7 March 2005

1. "Is Turkey Losing its Reform Zeal?", Turkey still has some work to do before EU entry talks get underway.

2. "EU's Rehn Says Turks Must Implement EU-Sought Changes", Turkey must keep implementing measures needed to join the European Union as it prepares for membership talks in October, EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said.

3. "‘Policies indexed to Turkey must be abandoned’", the Kurdish politician Mr Remzi Kartal, who was arrested in Germany, has been released. KONGRA-GEL Deputy President Mr Kartal, whose extradition to Turkey has been rejected, has said “Germany must abandon its policies which are indexed to Turkey and do not recognise the Kurdish question.” as he was being released from prison.

4. "EU shocked by Turkish clampdown on women's demo", the European Union voiced shock and concern Monday at the "disproportionate" use of force by Turkish police to clamp down on a demonstration in Istanbul ahead of International Women's Day. Yesterday Turkish police detains more than 60 demonstraters in a demo to mark Women's Day.

5. "Turkish military denies responsibility for Kurdish villagers' deaths", the Turkish military has denied any involvement in the deaths of 11 Kurdish villagers who went missing in 1993, saying claims their remains were recently found in a mass grave were orchestrated for money or to win support for Kurdish rebels, newspapers reported Saturday.

6. "Turkey Renames 'Foreign' Animals", Turkey has renamed some animal species, saying foreign scientists opposed to its territorial integrity had chosen their former names with ill intent, the Environment Ministry has said.

7. "Syrian Persecution of Kurds Intensifies", Syria has moved in special security forces all over Syrian Kurdistan and established checkpoints throughout the region.

8. "The Iraqi election and the ’Kurdish Question’", among the many potential post-Iraqi election difficulties now facing the United States and Iraqis at large, and which can plunge Iraq into more widespread and deadly armed conflicts and directly or indirectly involve Iraq’s neighboring countries is the "Kurdish Question."

1. - Deutsche Welle - "Is Turkey Losing its Reform Zeal?":

Turkey still has some work to do before EU entry talks get underway

7 March 2005 / by Samira Lazarovic

With the start of EU accession talks scheduled for later this year, Turkey's critics say its reform zest appears to be waning. But could it simply be a case that the drone of domestic politics has taken over?

When EU Expansion Commissioner Olli Rehn and EU Council President Jean Asselborn arrive in Ankara for talks with the Turkish Foreign Minister Abdulla Gul on Monday, it is likely to be under a cloud of some tension. In the past few weeks a number of incidences have collectively led critics to suggest that Turkey's reform movement has begun to lose momentum.

At the end of last year, the picture was quite different. In the months leading up to the decision on EU entry negotiations, the parliament under Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan passed one reform after another in a flurry of law-making activity. It was a means to an end, and on Dec. 17 last year, the European Council gave the green light for entry talks to begin. It was something of a victory for Erdogan.

Running out of steam?

Critics are now loudly questioning the lack of continued activity on Turkey's reform map, and asking whether Erdogan simply ran out of steam. One sign of such is that the Turkish prime minister has not yet named a head negotiator for the entry talks even though Expansion Commissioner Olli Rehn is arriving in Ankara on Monday. It's a point of some contention in Turkey, with even the Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Yezer calling on the prime minister to name someone for the post.

Luxembourg's European Minister Nicolas Schmidt and the EU Ambassador in Ankara, the German diplomat Hansjörg Kretschmer have both criticized Turkey's slowing progress, enraging the Turkish government as a result.

But Professor Udo Steinbach, director of the German Orient Institute in Hamburg said he believed the evidence being bandied about as proof of Turkey's ebbing commitment to reform cannot be used as such, and blames the media for exaggerating the situation.

Steinbach said that the considerable pressure to get the reform ball rolling ahead of Dec. 17 may have eased off, but that is not to say that the general level of government interest in entry talks has diminished. He said that Turkey has simply shifted its attention back to the daily grind of domestic political life.

A long path to reform

Nobody argues that Turkey doesn't still have a long way to go, and on Monday, the EU Enlargement Commissioner is expected to press Ankara to initial an agreement to extend its customs union to the 10 new EU member states, including Cyprus.

