Sunday 29 June 2008

يا نواب كركوك والموصل



يا نواب كركوك والموصل
نرمين المفتي

http://bizturkmeniz.com/ar/index.htm




هناك من يريد الضغط على الحكومة المركزية لقبول الاتفاقية مع البيت الأبيض و تمرير قانون النفط و الغاز و تمييع قضية كركوك، و هذا الطرف الضاغط لا يهمه سوى مصلحته و يا ويل من يطالب بحقوقه التي تتعارض مع المطامح غير الشرعية له. في الاسبوع الماضي عقد التركمان مؤتمرا في مقر البرلمان الاوروبي في بروكسيل عن كركوك بمشاركة العرب و الكلدو الاشوريين، و مرة اخرى سجلت شخصيات كردوية لحضور المؤتمر و بدأت مداخلاتها بأن الحاضرين عملاء و ان المؤتمر كله دعاية من ممثلية الجبهة التركمانية العراقية في انقرة و الى آخرها من المداخلات و حجتهم بأنه لم توجه الدعوة للأكراد!، علما بأنه لم يكن من بين المنظمين او المتحدثين شخصيات من الجبهة لأن البرلمان الأوروبي كان قد طلب توجيه الدعوات لأعضاء في مجلس محافظة كركوك و نواب في البرلمان، و قامت اللجنة المنظمة باختيار اعضاء و نواب من خارج الجبهة. و حضر الدكتور حسن ايدينلي، ممثل الجبهة في اوروبا، المؤتمر ليس كمتحدث انما حاضر له و قدم مداخلته كغيره من الحاضرين و ليس المدعوين الرسميين. الكل يعلم انه في الأشهر الأخيرة عقد الكردويون مؤتمرات و ندوات في امريكا و اوروبا دون توجيه اية دعوة للتركمان، و في بعضها لم يصطحبوا حتى الأحزاب الكارتونية التي يمولونها. مرة اخرى يضغط الكردويون نحو رفض اية فرصة لاظهار الحقائق. ان كانوا على حق كما يدعون لماذا يحاولون منع الأصوات الأخرى؟ لماذا جاء مصور كردي الى داخل قاعة المؤتمر في بروكسيل و بيده كاميرا لتصوير وجوه الحاضرين فردا فردا؟ لماذا حين يعقدون ندواتهم بوثائقهم المزيفة لا يدعون من يعرفون جيدا سيظهرهم على حقيقتهم او في الأقل يناقشونه؟ ماذا يريد التكريديون او الكردويون؟ بكل بساطة " يجب المحافظة على المكتسبات في بغداد و الشمال" كما صرح مسؤول كردي يعمل في بغداد. آن الأوان ليكتفي البعض بما كسبه و يعمل كما يدعي لأجل العراق. و آن الأوان، ان يظهر البعض حسن النية كما يدعون. و على النواب الذين تبنوا مقترح تقسيم كركوك الى اربع مناطق انتخابية ان يصروا على موقفهم. ليأتي التكريديون بوثائقهم الحقيقية عن كركوك الحديثة و القديمة، و ليتناقشوا. ليس كافيا ان يظهر مسؤول كردي في ندوة تلفزيونية غاضبا لأنه لا يجد ما يرد به على ضيف عربي و آخر تركماني سوى ان يكرر اكاذيبه التي اكتشفها الجميع و يحاول اعلانها لولا الضغط الأمريكي لأن هذه الأكاذيب ما تزال تدعم وجوده في العراق. مرة اخرى، على نواب المحافظات التي تقع ضمن الخريطة التقسيمية التي وضعها ما يسمى ببرلمان الشمال ان يعملوا بجد داخل مجلس النواب و ان يطالبوا الحكومة بتنفيذ قرارها باخلاء المباني المتجاوز عليها في كل العراق و ان لا ترضخ للشروط الكردية باستثناء كركوك و الموصل و اللتين يحول التكريديون تكريدهما و الضغط نحو الاستفتاء بعد ان استقدموا مئات الالاف من الأكراد لم يكونوا يوما من سكانهما.و على الأمم المتحدة و الحكومة الانتباه بأنه لا يمر اسبوع في كركوك دون ان نسمع خبرا عما يرتكبه التكريديون من افعال غير قانونية تحت انظار الحكومة المحلية و التي غالبية مسؤوليها من عنصر الحزبين الكردين الرئيسيين. و أصدر المكتب السياسي لحزب العدالة التركماني بيانا عن احدث ما ارتكبه التكريديون في كركوك، و قد تنتفي حداثته مع بداية اسبوع جديد. جاء في البيان، " أعلمنا مصدر مطلع أن بعض الجهات الكردية التابعة لأحد الأحزاب الكردية المتنفذة تطالب وكلاء المواد الغذائية في المناطق التركمانية بقائمة أسماء للعوائل المسجلة لديهم بغية منح كل عائلة (25) ألف دينار مع حصة تموينية إضافية, وذكر المصدر أن أحد الوكلاء في منطقة المصلى قد امتنع عن تزويد تلك الجهات بقائمة للعوائل المسجلة لديه معللاًًً ذلك بأن هذا الإجراء غير رسمي وهو مخالف للتعليمات الواردة من وزارة التجارة وطالب تلك الجهة بكتاب رسمي من الدائرة التموينية بخصوص ذلك وأبدت تلك الجهة استعدادها بجلب كتاب رسمي بهذا الخصوص من الدائرة التموينية ونحن نتساءل هل يحق لمثل هذه الدوائر الاستجابة لمطالب الأحزاب بهذه السهولة لتحقيق مأربها في حصد اكبر عدد من المقاعد في انتخابات مجالس المحافظات القادمة, علماً أن التعليمات الصادرة من المفوضية العليا المستقلة للانتخابات تخالف مثل هذه الاجرءات لأنها تنص في إحدى فقراتها على عدم استغلال دوائر الدولة في الترويج لقائمة أو لحزب ما. وعليه نطالب المسئولين بالتدخل الفوري لمنع مثل هذه المخالفات التي تهدد أمن واستقرار المحافظة". البيان مثله مثل عشرات البيانات التي اصدرتها الجبهة التركمانية العراقية و الأحزاب التركمانية الحقيقية و ارسلتها الى الجهات المختصة و الى الأمم المتحدة و نشرتها على الشبكة الدولية بشأن الانتهاكات الكردية و لكن الحال استمر على ما هو عليه. هل تصدق الحكومة المركزية بأن المسؤوليين الاداريين في كركوك قد تبنوا طلب كردي مستقدم الى كركوك باعتباره "سجينا سياسيا سابقا!" و كتب في الكتاب الرسمي امام حقل العنوان ( اوارا/ متجاوز)! و اذا كنا نملك صورة لهذه الوثيقة المخالفة للقوانين، فهناك الآلاف مثلها.. هل هناك مسؤول يوقع على طلب رسمي مجهول العنوان؟ او يوقع على طلب يعترف به صاحبه بأنه (متجاوز) على الممتلكات العامة و الخاصة؟ و هناك وثائق اخرى، منها الطلب من وكلاء المواد الغذائية الانتماء الى جمعية او نقابة مسجلة في الشمال و صادرة من وزارة التجارة الشمالية و مكتوبة باللغة الكردية فقط و الوكيل الذي لا يوافق على اصدارها تم تهديده بحرمانه من وكالته الغذائية. مئات الافعال المخالفة للقوانين و التي لا تخدم سوى المطامح التكريدية و الكردوية غير المشروعة.. و بانتظار اليوم الذي ستنتبه به الأمم المتحدة و الحكومة المركزية.

Iraqi Kurdish PM says: Will not annul Oil Deals

ARBIL, Iraq (Reuters)

The prime minister of Iraqi Kurdistan on Saturday rejected calls from Iraq's central government to scrap disputed oil contracts with foreign firms, calling those who proposed such annulments "dreamers".

Nechirvan Barzani arrived back in the largely autonomous region on Thursday after several days of talks with Baghdad that were partly aimed at resolving a dispute over a draft oil law. Those talks appeared to have yielded nothing but mutual promises to keep talking about the stalled bill.

Iraq's cabinet agreed a draft oil law in February last year, but it has failed to get through parliament partly because of rows between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Baghdad over who will control oil reserves and contracts.

Among the disputes are deals the KRG signed with foreign energy firms on its own initiative. Baghdad has called them illegal and will not recognise them.

"They are legal and constitutional contracts and they meet international standards," Barzani told journalists in the Kurdish city of Arbil. "No power in Baghdad can annul these contracts. Those who call for them to be annulled are dreamers."

Barzani brought to Baghdad what Kurdish officials had called new proposals to resolve disputes over the deadlocked national oil law, but no breakthroughs were made.

Barzani said both sides promised to continue talking through a new political committee.
"This committee will headed by (Prime Minister) Nuri al-Maliki," he said.

Iraq has the world's third largest oil reserves at around 115 billion barrels, although Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih said in April reserves could be as much as 350 billion barrels.
In the absence of the oil law, Baghdad has been negotiating six short-term technical service contracts with foreign oil majors with the aim of lifting output at its largest producing fields by a combined 500,000 barrels a day.

Iraq's oil ministry has finished negotiations with the oil majors and hopes to sign the deals during the next month, the Oil Ministry said this week.

On Monday, Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani is expected to announce which large producing fields will be open for long-term development contracts, the officials added.

By Shamal Aqrawi

Wednesday 25 June 2008

AP'de ki Kerkük Konferansı başarılı geçti...



Beltürk

Geçtiğimiz günlerde Avrupa Parlamentosunda gerçekleştirilen Türkmen konferansı dünyanın çeşitli ülkelerinden gelen katılımcıları ile gerçekleştirildi.

