish War. Since 1984 6,205 servicemen have died fighting PKK rebels. The heaviest casualties have occurred in five provinces: Hakkari, Van, Sirnak, Bingol and Elazig.

 

June 22, 2013: Senior Turkish officials claim that political extremists in the Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) and members of PKK are trying to use the Taksim Square/Gezi Park protests occurring in Turkey to pressure the government into making concessions regarding the peace process. It’s been noted that many of the demonstrators in Istanbul and Ankara say they distrust the PKK and are against making peace with PKK terrorists. 

 

June 21, 2013: On June 20 a PKK rebel group in Hakkari province (southeastern Turkey) fired on a military helicopter that was carrying a Gendarme Security Corps commander, a division commander and senior members of their staffs. Military investigators indicated that the helicopter, identified as a command-control helicopter, was definitely targeted. The helicopter was fired four times while passing through the Ikiyaka Mountains near the town of Yuksekova (Hakari province). The helicopter suffered structural damage but landed safely and no one was hurt in the incident.

 

June 16, 2013: Turkey announced that the PKK withdrawal is going well, even though the peace process is proceeding without a written peace agreement.  The Turkish government and the PKK leadership are proceeding on the basis of trust. The Turkish government’s decision to let Turkish Kurds have Kurdish language education in schools was an important first step in ending the insurgency. Turkish Kurds now have Kurdish radio and television programming.

 

Senior PKK commander Abdullah Ocalan’s brother said that Ocalan had told him on June 12 that the peace process was stagnating and that could produce a dangerous situation. Ocalan encouraged the Turkish government to take the initiative and speed up the peace process

 

June 10, 2013: Iraqi Kurds are breathing a sigh of relief that the June 3 shooting incident did not escalate.  Turkish security personnel in Turkey had exchanged fire with PKK fighters near the Iraq border. When it became clear in late April that the PKK might actually withdraw from Turkey, many Iraqi Kurds living in northern Iraq said that they were worried that an inevitable glitch would lead to a major battle on the Iraq-Turkey border. Then Turkey might launch another incursion. So far that has not occurred, though the June 3 incident is a warning that the peace process remains fragile.

 

June 8, 2013: The Iraqi government announced that they are working to reach a workable oil production and revenue agreement. The government said that it is talking with the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). The Iraqi government is very aware that for a brief time in 1946, Kurdish separatists formed their own statelet in Iran, the Mahabad Republic.  

 

June 7, 2013: Turkish police fought with demonstrators in the city of Cizre (Sirnak province). The protests began after a public funeral for a PKK fighter. Police claimed the demonstrators threw fire bombs. Protestors accused the police of over-reaction. The police fired tear gas and used water cannon.  

 

June 4, 2013: Senior leaders in the Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) have given the Iraqi central government in Baghdad a not-too-subtle warning. The KRG has told Baghdad that it may consider developing "new form of relations" with the rest of Iraq if the central government cannot Iraq’s various land disputes and reach a new oil production and revenue distribution agreement.

 

June 3, 2013: Turkish military helicopters fired back at PKK rebels who fired at a Turkish border security post.  The Turkish Army reported that PKK fighters fired at a post near the city of Sirnak (southeastern Turkey).  The fire wounded one Turkish Army soldier. Apparently the PKK fighters were inside Turkey but very near the Iraq-Turkey border. This was the first reported armed clash between the PKK and Turkish security forces since the peace process began in late March.

 

May 29, 2013: From January through April 2013, arrests, detentions and incidents involving Kurdish separatists have declined to the lowest level in three decades.

 

May 21, 2013: The U.S. government noted that it has been three months since March 21, 2013, when imprisoned PKK senior commander Abdullah “Apo” Ocalan publicly asked his supporters to end the war, put down their weapons and with to PKK bases in northern Iraq. 