Originally Ankara was supposed to have signed up by the end of February. But for Erdogan the signature is incredibly delicate, as it could be interpreted as recognition of Cyprus, which could lead to internal political difficulties. On the other hand, the EU made it perfectly clear that if Turkey does not sign the politically sensitive protocol, there will be no accession talks come October.

A further problem is the conflict between Turkey and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Last December, the IMF agreed to a three year aid program to the tune of more than €10 billion ($13 billion) but Turkey has not yet made good on the economic reform it pledged in return for the financial package.

Steinbach said that in light of the tense situation, Monday's EU delegation visit is not without significance. He said he believed the most critical point on the agenda is the Cyprus problem, but added the responsibility does not only lay with Turkey, but also with Greece.

2. - Bloomberg - "EU's Rehn Says Turks Must Implement EU-Sought Changes":

7 March 2005

Turkey must keep implementing measures needed to join the European Union as it prepares for membership talks in October, EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said.

Turkey should continue to strengthen minority and women's rights in all areas of the country, including the mainly Kurdish southeast, Rehn told reporters in Ankara late yesterday, after meeting Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul.

``It's very important that the momentum of the reforms is kept up, that Turkey keeps up the momentum of the legal, political and also increasingly the economic reforms, especially as regards the implementation of these reforms,'' Rehn said.

Turkey says the membership talks with the EU will help it reduce the cost of servicing its $250 billion debt and attract foreign investment. Hansjoerg Kretschmer, the head of the European Commission in Turkey, last week said Turkey's implementation of EU- backed laws had slowed since it won a date to start membership talks with the EU three months ago.

The EU will run the so-called ``screening process'' for membership parallel with accession negotiations when talks with Turkey begin in October, Rehn said. Turkey before then should maintain zero tolerance for torture and respect freedom of expression and the rights of non-Muslims, he said.

The U.S. and Britain says the EU must embrace a country that's both Muslim and democratic to help win the war on terror and encourage democracy in the Middle East. Turkey, which became a candidate for membership of the EU in 1999, borders countries including Iraq, Iran, Syria and Armenia. It's the only member of the North Atlantic treaty Organization that's 99 percent Muslim.

Government Denial

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan denied that his government has slowed the pace of legislative change aimed at meeting EU and International Monetary Fund criteria, the daily Sabah said, citing comments made by Erdogan in Ankara yesterday.

The European Union aims to publish a framework for the negotiations with Turkey by the end of June, Rehn said. The document outlines the political and economic steps the nation must take before it can join the 25-nation EU.

``The work will have to go on, the reforms have to be consolidated and continued,'' he said. ``This means that we will continue monitoring and we will support the reform work done by Turkey to make the rule of law apply in all walks of life, in all areas of Turkey. This is a process, not a one-stop.''

EU Talks

Rehn, Gul and Jean Asselborn, the foreign minister of Luxembourg, which currently holds the EU presidency, are meeting in Ankara today for talks on Turkey's candidacy. They are due to hold a news conference at 3 p.m. local time.

``The government has perhaps been too busy with other domestic and political issues,'' said Volkan Kurt, an economist at Finans Yatirim Securities in Istanbul. ``The problem of course has been on the implementation side. The government needs more time for implementation of the reforms.''

Turkey's government says it displays ``zero tolerance'' toward torture in the nation's police stations and jails. The government must do more to implement that policy, particularly in the mainly-Kurdish southeast of the country, Yusuf Alatas, head of the Human Rights Association, said in an interview on March 3.

The government must tackle problems with freedom of expression that have resulted in several court cases against the media in the past year, the EU's Kretschmer said last week.

Turkey can't join the EU because its culture and history isn't sufficiently European, say some EU politicians including Nicolas Sarkozy, leader of French President Jacques Chirac's Union for a Popular Movement Party. Chirac last year said the talks may take 15 years to complete.

By 2025, Turkey would swallow up EU farm and regional subsidies equal to about 0.17 percent of annual European economic output, or about $20 billion in today's terms, the European Commission said in a report published in October. France, the biggest beneficiary of the EU's $47 billion budget for agriculture, gets $9 billion in farm aid.

The EU's political leaders agreed at a summit on Dec. 17 to start the negotiations with Turkey after the government curbed the political influence of the military and improved cultural and language rights for the nation's 12 million Kurds.