Irak´ın kuzeyinde yer alan ve bir Türkmen şehri olan Kerkük üzerinde oynanan oyunlara dikkat çekilmek ve mücadele etmek için düşüncelerin ve fikirlerin ortaya atıldığı konferansa başta Iraklı Türkmen ve Arap parlamenterler ve Kerkük konseyi üyelerinin yanısıra, Belçika, Hollanda, Almanya ve İngiltere´den katılımcılar gazeteciler, yazarlar da geldi.
BElçika´dan Irak Türkmen Cephesi temsilcisi Dr. Hasan Aydınlı´nın da katıldığı toplantıda bir ara söz alan Kürt asıllı bir kişinin sorduğu ´Türkmenlerden kim öldürülmüş? Bir tane isim verin´ sorusu ortamı bir anda gerdi.
Duruma müdehale eden Irak Türkmen Cephesi temsilcisi Dr. Hasan Aydınlı gösterdiği resim, bilgi ve dökümanlarla ortamda provokasyon yaratmaya çalışan şahsı bertaraf etti.

Türkiye´den de AB delagasyonu sekreteri ve Irak büyükelçilerininde katıldığı toplantı Kerkük´ün otonomi ile Kürt tarafında bağlanmasının kabul edilemeyeceği bildirilerek sona erdi. .

Beltürk
http://www.belturk.be/go.php?go=303190f&do=details&return=last_news&pg=1

PKK active in the EU for its non-terrorist activities

Ret.Turkish general says PKK uses N.Iraq as base

A retired Turkish general said on Wednesday the outlawed separatist PKK has used the north of Iraq as a base, and the PKK has enjoyed all types of support from the regional administration in the northern Iraq, the Anatolian Agency reported.

"Unfortunately, the areas where PKK is active for its non- terrorist activities, are the territories of the European Union (EU) member states," Baser, who was the former special representative for countering terrorism, said in a conference, co-organized by the Strategic Researches Center of Bahcesehir University and Konrad Adenauer Foundation, in the Turkish capital of Ankara.
Baser said the approach of EU members was unresponsive and contradicted with the principles of cooperation among friends.

The retired general said that it would be hard to meet around a common security vision as long as EU members did not care about Turkey's national security concerns regarding its territories and the region as a whole.

No NATO country was as important as Turkey in regards to prevent clashes in the future, Klaus Naumann, a former chief of general staff of Germany, told at the meeting, the Anatolian Agency reported.

Naumann said it was a strategic obligation for European countries to anchor Turkey to the West, and told the participants that the EU could not achieve its target to become a global player without Turkey.

The former German chief of staff said Turkey relied on its international partners in its fight against terrorism, after stressing that international terrorism could only be eliminated through international cooperation.

Turkey, provided with intelligence on PKK movements in Iraq by the U.S., has stepped up military action against the PKK since December, carrying out several air strikes and a week-long ground incursion into northern Iraq in February, where more than 2,000 PKK separatists take refuge.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist group by much of the international community including the U.S. and the EU.

Photo: AA
http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/english/domestic/9272812.asp?scr=1

Congress pressing Bush to block, reverse Iraqi Oil Deals

By BEN LANDO, UPI Energy Editor
Published: June 24, 2008

WASHINGTON, June 24 (UPI) -- U.S. congressional leaders are pressing the Bush administration to block deals to be signed between the Iraqi federal government and the world's largest oil companies and to cancel deals between the Iraqi Kurdish region and smaller U.S. oil firms.

Sens. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., John Kerry, D-Mass., and Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., want the United States to dam negotiations on contracts the senators claim will, in part, further sectarian fighting.

United Press International has also obtained a letter from Senate Committee on Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., to President Bush's national security adviser Stephen Hadley, asking the administration to press Hunt Oil and other U.S. companies to cancel their oil deals with the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq.

The Iraqi Oil Ministry is negotiating two-year, technical support contracts -- also being called technical service contracts -- with Shell, BP, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Total, BHP Billiton and a consortium led by Anadarko. The deals, the scope and price of which have not been made public, are presumed to be worth $500 million each and provide technology, training and equipment to six key oil fields in Iraq, according to past ministry statements.

Each field would increase production by 100,000 barrels per day. The companies would likely not send any workers to Iraq. Shell, BP, Exxon and Total were part of the Iraq Petroleum Co., which controlled Iraq's oil sector for decades before being kicked out in the 1960s and 1970s.
International oil companies have been providing free training to Iraq's oil workers, and Iraq has signed contracts with companies to provide engineering, procurement and other oil field services. This and an increase in security for the northern pipeline have allowed Iraqi oil production to grow to 2.5 million barrels per day, according to the Oil Ministry's May averages. Exports crossed the 2.1 million bpd mark, a record since the 2003 invasion.

Iraq has the world's third largest oil reserves, capable of handling higher volumes than current output. But the sector needs to recover from decades of war, Saddam Hussein's mismanagement and sanctions. The ministry has decided to first move on these six contracts, and is readying for a bidding round for an undisclosed number of oil and gas fields later this year.

In a separate letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Schumer and Kerry called for Iraq to pass legislation governing the oil sector first.

"We ask that you work with the (government of Iraq) to ensure that they do not sign any agreements relating to oil or gas until they have passed a fair, equitable and transparent hydrocarbon revenue sharing agreement that benefits the Sunni Arabs, Shia Arabs, Kurds and all other Iraqi citizens," the senators wrote.

Without a new law, Iraq is relying on regulations left over from Saddam. A draft oil law has been stalled in Parliament by internal Iraqi disputes over the extent foreign oil companies should be allowed into the national oil sector and how much control over the oil strategy will be given to local governments. Three companion laws -- revenue sharing, reconstituting the national oil company and reorganizing the Oil Ministry -- are further behind in the legislative process.
Iraq is already splitting revenue by compromise between factions. Schumer, Kerry and McCaskill in a short press conference Tuesday said without a revenue sharing law the oil deals will cause more fractures.

"You can't blame Iraq for the desire to expand oil production," Schumer said. "However, signing oil contracts without a revenue sharing law is a recipe for disaster."

The three warned against possible perceptions that the war was fought to benefit international oil companies, and that no-bid contracts were not transparent.

"We can confirm that negotiations between Shell and representatives of the Ministry of Oil regarding technical service agreements are ongoing. However, we regard further details as confidential," said Shell spokesman Adam Newton, adding the company has no comment on the senators' demands.

"If the Iraqi government decides it wants international oil companies to partner with them in developing their resources, ExxonMobil would be interested in participating," said Exxon Manager of Upstream Media Relations L.A. D'Eramo. "Consistent with our long-standing global business strategy, ExxonMobil would pursue business opportunities as they arise in Iraq, just as we would in other countries in which we are permitted to operate. With that noted, at this time it would be premature to discuss specifics about any potential opportunity with Iraq."

"We have a memorandum of understanding with the Iraqi government whereby we have provided free technical advice," said Anadarko Manager of External Communications John Christiansen. "However, we do not intend to pursue additional interests at this time."
The other companies couldn't be reached or couldn't provide comments before the article was published.

"We welcome Iraq's decision to negotiate with companies on these contracts, as we believe that commercial partnerships with private companies will accelerate Iraq's ability to develop its oil and gas resources," said State Department Iraq Press Officer John Fleming, though the State Department has not seen the senators' letter and wouldn't comment on it directly.

"The Ministry of Oil has been developing relations with about 40 international oil companies since 2004," he said, adding the U.S. government "is not playing any role in the Ministry of Oil's commercial negotiations."

The senators said the administration should use the contracts as leverage to press Iraq to pass the oil and revenue sharing laws. When asked whether this contradicts the sovereignty of Iraq, they said U.S. efforts in Iraq -- and troops on the ground -- make the oil deals an American concern.

"If it's in Iraq, it's not a private sector matter," McCaskill said.

This is the first public outcry by Congress over oil deals in Iraq. The six contracts were first made public late last year, and Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government has signed 20 exploration and production deals since 2004.

Schumer, Kerry and McCaskill fielded three questions before ending the press conference.
Kerry, responding to reporters' shouted questions, said, "The Kurds are separate and independent."

Dallas-based Hunt Oil is the most prominent of the half-dozen U.S. firms that signed deals with the KRG. The deals are controversial because the regional government claims a constitutional right, which is disputed by Baghdad.

Levin, in his June 5 letter to Hadley, said the KRG deals are hurting reconciliation efforts within Iraq, including on the oil law.

"I believe the administration should request Hunt Oil, and other U.S.-based oil companies, to withdraw from any (production sharing contract) they have signed and to advise the KRG that they are doing so in order to facilitate the passage of national hydrocarbon legislation," he wrote.

"We've received the letter and are reviewing it," said National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe. "We'll get back to the senator in the coming days."

Hunt Senior Vice President for Corporate Affairs & International Relations Jeanne Phillips, when asked about the letter, said, "We would never presume to comment on correspondence between a member of the United States Senate and other government agencies."

Levin also questioned whether the State Department warned Hunt Oil against signing the deal, saying he received differing versions of communication from the company and the State Department.

"The clear inconsistency between the State Department and Hunt Oil in their accounting of the meetings leading up to the company's signing of a (production sharing contract) with the KRG is deeply troubling," Levin wrote.

"We continue to advise companies that they incur significant political and legal risk by signing contracts with any party before a national law is passed by the Iraqi Parliament," said Fleming of the State Department. "It is in the interest of all Iraqi parties to enact a set of national laws to govern the oil and gas industry, and to develop an equitable revenue sharing system.

