Turkish FM’s Kirkuk visit: A tit-for-tat for Barzani’s efforts for a Kurdish region in Syria

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu paid a surprise visit to the disputed oil-rich city of Kirkuk last week after holding a meeting with the Kurdish leaders in Erbil about the future of the Kurds of Syria following a possible collapse of the Syrian regime setting off criticism from Iraqi officials.

TheIraqi officials considered the unexpected visit a “blatant interference in the Iraqi internal affairs” while Turkish officials said it was a “peaceful” visit to the city where the FM met with the Turkmen community with whom Turks share close ethnic and historic ties. Following the visit, Iraq summoned Turkish ambassador to protest the visit while Turkey summoned the Iraqi ambassador to tell him that the Iraqi government’s statements were “unacceptable”

When a high ranking foreign official such as Davutoglu visits, without notice, a disputed city in Iraq that is claimed by each of the Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen communities that has been the source of tensions between Baghdad and Erbil for years, it may be deemed inappropriate. It may also be seen as the “peaceful”  visit that Turks claim, but I think there is something else behind it: a tit-for-tat for Kurdistan Region’s support for the creation of a Kurdish region in Syria, especially when Barzani admitted training Syrian Kurds in Kurdistan Region to send them home to “defend their areas”. Kurdish leaders also continued their support for all Kurdish groups in Syria even the one that Turkey accuses of having links with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebel group that has been fighting the Turkish state for almost three decades.

Barzani’s late July remarks when he told Al Jazeera that the Syrian Kurds were beingtrained in Kurdistan Region so that they can go back to Syria and “fill any security vacuum” that might come forth in the wake of the fall of the Syrian regime, upset the Turks so much that immediately after that they threatened to use military force to intervene in Syria if a Kurdish region was established where the Democratic Union of Kurdistan (PYD) – a Kurdish armed group allegedly affiliated with the PKK – had any control. The Prime Minister Recepy Teyyip Erdogan also appeared on TV saying Davutoglu will visit Kurdistan Region to “share Turkey’s sensitivities and determination on this issue” with local administration officials.

Prior to the visit, a senior Kurdish official from Barzani’s party said that Turkeyshould not push away any Kurdish parties in Syria, even the PYD.

Turkey has been viciously fighting PKK and is desperately trying to eliminate the group through military force. The creation of a Kurdish region in Syria is seen by Turkey as a potential threat to Turkey because it fears that the PKK will use the Kurdish region of Syria to attack Turkey. PKK is already using the Kurdish region of Iraq as a launch pad to attack Turkey and Kurdish leaders have made it clear that they will not fight alongside Turkey against the PKK despite their presence in the northern mountainous territories of Kurdistan on the Turkish border. Barzani once said that the blood of a Kurds should never be shed by another Kurd in response to Turkey’s pressures on Barzani to fight against the PKK.

Davutoglu’s Kirkuk visit shows the extent to which Turkey is ready to go to prevent the creation of a Kurdish region in Syria. On the surface, Turkish officials may say that they do not oppose the creation of a Kurdish region in Syria provided that it is not controlled by a group linked with the PKK. But in reality, they oppose a Kurdish region in Syria because that will no doubt encourage Turkey’s own Kurdish region in the southeast will be demanding the establishment of a similar region, not to mention that it might open a new front for Turkey to fight the PKK.

Davutoglu’s Kirkuk visit was a reminder for Barzani and Kurdish leaders in Iraq that “we can meddle in Kirkuk if you keep supporting the creation of a Kurdish region in Syria where even PYD can exist”, that Turkey will support the Turkmen in their claims of Kirkuk being a Turkmen city which the Kurdish leaders have been trying to incorporate into the Kurdistan Region since 2003 and which the Kurds fought over it for decades with Saddam Hussein.

History shows that Turkey has the potential to intervene and divide the ethnic groups as in the case of Cyprus in 1974. Davutoglu spoke to the Turkmen community as if Turkey was going to establish a Turkmen region in Kirkuk. Turkey has considered Kirkuk a historically Ottoman and the property of the Turkmenminority. “You waited for us too long, but I promise you won’t wait for us that long in the future.” He told the Turkmen community of the city stressing on Turkish support for the Turkmen.

More importantly, Davutoglu implicitly said that Turkey recognizes Kirkuk as a Turkmen city and will act accordingly when it comes to disputes between the ethnic groups of the city. “Today we [Turkish authorities] decided to make Konya city in Turkey and Kirkuk sister cities. I am a Turkmen of Konya and for that reason I feel your pain very well... Wherever there is a Turkmen, we have felt responsible towards them and protected them and we will always do so” Davutoglu told the Turkmen rally.

