Iraq to Turkey: stop shelling north Iraq

[ProSense]

Iraq to Turkey: stop shelling north Iraq

21 minutes ago

BAGHDAD - The Iraqi Foreign Ministry on Saturday issued a formal protest to Turkey over cross-border shelling into northern Iraq directed at separatist Kurdish rebels.

A statement said Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammed al-Haj Mahmoud called for an immediate halt to the shelling, saying such actions "undermine confidence between the two nations and negatively affect their friendship." The minister summoned the Turkish charge d'affaires, in the ambassador's absence from Baghdad.

The statement was the first government confirmation of the shelling. Mahmoud said the shelling started large fires and caused serious damage, but gave no other details.

Tension and violence involving Kurds, who lack a nation-state but have long sought autonomy, have ebbed and surged in the past century in Turkey, Syria, Iran and Iraq. In Turkey, Kurds make up about 20 percent of the population of more than 70 million. The Kurds are seeking autonomy for southeastern Turkey where they make up much of the population.

Turkey has been building up its forces along the border with Iraq, and its leaders are debating whether to stage a major incursion to pursue separatist Kurdish rebels who cross over from bases in Iraq to attack Turkish targets.

The U.S. has warned against such an incursion, fearing it might drag northern Iraq, the relatively stable part of the country, into chaos.

more

[Botany]

1. bush was warned about this too in 2002 & 2003

Along w/ looting, civil war, Iran getting more power,
al Qaeda gaining stregth, no running water, and ....

but he went right ahead with this mistake based on lies that
is our occupation of Iraq.

[still_one]

2. Turkey to Iraq, stop the PKK from sneaking into Turkey /nt

[Posteritatis]

3. "the relatively stable part..." heh (nt)

[eleny]

4. Yeah, the vacation spot

We used to see ads on tv for vacationing in "the other Iraq". I guess that's all off now.

[BrotherBuzz]

5. I guess Sal Russo's "pretty open-ended" contract with the Kurds has ended, too

Those ads were produced by the king of Astroturf™, Sal Russo. The same Sal Russo of Move America Forward, Stop Michael Moore, Truth Tour, and top flak for the Kurdish government.

.......

Kurdish "Thank You" a Republican Stunt?
by Aaron Glantz


Kurdish officials toured the United States last week to launch a massive advertising and public relations campaign thanking the United States for overthrowing Saddam Hussein and urging U.S. companies to invest in the region.

The campaign looks suspicious to some observers, however, since it is run by an A-list Republican public relations firm which refuses to divulge how much money it is spending.

"The Kurds of Northern Iraq just want to say 'thank you for helping us win our freedom'," says the voiceover in one of the commercials currently showing nationally on the MSNBC and Fox television channels and in Washington, DC, Portland, and the San Francisco Bay area.

On the screen, Kurdish children wave U.S. flags. "Thank you America," one says. "Thank you for democracy," says another.

The ad campaign, as well as a U.S. tour by Kurdish politician Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, was put together by the California PR firm Russo, Marsh and Rogers. In addition to representing the Kurdish government, the firm founded the "Stop Michael Moore" campaign to discredit the film "Fahrenheit 9/11" and a group called "Move America Forward," which has brought parents of dead U.S. soldiers to be counter-protesters at peace demonstrations.

<more>

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0801-36.htm

[eleny]

6. Thanks! This is new info to me

The ads always seemed off notch to me. Kurdish Iraq is way to dicey a place to visit for family fun.