Iraqi Kurds Launch Attacks Against

[kurdeng at aps.nl]

Subject: Iraqi Kurds Launch Attacks Against PKK/Dublin Talks


      ISTANBUL, Sept 16 (Reuter) - Iraqi Kurds moved forces to a mountainous
area near Zakho in northern Iraq to flush out Turkish Kurdish rebels based
there, the state-controlled Anatolian news agency said on Saturday.

    About 3,000 Iraqi Kurdish guards from the Kurdistan Democratic Party
(KDP) in the early morning surrounded the area where some 600 rebels from the
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) were believed based, the agency said.

    KDP spokesman Safeen Dizayee in Ankara told Reuters he could not confirm
the operation, but said there had been plans to search for PKK rebels in that
area.

    The PKK, fighting for autonomy or independence in southeast Turkey,
started attacking KDP positions in northern Iraq last month just as Iraqi
Kurdish groups began peace talks to end a 15-month feud that has split the
region between rival militias.

    Turkish Kurdish political analysts have suggested the PKK's attacks were
spurred by fears any accord from the U.S.-sponsored talks in Dublin could
force the closedown of PKK bases in northern Iraq.

    Analysts say the PKK wants to set itself up as a third force in the
region and send a warning to the Iraqi Kurds that only an agreement that
takes the PKK into consideration will be tolerated.

    A second round of talks ended on Friday without any final agreement
between the KDP and its rival, the Iraqi Kurdish Patriotic Union of
Kurdistan.

Dublin Talks Fail To Reach Iraqi Kurd Accord
By Rachel Noeman

    DUBLIN, Sept 15 (Reuter) - Iraqi Kurds failed to reach
agreement after a second round of U.S.-brokered peace talks in
Ireland on Friday, but expressed continued commitment to a
month-long ceasefire.

    U.S. mediator Robert Deutch said the four-day talks were
``very serious and very positive'' and took place in a good
atmosphere, and agreement had been reached on some points,
adding that contacts would be maintained with all parties.

    ``All of the participants reaffirmed their commitment to the
Drogheda statement, including the confidence-building measures
that include the ceasefire,'' he added.

    The factions, with a history of rivalry going back to the
1960s, agreed to a ceasefire and exchange of prisoners at talks
in the town of Drogheda, near Dublin, last month.

    They also agreed then to the formation of a neutral
commission under the auspices of the Iraqi National Congress
(INC), an umbrella body for Iraqi dissident groups in exile, and
the depositing of all the parties' revenues in bank accounts
supervised by a neutral commission.

    About 3,000 people have died in intermittent fighting
between the armed groups since last summer.

    ``We must never give up hope about the prospects of peace in
my homeland,'' Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) delegate
Barham Salih told reporters at the end of the talks.

    Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) delegate Sami Rahman said
the PUK was the main stumbling block in the talks, but pledged
that his party would respect the ceasefire unless attacked.

    Rahman said the dean of the economics faculty at the
University of Arbil, a member of the KDP, was assassinated on
Thursday in premises under the control of the PUK.

    Commenting on recent violence between his party and Turkish
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) members in northern Iraq, another
KDP representative Hishyar Al Zebari said the PKK started the
campaign and the KDP was merely defending itself.

    Zebari's delegation would, he said, stop in Ankara en route
to Iraq. Asked if they would seek assistance from Turkey against
the PKK, Rahman said there would be consultations but Turkey's
main role was in ensuring the observation of the ceasefire.

     Salih, of the PUK, said time was of the essence:

    ``I emphasise the imperative of a quick closure to this
insanity in Iraqi Kurdistan,'' he said.

    Asked about the assassination report, he said: ``Yesterday
there was an unfortunately successful attempt on the life of a
university lecturer in the city of Arbil. We totally condemn
this murderous act and I am sure that the judicial authorities
and the police and security forces are looking at the matter.''

    Salih said there was some progress on Arbil but there were
significant gaps between the two sides on the issue of revenues.

    ``It appears that the KDP has yet to come to terms with the
concept and principles outlined in the Drogheda statement,
namely that revenues should be for all the people of Iraqi
Kurdistan, not collected by militias and parties,'' he said.

    The two main stumbling blocks in the 15-month feud have been
the demilitarisation of the city of Arbil, held by the PUK, and
the collection of border oil levies, controlled by the KDP.

    U.S., British and French planes based in southern Turkey
have patrolled the skies of northern Iraq since shortly after
the Gulf War in 1991, keeping Baghdad's forces at bay.


---
 * Origin: APS Amsterdam (aps.nl), bbs +31-20-6842147 (16:31/2.0)