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News from and about Iraqi Kurdistan
Last Updated: April 10, 2003
April 10, 2003 US Forces Will Be in Control of Kirkuk: White House - Reuters April 08, 2003 Kurds believe it's end of road for Saddam - Gulf News War gives area Kurdish family hope of returning to homeland - Kansas City Star April 04, 2003 Northern Iraq: For Kurds,
Jubilation Turns to Terror Kurds close to the front line of Mosul are fleeing Kalak located on the demarcation line some 40 kilometers (25 miles) east of Mosul. Unlike many Kalak residents, Magrum, a nurse at a local clinic, stayed in the town throughout the two first weeks of the U.S.-led war against Saddam's regime rather than fleeing to the mountains. ... "Decades ago, Saddam pledged that he would never let us be in peace," Magrum said, referring to the Iraqi leader's meticulous ethnic cleansing campaign that killed more than 100,000 Iraqi Kurds and displaced hundreds of thousands more. A driver cranked up an old bus. The Abdul Aziz family was leaving town. Editorial Turkey has threatened to send massive troops to northern Iraq if the Kurds attempt to seize extra territory or mention independence. The U.S. can calm fears of a Kurdish uprising by repeating loudly and often the guarantee Powell gave in Turkey this week: The Kurds will remain part of an Iraq federation. The potential benefits of that policy are considerable. Already, with
just the hope of preserving their autonomy under U.S. protection, Iraq's
Kurds have formally given up demands for independence. And in addition
to serving as a stable presence, a Kurdish state could be a valuable counterweight
in Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts. Unlike most countries in the region,
the Kurds have good relations with Israel. Turkey
... Out in the country, armed village guards, notorious for the torture
and April 1, 2003 Humanitarian Emergency New York - The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that while information coming from the centre and south of Iraq indicated there were relatively good medical stocks, water shortage was the most serious constraint. The hospitals in Samarra, Najaf and Nassiria were believed to be affected by a serious lack of water, spokesperson Fadela Chaib said. For the time being, despite the high potential, there were no reports of infectious diseases outbreaks throughout the country, she added. In the north of Iraq, Mr. Keele said two trucks with 16 tons of medical supplies, 6 tons of water purification supplies and educational materials were making their way through customs and inspections on the border from Turkey. The UN High Commissioner for the Refugees (UNHCR) continued to report no significant refugee arrivals anywhere in the region. March 30, 2003 Post-Saddam Iraq Twelve years ago, Tahir Hussain was a Kurdish refugee on the run in the icy, windswept mountains when, on one incredibly cruel day, his baby daughter and his father died just hours apart. Humanitarian Emergency As the war on Iraq rages to the south and the northern military front heats up, an estimated 400,000 Kurds are on the move in northern Iraq, according to Kurdish government officials.With that exodus, the specter of a humanitarian crisis looms. The weather is harsh, there is little fresh water and there are not enough tents for people who can't find housing. Hundreds of children in the Chamchamal region are suffering from severe respiratory infections and dysentery from drinking dirty stream water. Using their hands and small picks, families are digging wet clay, which they use with rocks to weigh down plastic sheets draped over rock ledges. That is all the protection they have against the harsh conditions. Kurds
Ready Camps to Hold 500,000 People - Associated Press March 27, 2003 Reactions from the Iraqi-Kurdish Community
in the US While Zangana usually is concerned with the Kurdish area in the north of Iraq, he's been monitoring events in the south, too. Zangana said he heard that armed Republican Guard soldiers were placed in private homes in the southern city of Basra to prevent participation in the sort of uprising that occurred there Tuesday. The best news, said Alan Zangana of the Kurdish Human Rights Watch, was the bombing of Iraqi television facilities. "Hussein uses the media powerfully," Zangana said, "and has been lying to Iraqis and other Arabs for years." His biggest fear in northern Iraq remains the possibility of Turkey sending troops into the Kurdish area, which the Kurds would oppose militarily, pitting two U.S. allies against each other. Iraqi-American calls Hussein 'an evil man' - San Diego Union-Tribune "We hold Saddam responsible for all atrocity in Iraq," said Alan Zangana, director of Kurdish Human Rights Watch. "We hold Saddam responsible for refusing to leave Iraq peacefully. He is an evil man. ...We all like peace, but Saddam does not understand the language of peace. For years, we tried to deal with him peacefully, but that doesn't work." March 26, 2003 Lessons on How to Oust Hussein Kurds
fear arrival of Iraqi and Turkish troops - CBC Turkey threathens to deploy extra troops under three circumstances - KurdishMedia.com March 25, 2003 Reports of an Uprising in Basra - KurdishMedia.com The opposition group in south Iraq confirmed the uprising against Saddam's
military force. March 24, 2003 US and Kurds Join Forces in Northern Iraq - A compilation of reports from Yahoo! News Iraqi Kurdistan: Severe lack of tents, food crisis for thousands of displaced people - Associated Press Preparations for refugees fleeing Baghdad-controlled Iraq are being hampered by a lack of supplies. Abdul Razzaq Mirza, the minister of humanitarian affairs in this part of the Kurdish enclave, complained that international aid agencies had allocated all funding for refugees to neighboring countries such as Jordan and Iran. "We lack shelter items like tents and blankets," he said. "It's a shame. We are Iraq. We could welcome people here but nothing has been prepared." Iraqi Kurds find hope for freedom in attack by US: Interviews with staff in KHRW Seattle office - Seattle PI.com March 23, 2003 News: Allies call on Kurds for help - Daily Telegraph Changing fortunes of the Kurds - Financial Times Hope in a hero's assassination - Canada.com
March 22, 2003 Turkish-Kurd conflict feared Many Iraqi Kurds want Kirkuk included in any Kurdish autonomous region within Iraq. Under Saddam Hussein, the city's Kurdish population was forced out and replaced with about 200,000 Sunni Arabs.The Kurds tried to occupy Kirkuk after Hussein lost the 1991 war but were driven out by his forces... March 20, 2003 Forgotten victims of Iraq's venom - The New Zealand Herald As hundreds of thousands of Kurds fled Erbil, the largest Kurdish city, yesterday one street in the shuttered bazaar was doing a roaring business. It was the street where you can buy the thick plastic sheeting that Kurds remaining in the city are placing over their doors and windows in the hope of keeping out poison gas. Kurd villagers take to caves - SwissInfo.org SHARIA, Iraq (Reuters) - With no money to run and nowhere better to hide, dozens of Iraqi Kurds are sheltering from war in caves in the vulnerable no-man's land between the Kurdish and Iraqi government front lines. Most had fled the cities of northern Iraq and flocked to the mountains, almost all citing fear of a repeat of President Saddam Hussein's 1988 chemical bomb attacks on the Kurds that killed thousands, most famously in the town of Halabja. Kurds must stand as one united nation against Turkish intervention of south Kurdistan - KurdishMedia.com London: The Turkish Parliament is currently discussing whether to send Turkish troops into South Kurdistan. This time, to keep the Kurds quiet, the invasion will be under pretext of "humanitarian aid."
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