Barzani's Attitude Against Turkey Is Nothing But An Ingratitude

WASHINGTON D.C. - Orhan Ketene, the representative of Iraqi Turkmen Front in Washington D.C., said on Thursday that Iraqi Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) leader Massoud Barzani's attitude against Turkey was nothing but an ingratitude and misfortune.
Responding questions of the A.A correspondent, Ketene said, ''Barzani's recent attitude against Turkey is nothing but an ingratitude, misfortune, and a serious mistake. Barzani should remember the fact that Turkey played the greatest role in their becoming free. If Turkey had not existed, they would have not acquire their freedom.''
''Turkey extended more support to the KDP than it extended support to the Turkmens. It is an unfair attitude to display such an ingratitude in return for Turkey's assistance. These will not help the KDP. On the contrary, such an attitude will damage it. When I see that they wanted to damage the relations with Turkey, I wanted to ask them, do you have somebody to trust in?'' he said.
Referring to KDP's claims over Kirkuk, Ketene said, ''Kirkuk is the heart of the Turkmens. We are extremely sensitive on this issue. It is not a compromising attitude to declare Kirkuk as a Kurdish province. Their inclusion of Turkmen province in Kurdish region in the draft constitution jeopardizes the relations.''
''The Turkmens have been exposed to daily problems by the KDP. Our cultural centers were raided. Properties of the Turkmen were confiscated with fake documents. Such actions will not serve anyone. In fact, Northern Iraq is a center of democracy. The only difference between them and President Saddam Hussein of Iraq is that they do not commit murders. However, imprisonment, battery and torture have become daily things,'' he said.
Ketene criticized the United States for not inviting the Turkmens to the last three meetings of the Iraqi opposition.
He said, ''the United States has concentrated on the groups forming Iraqi National Congress. It does not invite the Turkmens, members of the army and tribes to the meetings. The United States' plans should include all power centers. Unless they do so, their plans will not be successful. If the Turkmens are not satisfied, Turkey will not be satisfied as well. In that case, success of a possible operation will become more difficult. The United States has been diverting the Turkmens by saying that they would invite the Turkmens to the next meeting. We are the third biggest nation in Iraq. We have proposed the United States not to repeat their past mistakes and to set up dialogue with all power centers.''
He noted that some people to be chosen from the Iraqi opposition would hold a meeting in Europe next month.
''We want to attend the meeting. We are extremely uneasy about the 6 percent quota allocated for the Turkmens. This quota should be increased to 12-13 percent in line with Turkmen population. We conveyed our uneasiness to Patriotic Union for Iraqi Kurdistan (PUK) leader Jalal Talabani, Iraqi National Congress leader Ahmed Celebi and Constitutional Monarchy Movement leader Sharif Bin Ali,'' he added.