"All companies which have spoken with the United States government about investing in Iraq's oil sector have and will continue to be given the same advice," he said.
--
(e-mail: blando@upi.com)
http://www.upi.com/Energy_Resources/2008/06/24/Congress_pressing_Bush_to_block_reverse_Iraqi_oil_deals/UPI-10071214341844/

تفاصيل مؤتمر كركوك في البرلمان الاوروبي






تفاصيل مؤتمر كركوك في البرلمان الاوروبي

Please click on the link below:

Tuesday 24 June 2008

اراء المشاركين في مؤتمر كركوك في العاصمة البلجيكية بروكسل

اراء المشاركين في مؤتمر كركوك في العاصمة البلجيكية بروكسل

POINTS OF VIEW OF THE PARTICIPANTS AT THE KERKUK CONFERENCE AT THE EU PARLIAMENT IN BRUSSELS ON 23rd JUNE 2008

Please click on the link below:

http://www.turkmentimes.net/Default/wesima_articles/reports-20080622-13806.html

Monday 23 June 2008

Reporters say networks block War Reports

Monday 23 June 2008

by: Brian Stelter, The New York Times

Getting a story on the evening news isn't easy for any correspondent. And for reporters in Iraq and Afghanistan, it is especially hard, according to Lara Logan, the chief foreign correspondent for CBS News. So she has devised a solution when she is talking to the network.

"Generally what I say is, 'I'm holding the armor-piercing R.P.G.,'" she said last week in an appearance on "The Daily Show," referring to the initials for rocket-propelled grenade." 'It's aimed at the bureau chief, and if you don't put my story on the air, I'm going to pull the trigger.'"

Ms. Logan let a sly just-kidding smile sneak through as she spoke, but her point was serious. Five years into the war in Iraq and nearly seven years into the war in Afghanistan, getting news of the conflicts onto television is harder than ever.

"If I were to watch the news that you hear here in the United States, I would just blow my brains out because it would drive me nuts," Ms. Logan said.

According to data compiled by Andrew Tyndall, a television consultant who monitors the three network evening newscasts, coverage of Iraq has been "massively scaled back this year." Almost halfway into 2008, the three newscasts have shown 181 weekday minutes of Iraq coverage, compared with 1,157 minutes for all of 2007. The "CBS Evening News" has devoted the fewest minutes to Iraq, 51, versus 55 minutes on ABC's "World News" and 74 minutes on "NBC Nightly News." (The average evening newscast is 22 minutes long.)

CBS News no longer stations a single full-time correspondent in Iraq, where some 150,000 United States troops are deployed.

Paul Friedman, a senior vice president at CBS News, said the news division does not get reports from Iraq on television "with enough frequency to justify keeping a very, very large bureau in Baghdad." He said CBS correspondents can "get in there very quickly when a story merits it."

In a telephone interview last week, Ms. Logan said the CBS News bureau in Baghdad was "drastically downsized" in the spring. The network now keeps a producer in the country, making it less of a bureau and more of an office.

Interviews with executives and correspondents at television news networks suggested that while the CBS cutbacks are the most extensive to date in Baghdad, many journalists shared varying levels of frustration about placing war stories onto newscasts. "I've never met a journalist who hasn't been frustrated about getting his or her stories on the air," said Terry McCarthy, an ABC News correspondent in Baghdad.

By telephone from Baghdad, Mr. McCarthy said he was not as busy as he was a year ago. A decline in the relative amount of violence "is taking the urgency out" of some of the coverage, he said. Still, he gets on ABC's "World News" and other programs with stories, including one on Friday about American gains in northern Iraq.

Anita McNaught, a correspondent for the Fox News Channel, agreed. "The violence itself is not the story anymore," she said. She counted eight reports she had filed since arriving in Baghdad six weeks ago, noting that cable news channels like Fox News and CNN have considerably more time to fill with news than the networks. CNN and Fox each have two fulltime correspondents in Iraq.

Richard Engel, the chief foreign correspondent for NBC News, who splits his time between Iraq and other countries, said he found his producers "very receptive to stories about Iraq." He and other journalists noted that the heated presidential primary campaign put other news stories on the back burner earlier this year.

Ms. Logan said she begged for months to be embedded with a group of Navy Seals, and when she came back with the story, a CBS producer said to her, "One guy in uniform looks like any other guy in a uniform." In the follow-up phone interview, Ms. Logan said the producer no longer worked at CBS. And in both interviews, she emphasized that many journalists at CBS News are pushing for war coverage, specifically citing Jeff Fager, the executive producer of "60 Minutes." CBS News won a Peabody Award last week for a "60 Minutes" report about a Marine charged in the killings at Haditha.

On "The Daily Show," Ms. Logan echoed the comments of other journalists when she said that many Americans seem uninterested in the wars now. Mr. McCarthy said that when he is in the United States, bringing up Baghdad at a dinner party "is like a conversation killer."

Coverage of the war in Afghanistan has increased slightly this year, with 46 minutes of total coverage year-to-date compared with 83 minutes for all of 2007. NBC has spent 25 minutes covering Afghanistan, partly because the anchor Brian Williams visited the country earlier in the month. Through Wednesday, when an ABC correspondent was in the middle of a prolonged visit to the country, ABC had spent 13 minutes covering Afghanistan. CBS has spent eight minutes covering Afghanistan so far this year.

Both Ms. Logan and Mr. McCarthy noted that more coalition soldiers were killed in Afghanistan in May than in Iraq. No American television network has a full-time correspondent in Afghanistan, although CNN recently said it would open a bureau in Kabul.

"It's terrible," Ms. Logan said in the telephone interview. She called it a financial decision. "We can't afford to maintain operations in Iraq and Afghanistan at the same time," she said. "It's so expensive and the security risks are so great that it's prohibitive."

Mr. Friedman said coverage of Iraq is enormously expensive, mostly due to the security risks. He said meetings with other television networks about sharing the costs of coverage have faltered for logistical reasons.

Journalists at all three American television networks with evening newscasts expressed worries that their news organizations would withdraw from the Iraqi capital after the November presidential election. They spoke only on the condition of anonymity in order to avoid offending their employers.

http://www.truthout.org/article/reporters-say-networks-block-war-reports

Sunday 22 June 2008

Kürt'ler tarafından Kızlar bat kasabasında, Türkmen ve Araplara yönelik



Pazar 22/06/2008


Kürt'ler tarafından Kızlar bat ( sadiye ) kasabasında , Türkmen ve Araplara yönelik ve daha önceden hazırlanmış yok etme kampanyası . 2003 yılından sonra ve bir süreden beri Kürt partileri sorumluları özellikle milli Kürdistan partisi tarafından yasal olmayan ve baskılı yolları kullanarak , zengin ve strateji önemi bulunan kızlar bat – (sadiye) kasabasında bulunan insanları terör bahanesiyle kovup ve aynı yöntem ile Türkmen eli bölgelerinde de bu olaylar devam etmektedir , aynı zamanda anayasadaki ( 140 ) maddenin şekil ve konum tarafından süresi bitmiş bulunuyor ise de , bu maddeyi canlandırmak peşindeler .


Bu kasabanın müdürü Ahmet Zargoşi Kürt partisinin talimatıyla çalışıyor çünkü kendisi aynı parti tarafından atanmıştır , eski Arap müdüründen , yalan bir hikaye nedeniyle kurtuldular . Yeni müdür atandığı günden itibaren bir sürü problemler yaratmıştır Arap ve Türkmen'lerin itirazına rağmen – kasaba – ada yapılan terör olaylarınıda sünni Araplar teröristlerin iş birliğinin yaptığını iddia ediyorlar tüm bu olaylar kasabada istikrarsız bir durum yarattı .


Bu nedenle Irak'lı sorumlular ve özellikle Diyala şehrindeki meclis üyelerinin bir an önce bu ihlalleri tesbit edip uygun bir şekilde sorumlulara sunmaları gerekli ve önemlidir.


Irak Türkmen Cephesi

Enformasyon Dairesi

Kerkük Kriz Masası mahalli meclis seçimlerinin başka bir tarihe ertelenmesini istedi

Pazar 22/06/2008

Kerkük Kriz Masası mahalli meclis seçimlerinin başka bir tarihe ertelenmesini istedi ve vatandaşların iller arasında gelip gitmelerini önlemek için aynı zamanda siyasi ve milli oluşumları etkilememek için Irak'ta bütün bölgeler seçimi aynı günde yapılmalı . Geçmişte yapılan seçimlerdeki haksızlıklar , iki Kürt partisi tarafından meydana geldi , Kerkük Şehrinde yanlış sonuçlara yol açtığını ki ( Kerkük Kriz Masası )'da bu iddiayı etmektedir.

Yapılan ihlallerin tesbiti ve sınırlanması için Irak Ulusal Meclisi tarafından bir komisyonun kurulup ve uluslararası destek alması ve bu ihlallerin kaldırılması gerekmektedir gerçi Kürt tarafları yapılan ihlaller üzerinde israr ediyorlar , ancak kalkması ile saydam seçim yapılarak bunun tersi olursa Türkmen, Arap ve Kuldu Asuriler Seçimin sonucunu çok iyi biliyorlar ve bunu hiç bir vatansever kabul edemez.

Millet Meclisi ve Irak Hükümeti Kerkük'ün sorunuyla ilgili Kürtlerin baskısına bir nokta koysun ve Irak'ın milli çıkarı için çalışsın . Kerkük kriz masasının isteği milli bir istektir, bu istek eğer gözardı edilirse Türkmenler seçimleri boykot etmek zorunda kalırlar,bölgesel ve uluslararası koruma isteğinde bulunurlar ve birleşmiş milletler'den Türkmen,Arap,ve Kuldu Asurilerin haklarının korunmasını ve gerçek rolüne üslenmesini ister,eğer merkezi hükümetin gücü bu işe yetmezse .

