The marchers were protesting a plan that would allow Turkish troops to enter northern Iraq in the wake of a U.S. invasion force. It was one of the largest demonstrations ever held in Kurdish territory and many were surprised by the turnout. “I’ve never seen such a sea of people,” says Dr. Sarbast Tawfiq, 45, a professor of law at Salaheddin University. “It’s a sign of their frustration and anger.”
The plan for Turkish military involvement, ostensibly to provide humanitarian aid during a campaign to topple Saddam Hussein, was first unveiled at a meeting in Ankara last month. It was immediately blasted by representatives of the two main Kurdish parties, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), who fear that the Turks will come to occupy, rather than aid, the semi-autonomous Kurdish region known as Iraqi Kurdistan.
The issue of Turkish military intervention also dominated a conference of Iraqi opposition groups, the first of its kind in a decade, which ended last Saturday in the Iraqi Kurdish enclave of Salaheddin. Sami Abdul Rahman, 70, deputy prime minister of the KDP, on a break from one of the many closed door sessions at the conference, said the plan was an example of “19th century nationalism, expansionism and nothing else.” He warned that Kurds would “resist with all means possible.”
The United States is caught in the middle. U.S. military planners are desperate to use Turkish bases as a launching pad for an attack on northern Iraq but, at the same time, don’t want to appear that they’re selling the Kurds up the river. Many of the attendees at the opposition conference last week, which succeeded in electing a leadership council that could play a role in a post-Saddam regime, said the meeting dragged on for an extra day because of heated discussions about Turkish military intervention. And the statements issued at the end of the conference on Saturday were markedly different in tone: the opposition, which includes Kurdish parties as well as nationalists and Islamists, strongly opposed a military role for Turkey whereas Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. representative at the conference, highlighted the need for Turkey to join an international coalition against Saddam.
On Saturday, the U.S. plan to use Turkey as a staging ground hit a major snag. Although a majority of Turkish parliamentarians voted in favor of allowing U.S. troops onto Turkish bases, the measure didn’t receive the required 267 votes for passage. But many Kurds feel the United States will pressure Turkey into a revote, setting the stage for a Turkish military incursion. (Indeed, Turkish foreign minister Yasar Yakis indicated yesterday that his government would ask Parliament to vote again on a similar resolution.) “We welcome the Americans but we don’t want any Turkish troops,” says Galawesh Kheder, 25, a bank administrator who attended today’s rally with two of her co-workers. “The Turks are not welcome.”
A similar protest was held in Suleimaniya, Iraqi Kurdistan’s second largest city, with a much smaller turnout of approximately 500 students last Tuesday. Although some protesters sent extreme messages today–one banner read “KURDISTAN WILL BE THE CEMETERY OF THE TURKISH ARMY” and a group of young men burned a Turkish flag–the event was largely peaceful and had a carnival atmosphere. Large green, white and red Kurdish flags were hoisted above one section of the crowd who chanted, “Liberation, not Occupation” as young boys with trays of cupcakes balanced on their head darted in and out. Housewives with young children clinging to their dresses stood side by side with sandwich vendors along the march route, which ran from the Kurdistan Regional Parliament building to a United Nations compound. Schools and shops were closed until noon and KDP military personnel were dispatched throughout the city to prevent the march from getting violent.
One of the most heavily guarded buildings in the city was the headquarters of the Iraqi Turkoman Front (ITF), an umbrella group of 14 political parties which represents the Turkoman minority in Iraq. Some feared the Turkomans, ethnic cousins of their northern neighbor, may become a target for unruly protesters. “The criticism of the protesters is aimed at the Turkish government, not us,” says Moayid Ilhanli, general coordinator for the ITF. “The United States wants to promote democracy in this region. This shows that people are free to express themselves.”