Kurdish Wars - The Threat From Syria And Iran

Turkish Kurds and the Turkish business community have both praised the ceasefire and peace process between the Turkish government and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) as a chance to end the bloodshed and pursue economic development.  For Turkish Kurds ending the war opens the predominantly Kurdish areas in southeastern Turkey to more investment and development. The business community saw the peace process as a boon for the entire country. This month a major credit rating agency upgraded its rating for Turkish bonds, from Ba1 to Baa3.  The upgrade came because international lenders said the peace process is reducing political uncertainty in Turkey.  The upgrade was expected. Shortly after PKK senior commander Abdullah Ocalan announced on March 21 that the PKK would implement a ceasefire with the Turkish government the Turkish business community speculated that Turkey’s credit rating would go up because ending the war would reduce worries about Turkish stability.

 

The economics of peace make sense. However, the war began in August 1984. Long wars leave many political, diplomatic, economic and security problems in their wake, and the Kurdish War is no exception. The comprehensive settlement must address a tangled thicket of problems.  Here are a couple of the diplomatic and security pretzels. When U.S. President Barack Obama met with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Obama commended the Turkish government for seeking a peaceful end to the PKK insurgency.  Well and good. The U.S., however, regards the PKK as a terrorist organization –because Turkey, a U.S. ally, insisted that the U.S. declare the PKK a terrorist organization. The PKK has not yet disarmed. It is in the process of retreating into its base area in Iraq. Iraq regards the retreat of PKK fighters into Iraq as a breach of its national sovereignty, especially for non-Iraqi PKK fighters. Iraq is right. Iraq is also a U.S. ally.

 

Several Middle Eastern sources have quoted PKK commanders who say they intend to keep their units together.  That could threaten a peace agreement with Turkey but several senior PKK leaders have said Turkish PKK fighters will disarm once the peace agreement is reached and affirmed. The emerging peace deal will likely include programs for reintegrating them into civilian life (training, education, etc.) for Turkish and possibly Iraqi Kurds who fought for the PKK.  The outlook for Syrian and Iranian PKK fighters, however, is anything but clear. Syria is embroiled in a huge civil war. Iran is a dictatorship. In a statement issued in early May, PKK field commander Murat Karanliyan said that he hoped the peace deal would ultimately include members of the Iranian Kurd Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK) and the Syrian Kurd Democratic Union Party (PYD). The PKK has confirmed that both Iranian and Syrian Kurd fighters have been operating inside Turkey. The Iranian government is reportedly concerned that PKK militants who have been fighting in Turkey will now join PJAK units and launch attacks in Iran. At the moment PJAK and the Iranian government are observing a ceasefire. (Austin Bay)

 

May 14, 2013: The PKK reported that its first group of fighters has withdrawn from Turkey. Nine men and six women entered Iraq through the border town of Harur (Dohuk province, Iraq). 

 

May 8, 2013: Kurdish members of parliament in the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) announced that the PKK withdrawal from southeastern Turkey has begun. From 200 to 500 PKK fighters have begun moving toward the Turkey-Iraq border. The fighters will cross the border in the Semdinli and Sirnak  areas. Turkish media reported that PKK fighters have told them they have seen an increase in Turkish aerial surveillance flights and that Turkish security units have been reinforced along the border. The PKK rebels appear to be worried that they will be ambushed.

 

May 7, 2013: Iraq’s national government reiterated its support for the peace process between the PKK and Turkey. However, the Iraqi government also stated that the withdrawal of PKK militants into Iraq from Turkey is a violation of Iraqi sovereignty.  The Iraqi government has made this objection several times since details of the ceasefire agreement were made public in late March. Iraq’s Kurdish Regional Government immediately said that only Iraqi Kurds fighting with the PKK should withdraw into Iraq.

 

April 25, 2013: PKK field commander Murat Karayilan announced (from a base camp in Iraq’s Qandil Mountains) that PKK fighters will begin withdrawing from Turkey sometime in early May. The withdrawal will be conducted in phases. 

