Many Kurds more afraid of Turkey

By STEPHAN FARIS
SPECIAL TO THE NEWS
Monday, March 3rd, 2003

ERBIL, Iraq - Abdolmotaleb Abdolkarim Hosien has good reason to hate Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

In 1988, while under arrest in Baghdad, he was beaten with metal cables and wooden boards, tortured with electric shocks and strung up with his arms behind his back.

For four months, Hosien crouched in a cell so small that he couldn't extend his legs, He was released only after his family paid about $15,000. "They punished me for nothing, just because I was a Kurd," said the 36-year-old shopkeeper.

Because of experiences like Hosien's, the Kurds of northern Iraq are eager to see the Iraqi strongman go.

"Saddam has already killed a lot of innocent people ... and if he stays, he will just kill more and more," said Karim Sinjari, the interior minister for the part of Kurdish Iraq controlled by the Kurdistan Democratic Party.

But lately, the Kurds have begun to turn their attention from Baghdad in the south to the Turkish border in the north.

In its negotiations with the U.S. over the use of Turkish bases to launch a northern front, Turkey has stressed its worries about Kurdish independence. In case of war, Turkey plans to send tens of thousands of troops across the border, and the Kurds fear this could be the first step toward annexation.

"People used to talk about chemical weapons," Sinjari said. "But since Turkey announced their interest in northern Iraq, all the people are talking about Turkey. They're not talking about Saddam anymore."

The Kurds don't accept the Turkish explanation that it is crossing the border to prepare for an expected flood of refugees.

"Our people have enjoyed freedom for 10 years," Sinjari said. "But if the Turkish military comes in, then it is all over."

The unease comes amid worries that the U.S. is making a deal with Turkey, exchanging a greater say in Iraq after the war for the use of Turkish bases to open a northern front. But while many Kurds would welcome a short-lived American military administration in the interest of stability, they want nothing to do with Turkish troops. In fact, many have pledged to fight the Turks if they try to move into northern Iraq.

"I can't say this as a policeman," said Askender Babaker, Erbil's police chief. "But as an ordinary man, I would defend my country if the Turks come."

"We'd like America to come to Kurdistan," said Komal Maarof, a professor of Kurdish studies at Salahaddin University in Erbil. "But we don't want Turkey. We don't want to change an Iraqi dictator for a Turkish dictator."

To many, Turkey is a bigger threat than Baghdad. Fears of occupation eclipse even Hosien's memories of torture. "I would kill myself, just to show how much I don't want Turkey to come here," he said. "If Turkey comes here, it would be better if Saddam had stayed."

# # # # # #