Kurds seek US protection guarantees

January 31, 2007
ANA ASHUR - Media & Translation Desk

WASHINGTON - A senior Iraqi Kurdish official has called on the United States to formally extend guarantees to protect the so-called Kurdish region in the north in the event Iraq fully collapses and . Washington is forced to withdraw its troops from the rest of the war-torn country

Qubad Talabani, son of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and representative of the Kurdish government here, told a recent hearing on Iraq of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that efforts to ensure a viable political solution for Iraq could fail and the country could . altogether disintegrate

"In such a scenario resulting also in a likely American withdrawal, we seek a guarantee that . the United States has helped with in the Middle East, will be protected," Talabani said

But Talabani voiced concerns, saying that "we still remember the American abandonment of ." and the miscalculation of 1991 1975

He was referring to a Kurdish rebellion in 1975 that was crushed by the central Baghdad government as the United States declined to intervene, although Washington had initially encouraged the uprising. Another Kurdish revolt in the wake of the 1991 Persian Gulf War . also failed amid U.S. lack of action

Talabani's remarks came at a time when President George W. Bush moved to send an additional 21,000 troops in an arguably last attempt to boost security in Baghdad and the rest of Iraq amid a relentless Sunni Arab insurgency and a worsening Shiite-Sunnisectarian . war

Kurdish leaders have been accusing neighbors, mainly Turkey, of threatening their so-called . semi-autonomous region

"The Kurds want U.S. troops in north Iraq as a protection force against Turkey and Iran, no matter what happens in the rest of Iraq," said one Washington analyst. "In the absence of physical U.S. guarantees, the Kurds will feel defenseless in a region surrounded by what they perceive as hostile countries. Securing this protection guarantee is their number one ." priority

Turkey blames Iraqi Kurds with refusing to cooperate against the Kurdish Workers' Party . (PKK), which has been attacking Turkish targets from bases in northern Iraq

Ankara is also wary of Iraqi Kurdish aspirations for independence and efforts to gain full . control of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, a tense mix of ethnic groups

But despite their feeling of insecurity, Iraqi Kurds are still seeking to advance their cause of making Kirkuk the capital of their so-called region rather than reconciling with Turkey. The Kurds insist on the holding of a constitutional referendum later this year for determining Kirkuk's fate, while Turkey calls for a considerable delay, saying the census, if conducted . soon, could prompt a large regional conflict

"Imposing a delay on the proposed referendum that determines whether Kirkuk will be administered by the so-called Kurdish regional government or by the central government will . only raise the risk of a situation erupting out of control," Talabani said

"The grim reality is that whether we tackle this issue now or ten years from now the final outcome will still be messy," he said. "The longer we delay the process, the greater the ." tensions will become and the uglier the fallout will be

Washington so far agrees with the Kurds on Kirkuk, with State Department officials saying . that the referendum process should go ahead as planned

Home to Turkmen, Sunni Arabs and Assyrians in addition to Kurds, Kirkuk has seen an influx of more that 100,000 Kurds since the 2003 Iraq war. Turkey, Sunni Arabs and Turkmen all warn that the referendum, if held at a time when the Kurds are still changing Kirkuk's . demographic structure, could turn the region into a bloodbath

Bush's new Iraq strategy, including the defense of the Kurdish position on Kirkuk, has once again raised tensions between Turkey and the United States, as top U.S. officials represent the possibility of a Turkish intervention into neighboring northern Iraq among potential . regional catastrophes

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recently said that U.S. failure in Iraq would cause the "country to fall apart. Under such circumstances, Kurds would have to reverse their decisions now to be a part of a unified Iraq," which in turn would lead to "a problem with . Turkey," she told a congressional panel

But U.S. officials so far have declined to publicly offer security guarantees to Iraqi Kurds that would take effect under a worst-case scenario involving the failure of their more general effort in Iraq