 

April 17, 2013: The Iraqi national government is objecting to an oil and gas deal signed by the government of Turkey and Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) that arranged for the KRG to sell oil and gas directly to Turkey. The Iraqi national government said that the deal is illegal because only the national government can approve oil and gas contracts. It’s believed that KRG could export one million barrels a day by 2015 or 2016. The region currently exports about 250,000 barrels a day.

 

April 16, 2013:  PKK senior commander Abdullah Ocalan has released a document which outlines his priorities for gaining support for the peace process and organizing a PKK withdrawal from Turkey.  It amounts to a political field order.  Oclana is calling for four political conferences which will be held to solidify support for the ceasefire and peace process. The conferences will be held in Dykarbakir and Ankara, Turkey, Irbil, Iraqi Kurdistan and one somewhere in Western Europe (possibly Brussels). Ocalan wants all Turkish ethnic minorities to participate in the Ankara conference. The Diyarbakir conference will be held primarily for Turkish Kurds. The meeting in Iraq will be for Iranian, Syrian and Iraqi Kurds. According to a Kurdish politician who is familiar with Ocalan’s order, the Iranian Party for Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK) and the Syrian Kurd Democratic Union Party (PYD) will also participate in the Iraqi conference.

 

April 13, 2013: The Turkish business community throughout the country is reportedly delighted with the PKK ceasefire. Turkish businesses think a peace agreement improves the political prospects for establishing new trade partnerships in the Middle East. Ending the war will demonstrate that Turkey is politically stable. The investment community expects a peace agreement will lead to a upgrade in Turkey’s credit rating. 

 

April 2, 2013:  Turkish Kurds living in predominantly Kurdish regions of Turkey are hopeful that the PKK ceasefire will continue and lead to a comprehensive peace settlement. Turkish media report that Turkish Kurds hope the end of the war will lead to economic development in their region. Over 40,000 people have been killed in the long war. Kurdish members of parliament in pro-Kurd Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) claim that they are positioned to help reach a durable peace settlement.  

 

March 26, 2013: The Turkish military said that it has not suspended operations against PKK militants. The military will defend Turkey and Turkish citizens against PKK attacks and threats from PKK militants. The military is prepared to observe the ceasefire as the peace process advances.

 

Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said that it supported the peace process between the PKK and the Turkish government.  However, it would prefer that members of the PKK who withdraw from Turkey withdraw to their own home country. Syrian and Iraqi Kurds fighting with the PKK should withdraw to their respective countries. The KRG indicated that Turkish militants fighting with the PKK should remain in Turkey. The KRG said that it knows that there are Iranian Kurds who are members of the PKK and some of the Iranians are in the PKK base camps in the Qandil Mountains.

 

March 25, 2013: Turkish F-16 fighter bombers overflew several PKK base camps in northern Iraq.  

The Turkish military said the over flights are for reconnaissance only. The jets will only attack PKK camps if PKK militants attack Turkish forces or targets in Turkey.

 

March 23, 2013:  PKK field commander Murat Karayilan declared a ceasefire with the Turkish government. The ceasefire is to be observed by all PKK members. On March 21 PKK senior commander Abdullah Ocalan told his organization that it was time to observe a permanent ceasefire and reach a peace agreement with the Turkish government. Ocalan is imprisoned in Turkey.

Baghdad angry as Kurdish troops deployed in Kirkuk

New deployments of Kurdish forces in the disputed Kirkuk province in north Iraq are a “dangerous development” and an attempt to reach its oil fields, a top Iraqi general said on Saturday.

“They want to reach (Kirkuk’s) oil wells and fields,” Staff General Ali Ghaidan Majeed, the commander of Iraqi ground forces, said, adding that the move breached an agreement whereby Kurdish peshmerga forces and Iraqi soldiers would maintain joint checkpoints.

“After consultations with the governor of Kirkuk, there has been a decision for peshmerga (security) forces to fill the vacuums in general, and especially around the city of Kirkuk,” Jabbar Yawar, secretary general of Iraqi Kurdistan’s peshmerga ministry, said in a statement.

