23 March 2007

1. "Kurdish Party DTP Warns Crackdown May Revive War", the leader of Turkey's main pro- Kurdish party warned that the arrest of top party officials during the past month may rekindle separatist violence that has led to thousands of deaths in the past two decades.

2. "People Fervid, Officials Tense in Newroz", at least 40 people have been taken under custody in Istanbul during Kurds' traditional Newroz festivities, which marks the beginning of spring. While people on the streets demand an end to violence, clashes between the police and demonstrators continued.

3. "Car explosion injures 2 in Turkey's largely Kurdish southeast", the explosion near an officers' club in Batman caused panic since it came just hours after tens of thousands of Kurds in the region celebrated a spring festival traditionally used to assert separatist demands, raising rebel flags and images of a jailed rebel chief in violation of Turkish laws.

4. "US struggles to avert Turkish intervention in northern Iraq", Ankara claims Kurdish rebels preparing attacks. Operations could wreck American peace strategy.

5. "Turkey's dissident Intellectuals grow accustemed to life with Bodyguards", the road to paradise passes by hell, and we are walking.

6. "Kurdish leader demands control of Iraq oil hub", the prime minister of Iraqi Kurdistan raised fresh calls on Thursday for a referendum to decide the future of the country's crucial oil hub of Kirkuk, warning that Kurdish patience had limits.

7. "Oil-rich Kirkuk at Melting Point as Factions Clash", the Kirkuk issue is as notoriously divisive in Iraq as sovereignty over certain parts of Ireland used to be in British politics. Winston Churchill famously complained that, after all the political and military cataclysms of the First World War, the question of who should have "the dreary spires of Fermanagh and Tyrone", remained as ferociously contested as before the war.

8. "US Envoy Urges Iraq Kurds to Shun Complacency", outgoing U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad visited "the other Iraq" on Thursday, flying to the relatively peaceful Kurdistan region in the north which he praised as a "shining example" for the rest of the country.

1. - Bloomberg - "Kurdish Party DTP Warns Crackdown May Revive War":

21 March 2007 / by Ayla Jean Yackley

The leader of Turkey's main pro- Kurdish party warned that the arrest of top party officials during the past month may rekindle separatist violence that has led to thousands of deaths in the past two decades.

The crackdown could also cost Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose party holds a majority of parliamentary seats in the largely Kurdish southeast, support in elections later this year.

``If our party, which is committed to a peaceful resolution, is unable to function, it says to Kurds that the political arena is shut to them,'' said Aysel Tugluk, co-chairman of the Democratic Society Party or DTP. That may lead Kurdish guerrillas to call off their seven-month unilateral truce as they ``assess how effective this cease-fire has been,'' she added.

A resumption of fighting could lead to tensions with the European Union, which is calling on Turkey to peacefully settle a two-decade long conflict with Kurdish guerrillas that has left some 40,000 people dead and large sections of the southeast desolate. It may also cause friction with the United States, which has close ties with Iraqi Kurds across the border.

Turkish police have raided dozens of party offices and detained top national leaders and branch heads in several cities, said Tugluk, adding that she can't keep count of the number of cases pending against her and other party leaders. The arrests come as Kurds mark the new-year festival of Newroz today, a holiday that in the past has been marred by violence and protests.

Police Skirmishes

Tens of thousands of Kurds attended the celebrations in Diyarbakir, the largest city in the southeast, with many chanting slogans in support of the guerrillas. About 70 people were detained, according to DTP officials, including about 20 who brandished pictures of Kurdish rebels killed in recent clashes with the Turkish army, and then became involved in skirmishes with police.

Ahmet Turk, the other co-leader of the DTP, told the rally that 250 party officials have been detained and 72 charged in the latest crackdown.

Hundreds of people have been prosecuted since the conflict began under Turkish anti-terrorism laws for showing support for Kurdish nationalism or speaking respectfully of Ocalan or his guerrillas. In Turkey it was illegal to speak Kurdish until 1991. Turkey says it will not negotiate with the guerrillas, who it considers terrorists, and several pro-Kurdish political parties that pre-date the DTP have been closed by the courts.

