2
July 2007
2. "Report: Kurdish rebels kill 3 Turkish soldiers in roadside bomb attack", Kurdish guerrillas detonated a roadside bomb, killing three soldiers in eastern Turkey on Saturday, media reports said.
3. "Prominent Turkish Kurd politician dies", prominent Turkish Kurd politician Orhan Dogan died Friday in hospital in the eastern city of Van after suffering a heart attack at the weekend, doctors said. The 52-year-old was among several Kurdish activists who entered the Turkish parliament in 1991, including human rights award winner Leyla Zana. They lost their seats three years later for supporting armed Kurdish rebels fighting the government.
4. "Dink Murder Case to Start on July 2", in the Dink murder case, in which 18 suspects are to be tried on 2 July, journalist associations will be sending committees in order to observe the proceedings.
5. "EU 'faces backlash from Turkey'", the European Union is risking an Islamic backlash in Turkey, according to the EU's enlargement commissioner, Olli Rehn.
6. "Turkey ready for Iraq incursion", Turkey's FM declares his country's full readiness for incursion into Iraq.
7. "Kurds woo investors as Iraq knocks at the door", Northern Iraq's relatively stable Kurdish region is trying to attract oil prospectors and investors instead of insurgents in an ambitious bid to rival commercial hotspots like Dubai.
8. "It’s time for the Bush Administration to put Turks in their place", a friendship between America and Turkey has been a liability for America since the beginning, due to Turkey’s notoriously dirty human rights record.
1. - Christian Science Monitor - "Why Turkey's Kurds Are Ever More Edgy":
DIYARBAKIR / 29 June 2007 / by Scott Peterson
Mohammad Isiktas, only 13 years old, is prepared to take on the Turkish state so he can legally use his Kurdish middle name.
He is still forbidden from having Demhat, which means "the time has come," on his ID card. His younger brother will also go to court, to use his Kurdish name, which means "freedom."
While Turkey's Kurds have seen some limited reforms, this family's pending fight is emblematic of the legal limits the ethnic minority still face.
Application of new laws that permit limited use of Kurdish, such as ending the ban on Kurdish names and allowing 45 minutes of Kurdish TV broadcasts a day, are being challenged by zealous state prosecutors fearful that such minority rights will undermine the Turkish republic.
So change has come only fitfully to southeast Turkey, where separatist guerrillas of the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) and Turkish forces fought a vicious war throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
"I want peace between Turkey and Kurds, between police and the PKK," says Mohammad, his dress shirt buttoned to the neck. "For that reason I want both names, Mohammad and Demhat, as a combination of these two: the [Turkish] police and [Kurdish] fighters."
"In the past, because of high pressure, we were afraid of learning our own culture," says Makbule Tanriverdi, the boys' mother. "But now we are more self-confident and brave because of that hard struggle period."
Still, after five years of relative peace, expanding self-rule, and easing language restrictions, there has been a resurgence of PKK attacks and Turkish military action, which threatens to spill into northern Iraq and erase these modest changes.
The PKK is increasing attacks on Turkish soldiers and is blamed by officials for a string of bombings against civilians. Public support is high for a military invasion against PKK bases in northern Iraq — the U.S. and its Iraqi Kurdish allies are accused by Turks of giving the PKK safe haven.
The U.S. and European Union label the PKK a "terrorist" group for targeting civilians. Turkey has backed up threats by boosting troop strength along the border.
But even as Kurds test the limits of EU-inspired legal reforms that grant more cultural rights, they say the renewed bloodshed stems from a lack of creativity on both sides.
The PKK, for example, did not disarm after the 1999 capture of its leader, Abdullah Ocalan, who vowed in court to "give up the armed struggle" and "dedicate my life to bringing Kurds and Turks together." Earlier this month, the imprisoned PKK leader warned that invading Iraq would spark a broader Turk-Kurd war and risk "losing all Turkey."
For its part, the state ended a brutal state of emergency marked by extrajudicial killings, destruction of villages, and torture. "They did not internalize those changes, so they were token moves," says Osman Baydemir, the mayor of Diyarbakir. Like local Kurdish officials across southeast Turkey, home to some 15 million ethnic Kurds, he is facing a number of legal cases.
Still, a Kurdish political party exists with many PKK sympathizers among its ranks, and some 30 members hope to be voted into Turkey's parliament in July 22 elections.
