THE KURDISH QUESTION TRANSCRIPT

With Iraq still mired in violence, in the north of the country the minority Iraqi Kurds have been building - believe it or not - a quite stable, reasonably prosperous and even relatively safe society. But after surviving Saddam's violent efforts to wipe them out and then playing a key role in his downfall, the Kurds don't see themselves as part of any unified Iraq. In fact, as Sophie McNeill reports, their push for independence is ringing alarm bells in both Baghdad and Washington.


REPORTER: Sophie McNeill

This is the border of what's known as the Kurdish Autonomous Zone that separates northern Iraq from the rest of the country. Those entering the zone are examined as if they were passing an international border. Security is stringent, and anyone slightly suspicious is refused entry.

PERSHMERGA, (Translation): Get a screwdriver, we need to remove the number plates.

MAN, (Translation): Why?

PERSHMERGA, (Translation): Just pull your car over there and park it. That's problem.

CAPTAIN, (Translation): We won't let them into Kurdistan region because cars like that will make troubles for Kurdistan. Maybe cars like this are suspicious, and we suspect them of causing explosions, terrorist's acts, sabotage acts. Maybe tomorrow they will TNT this car and explode it and no one knows who that car belongs to. So we will not let this car enter the Kurdistan region.

Arabs from the south are treated as dangerous foreigners in their own country – after all, this is still Iraq.

CAPTAIN, (Translation): The Arabs are more dangerous than the Kurds, Assyrians or Turkmen. The Arabs are t he most dangerous.

It's a tough approach, but it seems to be working. The capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, Irbil, is by far the safest city in the country.

JON CEBRA, SPOKESMAN FOR US RECONSTRUCTION: Since 2003, there have been zero casualties of US soldiers. There have been some terrorist attacks, most recently in May of 2007 here in Irbil. Those have not been targeting international groups.

Jon Cebra is the spokesperson for the US reconstruction team in the Kurdish north. He says life here is a different world compared to Baghdad.

JON CEBRA: This is also a region in which the liberation was extremely popular that the local political parties and the local population were very happy with the overthrow of Saddam Hussein and the opportunity to reintegrate into the rest of Iraq.

But after suffering for years under Saddam Hussein's brutal rule, the Kurds aren't interested in reintegration. On the streets of Irbil, the message is clear – they want independence.

MAN, (Translation): Whether we ask for independence or not, independence is on its way because Iraq’s future is to be divided.

The Kurds now have their own regional government, their own army, and they collect their own taxes. But more significantly, they're signing their own oil deals and it's a very sensitive issue.

KEMEL AFARACI, TTOPCO: We have drilled six wells in total since the beginning of 2006.

Kemel Afaraci works for TTOPCO. A joint Canadian-Turkish owned company, it was given the contract by the Kurdish regional government to run Taq Taq, Kurdistan's largest oil field.

KEMEL AFARACI: When you compare with south Iraq, I mean, Baghdad, Mosul, Kirkuk - it's really like a paradise to work here.

Security might not be an issue, but oil production here in northern Iraq requires negotiating a diplomatic minefield.

REPORTER: But is it with the Kurdistan Government or the Iraqi Government? Sensitive.

It's an awkward question for Kemel because technically the land being drilled here is still inside Iraq and Baghdad is outraged, labelling the Kurdish oil deals as illegal and unconstitutional. On January 17 this year the Iraqi oil ministry in Baghdad issued a new order saying that it would end cooperation and effectively blacklist any foreign oil company that had signed deals with the Kurdish Government here in north Iraq.

MASSOUD BARZANI, KURDISH LEADER (Translation): We do not think anything unconstitutional happened.

Kurdish regional government leader Massoud Barzani insists his government oil deals are not illegal, and is refusing to halt production.

MASSOUD BARZANI (Translation): We would like to cooperate in every way with Baghdad. But if it's a political position to tie up the hands of the Kurds, we will not accept it.

I'm now heading out of the Kurdish zone, south to the city of Kirkuk. It's home to some of the largest oilfields in the country. Past the Kurdish line of control, it's much more dangerous this side of the border. My driver is used to the daily threats on this road, but for my protection, he's organised a car of plainclothes peshmerga - Kurdish soldiers - to trail us on our journey.

AZADEEN (Translation): Because of the terrorists. The terrorists now they would pay millions for you. So if they are with us they will defend us. And protect lives.

Both the Iraqi Government and the Kurds claim these rich oilfields that lie just outside Kirkuk. Since 2003, the city has been plagued by car bombings and attacks as Iraqi Arabs and Kurds battle for control.

REPORTER: So Azadeen, this is Kirkuk?

AZADEEN (Translation): Yes, this is Kirkuk and the area is called Rahimawa. All Kurds.

Today it's a dangerous, run-down place, but for the Kurds, an important symbol of their oppression and the struggle for recognition. To stake claim over the oil fields, Saddam Hussein deliberately altered Kirkuk's demographics by forcibly expelling thousands of Kurdish families and moving Arabs in.

AZADEEN (Translation): This is the stadium. They were displaced long ago, expelled from Kirkuk, but now they've come back and they have no place to go to so they have come here.

