# Power Struggles in Baghdad and Beyond Mean Opportunities for Iraqs Kurds



## High_Gravity (Apr 25, 2012)

Power Struggles in Baghdad and Beyond Mean Opportunities for Iraqs Kurds









> The thriving Kurdish mini-state in northern Iraq is a monument to the ability of the nationalist Kurdish-Iraqi leadership to parlay the conflict between more powerful geopolitical forces around them to maximum advantage. And the escalating power struggle in Baghdad, combined with the regional conflict between Iran, Turkey and the Gulf Arab states being played out in Syria, may offer the Kurdish leadership in Erbil new opportunities to strengthen foundations for independence from Iraq. It may be a perilous game of temporary alliances of convenience among forces that dont necessarily share a common vision, but thats precisely the sort of political balancing act that created the Kurdish polity in northern Iraq, which already has many of the attributes of independence such as its own flag, administration and security forces  and is seeking to expand its independent economic base.
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> The power struggle in Baghdad has escalated to alarming proportions in the months since the last U.S. troops withdrew in December 2011, with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki eschewing the principle of a unity government that gives all stakeholders a share of power and instead amassing power in his own hands. Even the radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, whose support was critical to getting Maliki reelected, has taken to referring to the Prime Minister as the dictator. Sunni insurgent violence continues, while Sunni political leaders have been hounded out of government by Maliki. Recent days have seen him huddling with his key regional allies in Tehran, as he steps up a war of words and threats with Turkeys Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whom he accuses of meddling in Iraqs affairs. Turkey makes no secret of its support for Iraqs Sunni political bloc, Iraqiyya, and has castigated Maliki for pursuing a sectarian and egocentric style of ruling. Ankara has recently played host to fugitive Iraqi Sunni leader Tarek al-Hashemi, who was forced to flee Baghdad to escape a criminal prosecution his supporters see as a trumped up charge designed to hobble the Sunni political leadership. Hashemi fled first to Erbil, capital of Iraqs Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), whose terrain the Iraqi security forces are not authorized to enter.
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Read more: Power Struggles in Baghdad and Beyond Mean Opportunities for Iraq&#8217;s Kurds | Global Spin | TIME.com


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## waltky (Sep 10, 2012)

The other shoe starts to fall in Iraq...

*100 Dead In Iraq As VP Gets Death Sentence*
_Mon Sep 10, 2012 - A wave of more than 20 attacks left dozens of people dead across Iraq as the country's fugitive vice-president was sentenced to hang for running death squads._


> The most recent attacks this morning were in Baghdad, where car bombs ripped through six mainly Shiite neighbourhoods.  "I heard women screaming, I saw people running in all directions, chairs scattered in the street. My windows were blown out, my mother and two kids were injured too," Alla Majid, still shaking after a blast in Baghdad's Sadr City, said.  But those blasts came hard on the heels of a wave of coordinated attacks which saw terrorists hit targets including security forces and crowded marketplaces in at least 11 cities across the nation.
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> Estimates of the death toll ranged from 65 to more than 100.  The attacks also left around 350 people injured, according to figures released by security and medical sources.  The deadliest single incident was near the shrine of Imam Ali al-Sharqi in southern Iraq, where the local hospital said at least 16 people had died and 60 more were injured by two car bombs.  With its main hospital overflowing with the injured, mosques in the nearby city of Amara used prayer loudspeakers to call for blood donations.
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See also:

*Iraqi fugitive VP Tariq al-Hashemi rejects terror conviction, calls terror trial sham*
_September 10, 2012  &#8212; Iraq's fugitive Sunni vice president on Monday declared his "absolute innocence" and rejected the terror trial that sentenced him to death on charges of masterminding the murder of rivals as a politically motivated sham._


> Tariq al-Hashemi, who fled Iraq after the country's government brought the charges against him, called the trial illegitimate and accused Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite and longtime foe of the vice president, of orchestrating it as part of a political vendetta.  "I totally reject and will never recognize" the verdict, al-Hashemi told reporters in the Turkish capital of Ankara. "I consider the verdict a medal on my chest."  "The death sentence is a price I have to pay due to love to my country and my loyalty to my people," he added. "I reiterate that I'm innocent, and am ready to stand before a fair judicial system and not a corrupt one that is under al-Maliki's influence."
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> Al-Hashemi fled to Turkey after Iraq's Shiite-led government issued the terror charges against him in December, the day after U.S. troops withdrew from the country. He would receive a retrial if he agrees to return to Baghdad, but al-Hashemi has refused, saying he will never get a fair hearing in a Baghdad court.  The politically charged case sparked a government crisis and fueled Sunni Muslim and Kurdish resentment against al-Maliki, whom critics say is monopolizing power.  On Sunday, Baghdad's criminal court convicted al-Hashemi and his son-in-law, Ahmed Qahtan, of organizing the murders of a Shiite security official and a lawyer who had refused to help the vice president's allies in terror cases. The two defendants were acquitted in a third case of the killing of a security officer due to a lack of evidence.
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## waltky (Dec 18, 2012)

Iraq's Kurdish President Talabani has stroke...