Development and other economic projects have borne little fruit or not materialized, however, leading to 60 percent unemployment in this city alone, and feeding what Mr. Baydemir counts as the 29th Kurdish rebellion — the one launched by the PKK in 1984.
"From the end of 2005 onwards, there has been a remarkable regression of cultural rights," says Baydemir, whose broad desk is watched over by a portrait of Turkey's founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. "Currently there is no trace of the positive atmosphere from 2000 to 2005."
The result is clear in the number of legal court cases brought against local officials and Kurds, who daily test the limits of the law. The mayor and municipal council of Diyarbakir's Sur district, in the old city, were recently sacked for voting to use Kurdish to spread information about local services ranging from tourism to trash cleanup.
Baydemir's most recent case is prosecution for printing New Year cards in Turkish, English, and Kurdish. Some non-Kurdish officials who received them sent them back. The case was not brought because Kurdish is banned, the prosecutor explained, but because the letters X, W, and Q exist in Kurdish but not Turkish, so their use violates a law protecting Turkish letters.
The mayor responded, in court, that the prosecutor also must violate the law every day, when he logs into the Justice Ministry Web site, tapping the URL address that begins "www."
"In the last four years, many new laws passed parliament and as a rule they are not bad — the same as in European countries," says Tahir Elci, a human rights lawyer who spent time in detention in the 1990s. "But in practice, the problems continue because prosecutors and judges haven't changed their minds."
Broad Kurdish disillusion means more than 50 percent of Kurds believe the PKK "represents their rights," estimates Mr. Elci, though only 10 to 20 percent support killings.
"Kurdish people are not happy with the violence – they want peace and don't support these attacks," says Elci. "But also they are not happy with government policy, because the Kurdish problem is not solved.... Kurds in Turkey don't believe this state represents them, or belongs to them."
Indeed, unity was the key message of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan at an election rally in Diyarbakir on Sunday. In this long-neglected region, Mr. Erdogan listed his Islamist Party's achievements, including claims of opening 1,500 new classrooms already, and 500 more by the end of the year.
"What did we do in Diyarbakir? You'll tell everyone what we did!" Erdogan told the chanting crowd. "We just want to win your hearts and emotions. We don't want any hate or conflict."
Still, Mr. Erdogan has sought to take a tough line against "terrorists" and says he would approve a military push into northern Iraq when "necessary." But he also says that 5,000 PKK activists inside Turkey — his numbers — should be dealt with before crossing into Iraq.
Turkish generals Wednesday repeated their call for a cross-border operation into Iraq, estimating that 2,800 to 3,100 guerrillas are based there. "Turkey prefers security to democracy, [and] if you prefer security to democracy, then you will have a violent reaction," says Ali Akinci, head of the Diyarbakir branch of Turkey's Human Rights Association.
Turkish military operations have stepped up since 2004 and surged in the past six months, during which time 214 people died on both sides, says Mr. Akinci. His predecessor was hit with 46 court cases from state prosecutors; the office was shut down between 1997 and 2000 for saying that "a Kurdish nation exists in Turkey."
A breaking point, observers here say, came during riots in Diyarbakir in March 2006, when protestors at the funerals of PKK militants clashed in the streets with Turkish soldiers for several days. A total of 10 people died in the gunfire, including a boy watching from a balcony; the Human Rights Association is handling 350 cases of the 600 people arrested.
"The latest conflicts will increase nationalism [on both sides] and will make things worse than ever before," says Sezgin Tanrikulu, chair of the bar association in Diyarbakir. "Kurds are becoming more radical, and I believe their trust in the system is going to be weaker."
A call by Turkey's top general on June 8 for Turks to "show their reflex action en masse against these terrorist acts" amounts to a "declaration of internal war," says Mr. Tanrikulu, winner in 1997 of the prestigious Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award.
PKK attacks also have some Kurds angry. "Lots of people are shouting against them, 'Why are they using such violent methods?'" asks Tanrikulu. "Especially operations against civilians. People don't support this."
He is handling a string of cases at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, where decisions often go against Turkish authorities. Locally, Tanrikulu is now defending Baydemir, the mayor, who has been charged with "aiding and abetting the terrorist organization PKK," and faces 10 to 15 years in prison for trying to calm demonstrators during the riots last year with the words: "We share your pain deep in heart."