Davutoglu chose a Turkmen city of Turkey instead of a Kurdish city or just any other Turkish city, to be a sister city of Kirkuk. Normally, when two cities are said to be sisters, they are such because they share something vital. In the particular case of Kirkuk and Konya, that shared characteristic, according to Davutoglu’s speech is the Turkmenness of Kirkuk and the Turkmenness of Konya.

Attack on Sulaimaniyah donkey statue sparks outrage

ERBIL - An attack on the statue of a donkey in Sulaimaniyah, the second largest city in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region, has set off outcry among artists and journalists who deemed it as an assault on freedom and the "terrorization of thought".


The statue was unveiled earlier this month in central Sulaimaniyah city’s Nali Park - that has been named after  famous Kurdish poet who wrote a famous poem about donkeys - by a political party in the region called the Donkeys’ Party.


The statue shows the head and shoulders of a donkey dressed in a suit, shirt and tie. It is a 1.8 by 1.1 meter bronze statue that took Zirak Mira, a Kurdish sculptor, seven months to create.


Donkeys’ Party leader Omar Klol had hoped during the unveiling ceremony on April 13 that the statue would help people better understand the four-legged animal and treat it with respect.


Klol believes that donkeys offered help to the Kurdish armed struggle against the former Iraqi governments in the second half of the twentieth century when Kurds were fighting for greater political rights.


He has on several occasions said that the donkey played a very important role in the Kurdish liberation movement and described the animal as the Kurdish fighter's “only friend” during the struggle for Kurdish rights. Donkeys were used to move fighters' weaponry and food supplies from the villages to their hideouts on the jagged mountains.


“I can't describe the way I feel today which is similar to the feeling I had on my wedding day,” Klol said during the ceremony.


“Kurdish government, parliament and other governmental institutions failed to help our party establish the statue, but Mira was the only person who raised the donkey’s head high in central Sulaymaniyah.”


But the statue lasted unharmed for only 10 days and was attacked by unknown people last night. There is damage to one of the donkey's eyes as well as its tie. The attack followed a verbal attack on the city of Sulaimaniyah on Facebook, stating that erecting such a statue was a foolish thing to do. Unknown groups also threatened to remove the statue.


But for creator of the statue Mira, the physical and verbal attacks on the statue and Sulaimaniyah city is a “terrorization of thought”.


"They [the attackers] have not stopped by this and have launched a verbal attack against Sulaimaniyah where the statue was placed, which shows that the Kurdish community has not developed in this respect yet.”


The Kurdistan Artists Syndicate (KAS) issued a statement following the attack.


“We condemn any attack or assault on the artistic works on any political, religious or social pretext." The syndicate also called on the court and the relevant parties to take legal steps against the perpetrators.


Also, a number of intellectuals, artists and journalists launched a campaign to support the donkey statue and criticize the attack. The campaign group described the attack on the statue as an attack on freedom and creativity in a statement circulated by the Kurdish media.


“After threats and insulting the artistic work of Mira, here the hands of the dark put their threat to action and distorted the statue,” the statement said.


“We condemn this attack and consider it as an attack on artistic freedom and creativity.”

Mysterious death of Sulaimaniyah mayor accused of corruption casts doubts on officials in the region

On April 14 in the afternoon,
 Hama Salih was reported dead by the Asayish.

ERBIL - Zana Hama Salih, mayor of Sulaimaniya city, the Kurdistan Region’s second largest city, who was arrested by the Asayish (Kurdish security police) last week on corruption charges, died in prison in mysterious circumstances. Authorities said he committed suicide, as he waited for the day of his trial, by hanging himself.

The alleged suicide of the mayor has now raised doubts that he was in fact murdered by other officials who may have been involved in the corruption and feared that Hama Salih might talk.

Hama Salih was accused of accepting bribes, as well as the illegal selling of plots of land worth about 400 IQD ($325,000) in Sulaimaniyah. He was arrested on such charges on April 8. An attempt by the court to try him was blocked after relatives of the official gathered in front of the court and protested. He was then moved to Sulaimaniyah Asayish Directorate for investigation.

The relatives claimed that Hama Salih was not arrested on legal grounds, but was rather arrested on political grounds. The same day, they gathered in front of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) headquarters in the city to protest Hama Salih’s arrest and efforts to try him. The PUK is the major ruling party in the Sulaimaniyah province. The security agencies are controlled by the PUK.

