23 May 2007

1. "Turkey at the boiling point", two simmering problems threaten to boil over in Turkey this summer with greater international consequences than ever before.

2. "Turkey: Possible Perpetrators Behind the Ankara Blast", an explosion at a shopping mall in the Turkish capital May 22 killed six people and wounded another 56. Authorities say a bomb caused the explosion. Kurdish separatists and Islamist militants both have reasons for carrying out such an attack, and thus both groups are suspect.

3. "Sacking hinders Kurdish strategy", an attempt by Turkey and the US to co-operate in fighting violent Kurdish 'separatism' was in disarray on Tuesday after the sacking of a senior Turkish envoy.

4. "Obstacles for Peace, Democracy and Leyla", In Turkey, Kurds are subjected to terror and barbaric torture and a policy of forceful assimilation. Kurds who have spoken up about the injustices have been punished, labeled as threatening the Turkish state, and imprisoned. Leyla Zana’s story is symbolic to all those who have tried to take the peaceful road and have been penalized for doing so.

5. "More Questions in Hrant Dink Investigation", an investigation of phone calls made by suspects in the Hrant Dink case has revealed hidden connections between suspects, a gendarmerie intelligence officer and a police officer. There has not been sufficient questioning.

6. "Politics in Turkey Heat Up as Elections Draw Close", centre-left parties have agreed to collaborate and attended the last of the "Republican rallies" in the Black Sea city of Samsun at the weekend. Meanwhile, the left is deciding on independent candidates for parliament.

7. "Kurd rebels kidnap two men in SE Turkey - army", Kurdistan Workers' Party guerrillas kidnapped two men in the eastern Turkish province of Bingol on Sunday, the Army General Staff said on its Web site.

8. "'Honor killing' stokes tensions", ethnic groups in Iraq point fingers after video.

1. - International Herald Tribune - "Turkey at the boiling point":

ISTANBUL / 22 May 2007 / by James F. Hoge Jr.*

Two simmering problems threaten to boil over in Turkey this summer with greater international consequences than ever before.

First is the relationship between the Islamic religion and the state that Mustafa Kemal Ataturk founded in 1923 and whose secular nature the army has protected ever since. Second is the raids against Turkish troops by rebels from Turkey's minority Kurdish population who are now camped across the border in Iraq.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan ignited the current political controversy by signaling his desire to succeed the retiring secularist, Ahmet Necdet Sezer, in the presidency. Faced with stiff resistance to his candidacy, Erdogan tried to deliver the post to his close associate, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, himself a devout Islamic believer.

That prospect aroused fears that the loss of checks and balances could lead to an Islamization of the state, if not by the current Justice and Development Party (AKP) leadership then by more fervent successors. The army, responsible for four coups in the last five decades, warned against the selection.

Erdogan then reprimanded the army, moved up parliamentary elections from the fall to July 22 and proposed a referendum to switch the election of a president to a direct popular vote.

The most dramatic reaction to Erdogan's divisive thrust has been the peaceful but massive street demonstrations, several of them numbering more than 1 million participants.

Erdogan's record of the past four years in office has been markedly moderate - with a few exceptions, such as his short-lived effort to make adultery a crime. He enacted fiscal and structural reforms that spurred economic growth. And he passed civil rights and penal legislation to strengthen Turkey's application for membership in the European Union. In short, Erdogan and the AKP produced the most efficient and effective Turkish government in decades.

So how to explain the fears that generated a military warning and the public protests of unexpected size and diversity?

Part of the reaction can be attributed to the radical secularism of Turkey's traditional social and economic elite. Despite Erdogan's record of moderation, some of the radical secularists claim the AKP has a "secret agenda" to impose harsh Islamic constraints on Turkish life once it has amassed monopoly power. But their reaction hardly accounts for the outpouring of protest from a broad segment of the society.

More significantly, women played a key role in the demonstrations. As the most liberated women in the Islamic world, active in business, culture and politics, Turkish women have a lot to lose. When they contemplate greater Islamic influence on their public lives, the specter on their minds is neighboring Iran, once cosmopolitan and now theocratic.

