Posted on 04/24/2005 8:07:12 PM PDT by Lori675
The United States has been quietly helping Kurdish separatists in Iran.
Arab diplomatic sources said Washington has been funneling funds and weapons through pro-U.S. Kurdish groups in Iraq to Kurdish separatists in Iran. The sources said a force of about 500 Kurds has been organized and trained to oppose the regime in Teheran.
About 10,000 Iranian Kurds have found refuge in Iraq. "Many of the Kurds are working for a separate state," an Arab diplomat who has been monitoring the movement said. "Others are stressing the need for a democratic Iran in which the Kurds and other minorities would have a greater say."
The sources said U.S.-aligned groups such as the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, or PUK, has been training the Iranian Kurds in northern Iraq. They said the Iranian Kurds shuttle between Iraq and Iran and have attacked Iranian government facilities in three border provinces.
Iranians Kurds are more nationalistic than Turkish or Iraqi Kurds so the percentage of Iranian Kurds who want their own homeland is fairly small. They see themselves as Iranian first and Kurd second because they've historically been treated real well by the ethnic Persians -the largest ethnic group.
There have been demonstrations across Iran by many ethnic minorities including the recent unrest by ethnic Arabs which constitute 3% of Iran's population and the 2001 unrest by the Baluchis which are about 7%, but the majority of ethnic groups want a democratic Iran instead of their own state.
The Kurds deserve and should have their Country back. The Brits or the Brits and French broke up the Ottoman Empire after WWI. They formed the country of Iraq. The Turks and Iranians will be like hornets nests, but I hope the Kurds are able to pull it off. They are a good and brave people. They would make staunch allies in that part of the world.
Type Ottoman Empire in your search engine. It's an eye opener. Turky and Iran could lose a lot of land and oil to the Kurds.
So could Iraq. Syria would lose land too if Kurdistan ever came into existance.
Nam Vet
This is a bad idea, if true.
Let's hope the Kurdistanobserver doesn't know what it's talking about.
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