With Saddam gone, thousands of Kurds want to return, but many of their former homes have been given to Arabs. Over 500 Kurdish families are now squatting in the grounds of Kirkuk's main stadium. I want to take a look, but it's only possible with the well-armed peshmerga guarding our every step. Open sewerage runs through the makeshift houses, there is no running water, and electricity is only available a few hours a day.
The family of this 6-year-old boy, Omar, returned to Kirkuk after being expelled by Saddam in 1988. They have been living at the stadium since 2003.

WOMAN (Translation): There is no way to live. Our lives are not good. What kind of life can you expect here?

Omar's sister is severely handicapped but there is no health care available.

WOMAN (Translation): No, no one has helped. The name was written many times but nothing happened.

AZADEEN (Translation): Is it nice living here?

OMAR(Translation): No, it's not.

AZADEEN (Translation): Where would you like to live, Omar?

OMAR (Translation): Apartments.

The Kurdish regional government is desperate to win control of Kirkuk and is doing anything it can to increase the Kurdish population.

AZADEEN (Translation): Yes, the Kurdish regional government gave $10,000 to people to come back but not all of them, because the government can't do that. But for some who are building houses, yes.

As well as paying people to come back, the Kurdish Government is also using other methods. This man says Kurdish authorities forced him to return.

MAN (Translation): They sent us to Kirkuk, even cut our salary. I'm a peshmerga, they’ve cut my salary. They said they’d fire me if I didn’t go.

Meanwhile, Kirkuk's Arab citizens fear losing control of the city and accuse the Kurds of playing dirty.

RAKAN SAYED ALI, DEPUTY MAYOR OF KIRKUK (Translation): What's happening in Kirkuk is worrying. The provincial government is involved in monetary payments. It happens. It even carries out projects in disputed areas for party gain. It also facilitates transgressions by people who come from Sulaaimaniya and Irbil and gives them money to build. These things are being done by the government of Kurdistan.

The Iraqi Government is supposed to hold a referendum over the future of Kirkuk so citizens can vote to either remain under Baghdad's control or to become part of the Kurdish Autonomous Region. But the vote, due to be held by December 2007, has now been postponed indefinitely. And the Arabs say they will boycott the referendum anyway.

RAKAN SAYED ALI (Translation): We reject the referendum. We reject it because we see its basis as erroneous, its methods as erroneous and it will not be in anyone's interest.

The Kurds are outraged over the referendum's delay, and President Massoud Barzani has this veiled threat.

MASSOUD BARZANI (Translation): Again I say we hope this will be implemented, because if it's not implemented we are afraid that something will happen. What may happen, I can't tell you now. But for sure it will not remain like now.

Threats of violence are coming from both sides. Kirkuk's Arabs say if the referendum is held and the Kurds win - as they are tipped to do – there will be bloodshed.

RAKAN SAYED ALI (Translation): Without a joint special administration, if it becomes nationalistic or sectarian in character, there will be problems in Kirkuk and there will be a civil war, I believe.

As I leave Kirkuk, I can't help feeling that there's no simple solution in sight for uniting this divided city. Back in the autonomous zone, I'm about to get a very different picture of the Kurdish success story, touted as a thriving and prosperous democracy. This is the office of Kurdistan's only independent newspaper, 'Hawlati', a constant thorn in the side of the regional government. Tariq Fatih is the editor. He's reviewing pictures of an anti-government demonstration he says was brutally broken up by the police.

TARIQ FATIH, EDITOR ‘HAWLATI’ (Translation): The government reaction towards these demonstrations was very strong. There was gunfire. Especially in Halajba and Kalar - one person was killed in Halabja and one in Kalar.

Tariq Fatih says the Kurdish leadership is both oppressive and corrupt.

TARIQ FATIH (Translation): Yes. This is the biggest problem for the Kurds. They have a corruption needle and they try to inject with it wherever they can. People feel there are corrupt elements in government. These people work in government offices. They copy documents and bring them to us.

Tariq's reporters were given these secret documents. He says they show the Ministry of Tourism extorting money from a local businessman

TARIQ FATIH (Translation): The problem is, this guy wants to do the project himself and he was told by the Ministry of Tourism that if he didn't give them part of the contract he won't be allowed to do the project.

MAN (Translation): They told him to sell his project to them but he doesn't want to do that.

Kurdistan has the trappings of an open society, including this smooth-functioning parliament, but democracy here is tightly controlled by two parties and two families. Kurdish Regional President Massoud Barzani is from the KDP party, while Jalal Talabani, from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, is the other Kurdish leader and also the Iraqi President. Their pictures are everywhere and their close relatives control Kurdistan's state media as well as their security and intelligence agencies.

TARIQ FATIH (Translation): It's a totalitarian system. All the media, all the institutions and most civil organisations belong to the parties. And a lot of people are bribed and they're entangled in this corruption.

REPORTER: How can America work with such a government when you have situation where the Prime Minister and the President just give all the best positions and most important positions to their families?

JON CEBRA: Do you want an answer on that?