Concerning the revival of Kurdish uprise, the army is privately warning that it will close down the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) camps in neighboring Iraq if no one else does.

It faults the Kurdish regional government in Iraq, and the United States occupying forces, for not suppressing the cross-border raids. By year's end, a scheduled referendum may deliver control of Iraq's oil-rich city of Kirkuk to the autonomous regional government. That could trigger action by the Turkish Army, which fears the impact on Turkey's Kurds of a strong and essentially independent Kurdish entity next door.

Turkey's geopolitical importance has grown as it has become stronger and more stable while its surrounding region has regressed. It is a critical bridge between Europe and Asia, a model for harmonizing Islam and democracy, and a key factor in Iraq's future. Yet at this critical juncture, the United States and Europe find their leverage on Turkey markedly diminished. Anger at America and Europe is rampant because of the U.S. occupation of Iraq and Europe's vocal reluctance to grant Turkey EU membership.

The Bush administration has rightly voiced support for a political, not military, solution to Turkey's impasse. The United States must press for tougher measures against cross-border raids by the PKK that, since the beginning of last year, have accounted for the deaths of 600 people, including many troops.

On both counts, time is short and the summer months may be critical to forestalling what are now clearly looming catastrophes.

* James F. Hoge Jr. is the editor of Foreign Affairs. This article was distributed by Tribune Media Services.

2. - Stratfor - "Turkey: Possible Perpetrators Behind the Ankara Blast":

22 May 2007

Summary

An explosion at a shopping mall in the Turkish capital May 22 killed six people and wounded another 56. Authorities say a bomb caused the explosion. Kurdish separatists and Islamist militants both have reasons for carrying out such an attack, and thus both groups are suspect.

Analysis

An explosion took place May 22 at a shopping mall in the old commercial district of Ulus in the central part of Turkey's capital, Ankara. The private NTV news channel said at least four people died and 56 were injured. Initially, a police spokesman rejected reports of any deaths, and media quoted Ankara Gov. Kemal Onal as saying an accident caused the blast. Later, however, officials -- including Ankara Mayor Melih Gokcek -- and news reports said the explosion was caused by a bomb.

Kurdish militants could well be behind the blast. Not only are Kurdish rebels affiliated with the militant Kurdistan Freedom Hawks known to be active during the summer, but recent actions against Kurds also have increased tensions. Turkish forces have been conducting operations against Kurdish militants in southeastern Turkey and have increased pressure on Iraqi Kurdish authorities to crack down on Turkish Kurdish rebels based in Northern Iraq. A Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) official in Arbil recently announced that the KRG is preparing to expel members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party from its area.

Should it turn out that Kurdish rebels were behind the Ankara blast, tensions will rise between the Turkish military establishment and the government, which are already engaged in a dispute over the presidential election. Tensions between Ankara and the KRG also are expected to rise, which could affect U.S. plans to work with Iran to stabilize Iraq.

Though the Kurds could have carried out the attack, Islamist militants cannot be ruled out as suspects. First, a number of jihadists have recently been arrested in Turkey; and second, the explosion's size and target -- an area frequented by foreigners -- bear the hallmarks of an Islamist militant bombing. If it turns out that Islamist militants were behind the explosion, it will only exacerbate the ongoing political crisis pitting the secular establishment and the ruling Justice and Development Party against each other.

3. - Financial Times - "Sacking hinders Kurdish strategy":

ANKARA / 22 May 2007

An attempt by Turkey and the US to co-operate in fighting violent Kurdish 'separatism' was in disarray on Tuesday after the sacking of a senior Turkish envoy.

The dismissal of Edip Baser, a retired Turkish general, after remarks he made to the media irked ministers, could exacerbate already tense relations between the government and the military in Ankara.

He claimed that a joint Turkish-US-Iraqi effort to defeat the PKK, a Kurdish rebel group based in northern Iraq, had failed to reduce the threat to Turkey. He said he would be stepping down in June. Instead, the government dismissed him after a cabinet meeting on Monday and appointed a diplomat to replace him.

