Occupation of Arbil

[stk at schism.antenna.nl]

------------------------------ forwarded message -----------------------------
M.MERLIN at TBX.berlinet.de writes:

## Nachricht zur Information/Dokumentation weitergeleitet
## Orig.-Empf.: /SOC/CULTURE/KURDISH
## Orig.-Abs. : hallo2 at airmail.net (Hallo)



House of Lords
Parliamentary Human Rights Group
Press Statement by the Chairman, Lord Avebury
September 2, 1996


The treachery of KDP leader Massoud Barzani had given the Iraqi
dictator Saddam Hussain an excuse for reoccupying part of the Kurdish
enclave, Not content with killing fellow Kurds himself, Mr Barzani has
called in their arch- enemy to slaughter his political opponents,
install the hated Mukhabarat secret police in the capital, Arbil, and
seize property belonging to anyone who is not a KDP supporter.

The Iraqis have sumularily executed 96 officers and men of the Iraqi
National Congress in front of the local people at Quashtapa, 22 km
south of Arbil, over the weekend. The hated Iraqi secret police have
occupied the Parliament building. Many people have been detained,
including the following:

Dr Fuad Ma'souum		ex Prime Minister
Dr Kamal Fuad 		        President, PUK group in the Parliament
Mr Adil Murad 		        Head of Kurdish radio and TV
Mrs Kafiya suleiman 		Minister of Local Government and Tourism
Mr sa'doun Feyli 		Member of PUK leadership
Mr Hakim Kadir         		Judge, chief of security in Arbil
Mr Mamosta Chato     		Member of PUK leadership
Mr Najim Omar Khidir al-sourchi Deputy leader, Kurdish Conservative
Party

The Americans had said they would not allow Saddam to occupy Arbil.
They had plenty of warnings from the INC about the Iraqi preparations
for these acts of aggression, and must have noted the massing of
troops and vehicles from satellite images. They should have sent
General John Shalikashvifi to Saudi Arabia to ask their permission to
use air bases, and consulted Americas allies about the use of air
strikes beforehand, instead of waiting until after the event. If that
had been done, the US might have deterred Saddam from this dangerous
adventure.

The allies must now demand that Iraqi forces be withdrawn, and that
the KDP also return to the positions they occupied before. It Would be
unthinkable that the traitor Barzani should profit from Saddam's
violation of the safe haven estublished by the allies in the three
northern governorates of Dohuk, Arbil and Suleimaniyeh after Desert
Storm. The KDP should be required to pay reparations to those detained
by the Iraqis, to the familes of the persons summarily executed, and
to those whose property has been seized or damaged in these operation.
The persons detained by the Iraqis should be freed immediately. The
Security Council should meet, and should extend the no-fly zone to
cover the movement of armoured vehicles and artillery.

The main Iraqi forces are camped outside Arbil, and could be attacked
by air-launched missiles or cruise missiles, without risking civilian
lives. The US should launch an attack on their positions at the same
time as their withdrawal is demanded.

If Saddam and his Quisling allies in the KDP are allowed to get away
with this aggression, the credibility of the US and of the UN Security
Council will be severely damaged in the region. It is now clear that
the failure of the international community to respond to the frequent
armed incursions by Turkey into the region, and then also to the
Iranian incursions, has made the Iraqi Kurdish region into a free fire
zone for all the neighbouring oppresssors of the Kurdish people. As so
often in the history of the Kwrds, it was one of their own chiefs in
collaboration with the enemy who may have brought to an end another
brief experiment in self-rule. Only by the firmest possible action can
the UN now reassert its authority, and rescue the Kurdish people from
a return to enslavement under a dictator who tried to exterminate them
all in the Anfal of 1988, and his puppet Massoud Barzani


Note to editors: Lord Avebury has been to northern Iraq twice, in 1994
and 1995, in attempts to secure peace between the KDP and the PUK.

Further information: Lord Avebury, 0171-274 4617


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Solidaritygroup Turkey-Kurdistan
Memberorganisation of Foundation Initiativegroup Kurdistan
P.O. Box 85306
3508 AH Utrecht
The Netherlands
stk at schism.antenna.nl
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