Jail Sentences

Tugluk, 41, and her co-chairman, Turk, 64, were sentenced by an Ankara court to 1 1/2 years in prison on Feb. 27 after party workers distributed pamphlets in the Kurdish language. Turk was then sentenced by a court in Diyarbakir to another six months for calling Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed leader of the guerrilla Kurdistan Workers Party or PKK, ``Mr. Ocalan.'' The two are free pending an appeal to a higher court.

A court on March 19 jailed Metin Tekce, mayor of the city of Hakkari, to seven years after he told a parliamentary commission that the PKK was not a terrorist group and that he was proud to be Kurdish.

``This is a significant crackdown on the DTP,'' said Wolfango Piccoli, a Turkey analyst with the Eurasia Group in London. It ``makes it increasingly likely that the PKK will resume attacks in the coming weeks.''

Nationalist Backlash

Any rise in violence could lead to a nationalist backlash and harm the prospects of Erdogan's Justice and Development Party in a general election scheduled for November.

``There is a strong nationalist wave in Turkey right now, and if the PKK begins killing soldiers, this will strengthen the right,'' Piccoli said.

Dengir Mir Mehmet Firat, a deputy chairman of Erdogan's party, said the government has ``no constitutional authority to intervene'' in the probes. ``The judiciary in Turkey is independent. These operations are being carried out by police under orders from prosecutors,'' Firat said.

Turkish politicians have accused the DTP of maintaining direct links with the rebels, a charge that Tugluk denied. She said that members of her party may have ``sympathy'' for the rebels and some have relatives who fought with the guerrillas.

The crackdown comes as the snows in the mountainous southeast begin to thaw, opening up mountain passes that the guerrillas have often used to infiltrate into Turkey from northern Iraq, where they are based.

Troop Deployment

The army has deployed an additional 20,000 troops to the border with Iraq, where it estimates 4,000 PKK guerrillas are based, Vatan newspaper reported yesterday.

Turkish generals have threatened to send forces into northern Iraq, a warning that Gen. Ilker Basbug, head of land forces repeated on March 9. That would likely anger the United States, which considers Kurdish-run northern Iraq one of the only stable areas of that country.

The arrests may also be aimed at hurting Kurdish chances at the ballot box, Tugluk said.

In the last election in 2002, the pro-Kurdish party won enough votes to gain 54 seats in parliament if it had passed the 10 percent nationwide threshold. Since it dropped short of that, most of the seats went to Erdogan's party.

Tugluk said her party may field independent candidates in this year's election to run in districts, circumventing the 10 percent rule, which only applies to parties.

2. - Bianet - "People Fervid, Officials Tense in Newroz":

At least 40 people have been taken under custody in Istanbul during Kurds' traditional Newroz festivities, which marks the beginning of spring. While people on the streets demand an end to violence, clashes between the police and demonstrators continued.

ISTANBUL / 22 March 2007 / by Emine Ozcan

First day of spring, Newroz festivities have been organized all around the country on March 21. Tens of thousands of people attended the celebrations in Istanbul.

Despite warnings by the organizing committee, celebrations were frequently interrupted by slogans and raising of posters of Abdullah Ocalan, ex-leader of the pro-Kurdish guerilla group PKK. Ocalan had been arrested in 1999 and still stays in prison following a trial.

12 people who tried to enter the festival arena with Ocalan posters were taken under custody. The organizing committee members and several others have also been apprehended at the end of the day.

Turkey's Human Rights Association (IHD) said 40 people have been detained by the police. An official from IHD told bianet that the real number would be in hundreds.

Demands of democracy

This year's Newroz festivities has been tagged as "Either democracy or nothing". With slogans and chants, attendees urged freedom to Abdullah Ocalan or rehabilitation of detainment facilities during the festivities.

I took to the streets and talked to the people about Newroz, which is highly politicized in par with the Kurdish insurgency. Some said that it's not in their tradition while others recognized Kurds' right to celebrate Newroz. Nonetheless, The common denominator was the same in all: "Peace".