Gen Baser had worked with Joseph Ralston, a senior retired US general, on developing the strategy since last autumn, when their roles as "co-ordinators" were created. But the PKK continues to attack Turkish targets. Anger is growing in Ankara at what some politicians see as US reluctance to target the PKK in order not to widen the conflict in Iraq.

A war between the PKK and the Turkish military from 1984 to 1999 killed at least 35,000 people. Up to 15 per cent of Turkey's 72m people are ethnic Kurds. Turkey has been pressing the US to take firmer action against the PKK, which is embedded in the mountains south of the Turkish-Iraqi border.

Turkey's government is already embroiled in a dispute with the military, which has ousted four elected governments since 1960. The general staff objected to the appointment of Abdullah Gul, foreign minister, as the next president because of his past links to Islamist politics. The military's ultimatum on April 27 initiated a political and constitutional crisis that has yet to be resolved.

In mid-April, General Yashar Buyukanit, chief of the Turkish general staff, said a military operation into Iraq to crush the PKK was necessary but required political approval. Analysts said events since then suggested the government and the armed forces may have disagreed on the timing and nature of any military response to the threat.

With a general election due on July 22, terrorism could be a significant campaign issue in an atmosphere of heightened political tension. The military has tended to dictate security policy in the past, but this government has struck a more independent note.

4. - Kurdish Aspect - "Obstacles for Peace, Democracy and Leyla":

22 May 2007 / by Goran Sadjadi

In all corners of the world, there are people of courage who live their lives determined to do the right thing for themselves and for those around them. These are people who are admired for their actions. They are never accredited timely but the righteous hope that they will be eventually recognized for their good will. In the predominantly Kurdish region of Turkey (see Northern Kurdistan), Leyla Zana has been living a life of constant struggle, determined to attain the rights of her people and in search of democracy in a place where such an idea seems unreachable. One may find it ironic that she has been accused of separatism and hate when she only speaks of peace and democracy. However, it is not irony but the lack of democracy where she lives that effectuates hate in circumstances where individuals like her are forced to strive for peace and are punished for it.

In Turkey, Kurds are subjected to terror and barbaric torture and a policy of forceful assimilation. Everything from social and political inequalities exists for the Kurds and the region in which they live is economically undeveloped. Although much of the world has claimed that the country represents a democracy in the Middle East, one can easily argue that this is far from the truth. Kurds who have spoken up about the injustices have been punished, labeled as threatening the Turkish state, and imprisoned. Leyla Zana’s story is symbolic to all those who have tried to take the peaceful road and have been penalized for doing so.

Leyla Zana was born in a Kurdish village near the city of Diyarbakir (Amed) in 1961. She married the former mayor of Diyarbakir and political activist, Mehdi Zana, who would later spend over a decade in prison for his non-violent political activities in favor of equal rights for the Kurdish people in Turkey. He was later recognized by Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience. In 1991, while Mehdi Zana was serving his long sentence in prison, Leyla became the first Kurdish woman in Turkey to be elected to the Turkish parliament.

During her inauguration as Member of Parliament in the Turkish National Assembly, Leyla took her oath of allegiance in Turkish as required by the law and ended her oath with the following phrase in the Kurdish language:

“I have completed this formality under duress. I take this oath for the brotherhood between the Turkish people and the Kurdish people.”

These words are precisely and unmistakably those of peace, friendship and equality. However, her audience responded to her gesture by calling her a separatist and a terrorist, and said that she should be arrested. Turkish law forbids any public use of the Kurdish language in Turkey and by politicians; a law designed as part of a larger campaign of ethnocide against people of Kurdish descent in Turkey. Her audience’s wishes were fulfilled when she was arrested and charged with treason. Still, Leyla defended herself,

“Since we have come to Parliament, we have defended equality, democracy and brotherhood. We have asked to end the bloodshed. If these actions are crimes, we accept that.”

