Date: Sun, 23 Mar 2003 23:25:56 +0100 (CET) From: Joacim Persson <joacim-AT-ymex.net> Subject: Re: Turkey and the Kurds On Sun, 23 Mar 2003, Iain McKay wrote: > Has anyone heard anything about the Turkish invasion of > the Kurdish autonomous zone in Iraq? Last I saw was that > the Turkish army had sent 1,000 troops in (for humanitarian > concerns about refugees, of course). > > Since then, nothing. Does that mean that the Turks and Kurds > are fighting and the media is not reporting anything because > it would confuse the watching masses? It appears to have been desinfo. I heard an interview on the Swedish public service radio yesterday morning, with one of the leaders in one of the Kurdic parties. (Didn't catch the name of the man, nor of the party, but he lived in Sweden in the 80's, and was interviewed in Swedish) He said he had been in contact with all (Kurdic) stations along the Turkish border. No Turkish military had passed. Later, official sources in Turkey confirmed this too. The man in the interview speculated that it may have been a planted rumor with the purpose of probing for reactions from the US and others, to see how it would be received. I think it would be rather stupid of Turkey to interfere. Turkey is negotiating for EU memebership. The conflict (to use a mild description) with domestic Kurds is hindrance enough -- creating a conflict with even more Kurds would hardly improve the diplomatic situation for Turkey. I suspect it wouldn't be well received amongst other NATO members either, certainly not by the US, if Turkey crosses the border. Further news: Berlinske Tidener (www.bt.dk) in Denmark wrote on Saturday that the deflected Iraqi army general who had been under house-arrest but disappeared last week, had been kidnapped by CIA and brought to Saudi-Arabia. (He had applied for asyl, but was being under investigation for crimes of war.) Danish police confirmed this; they had "heard it from another source already". Incidently, the Icelandic paper Morgunbladhidh (best spelling I can provide over this broken mail server) www.mbl.is, had an article the other day about an Icelandic airline pilot working for US Airways, who (if I understood the lingo correctly) had flown a number of generals, of which at least one was an arab fellow, along with 80 million dollars worth in "hard currency", to Saudi-Arabia or Kuwait last week. I didn't understood from where he had flown them though. (My understanding of Icelandic is somewhat fragmented.) Joacim -- Friheten är uppfinningens fader. Freedom is the father of invention. La liberté est le perč de l'invention. A liberdade é o pai da invenēćo. La libertą č il padre dell'invenzione. Freiheit ist der Vater der Erfindung. Frelsiš lįtur naktri konu aš spinna. Vrijstelling is het vader van vinding. Licentia est abbas reperio. Vapaus on isälta keksiminen. Rhyddid ydy'r dadogi chan chrebwyll.
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