The new administration clearly states that it can overcome the pressing problems of economic, social and culture development only with the help of Turkey. They further disclose that they are ready to share with Turkey the benefits from the oil resources that are allocated to Iraqi Kurdistan within the new status of Iraq. While the final status of Kirkuk is still to be decided, if Kirkuk is included within Kurdistan as an autonomous region according to the solution that sounds melodious to the ears of Kurds, this means 40 percent of Iraqi oil resources. All these are raw ideas, needing further polishing. But none of them are the one that can easily be jettisoned. The leading countries have already opened representative offices in Arbil, and the Turkish government is too late to take such a step. The only instance of Turkey acting preemptively ahead of other countries is the opening of schools by Turkish entrepreneurs in 1994. This year, Turkish entrepreneurs opened the third largest university, second only to the US and British universities. The Kurdish administration, led by Massoud Barzani, is considerably satisfied with this as they already tend to do business with the Turks. Barzani says that even their education minister is of the opinion that they are ready to transfer the entire education business of Iraqi Kurdistan to Turkey. They just want to see high quality education carried out in compliance with international standards.
This is the good part of the story. When it comes to the issue of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), things change. The official view of Iraqi Kurdistan is that "the PKK is an internal problem of Turkey and unrelated to us in any way. The areas where PKK militants are located are not under our control. These are empty areas without human settlement." Sero Kadir, the Kurdistan information general manager, with whom I spoke last week, said, concerning Turkish air strikes: "Those areas are vacant. As long as civilians are not harmed, Turkey may conduct as many operations as it desires against the PKK."
When he was asked whether the Kurdistan administration should do something to drive the PKK out of the region, he gave a thought-provoking response: "Let us emphasize one point. In the past the PKK settled in the Kandil region with permission and with the knowledge of Turkey, Syria and Iran. If these three countries reach an agreement among themselves, not a single PKK militant can remain in Kandil."
This was a considerably interesting disclosure. I always thought the PKK was never an element completely out of control. Thanks to the PKK, some groups can maintain their guardianship over the system and can meddle with politics and manipulate regional policies. What interests me is that about 40,000 people died and animosity increased between Muslims Turks and Muslim Kurds -- and billions of dollars were wasted.
The fact that there are 6,000 PKK militants -- 1,500 inside Turkey and 4,500 in the mountains -- is discussed even in Cabinet meetings. It is common knowledge that one-third of these militants are of Syrian origin. The Kurds in Syria are in a worse situation than those in Turkey; they even lack national ID cards. Why doesn't Turkey make an attempt to discuss this issue with Damascus in line with the dominant role it played in launching negotiations between Syria and Israel? Isn't it a bit strange?
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