Leyla Zana’s advocating of peace was ignored and she would spend the next ten years of her life behind bars. She was accused of separatist motives and was tortured by Turkish guards and police; circumstances hard to imagine for most as she has been brutally beaten and tortured on much more than one occasion in her life.

Leyla Zana was later recognized as a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1998 while still in prison. In 1995, Leyla was awarded with the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. She was freed on June 6th of 2004 when she could finally accept the prize and address European Parliament with words of peace. She said that a peaceful solution to the Kurdish question in Turkey must be found.

In recent years, despite EU pressure on Turkey for democratic reform, the Kurdish people are still oppressed and people are still arrested unjustly. And today, Leyla once again faces the risk of imprisonment for charges violating her right to freedom of speech.

Since her release, Leyla Zana has faced multiple retrials regarding her case. And in March of this year, Leyla was reportedly sentenced by the High Criminal Court in Ankara to seven and a half more years in prison along with three other members of the former Democratic Party (DEP); a party outlawed like other Kurdish parties after being accused by the Turkish government of having separative motives despite their lack of proof. Apparently, the court still views the four former members of having intent to undermine the Turkish government despite their words of peace contradictory to such claims.

In recent years, the Democratic Society Party (DTP: Demokratik Toplum Partisi) has gained much support for their attempts to represent and achieve Kurdish rights and equality in Turkey. They were officially established in 2005 and their members consist of mayors in 55 municipalities. One may assume it is probably no coincidence that with their increased support as a Kurdish party has come with strong criticism from the Turkish government and efforts by the courts to undermine the DTP member’s works. The Turkish government has made several efforts to try and associate the party with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party and uses this as a basis to claim their members are linked to violence, despite not having proof. Several of their members have also been charged and/or arrested for their efforts to represent Kurdish interests. One example is that currently, over 52 of their mayors are being charged with up to 10 years in prison for writing a letter to the Danish government to keep Roj TV open; a satellite station in Denmark with high influence since Kurds throughout Kurdistan, although not permitted by Turkish law, can receive it via satellite. Currently, all Kurdish broadcasts in Turkey are highly regulated.

Other efforts have been made by the Turkish government to keep the DTP out of government. A current law in Turkey sets the electoral threshold for a current party to run in the parliamentary elections at 10 percent, meaning that if a party can not achieve a high 10 percent, their members cannot run in parliament. This was a law purposely designed to keep a Kurdish party from being able to run as the highest they have been able to achieve as a minority is a little over 6 percent.

Since no members could become part of the Turkish National Assembly during the 2002 elections, the DTP has recently announced that this year they will field independents rather than run as a party in the Turkish general elections. The DTP will try to bypass the threshold law by having 62 of their candidates across just 40 constituencies run as independents. They hope to achieve somewhere between 37 and 53 seats in parliament if everything goes as planned. Among those candidates is Leyla Zana.

However, following these announcements, the Turkish government wasted no time in trying to create more obstacles for the Kurdish minority and the DTP in the upcoming elections. One day after the DTP officially announced that their candidates would run as independents, the Turkish parliament approved a bill that will require the names of independent candidates to be listed on the same ballot paper as all the parties. The Turkish government is well-aware that such a bill will create problems in the voting process for Kurds in the poverty-stricken Kurdistan region where many are illiterate and/or do not speak Turkish. This will make it much more difficult for independent candidates to be elected.

Another obstacle is directly related to some of the DTP’s key candidates. Leyla Zana’s reentering the political life after years of imprisonment is apparently one problem for the Turkish government. While still awaiting more updates regarding the recent seven and a half years imprisonment charges, other charges have been recently brought against her. Leyla currently risks another five years in prison for her remarks during the Kurdish Newroz holiday in which she named certain Kurdish leaders, including the imprisoned Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan, and said they are in hearts and minds of Kurds. Turkish law forbids praising the rebel leader or any of its members.

Just this week, a top prosecutor in Turkey has asked that the DTP expel four of its popular members, including Leyla Zana, from their membership because of such charges. The prosecutor has also determined that the four cannot run in the parliamentary elections. Supporters of the DTP claim that these are simply more efforts by the Turkish government to prevent the election of Kurdish parliamentarians.

