[lbo-talk] [Pen-l] Growing support among Iraqi Kurds for PKK and PYD

[Robert Naiman]

This is a strikingly great article, in the sense that it shows you not only
that the PKK fighters are now viewed as heroes by many Kurds who did not
view them so before because of their recent role in saving Kurdish
civilians from ISIS, but also shows you why many Kurds have perfectly
legitimate reasons to fear rule by the PKK. This is outstanding journalism
of a type that we often don't get to see, presenting a nuanced picture that
is more complicated than good guys and bad guys.

Robert Naiman
Policy Director
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman at justforeignpolicy.org
(202) 448-2898 x1

On Fri, Oct 17, 2014 at 6:54 PM, Marv Gandall <marvgand2 at gmail.com> wrote:


> Below is the link to a report in today’s English language edition of Al
> Jazeera describing how the heroic defence of Kobane by the YPG/J, the
> militia allied to the Kurdish left-wing parties in Syria (PYD) and Turkey
> (PKK), has been drawing strong support from Iraqi Kurds.
>
> The latter have hitherto been generally loyal to the more conservative
> party of Masoud Barzani which heads Iraq’s Kurdish Regional Government. But
> the Barzani government’s close commercial and diplomatic ties with Turkey
> and the US has been reflected in its hesitant support of the YPG/J, eroding
> the government’s base of support among Iraqi Kurds inspired by Kobane and
> themselves directly threatened by the Islamic State.
>
> This development very likely contributed to the accelerated use of
> American air power during the past week to help prevent the fall of Kobane
> and the inevitable destabilizing cries of betrayal which would have been
> directed against Barzani from outraged Kurds inside as well as outside of
> Iraq.
>
>
> http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/10/17/pkk-s-rise-in-iraqikurdistan.html
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