"In Turkey, we have lived almost everything that could be lived; war and torture...." says the mayor. "The war concept was consumed to its limits. But there is only one way we have not tried: negotiations, peace, and talking.
"Dialogue and compromise are inevitable [to end]
this conflict," adds Baydemir. "We need to show Turkey the
path of reason. But now there is an eclipse of reason." 
2. - AP - "Report: Kurdish rebels kill 3 Turkish soldiers in roadside bomb attack":
ANKARA / 30 June 2007
Kurdish guerrillas detonated a roadside bomb, killing three soldiers in eastern Turkey on Saturday, media reports said.
The attack occurred near the city of Tunceli, CNN-Turk television reported.
Kurdish guerrillas have escalated attacks on Turkish troops lately. Saturday's attack increased the military losses to at least 67 since January.
Turkey has threatened to stage a military incursion into northern Iraq to target rebel bases there if U.S. or Iraqi forces do not crack down on rebel hide-outs in Iraq.
The guerrillas have been fighting for autonomy in southeast
Turkey since 1984. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people.
3. - AFP - "Prominent Turkish Kurd politician dies":
ANKARA / 29 June 2007
Prominent Turkish Kurd politician Orhan Dogan died Friday in hospital in the eastern city of Van after suffering a heart attack at the weekend, doctors said.
The 52-year-old was among several Kurdish activists who entered the Turkish parliament in 1991, including human rights award winner Leyla Zana. They lost their seats three years later for supporting armed Kurdish rebels fighting the government.
Dogan, Zana and two others spent 10 years in jail for collaborating with the rebels before being released in June 2004.
Dogan had put forward his candidacy to run again in general elections on July 22, but electoral authorities said he was no longer eligible because of his conviction.
He suffered cardiac arrest while making a speech at a
festival in the eastern town of Dogubeyazit on Sunday.
4. - Bianet - "Dink Murder Case to Start on July 2":
In the Dink murder case, in which 18 suspects are to be tried on 2 July, journalist associations will be sending committees in order to observe the proceedings.
ISTANBUL / 29 June 2007
After the murder of Agos newspapers editor-in-chief Hrant Dink, 18 defendants will appear at Istanbul's 14th Heavy Penal Court on 2 July. Several NGOs and journalist associations have announced that they will be following the trial in order to make sure that those responsible for the murder will be sentenced.
Turgay Olcayto, vice-president of the Turkey Journalists' Society (TGC), which will observe the case, told bianet: "We want to continue to believe that Turkey is a democratic state governed by the rule of law. We think that the Dink trial is an important criterion."
"The road taken so far is not very promising, because some powers related to the state have attempted to mislead and confuse".
Press Council: We are observing developments closely
Recep Güvelioglu, general secretary of the Press Council, says that "The Dink murder is not a straightforward case. We are observing the developments closely".
The case will also be monitored by representatives of the Istanbul branch of the Modern Journalists' Association (CGD).
Twelve of the eighteen suspects are in detention. The court case will proceed without media. One of the suspects is O.S., accused of being the gunman.
Dink family suing brigadier general
The Dink family is suing brigadier general Dursun Ali Karaduman for two speeches he made at military funerals, arguing that he "attacked personal rights".
In their application, the family said that Karaduman was attempting to "incite hostility between Hrant Dink and the relatives of the killed soldiers". They evaluated a speech he made and a poem he read at two different funerals as an abuse of freedom of speech.
On 9 April, he said at the funeral of a sergeant in Samsun (Black Sea region), "Today the American Senate, the French Parliament, The English Upper Chamber, the Brussels EU Parliament, Armenia, are not condemning your murderers. They only speak up when traitors are killed", clearly referring to international reactions to Hrant Dink's murder.
On 19 June, Karaduman read a poem at the funeral of a
gendarmerie private in Gümüshane (Black Sea province neighbouring
Trabzon), comparing the reactions to the private's and to Hrant Dink's
death.
5. - BBC - "EU 'faces backlash from Turkey'":
30 June 2007 / by Ben Hammersley*
The European Union is risking an Islamic backlash in Turkey, according to the EU's enlargement commissioner, Olli Rehn.
A survey showed attitudes in the country souring towards the West.