After decades of trying to find a solution to the problems of inequality and injustice for Kurds in Turkey, Kurds like Leyla Zana are still faced with the same old problems. And while the Kurdistan Worker’s Party is outlawed for being a militant group waging a battle against the Turkish military for over 22 years, Kurds who have sought the alternative approach by attempting to gain Kurdish rights through political movements are being punished, imprisoned and outlawed for the same reasons. Leyla and others like her are being accused of terrorism for their words of peace, brotherhood and democracy. Despite all awards and prizes from Europe, Leyla like many others like her have still not been properly accredited for their courage.

Like much of the world with their empty claims who have labeled Turkey a democracy, the same believe democracy is still within reach. However, the reality is that Kurdish activists and politicians have accumulated hundreds of years of prison sentences and still face the same old problems. Until much of the world stops playing a passive role and international pressure is sincerely applied on Turkey to make changes, a message is sent to the Kurdish people that they have no rights to political dialogue. Consequently, conflict and violence is likely to increase in Turkey day-by-day.

As John F. Kennedy once said, "If we make peaceful revolution impossible, we make violent revolution inevitable."

5. - Bianet - "More Questions in Hrant Dink Investigation":

An investigation of phone calls made by suspects in the Hrant Dink case has revealed hidden connections between suspects, a gendarmerie intelligence officer and a police officer. There has not been sufficient questioning.

ISTANBUL / 21 May 2007

The media has brought to light the fact that in the investigation of the murder of journalist Hrant Dink several people are being kept out of the case.

It has been revealed that they either have contacts with the suspects or had dozens of telephone contacts with O. S., the young man who was arrested for shooting Hrant Dink on 19 January 2007.

New connections emerging

According to a news programme on NTV, the prosecutor conducting the investigation has ordered a list to be made of the telephone contacts between the triggerman O.S., the suspects accused of organizing the crime, Erhan Tuncel, Yasin Hayal, and other suspects.

The list brought to light that a certain Coskun Igci, who is the brother-in-law of suspect Hayal and describes himself as a gendarmerie intelligence officer, had telephone contact with the accused O.S. 68 times before the murder. However, he has not been questioned in relation to these phone calls.

According to the list, the suspect Tuncel had most telephone contact, but he never had direct contact with the accused O.S..

Another news item in the "Radikal" newspaper last week claims that there were three telephone conversations between the accused Tuncel and a police officer with the code name "Memduh". These conversations took place two hours after the murder, but there is no mention of them in the case file.

In a statement to the State prosecution and the police, Igci claims that he found out in July 2006 that his brother-in-law Hayal wanted to kill Hrant, and that he was asked for a gun. Igci claims that he informed the gendarmerie intelligence unit and was told to delay Hayal. He claims that he did so until September, when he returned the money he had been given for a gun by Hayal. He also says that the intelligence unit told him that they did not believe that Hayal would commit the murder, and that they were surveilling him.

68 phone conversations with murder suspect

According to the prosecutor's list, Igci himself talked to the accused O.S. 57 times on a mobile phone and 11 times on a land line. These conversations were not recorded. It is noteworthy that Igci was not asked any questions as to the content of these conversations when he made his statement. But the connection between Igci and O.S. suggests that the gendarmerie knew about O.S.

Calls after the murder

As for the suspect Tuncel, his telephone conversations had been listened to since 2005, claims "Radikal" newspaper. However, of 5,000 recordings, only 46 have entered the Dink case file. The calls that were made between Tuncel and the police officer with the code name "Memduh" two hours after the murder are not to be found in the file.

It is claimed that "Memduh" is in fact an intelligence officer, and that a telephone recording from 2006, which mentions him, is in the file.

6. - Bianet - "Politics Heat Up as Elections Draw Close":

Centre-left parties have agreed to collaborate and attended the last of the "Republican rallies" in the Black Sea city of Samsun at the weekend. Meanwhile, the left is deciding on independent candidates for parliament.

