Iraqi: Barazini Political Statement

Mr. M. Barazani at the general opening of the Kurdish Democratic party's meeting in Irbeel, stated that the Iraqi Kurdish community is ready to decide its own destiny and that Kurkouk is part of Kurdistan and not subject to negotiation. He pointed out that Kurds are one nation and will remain as one at the present and in the future. (aljazeera.net, 12/13/2010)

The Iraqi political group under the leadership of Iyad Allawi, who served as an interim prime minister after the U.S. invasion in 2003, denounced Mr. Barazani's statement. He also said that Mr. Barazni is advocating cessation instead of calling for unity, and that Karkouk is part of Iraq and will stay that way.

The Kurdish conflict in Iraq has been going happening on and off since the 1930s, when Iraq was still under British influence. However, due to Iraq geopolitical location and its oil reserve, which is among the highest in the world, it was a target of interference by world superpowers. Russia, Britain, and the U.S. played significant secret roles in the manipulation of Kurds to create problems for the Iraqi government. Also, since the Gulf invasion of 1991 by the U.S., the Israel Mossad to penetrate the Kurdistan area and has been playing an influential role in training and arming the Kurdish militia "il Bashmaraka". Furthermore, it has been reported by local press that the Israelis have built spying centers in Iraq and Kurdistan close to the Iran-Turkey border. The Israeli government called these industrial and tourist sites.

The Israeli strategy is no longer a secret. It creates political conflicts in some states in the Arab world. Its role in Southern Sudan goes back to the 1950s. It is following the Western strategy of divide and rule to weak the Arab world and keep them busy with internal problems. Nevertheless, when the Baathist political party took control of Iraq, Saddam Hussein granted the Iraqi Kurdish community self-rule. Such political recognition was not given to the other Kurdish communities in Turkey and Iran, which are much larger than the Iraqi one, whose size at the time was between 2.5 and 3 million people out of a total population of 18 million people. The present size is around 25 million people. It has been estimated that the population size of the Kurdish community is between 19 and 21 million out of a total Turkish population of 76 million. They were deprived of teaching their own Kurdish language and even publishing newspapers in their language.

Similar situations exist in Iran where the population size is estimated to be between 6.5 and 7.5 million people out of 77 million people. The Iranian Kurdish community is also deprived of the same privileges that the Iraqi Kurdish community obtained more than 40 years ago.

I wonder about Mr. Barazani's statement "Kurds are one nation and will remain one nation at the present and in the future". If Mr. Barazi is referring to Kurds in Turkey and Iran, he is a dreamer. It is of interest that the leader of the Kurdish Labor Party in Turkey, Mr. Ojolan, who is serving a prison sentence for life, was kidnapped by the Israeli Mossad in Africa and was turned to the Turkish authority. At that time, the Turkish-Israeli relationship was strong; especially when the Turkish military was stronger than it is now.