Kurdish leader warns
Turkey against attacking a future state in Iraq; says Iraqi uprising `matter of
time'
Fri
Sep 6, 1:14 PM ET
BERLIN
- One of Iraq's main Kurdish leaders warrned Turkey against attacking any new
Kurdish state in the north of the country in a German newspaper interview, and
predicted that it is "only a matter of time" before Iraqi leader
Saddam Hussein ( news - web sites)'s military rises up against him.
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Speaking in the weekly
Die Zeit, published Thursday, Massoud Barzani of the Kurdistan Democratic Party
added that a war against Iraq would be "no more than a walk in the
park" for the United States.
The KDP controls about
half an autonomous enclave in northern Iraq. Turkey has repeatedly said that it
will not accept a Kurdish state in northern Iraq and has told visiting U.S.
officials that a future Iraq cannot include Kurdish independence.
"We won't concede a
millimeter of our territory to the Turks," Barzani said. "A Kurdish
`intifadeh' would turn our streets into a graveyard for the Turkish
military."
Still, while Kurds'
"greatest wish" is for an independent state, Barzani conceded that
"in today's situation, with no one supporting us, autonomy is the more
realistic goal."
Turkey for 15 years
fought Kurdish guerrillas in the area of Turkey that borders the enclave and
says that a Kurdish state would serve as an inspiration for the rebels.
In Ankara, Turkish
Foreign Ministry spokesman Yusuf Buluc said Friday that Barzani's language was
"aggressive and unsuitable."
Turning to U.S. hopes
for a change of regime in Iraq, Barzani said that the Kurds "if equipped
with more modern weapons could win the war without America."
Saddam's forces, he
added, "are simply cannon fodder for him. It is only a matter of time
before Saddam's soldiers rise up to destroy him."
Barzani said that, while
Saddam's removal is the top priority, "the question of who comes after him
and how Iraq is governed is equally important."
"Before we make
concessions to the United States, we want them to guarantee us a federal
system," he added.