Following the incident, the opposition forces in Kurdistan quickly voiced their suspicion that the incident may not have been suicide and called for an investigation into the death.

The vice president of Kurdistan Region, prime minister and the parliament each ordered a separate committee to look into the incident.

Hawlati Newspaper reported that minutes before Hama Salih died his wife had visited him. “I visited Zana yesterday [Saturday, the same day he was announced dead] and stayed with him until 2pm. He was very well and optimistic that he would be released [on bail]” the newspaper quoted Hama Salih’s wife.

The body of Hama Salih was moved to the forensic department for an autopsy to establish whether his death was suicide. A period of 48 hours was set for the autopsy to be conducted and the results revealed. The relatives however wanted an autopsy in Baghdad rather than in Sulaimaniyah.

Mohammed Nouri, Sulaimaniyah Forensic Department’s chairman, said the inspections and checks were still ongoing though there were no signs oftorture.

Hama Salih’s family and relatives took to the streets following his death and called for an investigation into the case. They were highly suspicious of Hama Salih’s death. One brother of Hama Salih, Rahman Hama Salih, went so far as to say the relatives knew who was behind the death of his brother.

The relatives also wanted to see the room in which Hama Salih was held. There were allegations that the room is four meters high and Hama Salih’s belt and shoe laces were taken from him as part of the regulations in the prison to prevent detainees from such suicide attempts.

Sherzad Hafez, a member of a parliamentary committee formed to look into the incident, suggested that Hama Salih might have been strangled. According to reports, Hama Salih hung himself from the bathroom window using a wire.

“Zana is said to have hung himself in the bathroom where there is only one faucet that cannot stand the weight of anyone stepping on it [to reach for the window] especially that the mayor had a heavy body and the window is rather low from the ground, this cannot form the necessary weight for self-hanging," said Hafez.

"It's not clear where did Zana got the wire by which he hung himself and how [the wire] got into the room because there was only the refrigerator wire in the room which is still there."

Hama Salih's relatives were finally convinced by a representative of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani to bury the corpse on condition that an independent committee be formed to look into the incident and they family members beallowed to see the room in which Hama Salih was kept.

Ali Karim, head of the Kurdistan Institute for Human Rights, wrote on hisFacebook page that “Hama Salih’s case is yet another test for the rule of law and governance in the Kurdistan Region".

“In order for the executioner and the victim not to be confused and in order to respect the will of the people of the Kurdistan Region who want to know the truth as it is, we call for a fair and transparent probe into both the death of Hama Salih, Sulaimaniyah mayor, and the charges on which he was arrested," wrote Karim.

Spokesperson for the PUK politburo Azad Jundyani said: “The conclusions of the investigation are not out yet. We can't view the case only from the perspective that there might be other people behind the incident. Why not view it from the psychological perspective that a official who was at the prime of his work but faced a case that involved investigation [and corruption charges] thus had to take this decision [suicide].”

Sulaimaniyah’s prosecutor general Judge Farhad said: “We'll try to settle the mayor’s case with criminal and forensic evidence.” He also called on anybody, in particular the family of the late mayor, to provide any information orevidence to the court in a bid to establish the facts.

The burial of MR Zana Hama Salih (Courtesy of Hawlati Newspaper)

The burial of MR Zana Hama Salih (Courtesy of Hawlati Newspaper)

The burial of MR Zana Hama Salih (Courtesy of Hawlati Newspaper)

My interview with an American forum moderator about the removing of the three zeros from the Iraqi Dinar and its effects

By Ward Welch

Erbil, Kurdistan, Iraq  April 12, 2012

Ward Welch: Mr. Aziz, thank you very much for taking my questions today.

For years now we've been hearing about the CBI's plan to "remove the zeros" from the Iraqi Dinar and equalize the value of the IQD with the other major currencies of the world, including the American Dollar. With the success of the recent Arab summit in Baghdad, and the imminent release of Iraq from the United Nations sanctions (Chapter 7), what are your thoughts concerning this subject?

Raber Aziz: I think the removing of the zeros will have its own benefits and consequences for the country alike. It will be good for Iraq to remove the zeros because this address; when the Iraqi dinar is strong in the face of US dollars it will help keep inflation down as much as possible. It will also facilitate, for Iraq, economic cooperation with the international banks as it will increase the international confidence and credibility of it the new Iraqi Dinar. Also, it will reduce the size of the bank notes in circulation and will simplify Iraq's payment system.