Mr Rehn told the European Voice weekly: "If you look at the current political situation in the Middle East, in Palestine, in Lebanon, not to speak of Iraq, we don't need another nationalist or Islamist problem in the neighbourhood of Europe."
The survey revealed Turkish approval of Europe to be falling rapidly.
Just 27% of Turks have a favourable opinion of the European Union, compared to 58% in 2004, according to this year's annual global survey by the Pew Research Center.
"The ongoing frustration in Turkey over its on-again, off-again membership negotiations with the EU are vividly reflected in these data," Pew said in the poll report.
'More debate'
EU member states this week opened accession negotiations with Turkey on two new policy areas - statistics and financial control. But after French objections talks were delayed on a third topic - economic and monetary policy.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy also said he wanted to reopen the debate on Turkey's accession when the leaders of the EU member states meet in December.
The French president is not in favour of Turkish entry to the EU, stating that Turkey is not a European country.
But Portugal, which takes over the rotating presidency of the EU from 1 July, is in favour of Turkish membership.
Portuguese Europe Minister Manuel Lobo Antunes said Portugal would be trying to get Turkey's membership talks "back on track".
Earlier this week, Turkey's chief negotiator, Ali Babacan, said Ankara hoped the problems would be overcome in the next six months.
"We are not satisfied with the technical justifications that were given to us and we hope that there will be progress in this matter during the Portuguese presidency," he said.
According to the Pew survey, Turkey is currently the most anti-US country in the world.
Only 9% of the country favours the US, compared to 52% in 2000, putting Turkey below the Palestinian territories with 13% US approval, and Pakistan with 15%. In the United Kingdom, 51% approved of the US.
While 37% of Turks like American science and technology, according to the survey, 81% of Turks dislike American ideas about democracy, and 83% dislike American trade habits.
* Turkey's general election is to be held on 22 July.
Until then, the BBC's Ben Hammersley is travelling across Turkey, exploring
the political landscape.
6. - Press TV - "Turkey ready for Iraq incursion":
30 June 2007
Turkey's FM declares his country's full readiness for
incursion into Iraq.
Turkey's Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul says his country has prepared
detailed plans for a cross-border military operation into Iraq.
Gul reiterated that "Turkey will act if US or Iraqi forces fail to tackle them,"
Ankara has on many occasions threatened to send troops into mainly Kurdish northern Iraq to hunt down thousands of militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) who use the region as a base to attack targets inside Turkey.
"The military plans have been worked out in the finest detail. The government knows these plans and agrees with them," Gul told the Radikal newspaper in an interview.
"If neither the Iraqi government nor the US occupying forces can do this (crush the PKK), we will take our own decision and implement it," he added.
Washington has urged Turkey, a NATO ally, not to enter northern Iraq, arguing such a move would destabilize one of the few relatively peaceful regions of the war-shattered country.
Iraq has also warned Turkey against making an incursion.
More than 30,000 people have been killed in fighting between
Turkish security forces and the PKK since the rebels launched their
armed campaign for an independent homeland in mainly Kurdish southeast
Turkey in 1984.
7. - AFP - "Kurds woo investors as Iraq knocks at the door":
ARBIL / 1 July 2007
Northern Iraq's relatively stable Kurdish region is trying to attract oil prospectors and investors instead of insurgents in an ambitious bid to rival commercial hotspots like Dubai.
The streets of the regional capital of Arbil are throbbing, not with the shock waves of car bombs but the roaring of bulldozers, as builders throw up a new generation of high-rise hotels and opulent shopping malls.
"Kurdistan is going to be an alternative to Dubai," boasted Hoshyar Nuri Abbas, an official with the Turkish-Canadian oil company, TTopco, a joint venture between Genel Enerji of Turkey and Addax Petroleum of Canada.
While Iraq's fragile central government has struggled to staunch the daily bloodshed in the war-torn Arab central and south, Kurdistan's once-feuding political parties have agreed to fire off brochures instead of bullets.
Arbil airport welcomes jets from Vienna, Dubai and Istanbul and the region's airline plans to offer flights to London, Brussels, Amsterdam and Berlin.
"It's not an easy task (to attract investors) because we are part of a country that everyone says is a war zone," said Falah Mustafa Bakir, head of international relations in the Kurdistan administration.
Bakir works in an office adorned with pictures of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Massud Barzani, president of the Kurdish Regional Government, leaders he credits with bringing stability to the area.
