Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 4, 1991 TAG: 9104040336
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The Baltimore Sun
DATELINE: DIYARBAKIR, TURKEY LENGTH: Medium
The decision leaves the ill-equipped, poorly clad and hungry Kurds without exit. Reporters leaving northern Iraq described brutal government reprisals against Kurdish civilians for having supported the rebels, and unrelieved misery on the mountains near the Turkish border.
"We're hearing reports of villages continuing to be struck by artillery barrages even after surrendering, and of whole columns of refugees being strafed on the mountains," said a Western diplomat sent here to survey the situation.
In fighting Wednesday, Iraqi troops recaptured two northern cities, but Kurdish rebels claimed to still hold the countyside.
Reporters reaching London said that children stood barefoot crying in the snow, and families were making the two-day crossing on only tea and sugar. Kurdish sources in Paris and London said that "many people" had died, though they did not have exact figures.
Baghdad claimed Wednesday to have retaken the northern mountain city of Suleimaniyeh, the last Kurdish rebel stronghold. While sporadic fighting was reported continuing on the outskirts of the oil-producing city of Kirkuk, it appeared that the Kurds' rebellion had ended.
France and Turkey Wednesday urged the U.N. Security Council to rush food and medical aid to the Kurdish refugees, and to demand the cooperation of the Baghdad government.
France, a permanent member of the Security Council, urged it to condemn the Iraqi repression and to require Iraq to hold peace talks with the rebels.
But Amir Abdul al-Anbari, the Iraqi ambassador to the United Nations, said that France and Turkey were only "making noises about human rights." He dismissed their proposals as "rather brazen intervention" in a Iraq's domestic affairs.
Kurdish sources, meanwhile, appeared skeptical at U.S. claims that it was not intervening in Iraq out of respect for its internal affairs.
"What about U.S. support for the [rebels] in Afghanistan, or the Contras in Nicaragua?" asked Kendal Nezan, director of the Kurdish Institute in Paris. "A government does not have the right to massacre its people."
Another 13 journalists made it into Turkey Wednesday, though the BBC reported a group that swam in Tuesday had been shot at by both Iraqi forces and Turkish border guards. A U.S. Embassy source said that at least five reporters were still missing.
The BBC said that Turkish border guards initially tried to throw the men back in the river so they could not enter the country, but finally allowed them to stay.
By day's end, the Turkish government announced that journalists would be allowed to enter Turkey, but the borders remained closed to the estimated 200,000 Iraqi refugees, mostly Kurds, gathering on the mountains.
Turkish journalists said that border guards were shooting over the heads of refugees to keep them from forcing their way into the country.
"The border is closed. It will not be possible to come into Turkey in massive groups," Murat Sungar, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, said in Ankara.
A Western diplomat said Wednesday that Turkey's policy would probably change if either the situation became much more desperate, if there were an international outcry or if foreign assistance were forthcoming.
Sarbast Aram, a spokesman for the Kurdish Cultural Center in London, said that he did not disagree with the Turkish government.
"We think it's true. Turkey alone cannot handle this influx," he said. "The international community must act."
Some refugees have made it across despite the heavy patrols.
Kurdish leaders were deeply bitter Wednesday at the seeming indifference to their people's fate. In a week, U.S. President Bush has gone from hero to villain. "I hate George Bush," went the refrain along the streets of Diyarbakir.
Many Kurds interviewed here suspected a link between Ozal's visit to the United States last week, and the near simultaneous use of helicopter gunships to strike Kurdish-held cities and towns by Saddam Hussein's forces.
They appear to believe, as an American newspaper reported, that Ozal had persuaded Bush to allow the use of helicopters against the rebels. Sungar of the Turkish Foreign Ministry denied the charge.
by CNB