But the having a new and strong Dinar is expected to have consequences as well. one of the consequences will be money laundering. The CBI has said the zero-removing process, which is expected to take place in September as it has announced, will see the bank  re-print 30tr dinars ($26bn) and the process of switching currency will last a full year where both the old and new currencies will be dealt in the market. This is too long a period and could witness lots of money laundering, as well as fraud.

Ward Welch:  With Iraq taking its place in the world as a completely sovereign nation and a major power in the Arab world, how can Iraq continue to trade with the world using a highly undervalued currency? Certainly the impetus of the GOI and the CBI must be to rectify this condition very soon or risk losing billions of dollars (trillions of IQD) in foreign investments in Iraq.

Raber Aziz: Iraq cannot continue to trade with the world using the current undervalued currency. Iraq's current money, printed after the 2003 US-led war, is 150 times bigger in quantity than the Swiss edition of the Iraqi Dinar used in the country. Iraq's smallest bill used in the markets is the 250 Dinar bill (approximately US$0.2) and this is definitely not a good currency for the country that sells over 2 million bpd of oil (roughly over 6 billion US Dollar per month). Besides, Iraq is planning to increase its oil production to reach at least 6 million bpd in the next few years and ultimately 12 million bpd. That's even three times and six times the size of Iraq's current revenues. This will mean Iraq's annual revenues will hit US$210 in the coming days and over US$400 billion ultimately. And for this, Iraq requires a currency with strong value in the world market.

Ward Welch: With this new economic power in hand, will this increase the desire of Kurdistan to gain complete independence and sovereignty?

Raber Aziz:   The desire of the Kurds to become independent is, and has always been, there with or without the economic power in hand. Every single Kurd dreams of an independent Kurdistan state. Though economic boom is a factor for any nation to proclaim independence, in the case of Kurdistan there are other factors that determine whether the Kurds want to be independent from Iraq or not. The first of these factors will be an international recognition of a Kurdish state. Who is ready to recognize a Kurdish state in north of Iraq? Kurds first need guarantees that if they proclaim independence their state will be recognized on an international level and be protected by some of the world's super powers, among them the US. Another factor will be the Kurds' relations with the regional nations. Kurdistan, I mean the greater Kurdistan that spans Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran, and the Kurdish part of Iraq as well, is a landlocked country. Kurdistan cannot survive without strong friendly relations with these countries in case they wanted to become independent.

Ward Welch: How will this rebirth of economic power in Iraq effect the relationship between the political blocks? (Will the new wealth encourage them to put religious, secular, and tribal differences aside and truly work together?)

Raber Aziz:  I don't think that it will result in the political blocs putting their differences aside. Iraq's Prime Minister Mr Nouri al-Maliki who has been controlling power over the past few years has unfortunately been playing on a very sensitive cord, namely sectarianism. He has appointed many of his Shiite Dawa Party officials as ministers or high-ranking officials in the government and has been running many other ministerial and senior positions like the ministries of interior, defense, national security as acting minister despite him being the PM. He has been rejecting candidates of the rival al-Iraqiya list, the main Sunni bloc in Iraq, for the empty ministries each time with a different excuse since the end of 2010 when the political blocs finally, after an 8-month impasse came to a power-sharing deal, in Erbil, to form the new cabinet. And, last year, his Shiite dominated government started removing Sunni academics on charges of belonging to the former Baath Party. They detained about 600 former Iraqi army officials on charges of planning a coup by the end of 2011 when the last US troop left Iraq, and also started hunting down other top Sunni leaders in the country on terror charges, among them VP Tariq al-Hashimi for involvement in 150 armed attacks. Therefore, it is not easy to undo these, and thus the sectarian disputes which are in fact the core of the political disputes as well, will remain.

Ward Welch:   Thank you very much for your valuable time sir.

Raber Y. Aziz is a Kurdish journalist and blogger from Erbil, the capital of the semi-autonomous Kurdish Region. He works for AKnews as English News Editor and is formerly their Managing Editor. You can follow his blog at http://kurdishobserver.blogspot.com/

Sheikh Muhammadawi warns Kurds to leave Arab areas or face death

ERBIL- The leader of the Brave Sons of Iraq, Sheikh Abbas al-Muhammadawi, has warned Kurds in Baghdad and other Arab-majority areas to leave or be killed.

