Northern Front Iraq

The program is maintained by Andrei Shari. The Radio Liberty correspondent Sergei Danilochkin takes part, who is talking with the deputy director of the Free Iraq Kamran al-Karadagi.

Andrei Shary: On Friday, Iraqi troops fired on the city of Chamchamal, under the control of the Kurdish militia, but the large -scale military operations in the north of Iraq have not yet been taking place. About the situation in the north of Iraq and the significance of the Northern Front in the War of the United States, Great Britain and their allies against the regime of Saddam Hussein Sergey Danilochkin are talking with the Deputy Director of the Free Iraq to the Kamrana al-Karadagi.

Sergey Danilochkin: Let me ask you what the situation in the north of Iraq is now or, as this region is called, Iraqi Kudrdistan, you have recently visited there?

Kamran al-Karadagi: The situation in Iraqi Kurdistan can still be considered calm. There are no great hostilities, things are going almost normally. Although the population preferred to leave from some cities, especially in the city of Erbil, which is very close to the Iraqi line. In principle, there are no big changes yet, except that American troops are gradually building up.

Sergey Danilochkin: Is such a desire to leave large cities, especially in the border territories, with the fact that Iraq at one time used weapons, including chemical, against his citizens - Kurds.

Kamran al-Karadagi: This is primarily the reason why they want to leave-because they do not trust, they are afraid, remember what happened in the 91st year. And they preferred to leave these areas. Of course, they, unlike the 91st year, when they practically have nowhere to go besides the mountains and the Turkish-Iraqi border, now they are just going to the villages, away from these lines.

Sergey Danilochkin: How does the Kurdish population and the population of this region react that foreign troops arrive in this part of Iraq?

Kamran al-Karadagi: The Kurdish population is very welcomed by foreign troops, of course, American troops, or rather. They feel that this is good because they believe that the presence of American troops, and that the Americans did not stand completely on the side of Turkey, the Kurdish population considers a good step. Finally, the time has come when America is not ready to betray the Kurds to another state. In principle, there is great cooperation between the Kurdish authorities and American troops. In fact, Kurdish fighters or the Kurdish army is still from 70 to one hundred thousand soldiers very disciplined, they obey the command of the American troops.

Sergey Danilochkin: There are contradictions between various political groups in Kurdistan, sometimes they poured into a direct armed struggle. Can this happen now or in the future, when the war in Iraq ends?

Kamran al-Karadagi: I think that now this issue is excluded, because they have been working closely for several years and especially now, when they have very strong common enemies. It seems to me that after changes in Iraq, when there will be a new regime, cooperation between Kurdish groups will still be needed for a long time, because they want to strengthen their position, strengthen their achievements. They will have to face problems that will arise in relation to other Iraqi groups. And the Kurds, despite all the differences, they have a general requirement, as this federal state is within the framework of Iraq and so on. It will be very difficult for them to preserve what they have if they go in different ways. Therefore, I think that after changes in Iraq at a certain time of serious disagreements will not appear between them.

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  Andrey Shary

  I.O. Regional Director of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty for Russian -Sound Content

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