At the same time, the Turkish government is pursuing a separate path of negotiations, through a rapprochement with another Kurdish authority the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq. The grand vision is to integrate Iraqi Kurdistan into the Turkish economy.

Since the fall of Saddam Hussein, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq has effectively established de facto autonomy vis à vis the central government in Baghdad. Regional and domestic developments could push the Kurdish authorities in Erbil, their capital, toward declaring formal independence.

Kurdish

Erdoğan s plan, however, depends on ending Turkey s 30 year conflict with its own Kurdish population. As a result, the Erdoğan government has decided on negotiations with Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed leader of the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), the armed Kurdish resistance movement.

Romanian Kurdish

Syria s Kurdish Hope

Erdoğan s Kurdish Gambit

Based on an agreement between UNDP and the Kurdistan Regional Government, the latter arranged for the printing of 600,000 copies in Kurdish by 12 October, in addition to the 304,520 copies printed in Baghdad.

On May 15, two small independent energy companies (Turkey s Genel Enerji and Canada s Addax Petroleum) became the latest foreign firms to begin drilling in Kurdish controlled territory under an agreement with the regional government. Kurdish politicians within the new parliament have good reason to protect these lucrative deals as debate begins over constitutional changes.

The Government replied that Faruk Dürre had been arrested on charges of assisting the Kurdish Workers apos Party (PKK).

(c) Rahman Rajabi, reportedly sentenced to death for his activities in the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI), a Kurdish group engaged in armed opposition to the Government (12 January, 17 January 1996 and 18 July 1996).

The issue is complicated further by Turkey s refusal to negotiate directly with the Kurdish Regional Government in northern Iraq. Such talks, Turkey fears, would offer tacit acknowledgement that Iraqi Kurds have won a degree of autonomy from Baghdad.

Participation in regional government

Sounds like Kurdish. I don't understand it.

The Geneva talks had also enabled him to hold separate meetings with the Permanent Representatives of Kuwait, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America, a representative of the Kurdish Regional Government and members of international NGOs.

Canada called on the Government of Iraq to recognize and guarantee the rights of all citizens, in particular its Kurdish and Shi apos a minorities.

But, unlike either Iran or Syria, Turkey genuinely wishes to see a strong and representative government in Baghdad. Thanks to EU pressures, Turkey's domestic Kurdish problem is well on the way to being resolved democratically, with most Kurdish leaders in Turkey expressing their commitment to Turkish unity.

(spoke in Kurdish English text provided by the delegation)

Moreover, the chances that Iraqi Kurdistan will achieve de facto or de jure independence are greater than ever. Iraq s Kurds may even be able to extend their influence into Kurdish populated northern Syria, thereby becoming a more influential regional player than the Iraqi government in Baghdad.

The same profile has also appeared in the Kurdish media.

With all that in mind, this latest move by Turkey s parliament should be seen more as an ultimatum to Iraq s Kurdish Regional Government to expel the Turkish Kurds and an attempt to persuade the US to use its considerable influence there. That s hardball politics, not a declaration of war.

The developments on its southern border concern far more than the Kurdish question they have far reaching implications for regional stability. The AKP s election victory offers a chance for the government to shift its attention back toward resolving the broader problems in its neighborhood that is, to act like a true regional leader, instead of pursuing a narrow, self serving agenda.

Victims included Kurdish villagers, students, journalists and members of political parties.

Iraq today is not the unitary Arab nation state that it was, and it is doubtful whether that state can be restored. The Kurdish Regional Government in the north is a de facto state, with its own army, border authorities, and control (up to a point) of the natural resources located on its territory.

We do not even seek the creation of an independent Kurdish state just a guarantee of Kurdish rights in a unified Syria. Centralized power has suppressed the country s diversity and led to appalling abuses.

Similarly, when the outgoing governor of Van sent a farewell message last month to the largely Kurdish speaking people in his southeastern province, he delivered it in Kurdish and received warm wishes in return.

In any case, it is time for Erdoğan to make a choice. He has already led Turkey into a thicket of clashes among its vital interests its Western alliance, its regional aspirations, and the Kurdish question.

9. The member of Parliament and deputy for Diyarbakir, Ms. Leyla Zana, has been sentenced to a prison term of 15 years, upon the lifting of her parliamentary immunity, allegedly for having had contacts with members of the Kurdish Workers apos Party (PKK) and having propagated, in the Kurdish language in Parliament, a just solution for the Kurdish problem.

His Government had also strengthened and expanded bilateral and regional cooperation.

Regional roundtables have regularly made proposals to regional local government unions, county governments, the Government and the Parliament in order to influence decisions and legislation in many different fields.

There are risks for Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki as well, because Turkish military strikes on Iraq s northern provinces could undermine the Kurdish support on which his government increasingly depends. Both Sunni Arabs and Kurds already resent al Maliki s mild reaction to Iran s recent shelling of Iraqi territory an attempt to strike at Iranian Kurdish militants fleeing across its border with Iraq.

While defending ourselves, we have also established our own government in Syria s Kurdish regions, the only areas that enjoy both order and democracy. The streets of Qamishli, Amuda, and Malikiyya are calm and safe.

Nor are those recruits only from the Shia and Kurdish communities, as some erroneously assert.

Kurds held fast to their own ethnic identity. Eventually, the suppression of the Kurdish language and culture fueled a brutal insurgency, led by the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) which has cost the country more than 30,000 lives.

With funding from UNDP, UNAMI arranged for the printing of 3,787,420 copies of the draft constitution in the Arabic, Kurdish, Turkmen and Syriac languages (2,507,900 in Arabic, 904,520 in Kurdish, 250,000 in Turkmen and 125,000 in Syriac).

The Government of Afghanistan is also encouraged to strengthen the representation of women in local, regional and national government positions.

The majority of these cases reportedly occurred in south east Turkey, where a state of emergency is in force, particularly in the context of clashes between Kurdish Workers apos Party (PKK) guerrilla and government security forces.

(b) Ms. Erna Solberg, Minister for Local Government and Regional Development of Norway

From Turkey s perspective, a confederation of Syria s northeastern region with the KRG might be favorable to continuing domestic Kurdish unrest, much less rule by the anti Turkish Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) along its border with Syria. In contrast, any attempt by the KRG to establish a Kurdish corridor to the Mediterranean would certainly meet resistance, not only from Turkey, but also from other warring factions in Syria.

Previously, Turkey viewed Iraq solely in the context of its domestic Kurdish problem. But widespread European opposition to the war removed the possibility of Turkish military intervention, forcing the government to develop another vision of Turkey's interests.

Indeed, the KRG government has long made clear that it respects Turkish sovereignty and will not interfere with relations between Turkey s government and its own Kurdish population. And, if only for its own security, the KRG is attempting to extend its power, formally or informally, into northern Syria.

Speakers urged that the perpetrators of such offences be prosecuted and the Kurdish militia disarmed and disbanded.

The authenticated versions in Arabic and Kurdish were received by UNAMI on 19 and 29 September, respectively.

Statement by Ms. Erna Solberg, Minister of Local Government and Regional Development of Norway

The Government of Tajikistan is taking specific steps to strengthen regional and international security.