A year ago, as Baghdad spiralled into war between Arab sectarian and political factions, the two former rival guerrilla leaders set differences aside and merged their self-controlled regions into a single administration.
Soon afterwards the regional parliament passed a key investment law opening the door to foreign direct investment, and at present more than 600 foreign companies, mostly Turkish, are registered in the region.
In addition to providing a 10-year tax holiday to new investors, the liberal law allows foreign firms to own 100 percent of local subsidiaries and to repatriate all their profits.
"There is no safer place in the world ... the growth is impressive and we don't pay taxes. We would like to grow here," says Mohammed Tahir Brifkany, a Kurd employed by the Turkish group BTP Nursoy to oversee real estate projects.
Nursoy has constructed a residential complex of 700 modern apartments, complete with a swimming pool and tennis courts, in Arbil. The company's Iraqi operations employ around 1,200 people, more than its Turkish projects do.
The project is aimed at high-end clients, a new market for a region long accustomed to state-centred economic policies put in place by former dictator Saddam Hussein's totalitarian Baath Party.
But most Kurds have not yet reaped the rewards. The average salary in Arbil is around 400 dollars (300 euros) a month, forcing many to work more than one job to afford basic goods, which are becoming more expensive.
"Saddam's Iraq was a socialist economy. Now it is adopting a free market route," said Aziz Ibrahim Abdo, director general of the local trade ministry.
"In such a transition phase you can see negative effects but life is better for the people than before."
Nawzad Hadi Mawlood, the governor of Arbil, is optimistic that the Kurdish region will be a "copy of economies like the United Arab Emirates and be a good successful example for the new Iraq."
Iraq's Kurdish region has enjoyed de facto autonomy since 1991, when the United States extended a no-fly zone over the region following the first Gulf War, essentially cutting it off from Baghdad.
The Kurds, who strongly supported the March 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, maintained their autonomy after US forces rolled into Baghdad.
It would help if, like the Gulf countries, Kurdistan could jump-start its growth by exploiting large hydrocarbon reserves. But while Iraq as a whole is flush with oil, the region's reserves are modest.
Proven oil reserves account for 2.9 percent of Iraq's total reserves, but experts say the region's potential remains untapped.
"That (2.9 percent) is an estimate. We don't really know. It's a virgin area here," said Kemal Afaraci, an official with TTopco overseeing the company's site in the Kurdish region of Taq Taq.
The company is currently drilling its fourth oil well since the toppling of Saddam Hussein in April 2003 and hopes to drill two more by end of the year.
The three oil wells which TTopco has already drilled would produce 75,000 barrels a day, compared to the two million barrels produced in the rest of the country, mainly in the south.
Norway's DNO, Turkish group Petoil and the Canadian company Western Oil Sands have signed production-sharing contracts with the regional government.
But it is unclear how those contracts will fare if Baghdad passes a draft hydrocarbon law -- currently awaiting a parliamentary vote -- that would put the country's oil wealth under the control of a federal governing body.
In May, Iraq's oil minister Hussein Shahristani said that any contract signed before the adoption of law, aimed at equitably distributing Iraq's oil among all its 18 provinces, would be cancelled.
Kurdish officials nevertheless say they will honour the contracts, and the Kurdish Regional Government claims to have reached an agreement with Baghdad whereby it will receive 17 percent of the country's oil revenues.
"These contracts adopt international standards and are in line with the draft law," Bakir said.
Another concern is the region's oil infrastructure, which has repeatedly come under attack by insurgents south of the regional boundary.
The main oil pipeline, extending from the disputed oil-rich
city of Kirkuk to the Turkish port of Ceyhan, is almost always shut
off, a reminder that even in Kurdistan the war is never that far off.
8. - American Chronicle - "It’s time for the Bush Administration to put Turks in their place":
30 June 2007 / by Rauf Naqishbendi*
A friendship between America and Turkey has been a liability for America since the beginning, due to Turkey’s notoriously dirty human rights record. During the Cold War Turkey’s strategic location propelled America to seek a close relationship with Turkey. Thankfully, all that changed when the Iron Curtain fell pronouncing Turkey a triviality. Moreover, the Iraq War has proved Turkey’s uselessness to America. While the Turks continue their human rights abuses and threaten to cause trouble in Iraq, the Bush administration has not put the Turks in their place, as justice demands.
