BARZANI SHOULD NOT BE DECEIVED...

While the repercussions of the US operation against Iraq are continuing, the conflict among the Kurdish organizations in Northern Iraq is stated to have reached its peak.

In Iraq, Kurdish parties and tribes, which have never been in unity and solidarity, are severely competing with each other today too so as to come to the fore in the region.

The fight for leadership between the KDP and the PUK is still continuing. Also the dispute between the KDP and the PPK (Parti Parezgarani Kurdistan / Conservative Party of Kurdistan) is getting increasingly stronger day by day. Meanwhile, the tension between the PUK and the radical Islamist parties and organizations (Ansar Al-Islam, Bizutnewey Islami, Komeley Islami, Yekgirtuwi Islami, etc.) has turned into hot conflicts.

On the other hand, KADEK (PKK), which is trying to take place in the region, is accusing the KDP and the PUK of acting together with the imperialist forces (US-UK), while also making a call to the KDP and the PUK for cooperation with a view to steal recruits from them. However, neither the KDP nor the PUK authorities are taking KADEK’s such calls seriously; they maintain that ‘KADEK has no place in the north of Iraq’.

In this period, which is witnessing a totally brutal war, the verbal conflict among the Kurdish parties and leaders is also of note.

Currently, some important developments are recorded which suggest that Kurdish parties, tribes and leaders opposing Mesud Barzani are making plans to get rid of Barzani by taking advantage of the war against the Saddam regime.

According to a report of the daily New York Times, the PPK and the Surchi Tribe are interested in the head of Mesud Barzani. And the PUK is acting together with them. Mesud Barzani is included in the death list of Nejad el-Surchi, one of the leaders of the Surchi Tribe. Nejad el-Surchi, who has an educational background in the US, dresses neatly and considered an elite, has reported to the newspaper that he was determined to kill Barzani and said, “I want Mesud’s head”. When the Surchi Tribe criticized Barzani for his asking help from Saddam against the PUK in 1996, the KDP leader had ordered a raid on the Surchi village, killing Huseyin Aga el-Surchi who was Nejad el-Surchi’s uncle and ordering the arrest of his brother Zayid. Surchi people currently living in Suleymaniyah in the PUK region say the following: “How can Barzani, who cooperated with Saddam and is now welcoming the CIA agents, be a Kurdish hero?” (daily Radikal, February 25, 2003).

The hostility between the Barzan and Surchi tribes goes back to the very past. During the last conflict between the parties on June 16, 1996, 60 people most of whom were Surchi were killed. The incident was covered by the European press in headlines. In fact, Lord Avebury, Chairman of the Human Rights Commission of the British Parliament, sent a report to Jeremy Hanley, who is Responsible for Northern Iraqi Affairs of the British Foreign Ministry, in which he accused the KDP and its leader Mesud Barzani harshly and likened Barzani to the Serbian leader and referred to him as “Radovan Karadzic of Kurdistan”.

As for today…

Some Kurdish writers interpreted Barzani’s recent anti-Turkey statements as an example to “heroism”. But is the case exactly like what they think? Or the powers making Barzani speak against Turkey and making a fool of him are trying to get rid of him by bringing Turkey and Barzani face to face?

It is very strange to see that Kurdish intellectuals and writers are ignoring the game being played and applauding such a provocation.

Is it a coincidence that “US educated” Nejad el-Surchi, who is one of the leaders of the Conservative Party of Kurdistan (PPK), suddenly appears during these days and says “I want Barzani’s head” to the daily New York Times?

It is known that the PPK, led by Omer Hidir Surchi, was founded in Irbil on April 29, 1992 following the Gulf War, with the support of the UK, and it is dependent on the UK. It is a fact that the PPK, the main headquarters of which is in Suleymaniyah since 1996, has formed an alliance with the PUK leader Talabani. And it is another fact that Talabani frequently travels to London; he is a UK citizen; and his wife resides in London.

Can it be that Talabani is trying to push aside Barzani with a view to become the “only leader” of Kurds in the aftermath of the Iraq war? As a matter of fact, it will be Talabani who will benefit most from a deterioration of Barzani’s relations with Turkey.

In short, it is a fact that the KDP leader Mesud Barzani, who unfortunately is so weak that he cannot see his way, has nothing else to do but be a friend of Turkey by following the path of his late father Mullah Mustafa Barzani who, all his life, had never talked against Turkey.

Not only Barzani but also Talabani has found Turkey standing by him in his hardest times. In fact, Talabani expressed this truth on various occasions by saying “Turkey and the Turkmen are our closest friends”.

Turkey, having a secular and democratic structure, constitutes a model not only for the ethnic elements in the region but also for the regional countries. Turkey, which pays efforts to have the problems solved through dialog and peaceful ways within the framework of UN resolutions and international law, stresses on every platform that it supports the idea of preserving the territorial integrity of Iraq and ensuring that all the communities living in Iraq be within a democratic structure based on equity. Turkey is in Northern Iraq within the context of humanitarian aid and struggle against terrorism.