The Brave Sons of Iraq, a Shiite group, gave one-week for Kurds to leave Arab cities after which they threatened to carry weapons against the them.

Iraqi media circulated a statement from Abdullah al-Muhammadawi, a spokesperson for the military wing of the group, the 9th Division of Badr.

The group stated that they would also carry weapons against Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani and those who are with him.

“Who has warned is excused” concluded the statement, meaning that following one week period given, the killings would begin if Kurds did not leave the Arab areas.

The threats come as tensions between Baghdad and Kurdistan Region escalate over accusations that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is becoming an autocrat and a dictator.

Muhammadawi said in a press release that Kurds in Baghdad and other Arab majority areas should be “displaced to and moved to Kurdistan region, and must ask for visas if they want to enter Baghdad or any other Arab land in Iraq as retaliation for the way they deal with Arabs who want to enter Kurdistan.

“Kurds must know who gave them prestige and value” he added.

Muahhamadawi’s statement quickly set off criticism from Kurdish MPs and organizations. The Kurdish group Supporters of Change called on Kurdish MPs in Baghdad to file a lawsuit against Muhammadawi on charge of terror for his threats to kill Kurds.

Mohammed al-Afandi, secretary of the group called on the authorities in a statement for “severe measures about it, and restrain the groups that are trying to undermine security and safety in the country.

"This behavior is contrary to law and the constitution.”

Following al-Afandi’s call, the Kurdish Blocs Coalition (KBC) member Saman Fawzi said Muhammadawi’s threats against the Kurds go under the label of “terror”.

“Even the Baathists did not go this far in their threats and intimidation of Kurdish people,” he said.

Fawzi said the Kurdish MPs are working on a lawsuit against the Arab leader.

The threats were also condemned by al-Iraqiya list, the main Sunni bloc in Iraq. Their spokesman, Maysoon al-Damluji, described the statements as “mere harbingers of bad will that aims at breaking up Iraq”.

She added: “Kurds are an integral part of the Iraqi society and the Kurdish leader displayed a pivotal role in fighting dictatorship and in the establishment of the principles of democracy in Iraq.

"The mountains of Kurdistan and the honorable Kurdish people hugged the opposition [during the time of Saddam Hussein], among them the Wifaq Movement, Supreme Islamic Council in Iraq, the Dawa Party and a large number of other opposition forces and Iraqi patriotic figures.

"And they [Kurdish people] have faced big risks for that.”

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s office said the day before yesterday that any Iraqi citizen has the right to choose the place they want to live and it is the Iraqi government’s responsibility to protect them.

The Badr Organization also announced that it has nothing to do with Muhammadani whose military wing carries the same name, Badr division.

Qasim al-Araji, a leading member of the Badr Organization, told a press conference that the Badr Organization does not have any armed wings, and that “Muhammadani is not related to us.”

“We call on the security authorities to prosecute any group that spreads terror and tries to provoke hatred between the sons of one nation” he added.

Soon after the media hype about Muhammadani’s threats, the sheikh backtracked on his remarks regarding killing Kurds in Baghdad and other areas.

“I did not threaten Kurds living outside the Kurdistan Region or pose their lives to danger. The majority of my friends are Fayili Kurds," he said.

But in any case, the threat is still there. Kurds from the semi-autonomous region have relatives in Baghdad and family members who work in Baghdad - in the political arena or in other cases have paperwork that needs to be done in Baghdad such as a US visa, UK or other visa interviews.

Besides, Arabs of Iraq do not require visas when they enter Kurdistan Region. This year, over 100,000 Arabs from southern and central Iraq visited Kurdistan Region during the three-day Nawroz festivities.

"And many of them have bought properties in Kurdistan, in particular housing projects that the Kurdish government launched over the past few years to address the housing crisis in Kurdistan Region. But the with the big number of Arabs from other parts of Iraq buying from these projects, the housing crisis is much the same."

 A report published by Hawler Newspaper last year said that 25% of the housing units tendered by the Kurdistan Region’s Investment Board to companies so that people of the region could buy them to ease the housing crisis was in fact bought by Arabs from Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq.

The only thing that might be disturbing for the Arabs who come to Kurdistan Region might be the strict measures taken by security forces such as the inspection of the cars of Arab families who come to Kurdistan.

This is justified when taking into account the security situation in other parts of Iraq where al-Qaeda and other armed groups carry out daily bombings and attacks.

The security, stability and economic development in the Kurdish region, which has been spared of such violence since 2003, has been because of the strict security measures.