Irak Türkmen Cephesi
Enformasyon Dairesi

Saturday 21 June 2008



IRAK TÜRKMEN CEPHESİ الجبهة التركمانية العراقية
(GENEL MERKEZ) (المقر العام)



الدائرة الإعلامية ENFORMASYON DAİRESİ

العدد: 44
SAYI: 44
التاريخ: 21\6\2008
TARİH: 21.06.2008

تعليق
خلية ازمة كركوك تدعو الى تأجيل انتخابات مجالس المحافظات


دعت خلية ازمة كركوك الى تأجيل انتخابات مجالس المحافظات الى موعد أخرعلى ان تجري لجميع المحافظات العراقية الثمانية عشرة بنفس التاريخ لعدم افساح المجال لانتقال المواطنين بين المحافظات للتأثير على حجم المكونات القومية والسياسية

لايخفى ان الاخلالات العديدة التي حدث في الانتخابات الماضية ( وما دعت اليها خلية كركوك واحدة منها ) والتي جرت من طرف الحزبين الكرديين أدت الى افراز واقع غير حقيقي لمدينة كركوك

ان تحديد وحصر التجاوزات السكانية من قبل لجنة مختصة في مجلس النواب وتوفير الدعم الدولي لها للعمل على رفعها رغم اصرار الاطراف الكردية على تلك التجاوزات هو الطريق الصحيح لاجراء انتخابات نزيهة وبعكسه فان التركمان والعرب والكلدو أشوريين يعرفون نتيجة الانتخابات مسبقا وهذا ما لايقبله أي وطني شريف

ان على مجلس النواب والحكومة العراقية ان لاترضخ لضغوط الجانب الكردي حول مشكلة كركوك والمشاكل الاخرى وان تعمل حسب المصلحة العراقية العليا

ان الطلب المقدم من قبل خلية ازمة كركوك هو مطلب وطني مخلص واذا اهمل هذا الطلب فان التركمان مضطرين الى مقاطعة الانتخابات وطلب الحماية الدولية والاقليمية ومطالبة الامم المتحدة لان تأخذ دورها الحقيقي في حماية حقوق التركمان والعرب والكلدوأشوريين في محافظة كركوك ان عجزت الحكومة المركزية عن توفيرها


الدائرة الاعلامية
الجبهة التركمانية العراقية


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العنوان: كركوك- طريق بغداد- قرب بناية المحافظة Adres:Kerkük. Bağdat yolu. Valilik binası yanında
Tel: 00946050. 221462 E.mail:ITC_media@yahoo.com
ITC_media@live.com

TÜRKMEN KURULTAYINA SUNULAN BİLDİRİ



DIŞ TÜRKMENLER BİRLİĞİ

TÜRKMEN KURULTAYINA SUNULAN BİLDİRİ




Biz, Türkmeneli dışındaki Türkmen dernek, örgüt ve hareketleri olarak, Kerkükte yapılan Türkmen kongresine ve seçimlerine, yurt dışındaki Türkmenlerin görüşünü bildirmek isteriz.
Türkmenlerin ve Türkmenelinin bu kritik zamanında tarihi bir kavşakta olduğumuzun bilincindeyiz. Eğer doğru seçim yapılırsa, yeni ekibin, tarihimizde büyük bir değişim yapacağına inanıyoruz.

Irak, kurulduğundan beri, üçüncü ana unsur olan Türkmenler hep dışlanmışlar ve meşru hakları ellerinden alınmıştır.

Hepimizin kabul etmesi gereken acı gerçek var ki Türkmenlerin haklarına kavuşmamalarının sebebi, düşmanlarının gücünden ziyade, Türkmenlerin parçalanmışlığı ve kendi aralarındaki çekişmelerle tükettikleri enerjinin heba olmasından dolayıdır.

Şimdi değişim zamanı gelmiştir. Türkmenlerin başına geçmişten ders alan ve geleceğe yönelen bir ekip gelmelidir.

Bu ekibin seçiminde aşağıdaki kriterlerin kullanılmasını şart görüyoruz:

1- Seçilecek ekip (Haklar verilmez- Alınır) ilkesiyle hareket edip Türkmenlerin Milli Kurtuluş Mücadelesini başlatmalıdır. Bu işi yapacak ekibin mücadeleci ruhlu olması ve geçmişte bu konuda tecrübeli olması gereklidir.

2- Seçilecek ekibin mutlaka bir Eylem Planı olmalıdır. Bu planı, delegeler önüne serip, tartışmaya açmalıdır. Işe başladığı günden itibaren bu planı uygulaması ve sonuçlarını Türkmen Meclisinin önüne sermelidir. Türkmen Meclisi, periyodik olarak bu planın uygulamalarını gözden geçirmelidir.

3- Seçilecek ekip, Türkmenlere karşı yapılan terör ve baskıların karşısında duracak olan Türkmen Savunma Gücünü kurmalıdır.

4- Seçilecek ekibin Türkmenler arasında, Birlik ve Beraberliği birinci amaç edinip, Mezhep, Lehçe ve Bölge farkı gözetmemelidir. Türkmenelinin tüm bölgelerini temsil etmelidir. Türkmen enerjisinin içe değil dışa yönelmesini sağlamalıdır.

5- Seçilecek ekibin ana amacı Türkmenleri özerkliğe kavuşturmak ve özerk Türkmenelini kurmak olmalıdır.

6- Seçilecek ekip, tüm Türkmen partilerinin, örgütlerinin ve hareketlerinin dahil olduğu bir Türkmen Parlamentosunun kurulmasına çalışmalıdır.

7- Seçilecek ekip, her türlü yolsuzluk, eş, dost ve akraba kayırma işlemlerinin karşısında sert bir şekilde durmalı ve önlemelidir.

8- Seçilecek ekip, Türkmenlerin dünyaya açılan tek penceresi olan Türkmeneli Televizyonunu, yok edilmekle karşı karşıya kalmış bir toplumun sesi haline getirmeli. Bu televizyon, Türkmenlerin Milli Kurtuluş Mücadelesinin ilham kaynağı olmalıdır.

9- Seçilecek ekip, dış ülkelerde Türkmen davası uğrunda çalışmakta olan bütün kuruluşlarla aktif bir şekilde iletişim içinde olup gereken bütün maddi ve manevi desteğini esirgememelidir. Seçilecek yeni Türkmen meclisinde Dış Türkmenlere ait bir kontenjan ayrılmalıdır. Merkezi dışarıda olan bir Dış Türkmenler Konseyi kurulmalıdır.


İmzalayan Dernek, Örgüt ve Hareketler:

1- Ali Yılmaz- Bir Ocak Türkmen Kültür Derneği / Chicago/ Amerika.

2- Hasan Aydınlı - Irak Türkmen Hakları Savunma Komitesi/ Brüksel/ Belçika.

3- Yalçın Mutapçı - Türkmen Tanış Derneği / Hollanda.

4- Salih Cavuşoğlu - Irak Türkmen Orgütü- ITO/ Ottawa/ Kanada.

5- Ismet Şükür - Kanada- Irak Türkleri Derneği / Hamilton/ Kanada.

6- Nihad Ilhanlı - Türkmen Halk Partisi/ Ottawa/ Kanada.

7- Eyyüp Bezzaz - Irak Türkmen Hakları Savunma Komitesi/ Ingiltere.

8- Muwaffaq Salman – Irak Türkmen Insan Hakları Vakfı/ Irlanda.

9- Hüseyin Şükür - Irak Türkmen Derneği / Vasteras / Isveç

10- Kemal Beyatlı – Irak Türkleri Derneği- Genel Merkez / Istanbul / Türkiye

11- Yılmaz Towfiq – Türkmen Yolu Gurubu / Isveç

12- Orhan Ketene – Musul Birliği Hareketi /Amerika

13- Ali Koçak – Newyork Türkmen Enstitüsü / Amerika

Friday 20 June 2008

Oil giants return to Iraq

Shell, BP, Exxon Mobil and Total set to sign deal with Baghdad

By Patrick Cockburn
Friday, 20 June 2008

Nearly four decades after the four biggest Western oil companies were expelled from Iraq by Saddam Hussein, they are negotiating their return. By the end of the month, Royal Dutch Shell, BP, Exxon Mobil and Total will sign agreements with the Baghdad government, Iraq's first with big Western oil firms since the US-led invasion in 2003.

The deals are for repair and technical support in some of the country's largest oilfields, the Oil Ministry in Baghdad said yesterday. The return of "Big Oil" will add to the suspicions of those in the Middle East who claimed that the overthrow of Saddam was secretly driven by the West's desire to gain control of Iraq's oil. It will also be greeted with dismay by many Iraqis who fear losing control of their vast oil reserves.

Iraq's reserves are believed to be second only to Saudi Arabia in the Middle East, but their exploitation has long been hampered by UN sanctions, imposed on Iraq after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990.

The major oil companies have been eager to go back to Iraq, but are concerned about their own security and the long-term stability of the country. The two-year no-bid agreements are service agreements that should add another 500,000 barrels of crude a day of output to Iraq's present production of 2.5 million barrels a day (b/d).

The companies have the option of being paid in cash or crude oil for the deals, each of which will reportedly be worth $500m (£250m). For Iraq, the agreements are a way of accessing foreign expertise immediately, before the Iraqi parliament passes a controversial new hydrocarbons law.

But they mean that the four oil companies, which originally formed the Iraq Petroleum Company to exploit Iraqi oil from the 1920s until the industry's nationalisation in 1972, will be well-placed to bid for contracts for the long-term development of these fields. The oilfields affected are some of the largest in Iraq, from Kirkuk in the north to Rumaila, on the border with Kuwait. Although there is oil in northern Iraq, most of the reserves are close to Basra, in the far south.

Since the US invasion, Iraqis have been wary of foreign involvement in their oil industry. Many are convinced that the hidden purpose of the US invasion was to take over Iraqi oil, but the Iraqi Oil Minister, Hussein Shahristani, has said that Iraq will hold on to its natural resources. "If Iraq needs help from international oil companies, they will be invited to co-operate with the Iraqi National Oil Company [Inoc], on terms and conditions acceptable to Iraq, to generate the highest revenue for Iraq".

Inoc's technical expertise has deteriorated sharply during the long years of sanctions. Iraq is currently exporting 2.1 million b/d and is expecting to have oil revenues of $70bn this year, but its government administration is too dysfunctional and corrupt to rebuild the electricity or water supply systems. The government has $50bn in the Federal Bank of New York.

