Archivo etiqueta «Kurdistán»
By Emma Sinclair-Webb, a Human Rights Watch researcher working on Turkey (LOS ANGELES TIMES, 19/12/11):
There has been much discussion in the U.S. and European media of Turkey as a rising star after its recent stance on Syria and its general support for the “Arab Spring.”
Turkey is viewed as the successful merger of Islam and modernization. The Muslim religious coloring of the ruling Justice and Development Party is not seen as being at odds with its democratic, pro-Western outlook. The government has won popular support in the region, with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan greeted rapturously on his … Seguir leyendo
By Sebahat Tuncel, a Kurdish member of Turkey’s Parliament. This article was translated by Elif Kalaycioglu from the Turkish (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 18/06/11):
Turkey often presents itself to the world as a model Muslim democracy, but it is in fact denying basic democratic rights to almost 20 percent of its population. The Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was re-elected on Sunday by a large margin, and he now faces a major domestic challenge. Despite Turkey’s impressive economic growth and increasing international profile during Mr. Erdogan’s eight years in power, his government has ignored the country’s most important … Seguir leyendo
By Kenneth R. Timmerman, president of the Foundation for Democracy in Iran (iran.org) and the author of Countdown to Crisis: The Coming Nuclear Showdown With Iran (THE WASHINGTON TIMES, 06/05/11):
With the Middle East coming apart at the seams and no coherent policy or set of principles to guide policy, the Obama administration should support the people of Iran, the one country where the population remains resolutely pro-American and firmly opposed to the dictators who have been waging war on America for the past 31 years.
President Obama appeared to be contemplating such an approach in March when he … Seguir leyendo
By Margaret Owen, a human rights lawyer and adviser to the Kurdish Human Rights Project (KHRP) and Peace in Kurdistan (PIK) (THE GUARDIAN, 10/11/10):
A trial that would shame any democracy is now in its fourth week in Diyarbakir, Turkey. Named the KCK trial, its processes have been widely condemned by the several hundred independent observers who attended during its first few days.
Charged with “violating the unity of the state” and “abetting terrorism” are 151 Kurdish politicians, lawyers, mayors and leaders of Kurdish civil society. Of these, 103 have already been in detention for the past 18 months, … Seguir leyendo
By Ranj Alaaldin, a Middle East political and security risk analyst based at the London School of Economics and Political Science (THE GUARDIAN, 26/06/10):
Last week, more than 600 delegates from across the globe headed to London for a conference on investment opportunities in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.
As the rest of Iraq continues to be beset by political wrangling, terrorist attacks and violent protests bemoaning the lack of electricity, Kurdistan continues to look more and more like an independent state. This was the underlying message to be taken from the conference – that the business opportunities in … Seguir leyendo
Par Philippe Boulanger, essayiste (LE MONDE, 03/06/10):
Comme chaque printemps en Turquie, les affrontements entre les guérilleros du PKK (Parti des travailleurs du Kurdistan) et l’armée turque ont repris. Débutée en 1984, le bilan de la guerre est coûteux (45 000 victimes et un coût de 100 millions de dollars). La capture du chef du PKK, Abdullah Öcalan, en février 1999 a décapité le parti, mais celui-ci a trouvé un nouveau vivier de combattants dans une génération de jeunes Kurdes heurtés par l’absence d’investissements à l’est du pays et par les brimades dont sont l’objet les formations politiques kurdes. Leurs … Seguir leyendo
By Benjamin Hall, the author of the blog Out of the Ashes (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 31/07/09):
From my hotel balcony I can see this city of nearly 700,000 in all its modernity and all its madness. I can see the desiccated mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan encircling us — hills that on my last visit, during the rainy season, were covered in poppies. I can see the Ferris wheel that was built as a symbol of freedom on the ruins of one of Saddam Hussein’s prisons. And I can see 20 armed soldiers watching me from below, making me … Seguir leyendo
Middle East Report N°88 (CRISIS GROUP, 08/07/09):
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
As sectarian violence in Iraq has ebbed over the past year, a new and potentially just as destructive political conflict has arisen between the federal government and the Kurdistan regional government in Erbil. This conflict has manifested itself in oratory, backroom negotiations and military manoeuvres in disputed territories, raising tensions and setting off alarm bells in Washington just as the Obama administration is taking its first steps to pull back U.S. forces. A lasting solution can only be political – involving a grand bargain on how to divide or share power, … Seguir leyendo
By Michael O’Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and Omer Taspinar, a nonresident senior fellow at Brookings and a professor at the National War College. The views expressed here are their own (THE WASHINGTON POST, 09/02/08):
Increasingly, Iraq‘s Kurds appear to be interfering with efforts to foster political accommodation among their country’s major sectarian groups. Since Iraq’s future hinges on establishing such a spirit of compromise, this trend has potentially grave implications for Iraq, its neighbors and the United States.