“The intelligence service of the peshmerga has information that terrorist groups have plans to launch terrorist attacks in these regions,” Yawar said.

“Our only goal is to preserve the life of citizens.”

In the past week, a wave of violence has killed more than 200 people country-wide, including dozens in Kirkuk province.

Iraqi Kurdish leader confident of ‘Kurdish Spring’

 Barham Salih Salih, who has been seen as a possible replacement for ailing PUK leader Jalal Talabani, said Iraqi Kurds Turkey was the most reliable partner for the territory. Hürriyet Daily News photo 

A “Kurdish Spring” similar to the movements that have emerged in Arab nations has arrived in the region, an Iraqi Kurdish leader has said, stressing that the movement does not pose a threat to Turkey.

“The Kurdish Spring is here. Our time has come. The might of Turkish civilization, democracy and culture should not be concerned about the recognition of Kurdish identity,” Barham Salih, deputy secretary-general of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and former prime minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), told a group of journalists late April 22 at a meeting organized by the Medialog Platform.

Salih, who has been seen as a possible replacement for ailing PUK leader Jalal Talabani, said Iraqi Kurds Turkey was the most reliable partner for the territory.

Recalling his meetings with Turkish leaders 10 years ago, Salih said Turkish politicians were concerned that “Iraqi Kurdistan would be the first step toward the dismemberment of Iraq and a big attack on Turkey and Turkey’s national security.”

“But now Iraqi Kurdistan is the most reliable and stable secure friend that Turkey has,” Salih said. “The message is that the Kurdish identity, stability, language and rights are not a threat to Turkey; it is an asset to Turkey. For me as a Kurd, I look around when I go to Istanbul and Ankara. When my compatriots go to Antalya and İzmir, they see this amazing culture, amazing economy, amazing Turkish press and freedoms. And they say, ‘Why we don’t have that as well?’”

Turkey and Iraqi Kurds could do much together, Salih said, but added that “nationalism divides us.”
Both Turks and Kurds can be proud of their identities and, at the end of the day, they “care about the same fundamental things,” the Kurdish politician said.

“We don’t need to be locked in conflict. Iraqi Kurdistan is a powerful message in that [sense]. What Prime Minister [Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan has started by the democratic opening and the peace process together with Kurdish leaders in Turkey is a historic opportunity,” Salih said, citing the recent peace process launched by the Turkish government in order to end the three-decade-old Kurdish insurgency. 

 Erdoğan and Kurdish leaders in Turkey need to be supported

 According to Salih, the 20th century was a wasted opportunity for all, but the 21st century could be different.

Erdoğan and Kurdish leaders in Turkey need to be supported through this process, he said, stressing the need to “overcome the sensitivities of the past.”

“Iraqi Kurdistan, as a model economic and political partner for Turkey, could be a very powerful catalyst for that change,” Salih said.

Asked what sort of support Iraqi Kurds could offer to the peace process, he said they could make all kinds of contributions, but added: “The most important support is to show by example.”

Turkey and the KRG can work together for both polities’ common good, Salih said. “I think the Turkish government listens to the Iraqi Kurdistan government. The Kurdish leaders of Turkey listen to Iraqi Kurds. We need a peaceful settlement of this conflict. The cycle of conflict is not good for Turkey and for the Kurds of Turkey,” he said, underlining the importance of the recognition of Kurdish rights and enhancing Turkish democracy.

When asked about the KRG’s role in the planned withdrawal of outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants from Turkish territory, Salih did not want to comment, but implied that the process should be done without harming stability in northern Iraq.

“We want to work in every way possible to promote a settlement and stability without undermining our stability because undermining our stability would be very dangerous for us,” Salih said.

Elaborating on the possibility of the Iraqi Kurds’ role in process of PKK disarmament, Salih said these were issues between Turkey and the PKK, but added: “If there are ways and means that we, Kurdistan, may help, we could consider that at that time.”