Mr Shahristani has been highly critical of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) for auctioning off oil concessions in Iraqi Kurdistan without reference to the oil ministry in Baghdad. In an interview with The Independent last year, he said Inoc would never do business with any oil company that signed up with the KRG, and he also doubted if the oil could be exported without pipelines. "Are they going to carry it out in buckets?" he asked.

Several of the small oil companies who have signed contracts in Kurdistan are hoping that in the long term there will be an agreement between the Kurds and the central government and they will then sell out to the majors at a large profit.

The technical support agreements, as the service agreements are known, may open the door to Iraq for the majors. Mr Shahristani has said that Iraq will open up the same fields for bidding for long-term development projects soon. "We're going to announce the first licensing round by the end of this month or early next month," he said.

The high price of oil means that Iraq is not under immediate pressure to maximise its oil revenues. The Iraqi parliament has suspected anything which looks like giving foreign companies ownership of Iraq's oil through a production sharing agreement.

The nationalisation of Iraq's oil is one the few acts of Saddam Hussein's long years in power which is still highly popular, and Iraqi members of parliament are fearful of anything that looks like back-door privatisation in the interests of foreigners.

Big four have history of control

For the four oil giants, the new agreements will bring them back to a country where they have a long history. BP, Exxon Mobil, Total and Shell were co-owners of a British, American and French consortium that kept Iraq's oil reserves in foreign control for more than 40 years.

The Iraq Petroleum Company (once the Turkish Petroleum Company) was formed in 1912 by oil companies eager to grab the resources in parts of the Ottoman Empire.

The company was formalised in 1928 and each of the four shareholders had a 23.75 per cent share of all the oil produced. The final 5 per cent went to Calouste Gulbenkian, an Armenian businessman.

In 1931, an agreement was signed with Iraq, giving the company complete control over the oil fields of Mosul in return for annual royalties. After Saddam's coup in 1958, nationalisation came in 1972.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/oil-giants-return-to-iraq-851036.html

The Great Torture Scandal

Juan Cole’s Comment
http://www.juancole.com/

McClatchy and other reporters are abruptly pulling the curtain away from the Bush team's illegal practices in arresting people arbitrarily, declining to offer proof that they were guilty of anything, detaining them indefinitely without trial or charges, and deliberately torturing them to the extent of leaving long-term scars and disabilities. The torture practices originated not with lower-level officers but with Donald Rumsfeld and others in Bush's inner circle, who then later blamed lower-level officials for developing the ideas that Rumsfeld ordered them to develop.
Nothing they have done has survived a court challenge where one has been permitted.

Courtesy Salon.com.

Recent reports, taken together, provide a chilling glimpse of a vast torture operation, deliberately planned out by serial torturers in Bush's White House and possibly by the president himself. The program was designed to repeal the Geneva Conventions, which the US and Israel have long found inconvenient, even though they were legislated to prevent further abuses such as those of the Nazis.
AP interviews with former detainees show that they were systematically tortured and sometimes permanently injured.

Thursday 19 June 2008

Global outcry against EU immigration directive

LEIGH PHILLIPS

The European Parliament has approved stringent new laws for dealing with clandestine immigrants – a move that has come under forceful criticism from the United Nations, human rights advocates and developing countries.
The parliamentary assent is the last stage in the passage of common rules on migration, making it possible to detain irregular migrants for up to 18 months.

The rules, or "return directive" will not cover asylum-seekers, but all those who overstay their visa period will be affected.

It will be up to EU member states' governments to decide whether to deport the immigrants or regularise them. But in most cases they will be given two options – to return home voluntarily or face deportation.

Those who refuse to go voluntarily could be forcefully removed and banned from coming back to EU territory for five years.

In addition, the same individuals could be detained for up to 18 months in some circumstances – a time-limit which exceeds that of most EU states.

A total of 367 members of the European Parliament voted in favor of the bill and 206 MEPs opposed it, while 109 members abstained.

UN convention

The United Nations however has attacked the new laws as not providing sufficient protection for the "vulnerable."

The UN high commissioner for human rights, Louise Arbour said at a press conference in Geneva on Wednesday (18 June) there lay in the new rules a "difficulty in advancing the fundamental principles of the protection of individuals' rights who are in a very vulnerable situation," according to a report from AFP.

Ms Arbour would have preferred that the EU instead ratify the UN convention on rights for migrant workers.

Leading human rights NGO Amnesty International has also attacked the law, saying it was "deeply disappointed" with the EU.

The directive "does not guarantee the return of irregular migrants in safety and dignity," said the group in a statement. "On the contrary, an excessive period of detention of up to 1.5 years as well as an EU-wide re-entry ban for those forcibly returned, risks lowering existing standards...and sets an extremely bad example to other regions in the world."

Amnesty International is worried that there were insufficient guarantees for unaccompanied minors within the legislation, and that there was little mention of judicial oversight of the recourse to detention.

Ahead of the vote, the group's secretary-general, Irene Khan said: "I want to remind European governments that just because some persons do not have documents, it does not mean they do not have rights."

Directive is 'shameful', say third world leaders

Criticism has also come from some of the developing countries from where migrants launch their sometimes perilous journey to what they hope will be a better life in Europe.

Ecuadoran president Rafael Correa on Wednesday called the directive "shameful," while his Latin American counterpart, Bolivian president Evo Morales, described the new laws as "draconian."

"The directive is not a return directive, but a directive of shamefulness, it is truly a shame what Europe has done," Mr Correa said.

Writing in the UK's Guardian newspaper on Monday, Mr Morales described the directive as "hypocritical, draconian and undiplomatic."

In an open letter to the European Parliament issued on Wednesday, the Bolivian attacked what he called "concentration camps" for detainees.

"How can we accept without reacting for [detainees] to be concentrated in camps our compatriots and Latin American brothers without documents, of which the great majority have been working and integrating for years?" he asked in the letter.

"On what side is the duty of humanitarian action? Where is the 'freedom of movement', and protection against arbitrary imprisonment?"

http://euobserver.com/9/26354

Wednesday 18 June 2008

EU Parliament endorses compromise package on standards for returning illegally staying third-country nationals

Distribution: immediate - June 18, 2008, 12:19 pm

After almost three years of long, complicated and tough negotiations with Council, the European Parliament now endorsed the compromise package establishing EU-wide rules on how to return illegally staying third country nationals in a fair and transparent procedure. The compromise package promotes the principle of voluntary return and provides for a minimum but comprehensive set of procedural safeguards. It also limits the use of coercive measures and set standards for use of the re-entry ban as well as of detention.

ALDE-spokesperson on migration Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert (VVD, Netherlands) supported the deal that was agreed upon a few weeks ago by the Slovenian presidency and a majority of the parliamentary political groups' spokespersons: "The return policy cannot be looked upon in an isolated way. It should be seen as an integral and necessary part of a total package on migration, including legal as well as asylum. If we want to push Europe's forward-looking strategy on legal migration, we simply need an effective, though fair and transparent, return policy."

"It is high time to take up our responsibility and to introduce common minimum standards on a European level. Guidelines of the Council of Europe are now made legally binding for all Member States."

"Community Control mechanisms, such as infringement procedures, competence of the European Court of Justice, Commission reporting and EP monitoring, will become available. Furthermore it should be crystal clear that this compromise package puts in place rules where none exist at present. Member States with more favourable conditions in place should maintain these. On the insistence of Parliament, we also secured a political commitment from Council that this Directive will not and cannot be used as an excuse to lower existing standards."

ALDE-Group Leader Graham Watson adds: "We are moving towards a European migration policy at a quicker pace. Just a day after the European Commission presented its asylum plan and stepped up the search for a common approach to immigration, there is agreement on the handling of illegal non-EU citizens. I hope that our commitment to a human, efficient and sustainable management of migration will be taken on by the French presidency and put into action."

Chairman of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Gérard Deprez (MR, Belgium) concludes: "Today the realists have won the vote over the idealists. Of course we also would have liked to see a directive that would set higher common standards. But political reality shows that by amending this directive we would have ended up with nothing at all. It would have given the Member States the possibility to bury the directive. Illegal migrants would have been the victims of good intentions."



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For more information, please contact:
Neil Corlett: +33-3-88 17 41 67 or +32-478-78 22 84
e-mail: neil.corlett@europarl.europa.eu
Jeroen Reijnen: +33-3-88 17 42 75 or +32-473-39 47 10

Tuesday 17 June 2008

النموذج الديمقراطي في شمال العراق

"Symbol of Democracy"


ارتأت دائرة الاعلام في الجبهة التركمانية العراقية ترجمة التقرير التالي عن نموذج لأسباب عدة، اهمها انه يلقي ضوءا بقلم كردي على ادعاءات الديمقراطية في الشمال و يضع القارئ امام تساؤل و هو يقرأ ان طلبا قدم لسلطات الشمال لاجازة حزب باسم الحزب اليهودي. و سيرى القارئ انه من بين الأحزاب التي تمت اجازتها‘ عدد من الأحزاب التركمانية الكارتونية و التي تمول من قبل حكام الشمال لتنفذ ما يطالب منها.
التقرير الذي تمت ترجمته كان بعنوان:
(النموذج الديمقراطي لإقليم كردستان يمنع 22 حزب جديد !)
و نشرته مواقع عدة و منه:
Kurdistanaspect.com
بقلم د .كمال ميراو دلي

Please click on the link below to read the article

I have a problem with punctuation and numbers when posting articles in Arabic on my blog, therefore it is best if you read it in Biz Türkmeniz , they have just published it:

http://bizturkmeniz.com/ar/index.htm

Torture in "Democratic Kurdistan" by Layla Anwar

Posted on Tuesday, June 17, 2008
in Arab Woman Blues:
http://arabwomanblues.blogspot.com/2008/06/torture-in-democratic-kurdistan.html

Who would have thought that these "poor, oppressed, repressed, exploited, gassed..." Kurds, would resort to such a thing as Torture. But yes, they do.

