IRAQ: IRAQ'S KURDISH LEADER HAS URGED TURKISH TROOPS NOT TO ENTER IRAQ IN THE EVENT OF U.S.-LED WAR WITH IRAQ

Record ID: 648598

  • Title: IRAQ: IRAQ'S KURDISH LEADER HAS URGED TURKISH TROOPS NOT TO ENTER IRAQ IN THE EVENT OF U.S.-LED WAR WITH IRAQ
  • Date: 8th March 2003
  • Summary: (U6) SALAHADDIN, 25KM NORTH OF ARBIL, IRAQ (KURDISH CONTROLLED NORTHERN IRAQ) (MARCH 8, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. LV LEADER OF THE KURDISH DEMOCRATIC PARTY, MASSOUD BARZANI ENTERS CONFERENCE ROOM 0.09 2. SV MEDIA 0.15 3. MCU (Kurdish) MASSOUD BARZANI, LEADER OF THE KURDISH DEMOCRATIC PARTY SAYING: "We have noticed reports of troop movements and deployments inside Turkish territory. We are not concerned...inside the border." 0.40 4. SV/LV MEDIA AT NEWS CONFERENCE (2 SHOTS) 0.48 5. MCU (Kurdish) BARZANI SAYING: "We hope Turkey will not send troops across the border as this will have very negative consequences for the people of the region, for Turkey and for everybody." 1.18 6. SV MEDIA AT NEWS CONFERENCE 1.24 7. MCU (Kurdish) BARZANI SAYING, WHEN ASKED IF WASHINGTON HAD DRAWN UP A PARTICULAR ROLE FOR THE KURDISH MILITIAS IN NORTHERN IRAQ, "We are not hired guns here; we have our own political agenda." 1.57 8. MCU JOURNALISTS 2.03 9. LV PRESS CONFERENCE 2.09 (U6) ARBIL, IRAQ (KURDISH CONTROLLED NORTHERN IRAQ) (MARCH 8, 2003) (REUTERS) 10. SLV/LV/LV VARIOUS OF ANTI-TURKISH PROTEST BY KURDISH YOUTH GROUPS IN ARBIL (8 SHOTS) 3.09 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 23rd March 2003 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: SALAHADDIN, 25KM NORTH OF ARBIL, IRAQ (KURDISH CONTROLLED NORTHERN IRAQ)
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVAEQTZQI3OJOYQXKSJ4FDCRHU2J
  • Story Text: Iraq's Kurds, who form a majority in a
    self-administered northern region, are not bothered by reports
    of a build-up of Turkish troops on their joint border, but a
    Kurdish leader has urged them not to enter Iraq.



    "We have noticed reports of troop movements and
    deployments inside Turkish territory. We are not
    concerned...inside the border," Massoud Barzani, leader of the
    Kurdish Democratic Party, which governs the province of Arbil,
    told reporters on Saturday (March 8).

    But he reiterated the Kurdish position that Turkish troops
    should not enter Iraqi territory under any circumstances in
    the event of a war to oust President Saddam Hussein.

    "We hope Turkey will not send troops across the border as
    this will have very negative consequences for the people of
    the region, for Turkey and for everybody," he told a news
    briefing.

    Kurds have governed three Iraqi provinces since
    effectively breaking away from Baghdad's control after the
    1991 Gulf War.

    But relations with Turkey have been strained. Turkey has a
    large Kurdish minority of its own and fears the northern Iraqi
    example could lead to calls for setting up a Kurdish homeland.

    Ankara says it will send in troops to prevent a flood of
    refugees heading towards Turkey and to protect Iraq's Turkmen
    minority, ethnically and linguistically close to Turks, but
    not to fight the Iraqi army.

    In recent weeks, tens of thousands of Iraqi Kurds have
    stage protests across the region against a Turkish
    intervention in northern Iraq. In Arbil, on Saturday (March 8)
    Kurdish youth groups staged a rally against any Turkish move
    into northern Iraq.

    The possible Turkish incursion has been complicated by
    Ankara's parliament voting against letting U.S. troops use
    Turkish bases as a springboard for invading Iraq to oust
    Saddam.

    Barzani told the briefing that Kurdish leaders were in
    close contact with Washington over the issue and hoped for a
    three-way meeting soon with the United States and Turkey.

    "Yes indeed, we are engaged in constant discussion and
    dialogue with the government of the United States as well as
    Turkey. Very soon indeed this tripartite meeting will take
    place to address this."
    Despite the close contacts Barzani said the Kurds had with
    Washington, he added that they had not been given any U.S.

    military equipment to fight the Iraqi army if war breaks out,
    nor had Kurdish militias been given a particular role by
    Washington -- a fact that did not trouble him.

    "We are not hired guns here," he said through an
    interpreter. "We have our own political agenda."
    Although he still hoped the current crisis could be
    resolved without war, Barzani said he would not be going
    anywhere on March 17 or 18, seen as possible start dates for
    an invasion.

    "I'll be here, definitely. I'll be around in Kurdistan."

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