Since the Iraqi Liberation mission, Turkey has been opposing the notion of an independent Kurdistan, fearing that once the Kurds in Iraq are free and democratic, their counterparts on the other side of the border will demand the same. Clearly they are of the opinion that, in order for the Turks to justify their violation of Kurdish human rights in their country, Kurds ought to be abused everywhere in the world.
It is bewildering why America would want to support and befriend a regime such as Turkey’s with all their atrocities against humanity, not only against Kurds but also Serbs, Greeks, Assyrians and Armenians. The United States’ apathy is overwhelming; for decades they have generously provided assistance to Turkey without considering the country’s human rights record. Common sense and common justice has been rare with American leaders regarding their relationship with Turkey. Think of the Armenian genocide committed by Turks, yet America ignored the plight of Armenians demanding Turks to acknowledge their atrocities.
And reaching the height of absurdity, American leaders and politicians have been calling Turkey a great democracy in the Middle East, in order to justify the United States’ immense support of Turkey, citing the Turkish elections and constitution as proofs. While it’s true that election is a vital pillar of democratic establishment which reflects fair representation, and fair representation requires a sound and moral constitution; these pillars of democracy need to be genuine, otherwise their casual application will weaken the foundation of the institution. A constitution is vital to democracy, but it needs to be moral and apply consistently to every citizen. But Turkey’s constitution excludes all non-Turks who live in Turkey by a simple declaration that all citizens of Turkey are Turks. This is a moral predicament since one third of Turkey’s population is Kurds, and there are also Arabs, Assyrians and Armenians. Where is justice and morality in a constitution that is privileging one portion of the population and demonizing the rest?
Turkey has been a violent country for decades as the Kurdish rebel P.K.K has been fighting for an equitable system of justice and equality for all. During this period Turkey’s rulers usually have been civilians on the surface, but military at heart. Thus the rule of army and violence has made democracy in Turkey scarce, for under the rule of army and bloody violence there is no democracy. Additionally, Turkey is not a pristine democracy; rather, it is a corrupted country with bribery, favoritism and cronyism ubiquitous. These attributes encumber the glory of democracy, and go against its true essence. As one can see, these arguments contradict any proclamation that Turkey is a democracy. If anyone claims that it is, that person either does not have a true knowledge of Turkey or does not understand the true meaning of democracy.
President Bush would display a new degree of enlightenment if he were to address the prime minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan in his next visit to Washington as follows:
“Mr. Erdogan, we have heard enough of your exploitation of the Kurds, and your opposition to the inspiration of the world’s biggest nation without statehood to obtain their independence. I feel compassion for the Kurds because of what they have suffered in your country; we let your leaders be as intolerant as they desired for a long time. We lavished you with monetary, political and military assistance, and you utilized it as fodder for your prejudice and pride. These are unfounded in today’s world and are just relics of your past. We have gone as far as arguing the case for your membership in the EU, even though we knew your nation doesn’t resemble Europeans.
You know it has been an established tradition of our presidency for the US president not to apologize, and I shall not violate this tradition, but were I permitted to break that tradition, I would proffer the Kurds in your country an earnest apology for our support to your government and that of your predecessors that they have turned to abuse against the Kurds.
The Kurds have been our faithful ally in our war against Saddam and terrorism, and America is looked upon as respectable and popular among the Kurdish; on the other hand, the degree of anti-American sentiment amongst your people is shamefully high. Therefore, we are not going to forsake our faithful friends, the Kurds, to please an old friend who has proven perfidious.
A free and independent Kurdistan is imminent for it is the will and determination of the Kurdish nation. The will of a nation is impassable and neither you nor anyone else can hinder it. That leaves you with no choice but to accept and put aside your bigotry towards the Kurds. A free and independent Kurdistan will be beneficial to you and your people, therefore I ask you not to merely tolerate it but rather to welcome it wholeheartedly. I will join you and your people in celebrating the birth of a free and independent country, Kurdistan, with its waving flag visible from your border. We should let this new nation prosper and bloom; we should all help these great people who are good friends of ours. I assure you, they too will be your.
* Rauf Naqishbendi is a contributing columnist for
Kurdishmedia.com and American Chronicle and has written Op/Ed pages
for LA times. He has just completed his first novel The Garden Of The
Poets and through his literary agent seeking publication.