And this is NOT the first report on Torture in " Democratic Kurdistan".

Two security organs in Suleimaniya are responsible for extracting information through sadistic methods -- the Ass'aich and the Zanaree, security and intelligence bodies. The latter is a branch of the PUK party - the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.

According to this article, news are circulating in Suleimaniya and elsewhere in the Kurdish regions, and it is the talk of the town, from the street cafés, to family gatherings to the daily press in "Kurdistan", that torture is wide spread in Kurdish prisons.

Several detainees were interviewed and they all corroborated that the following methods were used - detainees are stripped naked, severe beatings with metals chairs, metal rods, and water hoses.

Rape of the detainee and the female members of the detainee's family.

Immersion in ice cold water and electrocution with cables while immersed. Placing huge blocs of ice on the naked detainee's chest for hours. Solitary confinement in a toilet full of excrements for days. Loud music for weeks on end, day and night.

The tying of hands from behind the back, the tying of feet and suspending the detainees from the ceiling and last but not least, the use of what was described as a "retarded crazy man" by the name of "Daniel", who looks like a Rambo. Huge stature, bulky and full of muscles. "Daniel" was a detainee himself who went mad during his torture sessions and is now utilized by the Kurdish security forces. From the testimonies, this "guy" Daniel has lost all sense of humanity and has become like a robot executing orders. His only requirement is to be fed on a regular basis.

One of the detainees adds that he was so severely tortured that he started internally hemorrhaging which promptly required hospitalization. After his hospital stay and once given the adequate medical care, he was returned to prison to endure more torture, until he finally admitted to a crime he did not commit.

Needless to add, none of these detainees were charged with anything and had no trial.The irony of the matter is that the advisor to the minister of human rights affairs, Mansur Hakeem, admitted that abuses, brutality, torture and violations of human rights do take place in Kurdish prisons but he said "unfortunately, our powers are very limited and we have asked that such practices cease, to no avail..." (full article in Arabic here)

Don't you just love "Kurdish democracy" -- American style ?!

Read the Government Report on SLAVERY and IRAQ

By J. Clifford

June 16, 2008

There is a report that was released by the U.S. State Department just at the end of last week, and it’s something that every American ought to take at least a short look at: It’s the Trafficking in Persons Report for 2008, a document that summarizes the problem of slavery around the world.

Sadly, there are many, many nations where trafficking in slaves is a problem. Even the Bahamas is under suspicion as a place through which slaves are transported.
In terms of U.S. foreign policy, there’s one country in particular that ought to receive special scrutiny when it comes to the slave trade: Iraq. Like Colin Powell said years ago, we broke it, and now we own it.

George W. Bush, John McCain and their Republican colleagues say that it’s still possible to make Iraq into a shiny, happy place that will make all the death and mayhem there resulting from their war worthwhile. That’s not the image of Iraq that’s given by the Trafficking in Persons Report, however. The report says of Iraq,

" Iraq is a source and destination country for men and women trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation and involuntary servitude. Iraqi children are trafficked within the country and abroad for commercial sexual exploitation; criminal gangs may have targeted young boys, and staff of private orphanages may have trafficked young girls for forced prostitution. Iraqi women are trafficked within Iraq, as well as to Syria, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Turkey, and Iran for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation.

Iraq is also a destination for men and women trafficked from Georgia, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Nepal, Philippines, and Sri Lanka for involuntary servitude as construction workers, cleaners, and handymen. Women from the Philippines and Indonesia are trafficked into the Kurdish territory for involuntary servitude as domestic servants. Some of these workers are offered fraudulent jobs in Kuwait or Jordan, but are then tricked or forced into involuntary servitude in Iraq instead; others go to Iraq voluntarily, but are still subjected to conditions of involuntary servitude after arrival.

Although the governments of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and the Philippines have official bans prohibiting their nationals from working in Iraq, workers from these countries are coerced into positions in Iraq with threats of abandonment in Kuwait or Jordan, starvation, or force.

Iraq did not take any meaningful action to address trafficking in persons over the reporting period. Although it has a functioning judiciary, the government neither prosecuted any trafficking cases this year nor convicted any traffickers. Furthermore, the government offers no protection services to victims of trafficking, reported no efforts to prevent trafficking in persons, and does not acknowledge trafficking to be a problem in the country."


This is the diagnosis from the Bush Administration itself: "Iraq did not take any meaningful action" to stop the slave trade going on within its borders.

This Iraqi government is what American soldiers are fighting and dying to protect. This Iraqi government is what we are spending trillions of dollars to prop up.

The American-supported government in Iraq is not lifting a finger to stop the slave trade going on right under its nose. Even when little boys and girls are being sold as slaves, into sexual servitude, the government of Iraq is doing nothing to stop it.
Is this haven for slavery what John McCain insists the United States needs to keep fighting to protect?

irregulartimes.com/index.php/archives/2008/06/16/read-the-government-report-on-s lavery-and-iraq/

Monday 16 June 2008

هل اصبحت الحدود العراقية التركية دائرة لمخابرات الحزبين الكرديين



IRAK TÜRKMEN CEPHESİ الجبهة التركمانية العراقية
(GENEL MERKEZ) (المقر العام)



الدائرة الإعلامية ENFORMASYON DAİRESİ
العدد: 42SAYI: 42
التاريخ:16\6\2008 TARİH: 16.06.2008


هل اصبحت الحدود العراقية التركية
دائرة لمخابرات الحزبين الكرديين

أصبح التركمان يفضلون السفر الى خارج العراق من أي منفذ حدودي الا منفذ ( ابراهيم الخليل ) الذي تحول الى دائرة تحقيقات على التركمان خاصة الشباب منهم الذين يتعرضون الى مضايقات جمة وتوجيه الاسئلة الاستفزازية من قبل الادارة الكردية للمتنفذ الحدودي التي لاتنفك تسأل جميع الشباب التركمان عن سبب توجههم الى تركيا وكيفية حصول على تأشيرة السفر (الفيزا )و الاستفسار عن اسماء الذين سيقابلهم في تركيا
لقد وصل الاستفزاز الى درجة كبيرة من خلال تفتيش الحقائب والملابس بصورة غير اخلاقية مع توجيه الكلمات القاسية للشباب واجبارهم على فتح جهاز الهاتف النقال ( الموبايل ) للاطلاع على الاسماء ( في العراق وتركيا ) وفحص الصور والاغاني والقيام بالتحقيق مع من في هاتفه صورة لعلم تركماني وشعار الجبهة
وتعرض الكثير من تركمان للمضايقات ونشير كمثال وليس للحصر قيامهم قبل 40 يوما بالقاء القبض على شاب تركماني يعمل في اتحاد الطلبة وحجزه والتحقيق معه لمدة اسبوع والظغط عليه لانتزاع اعترافات كاذبة بالقوة حول منصبه في الجبهة وان كان يعمل لصالح المخابرات التركية في أي عالم متحضر تتحول نقطة الحدود الى دائرة مخابرات ؟
والى متى يبقى الحال على هذا الوضع ؟
لقد ان الاوان لتقوم الحكومة المركزية بفتح معبر حدودي جديد مع تركيا من اطراف تلعفر بعيدا عن أعين واصابع مخابرات الاحزاب الكردية



الجبهة التركمانية العرقية
الدائرة الاعلامية

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العنوان: كركوك- طريق بغداد- قرب بناية المحافظة Adres:Kerkük. Bağdat yolu. Valilik binası yanında
Tel: 00946050. 221462 E.mail:ITC_media@yahoo.com
ITC_media@live.com


Sunday 15 June 2008

Kerkük'te Mülk Sorunu Sürüyor

Beşir
A Turkmen village whose 9.000 inhabitants were forcedly displaced under
the Arabization programme

15 Haziran 2008

Saddam rejimi sırasında evleri ve arazileri zorla ellerinden alındı. İşgalden sonra ise yüzbinlerce Kürt göçmen, arazilerine yerleştirildi.

Kerküklü Türkmenler, ellerindeki tapulara rağmen yüzlerce yıllık taşınmazlarına dönemiyor.
Türkmenlerin taşınmazlarına yönelik hak ihlalleri devam ediyor. Kerkük'te Türkmenlere ait taşınmazlara yönelik hak ihlalleri sürüyor. Saddam rejimi sırasında evleri ve arazileri zorla ellerinden alındı. İşgalden sonra ise yüzbinlerce Kürt göçmen, arazilerine yerleştirildi.

Kerküklü Türkmenler, ellerindeki tapulara rağmen yüzlerce yıllık taşınmazlarına dönemiyor.
Bugün sadece Tisin mahallesinde Türkmenlere ait 70 bin dönüm arazi ve 1500 konut işgal altında.

Kerkük yakınlarındaki Beşir Köyü'nde de Türkmenlere ait tapulu 85 bin dönüm tarım arazisinde yıllardır Arap göçmenler oturuyor.

2800 Türkmen ailenin hak arayışı bugüne kadar hep sonuçsuz kalmış.
Başkalarının ekip biçtiği tarlalarına yaklaşamıyorlar bile. Yollarına mayın döşeniyor, üzerlerine ateş açılıyor.

Türkmenlere ait taşınmazlara yönelik ihlaller hassas dengeler üzerinde duran Kerkük'te durumu daha da sıkıntıya sokmaktan başka bir işe yaramıyor.


