http://www.upstreamonline.com/live/article127005.ece
Turkey refuses to deal with Iraqi Kurds By Upstream staff Turkey today rejected demands from the Iraqi national oil company Somo that its companies should deal in future with Kurdish authorities in northern Iraq when doing business there. Ankara is worried about Kurdish moves towards greater autonomy in northern Iraq, fearing they could spark separatism among its own Kurdish population in south-east Turkey. It insists on dealing only with the central Baghdad government and halted transport of refined oil products to Iraq over the weekend via its Habur border crossing in protest at a letter from Somo to Turkish exporters. "Our counterpart is the Iraqi central government. We expect the central government to honour its contracts. Nobody should test us," Foreign Trade Minister Kursad Tuzmen told a news conference. "We have never seen such an irregularity in Iraq," he said, adding that Turkey would review its petroleum trade policy with Iraq if Baghdad did not comply with existing deals. Iraq accused Turkish politicians last week of fomenting division in its northern areas and said it might bring some form of economic pressure to bear on Ankara. Turkey has accused Iraqi Kurds of systematically settling the city of Kirkuk, at the expense of resident Arabs and Turkish-speaking Turkmen, with the aim of incorporating its oil wealth into an independant Kurdish state. That, Ankara fears, could in turn fan Kurdish separatism on its own territory. Turkey has almost no crude reserves of its own and imports most of its needs, but re-exports refined oil products to neighbouring Iraq. Turkish territory also provides crucial land routes for Iraq's oil exports to the West. Convoys of trucks from Turkey brave dangerous roads to supply Baghdad and other cities as well as US troops based in Iraq. Witnesses say a 40-kilometre queue of trucks has built up at Habur border gate since the weekend decision. Kartet, the only Turkish energy company selling electricity to Iraq, said it had no plans to cut electricity exports to the country. "Our electricity exports are continuing with no interruption," company co-ordinator Nuray Atacik told Reuters. 29 January 2007 19:31 GMT | last updated: 29 January 2007 19:31 GMT +++ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