*Iraqi President Jalal Talabani 'in coma after stroke'*
_18 December 2012 - Jalal Talabani is Iraq's first Kurdish president_


> Iraqi President Jalal Talabani is said to be in a coma in hospital after officials and media reported he had suffered a stroke.  A statement on his website said President Talabani was in a stable condition and was being treated for blocked arteries.  Well-placed Kurdish sources say he remains in a coma.  A veteran of the Kurdish guerrilla movement, Mr Talabani, 79, is Iraq's first president from the ethnic group.  He has struggled with his health in recent years and has often been treated abroad.  "Bodily functions are normal and the health condition of his excellency the president is stable," a statement on the presidency's website said.
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> The presidency said in an earlier statement that Mr Talabani's efforts to forge a consensus in Iraq and the "consequent fatigue and tiredness" had led to a "health emergency" that led to him being admitted to hospital on Monday evening.  Soldiers assigned to the presidential guard were deployed around Medical City, Baghdad's largest medical complex where Mr Talabani is being treated.  Senior government officials and politicians were seen entering the hospital to check on his condition.  Mr Talabani's chief of staff, Nasser al-Ani, told state television that the president was in intensive care but was in a stable condition.
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## waltky (Dec 20, 2012)

President Talabani has struggled with his health in recent years...

*Iraq's Jalal Talabani arrives in Germany for treatment*
_20 December 2012 - Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has arrived in Germany for further treatment after a reported stroke, Berlin says._


> German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle wished the 79-year-old Mr Talabani "a quick and full recovery", without providing any further details.  German doctors earlier said Mr Talabani's condition had improved sufficiently to permit travel.  He has struggled with his health and has often been treated abroad.  Mr Talabani was reportedly rushed to the Baghdad Medical City on Monday evening.  Iraqi officials conceded in private that his condition was serious and state television reported that he had suffered a stroke.  "He is starting to regain his senses. He is able to feel pain, and this is a sign of progress," Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told the Associated Press.  A veteran of the Kurdish guerrilla movement, Mr Talabani is Iraq's first president from the ethnic group.
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> Unifying figure
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## High_Gravity (Dec 20, 2012)

Man I hope he is ok.


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## Kurdistani4ever (Dec 21, 2012)

Here is all the lands that doesn't belong to Iraqis:




Iraq is dead. We all know it's gonna end up in 3 seperate states.


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## High_Gravity (Dec 21, 2012)

Kurdistani4ever said:


> Here is all the lands that doesn't belong to Iraqis:
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Fuck Iraq, the Kurds just need to take a piece now while they can.


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## Kurdistani4ever (Dec 21, 2012)

High_Gravity said:


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Yes, and after that, the arabs will split this doomed country in 2 states, due to the minor difference (Religion)
Iraq was never meant to be a country anyway. The brits hoped, that the different ethnic groups could learn to live together. But it all ended in total chaos. So now it's time for Iraq to be devided, then later Syria will come and finally Iran, which will split in to atleast 5 seperate parts.

It's about time to crush the fake borders of this region, that are forcefully holding people back, taking away the freedom of many nations and ethnic groups.


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## High_Gravity (Dec 21, 2012)

Kurdistani4ever said:


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I agree, all those countries were artificial anyways.


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## Kurdistani4ever (Dec 21, 2012)

High_Gravity said:


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I couldn't agree more. If our enemies would take a look in history, then they would soon realise, that we have more rights to this land, than all 4 of them combined! They will always remain as fake states.


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## High_Gravity (Dec 21, 2012)

Kurdistani4ever said:


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Its really a shame how this all worked out, the dumb Iranians, Iraqis, Syrians and Turks got all the land and the Kurds got left out, that isn't right.


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## Kurdistani4ever (Dec 21, 2012)

High_Gravity said:


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That's the price, you will have to pay, for being peaceful. What's even worse is the mentality of our enemies. If Hamas or Hizbullah kills civillians, they are freedom fighters. But if the PKK kills soldiers only, they are terrorists.
 If we ask people like "Ekrem" on why kurds can't have independence, then they will never answer, cuz they can't come up with just one good reason.


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## High_Gravity (Dec 21, 2012)

Kurdistani4ever said:


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The Turks, Arabs and Persians just don't want to give up any land.


