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1 THE KURDS ASCENDING

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3 THE KURDS ASCENDING THE EVOLVING SOLUTION TO THE KURDISH PROBLEM IN IRAQ AND TURKEY MICHAEL M. GUNTER

4 THE KURDS ASCENDING Copyright Michael M. Gunter, Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. First published in 2008 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y and Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, England RG21 6XS Companies and representatives throughout the world. PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN ISBN (ebook) DOI / Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Gunter, Michael M. The Kurds ascending : the evolving solution to the Kurdish problem in Iraq and Turkey / Michael M. Gunter. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Kurds Iraq Politics and government 21st century. 2. Kurds Turkey Politics and government 21st century. I. Title. DS70.8.K8G dc A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India. First edition: January

5 To my many students at Tennessee Technological University and elsewhere

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7 CONTENTS Introduction List of Abbreviations ix xiii 1 Historical Overview 1 2 The Iraqi Kurds Federalism Imperative 19 3 The Changing Dynamics in the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq 35 4 After Ocalan s Capture 59 5 Turkey s EU Promise 93 6 Taming Turkey s Deep State The Other Kurds in Iran and Syria Conclusion 137 Notes 139 Select Bibliography 161 Index 171

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9 INTRODUCTION For the first time in their modern history, the Kurds in Iraq and Turkey, at least, are cautiously ascending. This is because of two major reasons. (1) In northern Iraq the two U.S. wars against Saddam Hussein have had the fortuitous side effect of helping to create a Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). The KRG has become an island of democratic stability, peace, and burgeoning economic progress, as well as an autonomous part of a projected federal, democratic, post Saddam Hussein Iraq. If such an Iraq proves impossible to construct, as it well may, the KRG is positioned to become independent. Either way, the evolution of a solution to the Kurdish problem in Iraq is clear. (2) Furthermore, Turkey s successful European Union (EU) candidacy would have the additional fortuitous side effect of granting that country s ethnic Kurds their full democratic rights, which have hitherto been denied. Although this evolving solution to the Kurdish problem in Iraq and Turkey remains cautiously fragile and would not apply to the Kurds in Iran and Syria because they have not experienced the recent developments their co-nationals in Iraq and Turkey have, it does represent a strikingly positive future that until recently seemed so bleak. I first became interested in the Kurdish problem while I was a Senior Fulbright Lecturer in International Relations in Turkey

10 x INTRODUCTION during Over the years I became possibly the only Western scholar to meet and interview arguably the three main Kurdish leaders of the past thirty years: (1) Massoud Barzani, the current president of the KRG as well as president of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in Iraq; (2) Jalal Talabani, the current president of Iraq as well as the secretary general of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) in Iraq; and (3) Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned president of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Turkey. In addition, I count as friends a number of other important Kurdish leaders including: (1) Nechirvan Idris Barzani, the current prime minister of the unified KRG; (2) Barham Salih, the current deputy prime minister of Iraq and former prime minister of the PUK-administered KRG; (3) Noshirwan Mustafa Amin, for many years possibly the number two leader of the PUK; (4) Kosrat Rasul, another long-time leader of the PUK; (5) Hoshyar Zebari, the current foreign minister of Iraq; (6) the late Ibrahim Ahmed, the longtime leader of the KDP Politburo and father-in-law of Jalal Talabani; (7) the late Muhammad Sami Abdulrahman, another wellknown KRG leader; (8) Mahmud Othman, who is still active as a member of the Iraqi parliament, and (9) Najmaldin O. Karim, probably the most prominent spokesman for the Kurdish cause in the United States, as well as such members of the next generation of KRG leaders as Masrour Barzani and Qubad Talabany, among many others. Furthermore, as the only U.S. member of the Advisory Council of the EU Turkey Civic Commission an NGO advocating Turkish accession to the EU as a possible solution to the Kurdish problem in Turkey I have had the opportunity to meet and interact with a number of new Kurdish leaders in Turkey including the dynamic young mayor of Diyarbakir, Osman Baydemir, and the

11 INTRODUCTION xi leader of the Democratic Society Party, Ahmet Turk, as well as Kariane Westrheim who chairs the EUTCC. In addition, I personally know and interact with many of the leading scholars (mostly Western) who have been studying the Kurdish problem over the past thirty years. A partial list includes Mohammed M.A. Ahmed, Henri Barkey, Hamit Bozarslan, Joyce Blau, Nader Entessar, Edmund Ghareeb, Amir Hassanpour, Mehrdad Izady, Farideh Koohi-Kamali, Janet Klein, Philip Kreyenbroek, Sheri Laizer, Charles MacDonald, David McDowall, Lokman Meho, Brendan O Leary, Denise Natali, Kendal Nezan, Robert Olson, Khaled Salih, the late Maria O Shea, David Romano, Vera Saeedpour, Gareth Stansfield, Nouri Talabany, Abbas Vali, Nicole Watts, Ismet Cheriff Vanly, and Kerim Yildiz, among others I am sure I have inadvertently omitted. Finally, there are many Turkish scholars I know, respect, and have learned much from too including Feroz Ahmad, Tozun Bahcheli, Michael Bishku, Palmira Brummett, the late Kathleen Burrill, George Gruen, George Harris, Metin Heper, Kemal Karpat, Heath Lowry, Paul Magnarella, Sabri Sayari, the late Stanford Shaw, and M. Hakan Yavuz, among others. My oldest friend, Joseph Blair, as well as Aram Nigogosian and Charles Bolden, Jr. have given me numerous insights over the years. From all of these Kurdish leaders, Kurdish scholars, and others, I have learned much about the Kurdish problem and what it will take to begin to solve it in a manner fair to all involved including the existing states of Iraq and Turkey. A number of excellent studies on the Kurds have recently appeared. However, this is the first book that will be primarily directed at analyzing the evolving solution to the Kurdish problem in Iraq and Turkey.

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13 ABBREVIATIONS AK(AKP) AK Party ANAP Motherland Party ARGK People s Liberation Army of Kurdistan BEM Big Emerging Market CHP Republican People s Party CIA Central Intelligence Agency DEHAP Democratic Peoples Party DEP Democracy Party DSP Democratic Left Party DTP Democratic Society Party DYP True Path Party ECHR European Court of Human Rights EU European Union EUTCC EU Turkey Civic Commission HADEP People s Democracy Party KDC Kurdistan Development Council KDP Kurdistan Democratic Party KDPI Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran KIU Kurdish Islamic Union KRG Kurdistan Regional Government KSDP Kurdistan Socialist Democratic Party MGK Milli Guvenlik Kurulu

14 xiv MGSB MHP(NAP) NATO OSCE PJAK PKK PUK RAF TAK TAL TMY TSK ABBREVIATIONS National Security Policy Document National (Nationalist) Action Party North Atlantic Treaty Organization Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Free Life Party of Kurdistan Kurdistan Workers Party Patriotic Union of Kurdistan Royal Air Force Kurdistan Freedom Hawks or Falcons Transnational Administrative Law antiterrorism law Turkish Armed Forces