ISTANBUL / 22 March 2007

The upcoming elections, on the 22 July, have caused action among political parties. "Republicans" met for the last time at a rally in Samsun.

Centre left parties united

The leaders of the Republican People's Party (CHP) and the Democratic Left Party (DSP), Deniz Baykal and Zeki Sezer, have announced their collaboration in the upcoming elections. Unlike the centre-right parties Motherland (ANAP) and True Path (DYP), which have chosen to unite under the banner of the "Democratic Party" (DP), the centre-left parties will remain separate.

Baykal and Sezer joined the Samsun "Republican rally" at the weekend. Baykal called for the parties' union to be followed by a union of the people, while Sezer claimed that the rallies had changed Turkey forever and predicted a positive future.

Final Republican rally

At the rally, Prof. Dr. Türkan Saylan, who is the president of the Support for Modern Life Association (CYDD), said that these meetings were "against sharia, against separatism, against the racism that turns children to murderers, against military coups". However, the rally seemed to be less energetic than its predecessors in other cities.

Campaign on the left

Meanwhile, a campaign to encourage leftist parties to send independent candidates to parliament has collected over 10,000 signatures. The "Istanbul Forum for Shared Independent Candidates on the Left" claims that the CHP and DSP do not represent the left. The forum is made up of various leftist parties, trade unions, NGOs, journalists, intellectuals, artists and other individuals.

The call for independent candidates is a result of the realization that no leftist party on its own will be able to overcome the electoral hurdle of 10 percent. Independent candidates are independent of a national party average, and can thus enter parliament more easily. The forum estimates that they could send over 50 MPs to parliament with this initiative, at least three of them from Istanbul.

Basic programme

The independent candidates would have to agree to a certain programme, which includes:

* Opposing war and imperialism
* Supporting democratization
* Opposing racism and nationalism
* Defending the rights of workers
* Opposing the neo-liberal policies of the IMF
* Supporting a fair, democratic and peaceful solution to the Kurdish issue
* Supporting women's rights
* Opposing damage to the environment

Because candidate lists have to be handed in by 4 June, it has been decided that the independent candidates will be decided on by 27 May.

Inspirations

This initiative would mean that for the first time since the military coup of 1980, there would be independent left MPs in parliament.

The movement has been inspired by articles in the "Radikal" newspaper by Ahmet Insel and Seyfettin Gürsel, but more importantly by the decision of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) to overcome the electoral hurdle by fielding independent candidates in its strongholds in the South-East of Turkey in these elections.

The DTP has expressed readiness to collaborate with leftist parties in Western Turkish cities, so that the "Kurdish vote" there would support leftist independent candidates.

Questions

There are several questions that remain to be answered. First, it is not clear whether all the left parties are willing to collaborate with representatives of Kurdish politics. Second, it remains to be seen whether all sides are willing to make sacrifices in order to field the most suitable three candidates for Istanbul.

Third, will the DTP give unconditional support to candidates who do not follow exactly the same political programme, but who stand for a politics of peace?

Should these three questions be answered in the affirmative, then Turks, Kurds, Alevites, Sunni, Green, Red, Purple, socialists, leftists, revolutionaries, in short, everyone, could vote for a "share.

7. - Reuters - "Kurd rebels kidnap two men in SE Turkey - army":

TUNCELI / 22 May 2007

Kurdistan Workers' Party guerrillas kidnapped two men in the eastern Turkish province of Bingol on Sunday, the Army General Staff said on its Web site.

The seized men were forest workers cutting trees legally when they were taken. The PKK, which uses eastern Turkey's rugged terrain to hide from security forces, had said last year that anyone cutting down forests would be punished.

Army sources said an operation had been launched in the area to rescue the two men.

The Kurdistan Workers' Party has been fighting for an ethnic homeland in a campaign of bombings, kidnappings and firefights since 1984, and Ankara blames it for more than 30,000 deaths.

