10-10-2017, 10:26 PM
*** 11-Oct-17 World View -- Tensions between Turks and Iraqi Kurds grow as another ISIS stronghold falls
This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com
****
**** Hundreds of ISIS fighters surrender as Iraqi town of Hawija falls
****
![[Image: g171010b.jpg]](http://Media.GenerationalDynamics.com/ww2010/g171010b.jpg)
Iraqi forces flash victory sign after defeating ISIS in Hawija (AFP)
In a dramatic turn, hundreds of fighters from the so-called Islamic
State (IS or ISIS or ISIL or Daesh) have surrendered en masse,
following the recapture of the town of Hawija from ISIS occupation,
suggesting that morale is collapsing among ISIS fighters.
However, they didn't surrender to the invading Iraqi Shia government
forces, presumably out of fear of retribution. Instead, they fled to
the city of Kirkuk, which is held by Peshmerga (Kurdish militia), and
surrendered to them. According to one Kurdish security official:
<QUOTE>"Approximately 1,000 men surrendered over the last
week. Not all, however, are terrorists. It's fair to say hundreds
probably are [ISIS] members, but that will be clear after the
debriefs."<END QUOTE>
ISIS was effectively defeated in Iraq in July, when Iraqi forces
captured Mosul, the group's de facto capital in Iraq, after a
bloody nine-month battle. ISIS still holds some territory in western
Iraq in a stretch of land along the border with Syria.
Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi says that the rest of ISIS-held
territory will be recaptured by the end of the year.
Russian state media have been somewhat schizophrenic about the
situation. On the one hand, they've congratulated the Iraq government
for the victory in Hawija. On the other hand, because some ISIS
fighters have fled across the border into Syria, they've gone off the
deep end by claiming that the United States is only "pretending" to
fight against ISIS in Iraq. Very funny. Reuters and Sputnik (Moscow) and Al Bawaba and Russia Today
****
**** Tensions grow between Turkmens and Kurds in Kirkuk
****
The fight against ISIS has unified many groups of forces -- the
Iraqis, the Kurds, the Turks, the Russians, the Syrians, the Iranians,
Hezbollah, and the Americans -- in a common goal of defeating ISIS.
As ISIS continues to lose ground in both Iraq, all of these forces
are increasingly turning their attention to fighting each other.
As we reported a couple of days ago,
Kirkuk is becoming a flash point in northeastern Iraq. Since
2014, it was the Kurdish Peshmerga militia forces that have fought
ISIS and prevented a takeover of Kirkuk, and now the Kurds expect to
retain control of Kirkuk, especially as a result of the overwhelming
passage of the September 25 Kurdistan referendum on independence from
Iraq.
Turkmens are the third-largest ethnic group in Iraq, and claim to have
been denied their rights since Saddam Hussein was overthrown in 2003.
However, they've had their own internal problems because they've had
their own sectarian split between Sunni and Shia Turkmens. However,
the Turkmens in Kirkuk are united in that they do not want to be part
of an independent Kurdistan.
Turkey and the Iraqi Kurds have been cooperating as long as the
fight against ISIS in Mosul was progressing. But now,
Turkey's government is opposed to an independent Kurdistan,
and is particularly opposed to Kirkuk being part of
Kurdistan.
Devlet Bahçeli, the head of Turkey's Nationalist Movement Party (MHP),
says that contested regions of Iraq, such as Kirkuk and Mosul, are
"the lands of Turkmens." There is a big Kurdish community in Turkey,
including members of the terrorist group Kurdistan Workers' Party
(PKK), which has been conducting terrorist acts in Turkey for decades.
Turkey fears that any sort of Kurdish independence in Iraq will
energize the PKK in Turkey. Bahçeli says:
<QUOTE>"The safety of Kirkuk is the safety of Ankara. If the
land of Turkmens is put into the fire, Turkey will not be safe.
The independence bid is an attempt to resurrect the Sévres
[Treaty] and to fracture neighboring countries
“A rehearsal for Kurdistan will affect the future of the Republic
of Turkey. It is a question of survival, a matter of sociological
fragmentation."<END QUOTE>
Bahçeli referred to the 1920 Treaty of Sévres, which divided up
Ottoman territory after World War I. Al Monitor and Daily Sabah (Ankara) and Hurriyet (Ankara)
Related Articles
KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Iraq, Hawija, Kirkuk, Kurdistan, Peshmerga,
Islamic State / of Iraq and Syria/Sham/the Levant, IS, ISIS, ISIL, Daesh
Mosul, Haider al-Abadi, Turkmens, Kurds,
turkey, Devlet Bahçeli, Nationalist Movement Party, MHP,
Kurdistan Workers' Party, PKK, Treaty of Sévres
Permanent web link to this article
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail
Contribute to Generational Dynamics via PayPal
John J. Xenakis
100 Memorial Drive Apt 8-13A
Cambridge, MA 02142
Phone: 617-864-0010
E-mail: john@GenerationalDynamics.com
Web site: http://www.GenerationalDynamics.com
Forum: http://www.gdxforum.com/forum
Subscribe to World View: http://generationaldynamics.com/subscribe
This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com
- Hundreds of ISIS fighters surrender as Iraqi town of Hawija falls
- Tensions grow between Turkmens and Kurds in Kirkuk
****
**** Hundreds of ISIS fighters surrender as Iraqi town of Hawija falls
****
Iraqi forces flash victory sign after defeating ISIS in Hawija (AFP)
In a dramatic turn, hundreds of fighters from the so-called Islamic
State (IS or ISIS or ISIL or Daesh) have surrendered en masse,
following the recapture of the town of Hawija from ISIS occupation,
suggesting that morale is collapsing among ISIS fighters.