3. - MHA - "‘Policies indexed to Turkey must be abandoned’":

The Kurdish politician Mr Remzi Kartal, who was arrested in Germany, has been released. KONGRA-GEL Deputy President Mr Kartal, whose extradition to Turkey has been rejected, has said “Germany must abandon its policies which are indexed to Turkey and do not recognise the Kurdish question.” as he was being released from prison.

FRANKFURT / 3 March 2005 / by Tülay Balci /
translated by International Initiative

Mr Remzi Kartal, one of the Deputy President of KONGRA-GEL, has been released after a 40 day under arrest period. He had gone to Germany, Nurnberg to participate in a cultural activity on the 22nd of January, where he was taken into custody. Kartal was released on the grounds that Turkey had not provided documents required for an extradition order. A crowded group had gathered to see him as he was being released from the Würzburg prison. Kartal, thanked all Kurds and its friends for supporting him during his arrest.

Kartal stated “This decision has shown once again that Turkey was unjustifiable in its extradition order, it did not proceed with the necessary steps for democratisation and it is not right that Kurdish politicians be extradited to Turkey.”. Kartal also said that diplomatic pressure applied by the Kurdish people and her friends also had an effect on the positive decision given by the courts. He said that after consultation with his lawyers he will disclose how he will continue on with the case.

A sham operation

Kartal underlined the order for his arrest was a part of Turkey’s insistence on its policies of denial and oppression on the Kurdish people and said “Germany, by arresting me has given a postive answer to Turkey.”. Kartal, who stands out with his political and diplomatic work, has reacted to the allegations put forth for an extradition order and said they are all made-up with no grounds. Kartal said “All the allegations are made-up. These allegations have been deduced from people who were under the suppression and torture of police. These allegations are nowhere near the truth.”.

Kartal reminded that Turkey’s policies to try and ensure the extradition of the Kurdish politicians in Europe via the Interpol list was nothing new and said “however because of political reasons this request was never fulfilled. But now in order to ensure the extradition, the police in Turkey is trying to mix the names of Kurdish politicians with violent acts through the allegations of confessors or those under custody.”.

Kartal, continued on to say: “With my individual situation, once again, the sham operation of the police organisation and law against the Kurdish politicians who have sought refugee in Europe has been exposed.” and “Turkey’s insistence of its outdated policies shall put it into difficulty and isolate them.”

'Don’t become a partner to denial’

Kartal said that Turkey had previously requested his extradition from Belqium authorities where he resides, however, he added, no action was taken. Kartak requested that Germany stop being a partner of policies which are based on Kurdish peoples’ denial.

Kartal drew attention to the increasing extradition orders for Kurds living in Germany and reminded that Ismail Akkurt, a member of KNK, had also been arrested and said “Germany is taking these decisions as a continuation of its policies that are aligned with Turkey when it comes to the Kurdish question. The open ended support Germany gives Turkey negatively effects the democratisation process in Turkey.”

Kartak said that these policies have no benefit neither for Turkey or Germany and that it must be exposed publicly. He said “These polices are not of friendship but ones that harm Turkey. The establishment of a relationship based on enhancing change in Turkey and according to the steps required for EU membership shall both result in a more politically stable Germany and also would positively effect the change and transformation of Turkey.” Kartal hopes the decision made for his case be viewed as effective for the other Kurdish politicians even if it does not constitute a precedent.”

Kartal thanks Kurdish people and her friends

Kartal stated that Turkey’s reluctance to implement practical steps, its hesitation after the 17th of December summit and the increase in its oppressive and violent policies against the Kurds has formed a negative portrayal of Turkey. He added that this also had an effect on the dismissal of the extradition order. He said “the postive efforts of our friends and of the Kurdish people, their initiative around the world within the diplomatic circles have reached the German government. I believe that all these put a positive pressure and due to these, in the aftermath of the examination of the documents sent by Turkey such a decision was taken. Kartal thanked all the Kurds and its friends for supporting him at such a period of time.

4. - AFP - "EU shocked by Turkish clampdown on women's demo":

BRUSSELS / 7 March 2005

The European Union voiced shock and concern Monday at the "disproportionate" use of force by Turkish police to clamp down on a demonstration in Istanbul ahead of International Women's Day.

"We were shocked by images of the police beating women and young people demonstrating in Istanbul," said the EU, which is urging Turkey to press ahead with reforms ahead of the planned start of EU entry talks in October.