Iraqi Kurds are also worried about extremists in Syria, some of which come from al-Qaeda in Iraq, Salih said.

“Terrorism and extremism will not stay in Syria. It will affect Turkey, Lebanon – the entire region. Iranians, Turks, Americans and Russians should come together to find a way out for Syrians; a way for a settlement,” he said, noting that Syrian Kurds had become a central factor in Syrian politics and that Syrian Kurdish issue was decisive for the transition of the country.

Salih said the Democratic Union Party (PYD) of the Kurds was an important organization in Syria.

“I believe the 20th century was very crucial to the Kurds. The 21st century is our time in Syria across the Middle East,” he said.

PKK threatens France after detention of leader in Europe

Alleged Kurdish militants have threatened retaliation against the French government after a PKK leader in Europe, Adem Uzun, was detained by French police last week.

France is guilty of being part of a conspiracy for taking Uzun into custody, the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), the alleged urban wing of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), said in a statement.

“The Kurdistan freedom movement and the Kurdish people will use its right to retaliation and to make decisions against France’s benefits, unless France abandons its hostile attitude against Kurds,” the statement said.

Police detained Uzun and another man in Paris on Oct. 6, while two others were detained Oct. 7 in the northwestern communes of Evron and Saint-Ouen-l’Aumone.

Turkey snubs Iraq’s call for troop pullout

Maintaining several military bases in northern Iraq since the 1990s, when massive joint military operations were launched against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, Turkey ignores Iraq’s recent move not to extend its treaties to allow the presence of foreign forces or military bases on Iraqi territory

Turkey has ignored a recent Iraqi move not to extend treaties signed in the past allowing the presence of foreign forces or military bases on Iraqi territory, but Turkey has maintained several military bases in northern Iraq since the 1990s.

A verbal agreement was formed between Turkey and the Iraqi Kurds in 1995-1996, when massive joint military operations were launched by the Turkish army and Iraqi Kurdish groups against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), to allow Turkish forces to establish a presence in northern Iraq. On Oct. 2, the Iraqi Cabinet condemned the Turkish government’s motion to extend cross-border operations against militants in northern Iraq. Iraq’s Cabinet suggested that Parliament should abrogate treaties permitting foreign forces in the country, after the Turkish government submitted a motion to extend cross-border operations against the PKK.

Turkish Parliament’s General Assembly will discuss the motion today, as the current mandate expires Oct. 17. No treaty has ever been signed between Turkey and Iraq that would allow Turkey to launch military operations on Iraqi territory, even in the era of the Saddam regime.

Over 3,000 Turkish soldiers

No official notice has been given to Ankara regarding the Iraqi Cabinet’s initiative yet. As in the past, Turkish officials have remained mum on the number of troops stationed in military bases in northern Iraq.

In 2009, a Sulaimaniyah-based magazine revealed that 3,235 Turks were stationed in 13 military bases in northern Iraq. When Leven magazine published its report, Turkish officials neither confirmed nor denied it. Turkey has some 1,000 troops based in northern Iraq, according to Reuters.

Iraq rejects the presence of any foreign bases or troops on Iraqi territory, and the incursion of any foreign military forces into Iraqi lands on the pretext of hunting down rebels, Iraqi government spokesman Ali Dabbagh said in a statement on Oct. 2.

Complaining of a violation of Iraqi sovereignty and security, Dabbagh said the motion contradicted the “principle of good neighborly relations.”

A high-ranking Iraqi official said the decision was aimed at Turkish military bases in the northern Iraqi province of Dohuk, one of the three provinces that make up the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

Ties with Iraq worsened

Bilateral ties between the Turkish government and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki have been marred by a flurry of disputes, including Ankara’s refusal to extradite Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, who has been sentenced to death in absentia by an Iraqi court on charges of running death squads, which he denies.

The Turkish government enjoys closer ties with the president of the KRG, Massoud Barzani, who was applauded at the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) convention on Sept. 30.