TRT

Conference at the EU Parliament in Brussels: "KERKUK PROBLEM AND ARTICLE 140: DEFINING ALTERNATIVES"


“Kerkuk Problem and Article 140: Defining Alternatives"
The views of Kerkuk’s Turkmen and Arabs

Organizers: Organized by the Iraqi Turkmen Human Rights Research Foundation (SOITM) in partnership with Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) with the assistance of the office of Ms. Ana Maria Gomes, Member of the European Parliament

Location: European Parliament, Brussels, ASP 5G2

Date: 23 June 2008, 01:00pm – 04:30pm


Topics: Kerkuk is a city rich in both oil and history. Home to Turkmens, Kurds, Arabs, Chaldeo-Assyrians, and other indigenous communities, Kurdish claim of the city is at present subject to both conflict and controversy. The Turkmen and Arab leaders, citing their historic presence in the city, have expressed opposition in particular to its proposed inclusion in the nearby Kurdish region.
Selecting from article 58 of the Transitional Administrative Law (TAL) for Iraq, article 140 of the Iraqi constitution was extracted to mandate a resolution of this dispute through a process of normalization and a census, followed by a referendum to be held no later than 31 December 2007. This mechanism had however proved largely ineffectual and was not realized. The referendum appears as a consequence potentially set to deliver yet further instability and volatility.

The shortcomings of the process so far stem in part from a failure to define adequately a number of the key provisions outlined in article 140; the link between the components of normalization, census, and referendum; eligibility to vote; the threshold needed for a decision; and the boundaries of voting districts. Most crucially however, there has been little discussion of what options are to be presented to voters in an eventual referendum. This, in particular, has resulted in discussions reducing to a simple dispute between those who would see Kerkuk included in the Kurdish region and those who oppose this. There has consequently been little room for constructive compromise.

Acknowledging that the prevailing status-quo serves none of its citizens, Iraqi Turkmen participants opposed to the city’s inclusion in the Kurdistan region will be invited to present a proposal by which Kerkuk might be administered as a distinct Governorate or federal region within Iraq. This is already the solution preferred for Baghdad, as well as many other disputed cities around the world.

Iraqi Turkmens have remained marginalized during the process of reconstructing the Iraqi state after 2003, arguing that relatively little has been achieved with respect to correcting the past injustices they have suffered. The recent waves of disproportionate Kurdish immigration into Kerkuk raises suspicions of the role this might play in the imminent referendum on the city’s future status.

The conference would aim therefore to begin a process of rephrasing the discussion of Kerkuk’s future status in more constructive terms, principally by offering an alternative picture of its final status.

This conference aims to convene representatives of Iraq’s new institutions with European policy makers with an interest and opportunity to influence the reconstruction of the Iraqi state. The concerns of the Kerkuk’s Turkmens and Arabs will be presented by some of their most prominent figures in an effort to ensure that the next crucial steps in the reconstruction process proceed in a manner consistent with the principles of democracy, human rights, and the genuine inclusion of all affected not-ruling communities (minorities) in the region. These are principles without which a stable Iraq will inevitably remain illusive.

Invited contributors:

Ana Maria Gomez, MEP, Parliament’s Rapporteur on Iraq
Ali M. Sadeq, member of Kerkuk City Council
Marino Busdachin, UNPO General Secretary
Mohammed Kh. Nasef, Member of Kerkuk City Council, member of article 140 committee
Mohammed Mahdi Ameen, Member of the Iraqi Parliament
Muzaffer Arslan, Advisor on Turkmen Affairs to the President of Iraq H.E. Jalal Talabani
Rakan S. Ali, member of Kerkuk City Council
Sheth Jerjis, SOITM Chairman
Tahsin Mohammed Ali Wali, Member of Kerkuk City Council, member of article 140 committee
Yako Michael Jajjo, Foundation Assyria

Kürtler Brüksel konferansından rahatsız



Dilşat Terzi-Erbil İçinde bulunduğumuz ayın 23'ünde Belçika'nın başkenti Brüksel'de yapılması planlanan Kerkük konferansı Kürtleri rahatsız etti. Bu konuda Erbil'de Kürtçe yayınlanan ve Barzani taraftarı Hewler Gazetesi'ne konuşan Kerkük il meclisi Kürt üyelerinden Awat Ahmed, konferanstaki geniş katılımın kendilerini rahatsız ettiğini ifade etti.
Ahmed " Kürtler Kerkük'te iktidarı ellerinde bulundurdukları için konferansa çağırılmadı"diye konuştu. Gazetenin verdiği bilgiye göre Temsil Edilmeyen Toplumlar Organizasyonu tarafından düzenlenen konferansa Irak'tan 70 kişi ve 45 yabancı katılacak. Kerkük il meclisinin Kürt başkanı Rizgar Ali ise gazeteye verdiği demeçte, Kerkük'ün içişlerine müdahale etmemek şartıyla tüm grupların konferans düzenlemekte serbest olduğunu söyledi.
Ali, Temsil Edilmeyen Toplumlar Organizasyonu'nu eleştirerek organizasyonun Kürtleri konferansa davet etmemesinin hayret verici olduğunu iddi ederek şöyle konuştu : " Organizasyonun devletlere sahip olmalarına rağmen Türkmen ve Arapları çağırırken, devleti olmayan Kürtleri çağırmaması hayret vericidir".
Kerkük il meclisinin Türkmen üyesi Ali Mehdi, aynı Kürt gazetesine verdiği mülakatta konferansa Irak Başbakanı Nuri Maliki'nin yanı sıra Kerkük İl meclisinden 2 Türkmen üyenin katılımıyla başlayacağını iddia etti. Ali Mehdi, konferansın Kerkük'te iktidar paylaşımının tüm gruplar arasında adil biçimde sağlanmasını hedeflediğini belirtti.

Conference on Assyrians in Iraq at the EU Parliament







Please see click on the link below:



http://turkmenfriendship.blogspot.com/2008/06/conference-on-assyrians-in-iraq-at-eu.html



Conference on Assyrians in Iraq on 11 June 2008
Chaired by Esther de Lange, MEP
Co-chaired by Dimitrakopoulos MEP and M. Mladenov MEP

Killing and Wounding Six Peshmarga in Jalawla

Thursday, 12 June 2008

Information sources in Diyala Province confirmed that three Peshmarga elements were killed and three others were wounded in the explosion which occurred yesterday afternoon in Jalawla area 155 km north of Baquba.

HEYET Net - The sources added that an explosive device exploded when a vehicle carrying Peshmarga elements were passing on the eastern region near Jalawla.

According to the reports the security forces surrounded the location of the event and began a campaign of raids and searches the housing near the site of the explosion, "indicating that the explosion device was remote control device".

It is noteworthy that the aforementioned Peshmarga forces belong to the known political Kurdish parties and were deployed in the areas of Jalawla, Muslim, Khanaqin and Mandali.

On the other hand Peshmarga forces are often blamed of participating in joint operations with the occupation and Iraqi Government forces against residential areas under the pretext of so-called terror, to catch gunmen and etc resulting hundreds of innocent Iraqis dead, wounded, arrested or detained.

HEYET Net

Saturday 14 June 2008

58 US Bases in Iraq?

Raed Jarrar has posted an interesting comment on his blog:

http://raedinthemiddle.blogspot.com/


Saturday, June 14, 2008

58 bases? I don't think so

the "media leaks" about the U.S.-Iraqi treaty are fishy. there is a huge Iraqi public and parliamentary opposition to signing any treaty with the U.S. while Iraq is occupied, but what has been happening lately is that some U.S.-backed Iraqi puppets have been manufacturing a parallel fake crisis in this way:

1- leaking exaggerated information to the media: The Iraqi and U.S. negotiators want to set the bar low by claiming there are 58 bases, so that when they announce the real draft with say 5 bases it will sound reasonable and it will make the negotiations look legitimate.

2- Creating a fake opposition front: U.S.-backed Iraqi puppets, who are openly for permanent bases and indefinite occupation, have been giving strong statements against the U.S. intervention to steal the thunder of the real opposition. Then in a few weeks the same people will tell us that they've reached to a mid-way solution that will respect Iraq's sovereignty.

It seems that the majority of the media have taken the bait. I personally don't think there is any real negotiations taking place. There is a final draft the U.S. and Iraqi "negotiators" are trying to market, and they're going to announce it very soon.Whether the U.S. government wants to leave 200 bases or 1 base in Iraq, the Iraqi resistance to the foreign occupiers will not change. It is not a matter of "troops level", it is more about "occupation presence".

The only way to end violence in Iraq is to set a timetable for a complete withdrawal of all foreign occupiers that leaves no bases, troops, or mercenaries behind.

Posted By Raed Jarrar at 2:06 PM

ITC'DE TOPLANTI

13 Haziran 2008

Türkmenler tek listeyle Mahalli seçimlere katılıyor. Irak Türkmen Cephesi Başkanı Dr.Sadettin Ergeç'in Başkanlığında Kerkük'te bir toplantı yapıldı.Toplantıda Mahalli seçimlerin işleyişi ve Türkmen halkının bu seçimlere katılımı ele alındı.


Irak Türkmen Cephesi başkanlık binasında gerçekleşen toplantıya, Irak Türkmen Cephesi'nin Türkmeneli bölgesindeki tüm il başkanları katıldı.Toplantıya,Irak Türkmen Cephesi Başkanı ve Türkmen Milletvekili Dr.Sadettin Ergeç başkanlık etti.

Türkmen halkının yaşadığı sorunların ele alındığı toplantıda,Ekim ayında yapılması beklenen yerel seçimlere tüm halkın katılması gerektiği belirtildi. Dr.Sadettin Ergeç, birlik çağrısında bulunarak Telafer'den Mendili'ye kadar tek bir listeyle bu seçimlere girme kararının alındığını belirtti.Irak Türkmen Cephesi'nin tüm Türkmeneli bölgelerindeki il Başkanlarının katıldığı toplantıda Irak ve Türkmen sahasındaki son siyasi gelişmeler masaya yatırıldı.

