. MEDFOBD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFORD, OREGON THURSDAY. JULY 18, 1963 g J
Long Guerrilla War Seen Between Kurds and Iraqi Government
Br DONALD MAY
United Prate International
In the northern plains and
rugged mountains of Iraq, the
Iraqi army is flighting a lit
tle known war against tough
Kurdish tribesmen demand
ing autonomy. Each side has
accused the other of broken
promises and treachery.
The Iraqi accuse the Kurds
of attemping to set up an in
dependent state banned to
the Iraqi army and govern
ment officials even as negotia
tions toward setting up a
Kurdish willaya or district
within the framework of
Iraq were proceeding in
Baghdad.
The Kurds on their side ac
cuse the Iraqi government of
jailing Kurdish negotiators
and of refusing to carry out
n agreement for an exchange
of prisoners.
Accuse Iraqi Army
The Kurds also accuse the
Iraqui army of using napalm
against old people and wom
en and children clustered in
Kurdish villages.
Giving at least lukewarm
support to the Kurds is the
Soviet Union which from time
to time has demanded estab
lishment of an independent
Kurdistan and which for 13
years gave shelter to the pres
ent Kurdish leader,. Mulls
Mustafa Barzani.
The present struggle goes
back about 20 years, but for
3,000 years the Kurds have
been fighting off assimilation
by governments and empires,
They are a rugged people,
living in Turkey, Syria, Iraq,
Iran and the soviet Union,
generally i n mountainous
areas where borders meet.
No one is quite sure how
many there are. Most esti
mates agree there are about
1.5 million in Iraq. U. S.
sources put the grand total
at from three to six million.
A Tribal People
They are a tribal people
whose own fierce independ
ence has prevented any great
degree of unity among them.
Barzani is the leader of the
Barzani clan, which is among
the largest, and Iraqi sources
estimate he can call upon 3,
000 warriors.
But these same Iraqi
sources claim that Barzani's
cruelties have alienated other
Kurds in Iraq and as proof
point to ' the fact that two
Kurds remain in the central
government cabinet and that
the Iraqi army contains many
Kurds.
They also claim that the
Soviet Union itself contains
more Kurds than all the oth
er nations together and that,
if Russia is so interested in
an independent Kurdistan she
might take the first step by
giving up some of her own
territory.
Report! Ara Conflicting
Reports on the progress of
the fighting are conflicting.
Arab sources say the rebel
lion should be put down in a
matter of weeks.
Kurdish couriers claim that
the Iraqi army so far has been
able to operate only in the
plains and that attempts to
drive li.to the mountains have
been turned back with heavy
Iraqi casualties
Kurdish units are known to
have attacked into the Kir-
kuk region, site of the im
portant installations of the
British - controlled Iraq pet
roleum company,
Barzani has warned foreign
embassies in Baghdad that he
will not hesitate to attack the
Installations in a move to cut
off governmen oil revenues.
Interest Is Hot. Cold
Soviet interest in the Kurd
ish fight for autonomy has
blown hot and cold.
In 1954 the Russians tried
to annex northern Iran. A
Kurdish area around the
Iranian town of Mahabad be
came a sort of no man's land
between Russian and British
troops. The Soviets, who pre
viously had shown little Inter
est in the Kurds, Infiltrated
the Mahabad area and set up
a local judge as head of a
"Mahabad Republic," whose
officials were taken, without
knowing where they were
going, to Baku on the Caspian
sea for political indoctrina
tion. Then they were return
ed. At the same time the war
like Barzani clan of Kurds
in Iraq were driven out of
their home by British - led
Iraqi forces. One or two thou
sand of them, headed by the
Mulla Mustafa Barzani. turn
ed up destitute in Mahabad,
and the Russians ordered the
Mchabad Kurds to feed them.
Republic Collapses
But the Mahabad Republic
collapsed and the Mulla Bar
rani fled with his men to the
Soviet Union where he dis
appeared from western eyes
for 13 years.
In 1958 leftist A rah nnrtnr
Gen. Abdul Karim Kassim
murdered Iraa s Kine Feiul
and took over the govern
ment. Kassim brought Bar
zani and his men back from
Russia, and they had a brief
period of cooperation. Iraq's
Communist Dartv camp out nf
hiding. The Rusiaos gave
Kassim substantial aid.
But Barzani fell out with
Kassim and to some extent
with Russia. Communist and
non - communist Kurds in
Iraq began to join ranks to
demand autonomy. Barzani
appears to have tried to re
duce Communist influence in
his Democratic Party of Iraqi
Kurdistan (DPIK) while ' the
same time trying to keep use
ful ties with Russia.
MoTtment Ii Ditched
The Kremlin, which pinned
its hope in the Middle East
o n Kassim, progressively
ditched the Kurdish move
ment. But then Kassim himself
began to fall out with Mos
cow. He dissolved Iraq's Com
munist party and set up a new
Communist party under his
own control. In 1961 the
Kurds began an armed rebel
lion. Kassim's forces strafed
Kurdish villages with Soviet
built MIGs.
The events put Moscow in
a quandary. But the Kremlin
did not take the step of with
drawing support from Kassim
and backing the Kurds. It con
tinued military aid to Kassim.
Eventually Barzani's forces
bea' off Kassim's.
Last February Kassim was
overthrown by the Baath
Arab group. The new Iraqi
government, now in power,
clamped down on local Com'
munists. Moscow suddenly be
came friendly with the Kurds.
Moscow still appears in a
dilemma. As the leader of
Marxism its loyalties should
be with the Kurds, because
Lenin decreed support of
such independence move
menu. , But as the Russian
state, in a world of power
politics, the Kremlin has
broader interests in Iraq and
the Middle East as a whole,
and in this the Kurds are
small potatoes.
The public Soviet press still
tempers its support for the
Kurds, speaking not of "inde
pendence" for them but of
a rather vague "equal rights."
A recent article in Pravda
supported Barzani against the
"reactionary sheiks" but ad
ded that this movement was
not a "separatist one."
Beneath the counter, how
ever, a clandestine commu
nist radio In East Germany
broadcasts almost daily to the
Kurds of Iran urging them
to revolt.
Last June 8 the Kurds and
the Iraq government seemed
on the verge of negotiating
agreement on a scries of
Kurdish demands, including
the right to use their own
language in schools and to
have part of oil revenues
spent in their area.
Delegation Heads North
A Kurdish delegation head
ed north from Baghdad to
convey the terms to Barzani
for his approval.
No one seems to know
whether the delegation got
there. On June 9 Baghdad ra
dio announced martial law in
the Kurdish areas. The result
has been renewed fighting,
only sketchy details of which
have been reaching Washing
ton. All U. S. diplomatic mis
sions In northern Iraq and one
U. S. information agency mis
sion there were ousted in 1958
when the Iraqi government
accused them of stirring up
the Kurds.
The Iraqis have been
charging that the Kurds are
secretly receiving military
supplies from the Russians.
The Kurds undeniably have
Soviet weapons. But U. S. of
ficials think they probably
got them from the Iraqi army
through defections and guer
rilla raids. They doubt that
Russia could be supplying the
Kurds over the mountain bor
ders through Iran or Turkey.
They do not belive Iraq can
beat the Kurds, for no one
ever has. Nor do they believe
the Kurds, at the moment, can
cause the Iraqi government
to fall. They therefore see the
prospect of a long guerrilla
war, unless the two sides coo)
off enough for another round
of negotiations.
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