"We condemn all violence, as demonstrations must be peaceful," it added in a statement.

"On the eve of a visit by the EU during which the rights of women will be an important issue, we are concerned to see such disproportionate force used against demonstrators," it added.

The EU was referring to a visit to Turkey by the bloc's troika -- comprising Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn, British Europe minister Denis MacShane and EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn.

What's happend?

Fifty-nine people were detained Sunday when Turkish riot police broke up a demonstration here to mark International Women's Day on March 8, media reports said.

Police ordered the 150-strong group, gathered in front of the mayor's office in the European quarter of the city, to disperse on the grounds that their rally was illegal, but the protestors refused, the Anatolia news agency said.

Footage broadcast on the NTV news channel showed officers using truncheons and pepper gas against the protestors and hauling those detained on to buses.

Turkish women were encouraged to come out of their homes and take a leading role in social and political life by the founding father of the country, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who gave them suffrage rights in 1934 years before some European countries.

Those in the urban west are today emancipated to the point of claiming top jobs, but the majority is still in the grip of patriarchal traditions and violence against women remains a serious problem in a country which was given the green light to begin accession talks with the European Union this year.

5. - AP - "Turkish military denies responsibility for Kurdish villagers' deaths":

ISTANBUL / 5 March 2005

The Turkish military has denied any involvement in the deaths of 11 Kurdish villagers who went missing in 1993, saying claims their remains were recently found in a mass grave were orchestrated for money or to win support for Kurdish rebels, newspapers reported Saturday.

The remarks by Gen. Ilker Basbug, deputy head of the Turkish military, were published as an official military response to a query from a legislator about the grave, the daily Hurriyet and Milliyet newspapers reported. The grave was discovered in November by villagers and a human rights group.

Members from Parliament's Human Rights Commission, which is investigating the disappearance of the 11, have said the grave appears to contain the remains of those who went missing after being detained by soldiers battling autonomy-seeking rebels in overwhelmingly Kurdish southeastern Turkey.

After the villagers went missing, their families took the case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France. The court in 2001 found Turkey liable for their deaths and fined it the equivalent of about $675,000 Cdn.

Basbug denied military involvement, though, and said new claims of a mass grave were aimed at winning support for the rebels, the newspapers reported.

6. - Reuters - "Turkey Renames 'Foreign' Animals":

ANKARA / 4 March 2005

Turkey has renamed some animal species, saying foreign scientists opposed to its territorial integrity had chosen their former names with ill intent, the Environment Ministry has said.

A sheep species previously known as Ovis Armeniana was renamed Ovis Orientalis Anatolicus. A species of red fox(A fox in Kurdistan area) was renamed as Vulpes Vulpes rather than Vulpes Vulpes Kurdistanica.

"Unfortunately there are many other species in Turkey which were named this way with ill intentions. This ill intent is so obvious that even species only found in our country were given names against Turkey's unity," the statement said.

7. - Prodemocracylobby.org - "Syrian Persecution of Kurds Intensifies":

4 March 2005 / by Daniel Bart

Syria has moved in special security forces all over Syrian Kurdistan and established checkpoints throughout the region. One young woman, Eziza Yezidi, a member of the Yezidi minority community was murdered on February 28 by Syrian security forces. Her two daughters, husband and son-in-law were all wounded. Thousands of Syrian Kurdish political prisoners languish in Syrian prisons and the corpses of tortured prisoners are released at a
steady pace. More Kurds are arrested and repression is getting worse by the day.

Syria should be very careful about its actions. It is not in a strategic position to oppose America's demands, yet it does. Even if the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad is not particularly concerned about Syria's national interest, at least those around him should consider the future of the Syrian Alawi community.

Syria would be well advised to quickly heed America's demands as this is the only way to secure the future and security of the Syrian Alawis. Alawi leaders should consider that some friends of the Kurds are also favorably disposed towards the Alawi community and quite concerned about its future.

A peaceful transition to democracy is preferred by the international community and will ensure that the Alawi community is not persecuted by other groups. Influential Alawis should use their last months in power to change direction and introduce democracy now. They would be well advised to follow the Spanish model and give regional autonomy to the Alawis in the west, the Druze in the south and the Kurds in the east. This would resolve many problems and help facilitate a peaceful transition to democracy in Syria.

