Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
Share KSS on:
Welcome to Kurdistan sky scrapers forum. Hope you enjoy your visit.


You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free.


Join our community!


If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Locked Topic
[ti]DA[/ti]South Kurdistan | Kurdish Territories recently reunited with KRG; Kirkuk, Khanaqin, Sinjar, Jalawla, Sadyea, Qara Tape, Tel Kef, Tal Afar, Hamdanya
Topic Started: 22nd November 2012 - 05:55 PM (249,942 Views)
Zagros
No Avatar
Serdar
Kurdish advances

By JONATHAN SPYER

With ISIS’s induced violence shaking the region, Kurdish forces quietly make headway in the KRG.

The stunning collapse of the Iraqi army in Mosul, and the rapid advance of the fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) through Tikrit and toward Baghdad has created a new reality in Iraq.

ISIS advances have continued this week; the organization has now taken the town of Tel Afar, with its 200,000 inhabitants, located west of Mosul.

Iraq is now divided on a de facto basis into a Shi’ite south and center, including Baghdad, a Sunni, ISIS-dominated west and a Kurdish-ruled north.

The biggest winners from this situation, apart perhaps from ISIS itself, are the Southern Kurds. The conflict between the Sunni jihadis and the Iran-supported Baghdad authorities has enabled the Kurds to add a number of key building blocks to the nearly completed edifice of Kurdish independence in the area once known as KRG.

Largely ignored by the Western media, the Kurds have been quietly building their autonomy in the three northern provinces of Erbil, Sulaimani and Dohuk, granted to them by the Iraqi Constitution of 2005.

A stable political system protected by a powerful armed force of around 100,000 men (the Peshmerga) has been out in place.

In the weeks prior to the current crisis in Iraq, the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) began to independently export crude oil, via Turkey, without seeking the approval of Nouri al-Maliki’s government in Baghdad. Maliki struck back by cutting funding to the KRG in Erbil.

The dispute remained unresolved in the days prior to the sudden eruption of the ISIS offensive in early June. The disagreement over oil exports formed part of a larger standoff between the Baghdad government and the KRG over control of oil-rich, majority Kurdish areas in Kirkuk, Ninawa, Salahaddin and Diyala provinces. The Maliki government threatened to exclude any oil company that began to drill under KRG auspices from access to the giant oil fields in Shi’ite southern Iraq.

The complex standoff now appears to have been resolved – entirely in the KRG’s favor. As Iraqi forces fled from the ISIS advance, the Kurdish Peshmerga swiftly moved in to the long-disputed town of Kirkuk. The Kurds refer to Kirkuk as their “Jerusalem,” and their population was largely ethnically cleansed from the city in the 1980s by Saddam Hussein’s regime. They have long sought its reincorporation into their area of control.

This is not a matter only of sentiment: Kirkuk sits on an area of vast oil wealth, considered to contain nearly 9 billion barrels of oil reserves. By comparison, according to the International Energy Agency, the entire KRG area without Kirkuk contains around 4 billion barrels of proven oil reserves.

The taking of Kirkuk, along with the recent opening of the pipeline to Turkey and thence to international markets, means the emergence of a Kurdish regional oil power is now a reality. The Kurds have already built a link that connects Kirkuk to their pipeline to Turkey.

The political confusion, meanwhile, and the push east by ISIS and associated Sunni forces has demonstrated that the Peshmerga are the most powerful military force in Iraq. They are now deployed along the newly expanded borders of the KRG, and are directly facing the fighters of ISIS. Some clashes have already taken place.

But, for the most part, ISIS and its allies appear to prefer to advance against Iraqi government forces and in the direction of Baghdad, while leaving the more formidable Kurdish fighters alone. Certainly, unlike the Iraqi government-controlled towns still falling to the advance of the Sunni fighters, the Kurdish-controlled areas do not appear vulnerable.

Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani has also made clear that the Peshmerga will not assist the Iraqi army in the effort to retake Mosul. The Kurds, rather, will focus on securing their own borders.

Barzani this week expressed support for an autonomous zone for Sunnis in Iraq, and laid the blame for the current situation largely at the feet of Maliki. Barzani told the BBC, “We have to leave it to Sunni areas to decide, but I think this is the best model for them as well. First, they have to take a decision: what they want exactly. And in our view... the best way is to have a Sunni region, like we have in Kurdistan.”

What all this means is that there exists today an economically powerful, politically stable, well-defended Kurdish entity, with a population of 5 million people, in what was once KRG.

The effective collapse of any authority on the part of Baghdad over this entity means that the latter is now a Kurdish state in all but name.

So will the KRG soon declare independence, turning the de facto state that the Kurds have quietly built up into a de jure sovereign area? The answer is that while it is now clear that statehood is the goal, an early, open declaration of independence by the Kurds remains unlikely.

A source in the KRG told this reporter that Turkish opposition to any declaration of Kurdish statehood had been the main obstacle to any such move. Turkish lobbying in Washington and in the capitals of Europe meant that Western countries remained opposed to Kurdish independence.