John Cebra simply doesn't have an answer to that question, but corruption and nepotism in Kurdistan is a big concern for 'Hawlati' editor Tariq Fatih. The newspaper recently published an article that contains controversial allegations by a leading American neo-conservative, Michael Rubin. The paper is now being sued. Tariq reads me part of the story.

TARIQ FATIH (Translation): "The Kurdish leaders aren't trusted by America. Barzani possesses $2 billion and Talibani $400 million."

With claims of corruption swirling, Massoud Barzani denies any impropriety and tries to hose down the accusations against his government.

REPORTER: What is your response to allegations that the Kurdish leadership is corrupt and there's a lot of nepotism?

MASSOUD BARZANI (Translation): I don't say that our situation is exemplary and that there aren't any deficiencies. There is many. For sure. But what he wrote - in fact some of them is right, but most of its exaggeration. We know we have deficiencies and they're being fixed.

The authorities constantly harass the newspaper. Both Tariq and his star reporter, Nabaz Goran, have been beaten by thugs who warned them not to criticise the government. This is the result of a beating handed out to Nabaz. Five years after the American overthrow of Saddam Hussein, reporters here are still imprisoned under the former Ba'ath regime's oppressive media laws.

REPORTER: Is that good enough?

JON CEBRA: Well, it's a work in progress. They do have democratic mechanisms, they do have democratic institutions and they have mechanisms for addressing these issues.

But Tariq Fatih doesn't believe Kurdish leaders have embraced their new democracy.

TARIQ FATIH (Translation): When the revolution started they didn't have any ideology to run this country. What they learned, they learned from the Ba'athists. They were in a fight against the Ba'athists but what they learnt it was from the Ba'athists, the system of administration of the Ba'athists. So it is the same system, with a little more opening regarding freedom of expression.

He's worried the Kurdish leadership is squandering the chance of winning Kirkuk and the great Kurdish dream of independence.

TARIQ FATIH (Translation): Yes, it has deteriorated, breaking little by little and destroying the historical opportunity of the Kurdish people from 1991 until now that we have reached. At the international level this performance and method of running administration and government will hurt us.

Life in Iraqi Kurdistan seems relatively peaceful, but while I'm here the situation takes a dramatic turn for the worse

ALJAZEERA NEWS REPORT: Hello again. The top story on Aljazeera - the Turkish army has launched a major ground offensive into northern Iraq targeting Kurdish fighters. The operation could last for 15 days and the UN has urged Turkey to respect the Iraqi border.

The next morning I join Tariq as he heads into the mountains with one of his reporters to cover Turkey's unprecedented invasion.

TARIQ FATIH (Translation): Turkey has bombed the area using jets.

Another well-armed Kurdish group, the PKK, use these mountains as a base for attacking Turkey. And now the Turks want to wipe them out once and for all. Washington classifies the PKK as a terrorist group, and is annoyed that the Kurdish regional government seems to have turned a blind eye to the rebel's activities.

TARIQ FATIH (Translation): Behind that mountain is the Turkish border. We are about 20 minutes away from it by car.

For Tariq and his reporter Jannour, this new attack highlights the Kurds' lack of any real independence and stirs their nationalistic sentiments.

JANNOUR (Translation): With so many bitter events, like Halabja and Saddam's elimination of the Kurds, all these events happened under the eye of the international community. They were quiet, and it's not the first or last time for us to feel alone because the international community doesn't support us.

In response to the Turkish invasion, Kurdish peshmerga troops have been massing near the border. They're nervous about journalists and won't let me film them. From their position we can hear the Turkish planes in the sky. Up ahead, the Turks have bombed this bridge – the first time they've targeted infrastructure like this.

MAN (Translation): Underneath here is a rocket, it hasn’t exploded since the jets bombed us. It’s under ground and it hasn’t exploded yet.

TARIQ FATIH (Translation): I can hear the sound of jets.

It's not safe here, and we have to move quickly.

TARIQ FATIH (Translation): There are explosions on the other side. I can hear it.

MAN (Translation): Another four bridges were destroyed there.

With his land under attack regional President Mazzoud Barzani says he has no influence over the situation.

MASSOUD BARZANI (Translation): We have helped the PKK but we also don't go to fight against PKK. This is not our business. It's not our problem.

After decades of repression, the Kurds have a strong sense of their history. In the teahouses, these men remember a close relationship with America. Now they're outraged that their once-great ally has given Turkey the green light to invade.

MAN IN TEASHOP, (Translation): Turkey and America exchanging information on the PKK was another betrayal of the Kurds. It's not something that people are happy with.

The Kurds were once said to be America's best friends in the Middle East, but now wonder whether their independence was ever part of America's plans. Once again they feel abandoned by the world.

MAN 2 (Translation): Our population is 40 million, but we're not free. Why? Why should Kurds be controlled by Arabs are Persians or Turks? We have all the elements to establish a government. All the elements... we have the right to be free. We have the right to be independent.

Credits

Reporter/Camera
SOPHIE MCNEILL

Editor
WAYNE LOVE

Producer
GEOFF PARISH

Fixer
BIZO ABDULKADIR

Subtitling
MAYADA KURDI-KHALIL
AVAN ALBARZANJI

Original Music composed by
VICKI HANSEN