The fact is that Kurds, Alawis and Druze share a common interest in implementing a Spanish solution. Alawi leaders need to consider the future of their community and it is very much in their immediate interest to prevent any further persecution of minorities.

Source: http://www.prodemocracylobby.org, Daniel Bart, http://www.danielbart.org, +46-73-578 77 20.

8. - The Chronicle - "The Iraqi election and the ’Kurdish Question’":

3 March 2005 / by Mansour Bonakdarian

With the approach of the second anniversary of U.S.-led invasion of Iraq (March 20), the outcome of the Iraqi "national" election of January 30 has altered the dynamics of internal Iraqi politics and the Bush administration’s vision of post-Saddam Iraq. The overall turnout for the election was around 58 percent of eligible voters, with at best miniscule participation in the predominantly Sunni Arab regions of the country. The heterogeneous Iraqi insurgency groups have continued their attacks, with some groups increasingly targeting Shi’i Arabs who represent around 60 percent of Iraq’s population and were the major victors in the election. While a substantial segment of the Iraqi population also regards the election as a success, the long-term consequences of the election for U.S. objectives and various Iraqi groups backing the election remain uncertain.

With 8.5 million votes cast, the clerically-backed Shi’i United Iraqi Alliance/United Iraqi Coalition, enjoying the support of the most senior Iraqi Shi’i religious authority, the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, secured 48 percent of the votes cast, capturing 140 of the 275 seats in the national assembly. The predominantly Kurdish bloc in the north (the Kurdish Alliance List/United Kurdistan Coalition) won 75 seats in, and the unelected interim prime minister Ayad Allawi’s chiefly-secular Iraqi List coalition garnered 40 seats. The election in Iraq undoubtedly marks a new chapter in Iraq’s internal politics and the U.S. occupation. At the same time, the election poses numerous fresh predicaments for the Bush administration, notwithstanding the administration’s repeated "freedom is on the march" mantra.

Among the many potential post-Iraqi election difficulties now facing the United States and Iraqis at large, and which can plunge Iraq into more widespread and deadly armed conflicts and directly or indirectly involve Iraq’s neighboring countries is the "Kurdish Question." As a group, the Kurds, a non-Arab (predominantly Sunni Muslim) ethnic group who constitute around 20 percent of Iraq’s population (over 5 million) and are heavily concentrated in the north of the country, were Saddam Hussein’s principal ethnic victims. After the first Gulf War and Saddam’s bloody suppression of the Kurdish insurgency in the north when the promised American assistance to the Kurds failed to materialize, the Kurds eventually succeeded in establishing their own autonomous provincial control in parts of northern Iraq with U.S.-backing in 1992. The major Kurdish armed political factions (The Kurdistan Democratic Party/KDP and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan/PUK) also welcomed and assisted the United States-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, and were among the most eager enthusiasts of the January election. However, continued future Kurdish cooperation with the United States-led occupation force in Iraq is by no means guaranteed.

The history of relations between Kurdish political groups and various U.S. administrations since the 1970s is fraught with numerous instances of what the Kurds consider "betrayals." The post-1992 "cooperation" between the two sides has simply been necessitated by "pragmatic" convergence of otherwise disparate American and Kurdish objectives and policy calculations, rather than by any underlying shared vision of long-term U.S. goals in the region or of Kurdish political ambitions. The "collective" Iraqi Kurdish memory of American acts of duplicity in the past include the 1972 encouragement and material support by the Nixon administration and the Shah of Iran for an uprising against the Iraqi regime by the KDP. It was only in 1975 after the sudden halt to United States-Iranian support of the insurgency and Iran’s rearguard assistance to the Iraqi regime in attacking the Kurds once Tehran obtained its desired territorial concessions from Baghdad, which had been the underlying United States-Iranian motive in exerting military pressure on Baghdad through Iraqi Kurds, that the Kurds realized they had been manipulated by outside powers. Left to their own device, the Kurds not only had lost the chance for attaining conditional autonomous control of their provinces as previously promised by the government in Baghdad, but faced a brutal slaughter. In the face of criticisms for denying humanitarian assistance to the Kurds (armed groups and civilians alike) who were fleeing the wrath of the Baghdad regime, Kissinger would state: "Covert action should not be mistaken for missionary work." Other examples of U.S. betrayal include such events as Saddam Hussein’s gassing of the Kurdish town of Helebja in 1988 during the Iran-Iraq War, with the Iraqi government not only using American-supplied weapons and chemicals but also relying on U.S. military intelligence. What made the United States role in this massacre even more nefarious was its public denials of Baghdad’s responsibility for the slaughter at the time. This was followed by Washington’s silent reaction to Saddam’s "Anfal Campaign," during which 4,000 Kurdish villages were destroyed and nearly 180,000 Kurdish civilians "disappeared." The list goes on and on.