The taxi driver I met on my way to the festival, Abdullah Nergis came to Istanbul 20 years ago from Siirt in eastern Turkey.

"The state recognizes Newroz. Kurds have the right to celebrate it" he said. "But I'm not happy that it comes with violence". His wish is a real, heartily celebration without violence.

I asked Yasemin, a student in the Istanbul Technical University's conservatoire, what Newroz means for her. She quoted a legend from ancient times, which connotes a Kurd blacksmith killing a king who tortured his people.

The blacksmith conveys the news to his fellow men and women at the mountains by lighting a huge fire. That's why today it's tradition to light a Newroz fire in all festivities.

NGO's support the festivities

During the celebrations in Istanbul, several groups gave concerts; pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) provincial chair Dogan Erbas and Sultan Bozkurt from Mothers for Peace addressed the crowd.

Many NGO's and rights organizations joined the festivities.

On another accounts 48 people have been taken under custody in Diyarbakir. Also clashes between the security forces and demonstrators have been reported from Mersin, Sirnak, Konya and several other cities during the festivities.

The government officials on the other hand, followed the recent tradition of organizing an official celebration in Ankara, to convey that it's also a Turkish tradition.

3. - AP - "Car explosion injures 2 in Turkey's largely Kurdish southeast":

DIYARBAKIR / 21 March 2007

An accidental explosion of a liquified petroleum gas tank of a car slightly injured two people in Turkey's southeast on Wednesday, local authorities said.

The blast occurred in the southeastern city of Batman and authorities quickly ruled out the possibility of a terror attack, saying it was caused by a malfunction of the gas tank of the vehicle. Two people in the car were slightly injured, they said.

The explosion near an officers' club in Batman caused panic since it came just hours after tens of thousands of Kurds in the region celebrated a spring festival traditionally used to assert separatist demands, raising rebel flags and images of a jailed rebel chief in violation of Turkish laws.

Turkey insists it will maintain its military drive against the separatist rebels until all guerrillas are surrendered or killed. The conflict has claimed the lives of more than 37,000 people since 1984.

4. - The Guardian - "US struggles to avert Turkish intervention in northern Iraq":

· Ankara claims Kurdish rebels preparing attacks
· Operations could wreck American peace strategy

ANKARA / 22 March 2007 / by Simon Tisdall

The US is scrambling to head off a "disastrous" Turkish military intervention in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq that threatens to derail the Baghdad security surge and open up a third front in the battle to save Iraq from disintegration.

Senior Bush administration officials have assured Turkey in recent days that US forces will increase efforts to root out Kurdistan Workers' party (PKK) guerrillas enjoying safe haven in the Qandil mountains, on the Iraq-Iran-Turkey border.

But Abdullah Gul, Turkey's foreign minister, MPs, military chiefs and diplomats say up to 3,800 PKK fighters are preparing for attacks in south-east Turkey — and Turkey is ready to hit back if the Americans fail to act. "We will do what we have to do, we will do what is necessary. Nothing is ruled out," Mr Gul said. "I have said to the Americans many times: suppose there is a terrorist organisation in Mexico attacking America. What would you do?... We are hopeful. We have high expectations. But we cannot just wait forever."

Turkish sources said "hot pursuit" special forces operations in Haftanin and Qanimasi, northern Iraq, were already under way. Murat Karayilan, a PKK leader, said this week that a "mad war" was in prospect unless Ankara backed off.

Fighting between security forces and Kurdish fighters seeking autonomy or independence for Kurdish-dominated areas of south-east Turkey has claimed 37,000 lives since 1984. The last big Turkish operation occurred 10 years ago, when 40,000 troops pushed deep into Iraq. But intervention in the coming weeks would be the first since the US took control of Iraq in 2003 and would risk direct confrontation between Turkish troops and Iraqi Kurdish forces and their US allies.