8. - Los Angeles Times - "'Honor killing' stokes tensions":

Ethnic groups point fingers after video

22 May 2007 / by Tina Susman

The video is shaky, but the brutality is clear. A slender, black-haired girl is dragged in a headlock through a mob of men. Within seconds, she is on the ground in a fetal position, covering her head in a futile attempt to fend off a shower of stones.

Someone slams a concrete block onto the back of her head. The girl stops moving, but the kicks and the rocks keep coming, as do the victorious shouts of the men delivering them.

In the eyes of many in her community in northern Iraq, 17-year-old Duaa Khalil Aswad's crime was to love a boy from another religion. She was a Yazidi, a member of an insular religious sect. He was a Sunni Muslim. To her uncle and cousins, that was reason enough to put her to death last month in the village of Bashiqa.

Women's groups say the video shows Iraq's backward slide as religious and ethnic intolerance takes hold.

"There is a new Taliban controlling the lives of women in Iraq," said Hana Edwar, the leader of the Amal Organization for Women, a nongovernmental group in Baghdad. "I think this story will be absolutely repeated again. I believe if security is not controlled, such stories will be very common."

The case has far broader dimensions in Iraq, where anger arising from it points to the ethnic, religious and sectarian discord that colors virtually every issue here. That anger has been fueled by release of the video images, made with someone's cellular phone, on the internet.

Kurds, who include Yazidis, suspect Sunni Arabs of circulating the gruesome images to fuel anger against Yazidis and undermine the Kurdish community.

"It seems they are trying to make it big for political purposes," said Mohsen Gargari, a Kurdish member of parliament.

In an interview, he and two other Kurdish lawmakers condemned Duaa's killing. But they noted that in February a Sunni woman had been killed by relatives for having a relationship with a Yazidi man.

"Nobody talked about it. Nobody filmed it or turned it into a big issue," he said.

In a report released last month, the United Nations said so-called "honor killings" of women were on the rise in Iraq. In January and February alone, according to the report, at least 40 women had been killed for alleged "immoral conduct," which can range from sitting in a car with a man who is not a relative to having an adulterous affair.

Unlike Duaa's death, none was known to have caused revenge attacks, much less political sniping.

Two weeks after the April 7 stoning, gunmen dragged more than 20 Yazidi men off a bus in the northern city of Mosul, about 20 miles south of Bashiqa, lined them up against a wall and gunned them down. The next day, a Sunni insurgent group linked to al-Qaida claimed responsibility for a car bombing that targeted the offices of a Kurdish political party in northern Iraq, saying it was to avenge the death of Duaa.

Yazidi college students have fled the university in Mosul, home to a large Yazidi community, for fear of being attacked.

Many Yazidis, as well as non-Yazidi Kurds, are convinced that the circulation of the video is part of a plot to drive a wedge in the Kurdish community of northern Iraq. They say it would hamper the ability of Kurds to pass a referendum planned later this year on autonomy for some northern areas. Sunni Arabs oppose Kurdish autonomy and oppose holding the referendum.

The Yazidis say they have faced persecution under a succession of rulers, starting with the Ottomans and lasting through Saddam, because of their religious beliefs. They are neither Christian nor Muslim and worship a blue peacock known as Malak Taus. Estimates of their population in Iraq range from about 350,000 to 500,000.

They are fiercely insular, opposing marriage to non-Yazidis and making it virtually impossible for outsiders to convert to their religion. Shangali said this is part of their effort to preserve the tiny minority's purity, not to shut anyone out.

The story of the stoning still has received relatively little attention in Iraq. The news of the killing of the Yazidi men two weeks later in apparent retaliation for Duaa's death drew more attention from the local media.

Iraqi women say that's a sign of the country's obsession with the sectarian and political implications of violence at the expense of concern about women's rights, and particularly a young girl's death.

"I am really sorry that we have turned to processing issues this way," said Ghasan Alyas, a Yazidi teacher living in Bashiqa.

"Some say that external forces are behind what happened," she said, referring to the accusations of Arab meddling. "But I think this is an illusion. The thought of a third party invisibly involved in whatever is happening is just a way of excusing ourselves and our ignorant culture from its responsibilities."