Two key issues stand out. First, Kurds are beginning to develop oil fields on their … Seguir leyendo
Por Carlos del Ama, doctor en Economía y Relaciones Internacionales y autor de Hacia un nuevo orden mundial, AuthorHouse, 2007 (EL MUNDO, 12/12/07):
Con la amenaza de invasión por parte de Turquía, el Kurdistán se ha abierto en los últimos meses un hueco en los titulares de prensa. Conviene recordar que no es una pequeña provincia remota que salta ahora casualmente a la actualidad; no se trata de otro Kosovo. El Kurdistán ocupa más de medio millón de kilómetros cuadrados -es decir, es tan grande como toda España- y tiene unos 35 millones de habitantes, la población que tenía … Seguir leyendo
By Robert D. Novak (THE WASHINGTON POST, 30/07/07):
The morass in Iraq and deepening difficulties in Afghanistan have not deterred the Bush administration from taking on a dangerous and questionable new secret operation. High-level U.S. officials are working with their Turkish counterparts on a joint military operation to suppress Kurdish guerrillas and capture their leaders. Through covert activity, their goal is to forestall Turkey from invading Iraq.
While detailed operational plans are necessarily concealed, the broad outlines have been presented to select members of Congress as required by law. U.S. Special Forces are to work with the Turkish army to … Seguir leyendo
Por Kendal Nezan, presidente del Instituto Kurdo de París. © Libération. Traducción Xavier Nerín (EL PERIÓDICO, 22/07/07):
El Kurdistán iraquí es un remanso de paz y de estabilidad en un Irak desgarrado por los enfrentamientos confesionales y el terrorismo masivo de Al Qaeda, que cuenta con el apoyo multiforme de Siria y de Irán. Tras decenios de guerras y de dictadura, con su secuela de destrucciones, deportaciones e infortunios de todas clases, los kurdos han forjado su unidad, han reconstruido una gran parte de sus cerca de 4.500 pueblos y una veintena de ciudades arrasadas y han instaurado una … Seguir leyendo
Por Said Aburish, escritor y biógrafo de Sadam Husein; autor de Nasser, el último árabe. Traducción: José María Puig de la Bellacasa (LA VANGUARDIA, 13/07/07):
Empleada en su día para describir a los palestinos, la expresión “nunca pierden la oportunidad de perder una oportunidad” puede aplicarse actualmente a los kurdos iraquíes. Durante casi quince años las cosas han ido avanzando, pero de repente se ha echado a perder lo ganado: se pelean con sus congéneres iraquíes y sus importantes vecinos al tiempo que se ciernen nubarrones sobre su futuro…
Los casi cinco millones de kurdos iraquíes son liderados por … Seguir leyendo
By Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdistan region of Iraq (THE WASHINGTON POST, 26/10/05):
In recent weeks Iraq has passed three important milestones. The constitutional referendum on Oct. 15 was a powerful demonstration of Iraqis’ desire to establish democracy and save a country still recovering from its disastrous history. Two days later the remains of 500 of my kinsmen were returned from a mass grave in southern Iraq for reburial in Iraqi Kurdistan. Another 7,500 of my kin are still missing after “disappearing” from a Baathist concentration camp in 1983 in the first phase of the genocidal Anfal campaign, … Seguir leyendo