Several other factors are adding to the tension between the Nato partners:

The firm Turkish belief that the US is playing a double game in northern Iraq. Officials say the CIA is covertly funding and arming the PKK's sister organisation, the Iran-based Kurdistan Free Life party, to destabilise the Iranian government.

US acquiescence in plans to hold a referendum in oil-rich Kirkuk in northern Iraq. Turkey suspects Iraqi Kurds are seeking control of Kirkuk as a prelude to the creation of an independent Kurdistan.

Plans by the US Congress to vote on a resolution blaming Turkey for genocide against the Armenians in 1915. Faruk Logoglu, a former ambassador to Washington, said that if the resolution passed, relations "could take generations to recover".

Record levels of Turkish anti-Americanism dating back to 2003, when Turkey refused to let US combat forces cross the Iraq border.

The US is already fighting Sunni insurgents and Shia militias. Analysts say a surge in violence in northern Iraq, previously the most stable region, could capsize the entire US plan. But pressure on the Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is also growing as a result of forthcoming elections. Military intervention was narrowly avoided last summer when he said that "patience was at an end" over US prevarication. Now conservatives and nationalists are again accusing him of not standing up to Washington.

"If they are killing our soldiers ... and if public pressure on the government increases, of course we will have to intervene," said Ali Riza Alaboyun, an MP for Mr Erdogan's Justice and Development party. "It is the legal right of any country to protect its people and its borders."

US support for Iranian Kurds opposed to the Tehran government is adding to the agitation. "The US is trying to undermine the Iran regime, using the Kurds like it is using the MEK [the anti-Tehran People's Mujahideen]," said Dr Logoglu. "Once you begin to differentiate between 'good' and 'bad' terrorist organisations, then you lose the war on terror." But he warned that military intervention might be ineffective and could be "disastrous" in destabilising the region. A recent national security council assessment also suggested that senior Turkish commanders were cautious about the prospects of success.

Daniel Fried, assistant secretary of state, said last week that the US was acting to assuage Turkish concerns. "We are committed to eliminating the threat of PKK terrorism in northern Iraq," he said.

General Joseph Ralston, the US special envoy dealing with the PKK issue, was less upbeat, admitting that "the potential for Turkish cross-border action" was growing. "We have reached a critical point in which the pressure of continued [PKK] attacks has placed immense public pressure upon the government of Turkey to take some military action. As the snows melt in the mountain passes, we will see if the PKK renews its attacks and how the Turkish government responds ... I hope the Turks will continue to stand by us."

But a Milliyet journalist, Kadri Gursel, said: "The US attitude has really pissed off the government and the army. The US really doesn't understand how exhausted and fed up they are."

5. - Eurasianet - "Turkey's dissident Intellectuals grow accustemed to life with Bodyguards":

22 March 2007 / by Nicholas Birch*

Waving a yellow press card usually opens doors in Turkey. It didn’t impress the police officer guarding the entrance to Agos, the Turkish-Armenian newspaper run by Hrant Dink until a 17-year-old Turkish nationalist gunned him down in January as he stepped outside.

“Who are you working for,” the officer asked suspiciously. “Who do you want to talk to?” Like the closed-circuit camera set up last month to survey the patch of Istanbul street where Dink died, the officer’s questions underscore the heightened sense of insecurity facing dissidents in Turkey today. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. A well-known columnist who took over as editor of Agos after his friend’s death, Etyen Mahcupyan has been receiving threats for as long as he can remember. “It’s like a side dish,” he says. “You are so accustomed to it that when the threats go down, you ask what is happening. And that’s why the murder was a real shock. Because you have so many threats every day and nothing happens.” Hrant Dink’s death was a turning point for Atilla Yayla, too. An Ankara-based political scientist, his nightmare began last November when he adopted a position during a public conference that the single-party regime set up by Turkey’s founder Kemal Ataturk was “a period of regression, not progress.” Turkish media outlets branded him a traitor. His university removed him from his teaching position for four months. Last week, a prosecutor opened a case against him for “insulting the legacy of Ataturk.” He faces up to three years in jail. “For five days, I couldn’t sleep,” Yayla remembers, comparing the media campaign against him to “the Moscow courts in Stalin’s time.” The stress eventually overwhelmed him. “I collapsed physically,” he said. It wasn’t until after Dink’s death, though, that he began to take the death threats he was receiving seriously. Now, like more than a dozen other Turkish dissidents, he shares his life with a police bodyguard. “He is so much a part of me that I’m planning to buy him and his family presents,” Yayla commented wryly. Other Turkish intellectuals find it much less easy to laugh at the new climate of fear. One of the most prominent of 50 people taken to court by ultra-nationalists last year on charges of “insulting Turkishness,” best-selling novelist Elif Safak has now given up writing columns in two newspapers and keeps trips outside her house to a minimum. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Dink “was a close friend, and I haven’t got over the shock of his death,” she said in a telephone conversation. She declined to talk at length.

