Michelle Naar-Obed: Report on the battle for nothern Iraq

Michelle Naar-Obed, a member of WNPJ and of the Christian Peacemakers Team (CPT) now in Iraqi Kurdistan, sent us this report on the US-supported Turkish attacks on Kurdish villages.

February 26, 2008
Dear friends,

CPT finds itself at the front lines of yet another battle against the people of Iraq. It is being described as the largest cross border attack since the fall of Saddam Hussein. Turkey has launched a massive ground attack inside Iraq’s borders in the northern Kurdish region.

In past reports, I’ve written about the tensions between Turkey and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and the decades long fight they have been involved in. I have also invited readers to google PKK to learn more about their struggle and their reputation. I am not writing in support or in criticism of them. This report is about the effects that the Turkish/PKK fight has on the Kurdish people of Iraq.

In December, 2007, the Turkish military unleashed a wave of air strikes against the PKK inside Iraq. The US supplied military “intelligence”, opened up Iraq’s airspace to Turkey, and essentially gave the nod for Turkey to go ahead. The attacks resulted in civilian deaths, injury, massive property damage and displacement of thousands of villagers (Internally Diplaced Persons, or IDP's to use the UN's term.) CPT received a video of the bombing of the Asterokan village and is in the final stages of preparing the video for YouTube.

Conditions for the displaced villagers are quite difficult. Families have been uprooted. IDP children find it difficult to finish school. The psychological damage can be devastating. After the December attacks, some members of the villages returned home intermittently to repair their houses, or tend to their remaining livestock. Because there were continuous nightly flyovers by the Turkish military, the villagers slept in caves in the mountains where they felt just a little safer. The Kurds have an expression: "The mountains are the only friends that the Kurdish people have." With this being the coldest winter in 10 years, with frigid temperatures and lots of snow, nights in a cave could be pretty costly.

By January, 2008, villagers were encouraged to return home as it seemed there might be a de-escalation in the hostilities. By February, tensions rose and on February 20, the Turks launched a massive, full scale ground attack inside Iraqi Kurdistan. Once again, villagers were forced to flee their homes. Even though there have been no reports of civilian casualties, the attack has had tremendous consequences for the people of Kurdistan.

For the first time in over 80 years, and after numerous genocidal attacks, the Iraqi Kurds have begun to gain a foot hold in their quest for self determination. With the passage of the 2005 Iraq Constitution, they find themselves closer to autonomy than they have ever been since the fall of the Ottoman Empire. The Kurds believe that this is the reason for Turkey’s attacks. They argue that the attacks have little to do with the PKK.

The Iraqi Kurds also believed that they could count on the US to support and defend them. However, with US support going to Turkey, the Kurds feel a deep sense of betrayal. The Kurdish government has appealed to the US and European Union to demand Turkey’s immediate withdrawal from Iraq and they have asked the US to force Turkey to the diplomatic table to resolve this conflict peacefully. Their appeals seem to have fallen on deaf ears.

The Kurds are a strong, resilient, proud and accomplished people and they will not go down without a fight. The US could do much to stop the bloodshed. If this fight continues to escalate, the only relatively stable and peaceful region in Iraq will soon be lost and the US is quickly losing one of the few allies it has in this part of the world.

Now, on an entirely different note, the door for CPT to continue working in Iraqi Kurdistan has been opened just a crack more. We have been and will continue to be in intense negotiation with Kurdish and US officials. For now, it seems the team will be able to get monthly visa extensions and work somewhat conditionally. This current team will be ironing out the details over these next days and will then return home for a needed break. I, for one, am looking forward to it.