The US has also, for its own reasons, remained throughout staunchly in favor of the “territorial integrity” of Iraq. Secretary of State John Kerry reiterated this stance in a statement this week. The Turkish position in this regard appears to be softening, according to a number of reports.

But for as long as the clear US and Western position remains (somewhat bafflingly) opposed to the aspirations of the powerful and openly pro-Western Kurdish de facto sovereign entity in KRG, its independence is likely to remain undeclared.

The collapse of Iraq into renewed sectarian war, and the powerful assertion of Kurdish self-government in the north are the latest evidence that the region – and specifically the area known formally as Iraq, Syria and Lebanon – is in the midst of a historic convulsion whose end is not near.

Whatever the final outcome of all this, Kurdish sovereignty in practice is today a reality in the former KRG. And if the KRG can successfully navigate the difficult diplomacy of the months and years ahead, at a certain point it is likely that the world will have little option but to adjust – and formally recognize this reality.

http://www.jpost.com/Features/Front-Lines/Kurdish-advances-359980?
OfflineProfile Goto Top
 
the SUN child
No Avatar
ZAGROS-ARYAN
Xoybun
20th June 2014 - 01:52 AM
Sun child, what are you talking about? KG Peshmerga were well prepared because there is a cooperation going on between SK, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
The only reason KDP and YPG can team up against ISIS is because Turkey dropped its' support of ISIS in war against Rojava and supports Nusra against Kurd, to let ISIS concentrate more on Sunni Shia war.
It's very obvious there is still divisions among even SK where PUK liberate it's "own" areas and KDP it's "own" areas. KDP and PUK must have worked together too though, because PUK was also very mobile when it all started.

Sadly this is our politics, I hate to say this but I expect KDP Peshmerga-YPG cooperation to end soon and return to hostility, this as soon as ISIS begins fighting in Baghdad.

KG does still have the upper hand since our oil is worth Turkey trillions, so they can show the middle finger to them if they wish, and now is too late to deny us independence since Kerkûk, primarily, and Ninewa oilfields are in our control, and so is all the passages from South of Kurdistan stripe (Rojava+Bashur) to Turkey under our control. Our oil output should increase dramatically soon, since we are the substituting Russian oil in Europe (Italy buying our oil then goes straight to other shitty European countries :D)
No that's not true. Saudi Arabia and Turkey (ISIS) are enemies of all Kurds. We don't have any agreements with ISIS, because we never made them. We're not allied with ISIS!

All Arabs are our enemies, no matter they’re Sunni or Shia. At one day Sunni and Shia Arabs will make an agreement with each other and go to attack Kurds in Kurdistan again. Arabs were, are and always will be our enemies, no matter they're Sunni or Shia! Some smart Kurdish leaders / parties do understand that very well, like Kurds in Rojava, PYD etc..


ALL Arabs (Sunni + Shia) are after our oil and land in South Kurdistan
Edited by the SUN child, 20th June 2014 - 08:19 AM.
OfflineProfile Goto Top
 
ALAN
No Avatar


^^one error, SK has 45 billion barrels not 4.
OfflineProfile Goto Top
 
the SUN child
No Avatar
ZAGROS-ARYAN
ALAN
20th June 2014 - 08:18 AM
^^one error, SK has 45 billion barrels not 4.
How could writers make such a mistake?
OfflineProfile Goto Top
 
Zinar
No Avatar
Xorteki Kurdistani
.......
Edited by ALAN, 20th June 2014 - 09:25 AM.
OnlineProfile Goto Top
 
ALAN
No Avatar


Zinar please stay on topic there are other topics for that.
OfflineProfile Goto Top
 
Kurd-in-aus
No Avatar
Kurdish-Illuminati
Front page news here in Sydney
Attached to this post:
Attachments: image.jpg (1.26 MB)
OfflineProfile Goto Top
 
ALAN
No Avatar


Can you take a closer pic of the article itself so we can read it!??
OfflineProfile Goto Top
 
Serhildan
No Avatar
Gerilla
6 ISIS Terrorists were arrested by the Peshmerges in Sengal.
Among them are 2 executives.

Edited by Serhildan, 20th June 2014 - 06:09 PM.
OfflineProfile Goto Top
 
Kurd-in-aus
No Avatar
Kurdish-Illuminati
Ba sar chaw
OfflineProfile Goto Top
 
Kurd-in-aus
No Avatar
Kurdish-Illuminati
Let me know if it's readable or not I'll take more pics
The last pic is the whole article
Attached to this post:
Attachments: image.jpg (1.53 MB)
Attachments: image.jpg (1.97 MB)
Attachments: image.jpg (1.97 MB)
OfflineProfile Goto Top
 
Zlatan10
No Avatar
Pêşrew
Jerusalem post http://www.jpost.com/Features/Front-Lines/Kurdish-advances-359980
OfflineProfile Goto Top
 
UKurd
No Avatar
Saroki balay zerdasht
more on the kdp and isis relations:
http://www.kurdistanpost.com/view.asp?id=c412ef59

