Kurdistan Now the Less Stable Part of Iraq

Here's something I haven't written about in a while: The Kurds! Remember when Bush (and former Senator George Allen) touted how great things were in the Kurdish region of Iraq? Well, not so much. To recap: the Kurds want to expand their autonomous region to include Kirkuk, which has a crapload of oil. This, unsurprisingly, does not appeal to the Arab (and Turk) population of Kirkuk or, frankly, the rest of the country. The Kurds have been not-so-patiently awaiting a referendum in Kirkuk to decide if Kirkuk will join the Kurdish region. (Coincidentally, the Kurds have been moving their own people into the area since Saddam fell to stack the referendum in their favor.) Now the tensions are coming to a head and threaten to undermine the relative stability currently being enjoyed in Iraq. Read the article. This affects us.

Good News & Bad News from Iraq

Some of the best news in a while: Sadr extends Iraqi ceasefire. The Mahdi Army ceasefire along with the Sunni Awakening are the two biggest reasons that the Surge has managed to drastically reduce violence in Iraq. (Also, the internal migration and ethnic cleansing that have resulted in sectarian-homogenous neighborhoods - but that's not quite as uplifting.) And the bad: Turkey launches ground operation in Iraq. I guess the Turks have a surge of their own planned. Not good.

PKK Kills 13 Turk Soldiers

Iraq is going to have a hard time keeping the Turkish military out of Kurdistan after this.

More Fun from Turkey and Northern Iraq

The Turks are coming! The Turks are coming! Seriously, the Turks may really be coming...it's a big problem.

Turkey Cracking Down on Kurds

I've been waiting for this. Even more terrifying, the head of the Turkish Army asked for permission to move into Northern Iraq (Iraqi Kurdistan). So long, mostly stable Northern Iraq. Next stop: Kirkuk.

More Turkey v. Kurd Saber Rattling

[More on where I've been later...] I just wanted to put up this article about renewed tensions between Iraqi Kurdistan and Turkey. There are some pretty strong threats being thrown around. Stay tuned...

Sign of Things to Come?

At least 26 were killed and dozens more wounded when a series of bombs were detonated in Kirkuk today. I mentioned Kirkuk yesterday but I didn't expect the violence to come this quickly. It is probably due to the combination of Kurds trying to annex Kirkuk (and it's oil) and the insurgents who have been displaced from Baghdad because of the crackdown. Whatever the cause, look for this to get worse before it gets better. This could be the beginning of the end of the relative peace of Kurdistan.

Turkey and Kurdistan Update

The first segment on this episode of "Foreign Exchange" is an interesting report on the current dynamics in Iraqi Kurdistan vis-a-vis Turkey from the perspective of a Turkish journalist. (This is a subject I have talked about many times in the past but I've dropped the ball on updating it. Ever since the PKK's unilateral ceasefire, the tensions haven't been as stark. However, that may change as the Kirkuk resolution nears.)

US to Turkey: Do As We Say, Not As We Did

Turkey says it will invade Iraq if it feels like it. As long time readers of this blog will already know, Turkey has been repeatedly attacked by the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK), a group that wants to carve an independent Kurdistan out of Northern Iraq (where they have their main base of operations) and parts Iran, Syria, and Turkey. The PKK has been protected by the Kurdish government and the Turks have already made some incursions into Iraqi Kurdistan to attack PKK positions. The US has been trying to halt Turkish intervention without doing much to pressure the Kurdish government to crack down on the PKK. (This conflict was alluded to during the President's speech this week.) The PKK called a unilateral ceasefire last year that was rejected by the Turkish government and the Kurds have made at least some efforts towards curbing the PKK. I haven't seen much in the Turkish media about the PKK in quite a while. I assume this is because PKK attacks had all but stopped. The Turks don't appear ready to let this go, however. They also said it is hypocritical of the US to tell them that they can't invade Iraq since the US did just that. This, despite the fact that Turkey is being attacked by ACTUAL terrorists based in Iraq. You will recall that the threat of terrorists in Iraq was one of the lies used to sell the Iraq war the the American public. "But its cute when we do it!" This was yet another one of the consequences the Bush administration was warned about and chose to ignore before invading Iraq. I would also like to point out that this is the STABLE part of Iraq. Tags: Middle East, Politics, Terrorism, Iraq, Iran, Turkey, International