However, they didn't surrender to the invading Iraqi Shia government
forces, presumably out of fear of retribution. Instead, they fled to
the city of Kirkuk, which is held by Peshmerga (Kurdish militia), and
surrendered to them. According to one Kurdish security official:
<QUOTE>"Approximately 1,000 men surrendered over the last
week. Not all, however, are terrorists. It's fair to say hundreds
probably are [ISIS] members, but that will be clear after the
debriefs."<END QUOTE>
ISIS was effectively defeated in Iraq in July, when Iraqi forces
captured Mosul, the group's de facto capital in Iraq, after a
bloody nine-month battle. ISIS still holds some territory in western
Iraq in a stretch of land along the border with Syria.
Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi says that the rest of ISIS-held
territory will be recaptured by the end of the year.
Russian state media have been somewhat schizophrenic about the
situation. On the one hand, they've congratulated the Iraq government
for the victory in Hawija. On the other hand, because some ISIS
fighters have fled across the border into Syria, they've gone off the
deep end by claiming that the United States is only "pretending" to
fight against ISIS in Iraq. Very funny. Reuters and Sputnik (Moscow) and Al Bawaba and Russia Today
****
**** Tensions grow between Turkmens and Kurds in Kirkuk
****
The fight against ISIS has unified many groups of forces -- the
Iraqis, the Kurds, the Turks, the Russians, the Syrians, the Iranians,
Hezbollah, and the Americans -- in a common goal of defeating ISIS.
As ISIS continues to lose ground in both Iraq, all of these forces
are increasingly turning their attention to fighting each other.
As we reported a couple of days ago,
Kirkuk is becoming a flash point in northeastern Iraq. Since
2014, it was the Kurdish Peshmerga militia forces that have fought
ISIS and prevented a takeover of Kirkuk, and now the Kurds expect to
retain control of Kirkuk, especially as a result of the overwhelming
passage of the September 25 Kurdistan referendum on independence from
Iraq.
Turkmens are the third-largest ethnic group in Iraq, and claim to have
been denied their rights since Saddam Hussein was overthrown in 2003.
However, they've had their own internal problems because they've had
their own sectarian split between Sunni and Shia Turkmens. However,
the Turkmens in Kirkuk are united in that they do not want to be part
of an independent Kurdistan.
Turkey and the Iraqi Kurds have been cooperating as long as the
fight against ISIS in Mosul was progressing. But now,
Turkey's government is opposed to an independent Kurdistan,
and is particularly opposed to Kirkuk being part of
Kurdistan.
Devlet Bahçeli, the head of Turkey's Nationalist Movement Party (MHP),
says that contested regions of Iraq, such as Kirkuk and Mosul, are
"the lands of Turkmens." There is a big Kurdish community in Turkey,
including members of the terrorist group Kurdistan Workers' Party
(PKK), which has been conducting terrorist acts in Turkey for decades.
Turkey fears that any sort of Kurdish independence in Iraq will
energize the PKK in Turkey. Bahçeli says:
<QUOTE>"The safety of Kirkuk is the safety of Ankara. If the
land of Turkmens is put into the fire, Turkey will not be safe.
The independence bid is an attempt to resurrect the Sévres
[Treaty] and to fracture neighboring countries
“A rehearsal for Kurdistan will affect the future of the Republic
of Turkey. It is a question of survival, a matter of sociological
fragmentation."<END QUOTE>
Bahçeli referred to the 1920 Treaty of Sévres, which divided up
Ottoman territory after World War I. Al Monitor and Daily Sabah (Ankara) and Hurriyet (Ankara)
Related Articles
- Kirkuk becomes the flash point after the Iraqi Kurdistan independence referendum (03-Oct-2017)
- Israel may be the only country recognizing the Iraq Kurdistan referendum (27-Sep-2017)
- Concerns grow over chaos in Iraq after ISIS is defeated in Mosul (22-Mar-2017)
KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Iraq, Hawija, Kirkuk, Kurdistan, Peshmerga,
Islamic State / of Iraq and Syria/Sham/the Levant, IS, ISIS, ISIL, Daesh
Mosul, Haider al-Abadi, Turkmens, Kurds,
turkey, Devlet Bahçeli, Nationalist Movement Party, MHP,
Kurdistan Workers' Party, PKK, Treaty of Sévres
Permanent web link to this article
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail
Contribute to Generational Dynamics via PayPal
John J. Xenakis
100 Memorial Drive Apt 8-13A
Cambridge, MA 02142
Phone: 617-864-0010
E-mail: john@GenerationalDynamics.com
Web site: http://www.GenerationalDynamics.com
Forum: http://www.gdxforum.com/forum
Subscribe to World View: http://generationaldynamics.com/subscribe