Interviewed by daily Hurriyet in February, her husband Eyup Can said she was so upset that she was no longer able to breast-feed her six-month-old daughter. Orhan Pamuk, meanwhile, the novelist who won last year’s Nobel Prize for literature, left Turkey under police escort in February, declaring himself “furious at everyone and everything.” [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. A week before, the man police believe organized Hrant Dink’s murder had warned him to “watch your step” as he was taken into custody. When well over 100,000 people attended Dink’s funeral procession late in January, many hoped his death might mark the end of what one columnist called “the ultra-nationalist tsunami” that has swept Turkey since its European Union bid started. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. In fact the protest, and the protestors’ choice of the slogan “we are all Armenians,” stirred up nationalist ire further. A key demand made by the protesters -- that the law criminalizing insults to “Turkishness” should be repealed – has failed to make an impact on legislators. Despite the risks they face, many Turkish dissidents say they have no intention of giving up the struggle. “Such a thing has happened, you know, that you cannot be cautious any more,” says Mahcupyan, the new Agos editor. “It’s immoral to be cautious.” Like Mahcupyan, who says you can only tell the real threats from the false ones after it’s too late, Baskin Oran knows his bodyguard will not be able to stop a professional assassination attempt. “This nice person is protecting me from amateur killers, like the one who killed Hrant,” said Oran, an Ankara-based political scientist who co-authored a 2004 government report on minority rights that sparked today’s nationalist surge. He goes on to quote the Turkish proverb that he who fears birds doesn’t plant corn. “If you are afraid, you should stop. But how can I look into the mirror in the morning if I do stop? How can I lecture my students?” Today’s threats and restrictions on freedom of movement, he says, are part of the growing pains of Turkish democracy. “The road to paradise passes by hell, and we are walking.”

* Editor’s Note: Nicolas Birch specializes in Turkey, Iran and the Middle East.

6. - AFP - "Kurdish leader demands control of Iraq oil hub":

ARBIL / 22 March 2007

The prime minister of Iraqi Kurdistan raised fresh calls on Thursday for a referendum to decide the future of the country's crucial oil hub of Kirkuk, warning that Kurdish patience had limits.

"Our people are committed to Iraq, but their patience is not unlimited. We as leaders are finding it difficult to convince our people as to why our demands are not being met," Nichirvan Barzani told dignitaries in Arbil.

Iraq's Kurds have long dreamed of independence from the Arab-led centre, but agreed to put demands on hold following the US-led invasion of March 2003, which they hoped would lead to improved relations between the regions.

Addressing guests at the opening of a new US-financed water treatment plant in the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, Barzani said the central government had yet to meet four key Kurdish demands.

"We demand a fair share of resources of the country, the issue of Kirkuk to be resolved democratically, freedom to share reconstruction funds and freedom to democracy and political rights," he said.

"It is our natural right to share resources and we must have access to the budgetary process. The time is now to solve these problems," he said.

Speaking about wealthy and volatile Kirkuk, which the Kurds want to incorporate into their autonomous northern region, Barzani stressed: "Whatever is taken by force should be returned peacefully and democratically."

Iraq's constitution stipulates that the status of Kirkuk, which sits atop a third of the country's mammoth oil wealth, be settled by referendum before the end of 2007, despite fears that this could fuel ethnic violence.

