| Johan Bollen |
5 mei 2009 14:53 |
Citaat:
Oorspronkelijk geplaatst door evilbu
(Bericht 4085955)
Wat zou er bijvoorbeeld gebeuren als VSA-se soldaten onder vuur komen in zo'n regio en zo'n Iraanse helikopter boven Iraakse grond uit de lucht schieten?:|
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Iran en de VS lijken aan hetzelfde eind van de koord te trekken als het op de Koerden en hun streven naar onafhankelijkheid aankomt.
Twee fragmenten uit een recent artikel van Kaveh L Afrasiabi dat enigszins werpt licht op de vragen waarmee u zit.
Citaat:
The news from Turkey is that Ankara is considering establishing two military bases in northern Iraq to confront the menace of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Meanwhile, Iran has recently escalated its responses to cross-border attacks by Kurdish militants with the Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK), an offshoot of the PKK that - unlike the PKK - lacks grassroots support in Iran and is widely viewed by Tehran as a proxy for the US and Israel.
In early February, the US government for the first time designated the PJAK a terrorist organization. The designation comes after years of media reports that the US has aided and trained PJAK fighters to incite ethnic strife for Iran.
Iran's hot pursuit of the PJAK into KRG territory these past few days - including the May 4 shelling of villages in Kurdistan border regions - has sent a signal to the KRG regarding Tehran's unhappiness with Kurdish inflexibility on Kirkuk. The PJAK claims that Iran's attacks have occurred in areas not under their control.
The KRG's representative in Tehran, Nazim Omar Dabbagh, has warned that Iran's raids and bombardments could "harm bilateral relations". Although the KRG has called on the PJAK to refrain from further attacks on Iran, Tehran is weary of attempts by the KRG to leverage the PJAK in the course of negotiations with the Tehran-backed regime in Baghdad.
A pillar of Iran's policy toward the "new" Iraq has been to prevent the partition of Iraq and to ensure the country's territorial integrity. Tehran has also sought to quell violent secessionist insurgents who have been taking sanctuary across the long, porous borders with Iraq since the early 1980s.
The KRG, which is scheduled to hold a meeting in May aimed at ending decades of hostility between Turkey and the PKK, is now being pressured by Iran to take a similar initiative with the PJAK. Some experts believe the PJAK's latest incursions may be its last military salvo.
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De Irakse Koerden willen volledige controle over Kirkuk (en de olievelden) en dit verhoogd de spanning met het Iraakse leger. Ook de VS zien die verhoogde spanning niet zitten volgens wat Mullen vertelde tijdens zijn bezoek aan de KRG (regionale regering Iraks Kurdistan). Vandaar vermoed ik dat de westerse pers niet veel ophef maakt over de Iraanse acties tegen de Koerden. Er bestaat trouwens ook een doorgedreven coordinatie tussen Turkije en Iran ivm anti-Koerdische acties.
over de situatie van de Koerden in Iran:
Citaat:
Unlike its PKK progenitors, who can claim grassroots support among the 20 million or so Kurds living in Turkey, the PJAK has no such internal backbone and suffers from an important perception problem as a Western proxy. Despite its spate of attacks in Iran, the PJAK represents a much less menacing threat to Tehran than the PKK has been to Ankara.
Iran's 4 million or so Kurds, mostly inhabiting the provinces of Western Azerbaijan, Ilam and Kurdistan bordering Iraq, have been much quieter than the Kurds in Iraq or Turkey. This is partly because they have a long heritage as an ethnic-Iranian group and have been integrated in the post-revolutionary political system.
There are valid criticisms of Tehran's handling of Kurdish rights and issues of cultural and linguistic autonomy. Yet government efforts to improve the living conditions of its Kurdish population cannot be overlooked.
For example, since the 1979 revolution the number of university students has risen 400% in Kurdistan province and literacy has gone up from 24% to nearly 80%. The province's six deputies in parliament have been vocal in their criticisms of government policies, specifically on joblessness. The central bank recently announced a new infusion of cash to the local Kurdish economy, in addition to hundreds of urban and rural projects.
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Kaveh L Afrasiabi besluit
Citaat:
Historically, this has been a complex balancing act. Should neighboring Iraq's experimentation with federalism prove productive - and this will be a matter of more than just a few years - it is likely that Iraq's example will influence Iran. At the present time, however, Iraqi Kurds give the impression of leveraging their federalist rights as a prelude to eventual independence.
Perhaps the best help that Iraqi Kurds could give their brethren in Iran would be to remain within Iraq's federalist system, setting a viable example for Iran to follow. Instead, they are only adding to Iran's security worries by allegedly supporting groups such as the PJAK.
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Iran takes a stand over Kurds |