The two most important and immediate goals of the Kurdish alliance (despite the KDP’s and PUK’s own history of internecine factional rivalries and violence) are the status and ethnic composition of the northern city of Kirkuk and the creation of a federated Iraq. This latter objective, seen as a first step towards the creation of a future "independent" Kurdistan-an aspiration shared by 95 percent of the Kurds participating in a separate referendum on the status of Kurdistan during the Iraqi election-should not necessarily pose an impediment to the Kurdish alliance’s cooperation with either the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA) or the Iraqi List (IL) in the national assembly or in drafting the constitution. The IL, given its smaller share of the votes in the election and its desire to prevent the implementation of religious laws and edicts by the UIA will need to work with the Kurdish alliance. In the meantime, the UIA is not necessarily opposed to a federated system that will enable the Shi’i majority to reap the benefits of oil revenues in the south as the Kurds enjoy a larger share of oil profits in the north (an area which is believed to hold 40 percent of Iraq’s oil reserves). Moreover, given that the election has created an opportunity for the Shi’i Arab majority and the Sunni Kurdish minority to finally have a voice in Iraqi national politics, neither side is likely to promote open political division that can harm their chances of augmenting their leverage in Iraqi politics. Furthermore, the UIA and the IL can jointly block any expansive autonomous control by the Kurdish alliance in the north, particularly as the Bush administration has ruled out the creation of a separate Kurdistan. The U.S. stance has been in reaction to both domestic Iraqi Arab opposition to a separate Kurdish state and Turkey’s concerns. Turkey, which has the largest Kurdish population in the Middle East, has faced its own Kurdish separatist insurgency movement since the 1980s in the form of the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK). Because of this, Turkey fears that the creation of an independent Kurdistan south of its border will serve as further incentive to its own Kurdish population’s separatist ambitions and recently demanded and received reassurances from the United States of Washington’s opposition to Kurdish separatism. The Iraqi Kurdish leadership, aware of the alienating effect of separatist ambitions on other Iraqi groups represented in the national assembly, and fearful of Turkey’s military intervention in Iraqi Kurdistan (where more than 4,000 PKK fighters fleeing the Turkish military are currently based), has acknowledged that independence will have to be postponed.

Rather, it is the topic of Kirkuk that poses the more immediate threat of spinning out of control and inciting ethnic and regional civil strife. Although, in some ways the spread of civil turmoil in Iraq can aid the objective of prolonged U.S. military presence in Iraq (for providing "security"), it can also trigger a spiraling armed conflict which may bring about the deployment of thousands of armed fighters belonging to various Shi’i and Sunni Arab factions along with the 50,000 to 60,000 Kurdish fighters and outside intervention, particularly by Turkey. Kirkuk, a city in the oil-rich region located outside the existing autonomous Kurdish provinces in the north, has been declared by the Kurdish alliance as the capital of a future federated Kurdish region. While the Kurds claim Kirkuk was a predominantly Kurdish city before Saddam Hussein’s forced expulsion of thousands of Kurds, and Kurdish armed groups since the United States-led invasion of Iraq have been "reclaiming" former Kurdish homes from the ethnic Arab and Turcomen populations of the city, the Arab population claim a right to remain in the city, while Turcomens maintain the city is and was predominantly Turcomen and Turkey has pledged to defend the rights of Iraqi Turcomens in the name of pan-Turkic solidarity.

In effect, not all is well in post-election Iraq. While various existing insurgency movements continue to plague the American occupation and kill and maim other Iraqis and foreign military personnel, there remain other serious potential threats of widespread civil strife in Iraq that need to be resolved if additional ethnic and regional conflicts are to be avoided.