A fractious ethnic mix of Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen live in Kirkuk and any referendum on its future is likely to provoke increased tensions.

On what he said would be his last visit to Iraqi Kurdistan, outgoing US ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, heaped praise on the region and highlighted an Iraqi move towards greater decentralisation.

"There has been too much violence and pain in many parts of Iraq, but thank God not in Kurdistan," he said.

"As you know Iraq is going through difficult transition. I am proud that the tyrannical regime of Saddam Hussein was overthrown by the US," he said.

He said: "The United States is committed to support Iraq. We are partners in building a new Iraq. We are committed to success in Iraq, but success requires Iraqi leaders to make the right decisions and compromises to reduce violence."

He also stressed that Iraq was now changing from a centralised government rule to a "more decentralised" regional governments.

"The Kurdistan of Iraq has taken the advantage of opportunities," he said.

"The region is attracting investments after its attractive investment laws. I urge you to encourage and strengthen the rule of law and ensure everyone is treated equally."

Before ending his speech he said "This will be the last time I will be visiting you as ambassador. I will be leaving Iraq in a few days. Kurdistan is my blood. I will never forget Kurdistan and will continue to do whatever I can for it in whatever position I hold."

After opening the Irfaz water treatment plant at Arbil, Khalilzad later went to meet Massud Barzani, president of the Kurdish regional government.

The plant is one of many projects financed by the US in Kurdistan. The project cost is around 200 million dollars.

7. - The Independent - "Oil-rich Kirkuk at Melting Point as Factions Clash":

KIRKUK / 22 March 2007 / by Patrick Cockburn

Seven bombs detonating in the space of 35 minutes sent up clouds of black smoke over the centre of Kirkuk earlier this week. The explosions in Arab and Turkoman districts killed 12 people and injured 39 but exactly who was behind them is unclear.

Kirkuk is a place where trust is in short supply. "I firmly predict there will be a rumour the Kurds were behind these bombings," sighs Rafat Hamarash, the head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the Kurdish political party that largely controls the city. He said somebody wanted to stir up ethnic divisions between Kurd, Arab and Turkoman before they vote on the future of Kirkuk in nine months' time. Mr Hamarash is probably right about the motives for the latest attacks. The city is approaching a critical moment in its long history. In December, there is a referendum, its timing agreed under the Iraqi constitution, when 1.8 million people of Kirkuk province will vote on whether or not to join the highly autonomous Kurdish region that is already almost a separate state. Kurds will vote in favour and probably win; Arabs and Turkomans will vote against and lose.

The Kirkuk issue is as notoriously divisive in Iraq as sovereignty over certain parts of Ireland used to be in British politics. Winston Churchill famously complained that, after all the political and military cataclysms of the First World War, the question of who should have "the dreary spires of Fermanagh and Tyrone", remained as ferociously contested as before the war.

The control of Kirkuk divided Kurds from Arabs in Iraq under Saddam Hussein and continues to do so. The city is commonly called "a powder keg" though it has yet to explode. But that does not mean it will not happen and the referendum might just be the detonator for that explosion.

The Kurds believe they were a majority in the city until ethnically cleansed by Saddam and replaced by Arab settlers. As the regime crumbled in April 2003, the Kurds captured Kirkuk and its oilfields. They have no plans to give them up.

In negotiations in Baghdad with Arab political parties, they fought for and won the right to take back Kirkuk constitutionally.

First comes "normalisation", to be concluded by the end of this month, whereby Arab settlers leave and Kurds return. After that there will be a census and, finally, before the end of 2007, a referendum on becoming part of the Kurdistan regional government.

It now looks as if the referendum will have to be postponed. No Kurdish leader I spoke to thinks it can take place on time. "Normalisation" has not really taken place, governments in Baghdad have persistently dragged their feet. The Shia religious parties may be allied to the Kurds in order to form a government but they fear political damage among their own followers if they are seen to be handing over Kirkuk to the Kurds.