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## RoccoR (Dec 21, 2012)

High_Gravity, Kurdistani4ever, _et al, _

All these survivable organizations evolve.  The PKK _(Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan)_ is no exception.  But you have to remember that, in terms of most of the Region, the PKK is considered a "Turkish" focus, and not an Iraqi Kurdistan focus.  If anything, the PKK may actually ruin it for the Kurdistan developments made in Iraq.



High_Gravity said:


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*(COMMENT)*

This last statement _{The Turks, Arabs and Persians just don't want to give up any land.}_ is extremely important to assimilate.  From a Turk and Iranian _(even Syria of that matter)_ standpoint, the Kurds that want to enforce a near Century old failed promise _(Treaty of 1920)_ are armed rebel separatists.

The word "terrorist" is highly over used and is not always applicable in a universal sense.  In the case of the PKK (_alla_ the Orwellian 1984) has not accepted the the reality of the 21st Century.  It remains to be seen how the PKK/KADEK/Kongra-Gel _(multifaceted)_ are approached and if they are fully integrated with the Kurdistan Regional Government in Erbil, Iraq; or if the various factions breakout into an internal conflict for power; or become separate states.

In any event, I believe our friend "High_Gravity" is right on the money.  The Kurds think they are due a homeland and the countries involved want to keep their holdings.  It is a region wide problem.

Most Respectfully,
R


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## Kurdistani4ever (Dec 21, 2012)

RoccoR said:


> High_Gravity, Kurdistani4ever, _et al, _
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> All these survivable organizations evolve.  The PKK _(Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan)_ is no exception.  But you have to remember that, in terms of most of the Region, the PKK is considered a "Turkish" focus, and not an Iraqi Kurdistan focus.  If anything, the PKK may actually ruin it for the Kurdistan developments made in Iraq.
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Those countries won't last for much longer. Our only real problem is Turkey, since they are protected by Nato. But kurds still form an extremely high number of population, in the turkish occupied Northern Kurdistan and even some turkish regions. Istanbul as an example has a population of around 12 million. Out of those 12 million, 4 million are kurds. So we form a very large minority.
If turks really think, they can hold on to these nationalistic people, then they are the only ones living in a dreamworld.
The future of the Middle east will look like this:




Keep in mind that the map of Kurdistan is really bad drawn, as it includes land, that isn't ours, and also excludes alot of land that is. But it gives a good impression on where kurds live.

Here's a more precise map of Kurdistan, which is where kurds live:


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## Kurdistani4ever (Dec 21, 2012)

High_Gravity said:


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And yet they want the already tiny Israel, to give up on all of their lands. Yea, they won't give any land,  we will have to take it back by force!


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## RoccoR (Dec 21, 2012)

Kurdistani4ever,  _et al,_

This is not going to happen in our lifetime.



Kurdistani4ever said:


> Those countries won't last for much longer. Our only real problem is Turkey, since they are protected by Nato. But kurds still form an extremely high number of population, in the turkish occupied Northern Kurdistan and even some turkish regions. Istanbul as an example has a population of around 12 million. Out of those 12 million, 4 million are kurds. So we form a very large minority.
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> If turks really think, they can hold on to these nationalistic people, then they are the only ones living in a dreamworld.


*(COMMENT)*

It is exactly this kind of talk and this kind of dream that will cause the greater region to turn against the Kurd.  Just as the Kurds thinks that they are an entitled tribe, so it is that there are other regional ethnic groups that think they are just as entitled.  And they control much of the land.

It is fair to say that the Western Alliances will not have much to do with the final shape of the land.  They cannot communicate, negotiate or mediate, very well with these various ethnic cultures, and they are being bled dry of funding, treasure and patience.  Every time they act in the greater interest, some subculture turns the settlement into a diabolical mess and bite them.  At some point, the Western World will wash their hands of the mess and let the regional ethnic tribes and rivals sort it out for themselves; even if it means genocide at some level.

So, in the end, the region will turn violent, from the inside, and there will be cultural conflicts that will attempt to eliminate the rivals.  Some cultures will survive, while others will be suffer a very heavy attrition.  But the dream will be lost.

Most Respectfully,
R


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## Kurdistani4ever (Dec 22, 2012)

RoccoR said:


> Kurdistani4ever,  _et al,_
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We have been going through hell for the last century. See that was the price of being peaceful, and we will not commit the same mistake again, now that we have once again gained the chance of greater independence. This time there will be no peaceful talks, in which all of our enemies will end up, betraying us. We will not sit silent, and wait for another million kurds to be killed.

We have an advantage, over our enemies. We're the only ethnic group on our lands. Persians arrived from the south Zagros region, arabs from the Arabian Peninsula and turks from Central Asia. It was never their land, and as long as we stand on that soil, it never will be.


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