Toplantıda ayrıca Türkmeneli bölgeleri ve özelliklede Kerkük'te Türkmenlerin yaşadığı sıkıntılar görüşüldü.Toplantıya katılanlar ülkede ekim ayında yapılacak mahalli seçimlere tüm Türkmen halkının katılmasını istediler. Toplantıda ayrıca, Telafer Ağalar Meclisi Başkanı ve Türkmen Mclisi üyesi Şeyh Muhammet Feysal ve Yradımcısı Şeyh Abdulnur Tahhan'ın şehit edilmeleri şiddetle kınanarak şehitlere allahtan rahmet deleğinde bulunuldu.

Türkmeneli TV

George Galloway: Our Government's Dirty Little Secrets.

House of Commons debates - Wednesday, 11 June 2008

- Somalia (Human Rights)
Motion made, and Question proposed,
That this House do now adjourn. —[Steve McCabe.]

By George Galloway
13/06/08 "ICH " -- - -

A Government ready to rely on those friends of liberty, the Democratic Unionist party, to shred the liberties of our own people are almost by definition unembarrassable, but I hope this evening to add to the issues ventilated in a recent Channel 4 "Dispatches" programme to adumbrate the extent to which the tragedy in Somalia, which so many people are now becoming aware of, is another of our Government's dirty little secrets.

We must start the story in Ethiopia, where 4 million people, according to the United Nations, are facing starvation and 120,000 Ethiopian children have just one month to live, according to last week's media reports. Television viewers were shocked to see the pictures last week of the widespread suffering redolent of 1984 and the great famine of that year.

The US and Britain immediately pledged $90 million in famine relief. Just one week after its appeal to the international community for famine relief, the Ethiopian Government increased their military budget by $50 million to $400 million. The regime in Addis Ababa—when I knew them in the 1980s, they were pro-Albanian Maoists—are the most militarised and heavily armed in Africa. They are in a state of perpetual war or preparation for war with one neighbour, Eritrea, and they are supporting anti-Government rebels in Sudan, many believe with western connivance.

Most astonishingly of all, the Government of Ethiopia—that starving country whose little children are fly infested, kwashiorkor swollen, famished and famine stricken—have been encouraged, armed, trained, financed and otherwise facilitated to invade and occupy their neighbour, Somalia, and create a reign of terror in that land, which is testified to by this voluminous Amnesty International report, which, if I had time, I would extensively quote from.

Somalia has lost thousands of dead as a result of the Ethiopian invasion. Millions have been displaced. Somalia, under Ethiopian occupation, is the grimmest prison state in Africa—far worse than Mugabe's Zimbabwe.

Who has done the encouraging, the arming, the training, the financing and the facilitating? The same US and British Governments who donated the $90 million to the same Ethiopian Government who are burning their money and burning the villages, the neighbourhoods and the people of occupied Somalia.

This Government are never done talking about the shortcomings of African leaders. Just last week in Rome, the Secretary of State for International Development was roaring at Robert Mugabe, yet there has not been a squeak out of him, or any other Minister, about the much bigger crime in which we are ourselves deeply complicit. Is it any wonder that African opinion considers so much of what we have to say about misgovernance in Africa to be the deepest, most cynical hypocrisy?

Two weeks ago, Channel 4's "Dispatches" team took terrifying risks to bring us the latest from occupied Mogadishu. That was undoubtedly an award-winning documentary. It was memorable for many reasons, not least the scene in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office when the Minister of State, Lord Malloch-Brown, his face frozen in horror, was confronted by Aidan Hartley with the central case of the documentary makers. For the benefit of Members who did not see the programme—the Minister will certainly have seen it; she would hardly be sent out to bat on this wicket without being shown it—that central case was that, in the grim prison state of occupied Somalia, the fingerprints of our country and our Government were all over the scene of the crime.

The President of the puppet regime imposed by the Ethiopian army in Somalia turns out to be British. He spends much of his time here—well, it is dangerous in Somalia, after all—and has property and family here. After presiding over a gang of torturers, murderers, grand larceners and extortionists, he flies back to England. Then there is the police chief whose officers kidnap people for ransom, which they extort from people living in our own country—in Leicester, in Birmingham, in London. They torture people, make them disappear, and kill them if their families will not pay. He too is British.

As for the former Interior Minister who presides over an interior of mass refugee camps, starvation and misery, and who stands accused of stealing international aid and diverting food for political purposes—why, he is British as well.

Guess who is paying the wages of the murdering, kidnapping, torturing, quisling police force in Ethiopian-occupied Somalia? That's right: we are. The public dictatorship in Somalia is a very British crime, especially as our own Government—in particular, that pocket-sized Palmerston to whom I referred earlier, the Secretary of State for International Development—are so voluble on the subject of other problems in Africa.

So how did we get here? How did we get into bed with the former pro-Albanian Maoists of the Government in Addis Ababa? I am afraid that the answer is our old friend, our old acquaintance, the policy of "my enemy's enemy is my friend". The policy that has got us into so much trouble, from Afghanistan to Iraq and many other parts of the world, is what lies behind this obscene paradox.

We are supporting the Ethiopian Government's occupation of Somalia because George Bush told us to: because Somalia is a front line in George Bush's ill-conceived, counter-productive, utterly discredited, "about to be booted out in the United States" so-called war on terror. We were against the former Government of Somalia because they were an Islamic Government, just as we are against the Government in Sudan because they are an Islamic Government, and just as Ethiopia, on our behalf, opposed the Government in Eritrea because they are an Islamic Government.

This policy, having been such a disaster around the world, is now in full force in Somalia, and but for Channel 4's "Dispatches" hardly anyone in Britain would know anything about it. No British Minister has come to the Dispatch Box to explain why British taxpayers' money is being paid to a police force in Mogadishu that is accused of kidnapping people and extorting ransom money from British citizens. No British Minister has come to explain—unless we interpret Lord Malloch-Brown's frozen face as an explanation—why we are so heavily involved with a puppet regime that is bereft of political and public support in Somalia.

This policy of backing anyone whom Bush tells us to back—this policy of backing anyone who is against those whom we, today, perceive ourselves to be against—is morally utterly vacuous. Arguably worse than that, however, is the fact that it is a total, dismal failure, as we have found in Afghanistan to our bitter, bitter cost, not least this very week. The very mujaheds whom Mrs. Thatcher's Government lauded, supported and armed are now murdering and killing our soldiers in Afghanistan—It being Seven o'clock, the motion for the Adjournment of the House lapsed, without Question put.

Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn .—[Ms Diana R. Johnson.]


http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20091.htm

UN official says financial controls on Iraqi oil proceeds ‘deficient’

June 2008

–The United Nations representative on the international body monitoring the handling of more than $100 billion in proceeds from sales of Iraqi oil says financial controls are “deficient” although progress has been made in some areas.

Warren Sach, the Secretary-General’s representative on the International Advisory and Monitoring Board (IAMB) for Iraq, reported to the Security Council today on independent audits that were carried out on the Development Fund for Iraq (DFI) in 2007.

Under Security Council Resolution 1483, $106 billion was deposited with DFI from petroleum sales between 2003 and 2007. A further $10.4 billion from the balance of the UN oil-for-food programme was deposited with DFI as well as $1.5 billion from Iraq’s frozen assets.

“The results of the audits in 2007 indicate that, while many efforts are being made, sometimes at great personal sacrifice, the overall financial system of controls in place in the [Iraqi] spending ministries, the US agencies handling of outstanding commitments using DFI resources and the Iraqi administration of DFI resources remain deficient and financial management reforms need to be pursued further,” Mr. Sach said in his report.

Mr. Sach said that the IAMB aims to ensure that the IDF is used in a transparent manner for the benefit of the Iraqi people and that export sales of petroleum were consistent with international market best practices.

He said that audit reports on DFI have highlighted weaknesses in internal financial controls, including incomplete record keeping at the Iraqi Ministry of Finance, lack of a comprehensive oil metering system, sale of oil and oil products outside of the DFI, incomplete contract information associated with US agencies’ contracts and bartering.

The UN comptroller also reported that fewer than 15 per cent of previous recommendations to Iraqi spending ministries had been implemented. While noting that some progress had been made, “further measures to strengthen the internal control framework are necessary,” Mr. Sach added.

On oil metering, Mr. Sach said it was a key factor to achieve financial transparency and accountability and was in accordance with standard oil industry practices, but he noted that while some metering had been installed at oil terminals, there continued to be no metering in oil fields.

“The IAMB continues to view this matter as urgent, especially in light of the auditor’s report that showed unreconciled differences related to production, export sales and internal consumption,” he said.

Mr. Sach added that the Iraqi State Oil Marketing Organization continued to use barter transactions, which made it difficult to establish whether fair value had been received for the country’s oil exports, although a barter arrangement with a neighbouring country ceased as of 31 December 2007.

In a related development, the Security Council released a press statement noting “continued political, security and humanitarian challenges facing Iraq,” but also recognizing “the important efforts made by the Iraqi Government to improve security, national reconciliation, budget execution, reconstruction, and economic progress, as well as combat terrorism and sectarian violence across Iraq.”

Also today, the UN Special Adviser on Iraq, Ibrahim Gambari, in a briefing to the Council, said “there is indeed new hope that the people and Government of Iraq have started to overcome daunting challenges and to work together at rebuilding their country.”

Mr. Gambari noted that there had been security improvements in many parts of the country and that there had been steady progress in improving the capacity of Iraqi security forces, as well as the curbing of militias and other armed groups.

“The situation still remains fragile,” Mr. Gambari reported. “Ordinary Iraqis continue to face the threat of violence in the form of terrorist attacks, sectarianism or criminal acts and violations of human rights continue to occur.”

However, the Special Adviser said that there had been indications of progress on political dialogue in the country. He cited reports that talks on the return of the leading Sunni bloc, Tawafuq, to the Government were apparently progressing well, and added that Turkoman representatives had ended their 18-month boycott of the Kirkuk Provincial Council.