For a city so coveted by Arabs and Kurds, Kirkuk is a dismal place, drearier than anything to be seen in Fermanagh or Tyrone. Its main street, with little booths selling shoddy goods, looks like an Afghan shanty town.

It has never benefited from its oil riches; Saddam deliberately neglected it. Rezgar Ali, the head of the local council, says Baghdad starves the city of money. At one point, he threatened to retaliate by stopping the supply of cement from local factories to Baghdad.

The Kurds may delay the referendum but not indefinitely. Kirkuk is too central to their national demands. Militarily they could overcome Arab resistance though they might have to cede certain areas. Whatever happens, the approach to the referendum is generating more violence.

A delicate ethnic balance

* Kurds in Kirkuk pre-date all other ethnic groups. Turkomans began arriving in the Ottoman era.

* Under British occupation in 1921, population about 61% Kurd, 28% Turkoman and 8% Arab.

* Official census in 1957 found 48.3% of residents to be Kurd, 28.2% Arab and 21.4% Turkoman.

* From 1963, Baathists sought to enforce Arab nationalism. By 1988 an estimated 200,000 Kurds had fled. Shia Turkoman villages were also destroyed.

* After the 1991 Gulf War ethnic cleansing intensified. In 1996 a law compelled all Kurds and other non-Arabs to register as "Arab", with expulsion for those who refused.

* Between 1991 and 2003, 120,000 to 200,000 non-Arabs were expelled from in and around Kirkuk.

* Arab and Turkoman politicians claim that around 350,000 Kurds have returned since 2003.

8. - Reuters - "US Envoy Urges Iraq Kurds to Shun Complacency":

ARBIL / 22 March 2007

Outgoing U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad visited "the other Iraq" on Thursday, flying to the relatively peaceful Kurdistan region in the north which he praised as a "shining example" for the rest of the country.

But after commenting on the booming construction industry, as seen on his drive from the new airport terminal, and on the freedom of Kurds to enjoy picnics to celebrate the start of spring, he told Kurdish leaders not to rest on their laurels.

"It's a shining example of what's possible in Iraq when local leaders make a commitment to each other to work together," he told local leaders gathered for the opening of a water purification plant near Arbil.

"Even with the success that this region has had, there's a long way to go to achieve this region's full potential," said Khalilzad, standing in front of the plant which was adorned with a U.S. flag, a Kurdish flag and a picture of a Kurdish scene with the slogan "Kurdistan, the other Iraq."

Khalilzad, who also visited President Jalal Talabani in Suleimaniya, was making a farewell visit to the region just days before leaving Iraq to become ambassador to the United Nations.

He congratulated Kurds on reaching an agreement on a long- disputed oil law to regulate how to share Iraq's vast oil wealth around the country -- a key issue in reconciling Iraq's Shi'ite, Sunni Arab and ethnic Kurdish communities.

But he urged leaders to stamp out graft, try harder to reach a "national compact" and make the compromises needed to end violence, and to approve the oil law in parliament following the agreement of the cabinet "as soon as possible".

The prime minister of the largely autonomous Kurdistan region, Nechirvan Barzani, said that Kurds were committed to being part of a stable and secure Iraq.

"However, in return for this attitude and commitment we see it as our right to have our just demands fulfilled," Barzani said through an interpreter. "We believe many of the agreements that were reached have not been implemented fully."

He said Kurds had four key concerns: a fair share of Iraq's revenues; resolving the status of disputed areas, particularly the city of Kirkuk which lies outside of Kurdistan; freedom to direct its own economic development; and a fair share of reconstruction funds from abroad.

The status of Kirkuk -- a mixed city where Kurds, Shi'ites, Turkmen and Sunni Arabs live together -- is a delicate subject, not least because it sits on some of Iraq's richest oil fields.

A referendum is supposed to be held this year on its future, but the United Nations has warned sectarian violence is growing as the various sides try to boost their presence in the city ahead of the vote.

Barzani insisted a census and the referendum must take place this year: "What was taken from us by force must be returned peacefully and democratically," he said.