Also my apologies for saying that mendeli was retaken by Iraq, turns out it wasnt.
OnlineProfile Goto Top
 
Zlatan10
No Avatar
Pêşrew
Biji kurd

100 thousand Syrian Kurds willing to volunteer in Peshmerga ranks

http://english.shafaaq.com/index.php/politics/10228-100-thousand-syrian-kurds-willing-to-volunteer-in-peshmerga-ranks
OfflineProfile Goto Top
 
UKurd
No Avatar
Saroki balay zerdasht
Zlatan10
20th June 2014 - 11:27 PM
Biji kurd
100 thousand Syrian Kurds willing to volunteer in Peshmerga ranks

http://english.shafaaq.com/index.php/politics/10228-100-thousand-syrian-kurds-willing-to-volunteer-in-peshmerga-ranks
Good to hear but i think they should first liberate rojava, and join ypg instead of peshmerga. But thanks anyway biji kurdi rojava.
OnlineProfile Goto Top
 
UKurd
No Avatar
Saroki balay zerdasht
After Battles in Duz xurmatu finish peshmerga will head for Hawija and completly liberate Kirkuk from the hands of these terrorists
http://www.penusakan.com/hewal/23294-2014-06-19-14-48-27.html
OnlineProfile Goto Top
 
Zlatan10
No Avatar
Pêşrew
UKurd
20th June 2014 - 11:30 PM
Zlatan10
20th June 2014 - 11:27 PM
Biji kurd
100 thousand Syrian Kurds willing to volunteer in Peshmerga ranks

http://english.shafaaq.com/index.php/politics/10228-100-thousand-syrian-kurds-willing-to-volunteer-in-peshmerga-ranks
Good to hear but i think they should first liberate rojava, and join ypg instead of peshmerga. But thanks anyway biji kurdi rojava.
kaka PKK in rojava dont let others rojava Kurds to defend rojava.. You must be PKK and all Rojava kurd are not pkk
OfflineProfile Goto Top
 
Zinar
No Avatar
Xorteki Kurdistani
Zlatan10
21st June 2014 - 12:32 AM
UKurd
20th June 2014 - 11:30 PM
kaka PKK in rojava dont let others rojava Kurds to defend rojava.. You must be PKK and all Rojava kurd are not pkk
True all bakur is PDK all rojava is PDK all of EK is PDK nobody support PKK right?
Edited by Zinar, 21st June 2014 - 12:34 AM.
OnlineProfile Goto Top
 
UKurd
No Avatar
Saroki balay zerdasht
Zlatan10
21st June 2014 - 12:32 AM
UKurd
20th June 2014 - 11:30 PM
kaka PKK in rojava dont let others rojava Kurds to defend rojava.. You must be PKK and all Rojava kurd are not pkk
really? I know that they only arm people that join pkk but dont they at least support other kurdish groups? and dont the majority of rojava support pkk?
Edited by UKurd, 21st June 2014 - 12:36 AM.
OnlineProfile Goto Top
 
Zinar
No Avatar
Xorteki Kurdistani
UKurd
21st June 2014 - 12:35 AM
Zlatan10
21st June 2014 - 12:32 AM
really? I know that they only arm people that join pkk but dont they at least support other kurdish groups? and dont the majority of rojava support pkk?
No majority of Rojava supports PDK only 10% are supporting PKK.
OnlineProfile Goto Top
 
UKurd
No Avatar
Saroki balay zerdasht
I see so he was trolling me, and i fell for it too :(
Edited by UKurd, 21st June 2014 - 12:38 AM.
OnlineProfile Goto Top
 
Zinar
No Avatar
Xorteki Kurdistani
UKurd
21st June 2014 - 12:37 AM
I see so he was trolling me, and i fell for it too :(
According to Zlatan everybody in SK EK WK NK supports PDK nobody support Gorran PUK PKK PYD etc.
OnlineProfile Goto Top
 
ALAN
No Avatar


UKurd
21st June 2014 - 12:19 AM
After Battles in Duz xurmatu finish peshmerga will head for Hawija and completly liberate Kirkuk from the hands of these terrorists
http://www.penusakan.com/hewal/23294-2014-06-19-14-48-27.html
WRONG move. we do NOT need Hawija, if we take this town we need to do mass deportation which is unlikely... these are not like Mosul arab, or Anbar arabs these are hardcore ex-baathists.
OfflineProfile Goto Top
 
ALAN
No Avatar


Zlatan, no need for this right now.
OfflineProfile Goto Top
 
ALAN
No Avatar


Kerkûk de-arabized xD

Posted Image

Posted Image

was iraqi flag b4 (double post i know but goes with the rest)
Posted Image
OfflineProfile Goto Top
 
0 users reading this topic
ZetaBoards - Free Forum Hosting
Enjoy forums? Start your own community for free.
Learn More · Sign-up Now
Go to Next Page
« Previous Topic · News & updates · Next Topic »
Locked Topic

Find more great themes at the Zathyus Network Resources