Kanak-kanak
Syria-Kurdi bermain di luar khemah pelarian di kem pelarian Domiz, 20 km
tenggara bandar utara Iraq Dohuk, pada 19 Jun, 2013. (Syrian-Kurdish children
refugee play outside tents at the Domiz refugee camp, 20 km southeast of the
northern Iraqi city of Dohuk, on June 19, 2013. (AFP Photo/Safin Hamed – think IN
pictures @1WORLDCommunity)
JamaliahYusofyacob - (RT. Published Ogos 10,
2013) Presiden Kurdistan Iraq
bersedia untuk mempertahankan Kurdis di Syria. Masoud Barzani, presiden rantau Iraq
Kurdistan, telah berkata bahawa dia akan menggunakan "Semua keupayaan"
untuk mempertahankan orang awam Kurdis yang berada di bawah ancaman oleh
pejuang Al ‘Qaeda berkaitan yang terlibat dalam perang saudara di Syria.
Kenyataan itu datang hari
selepas laporan pembunuhan beramai-ramai kemungkinan di Syria. Barzani berkata
bahawa beliau mahu jawatankuasa yang dibentuk untuk melihat ke dalam laporan
keganasan, dan telah membayangkan bahawa wilayah autonomi di utara Iraq, yang
mempunyai tentera yang lengkap, akan campur tangan ketenteraan untuk
mempertahankan Kurdis Syria.
Dalam surat yang beliau
disiarkan dalam talian Sabtu di laman web Kerajaan Wilayah Kurdistan (krg),
beliau berkata bahawa beliau memberitahu wakil Kurdis untuk pergi ke Syria dan
menyiasat laporan bahawa “Pengganas Al ‘Qaeda menyerang penduduk awam yang
tidak bersalah dan penyembelihan Kurdis wanita dan kanak-kanak.”
“Jika laporan adalah benar,
menunjukkan bahawa rakyat, Kurdis wanita dan anak-anak yang tidak berdosa adalah
di bawah ancaman dari pembunuhan dan keganasan, wilayah Kurdistan Iraq akan
menggunakan semua keupayaan untuk mempertahankan wanita dan kanak-kanak dan
orang yang tidak bersalah,” surat itu diteruskan.
Serta yang disiarkan dalam
talian Sabtu, surat itu dihantar pada hari Khamis kepada jawatankuasa
persediaan untuk Persidangan Kebangsaan Kurdis yang akan diadakan hujung bulan
ini di Arbil - terletak di jauh utara Iraq Kurdistan.
Pernyataan yang disebut kawasan
Syria di mana Kurdis hidup sebagai ‘Western Kurdistan.’ Orang-orang Kurdi
tersebar di bahagian bersebelahan Iraq, Syria, Turki dan Iran, dan merupakan
kumpulan etnik yang terbesar di DUNIA tanpa negeri mereka sendiri.
Kurdis Iraq telah menghantar
makanan, bekalan perubatan dan bahan api kepada saudara-saudara mereka Kurdis
di Syria tetapi kenyataan Barzani ini adalah kali pertama bahawa campur tangan
telah disyorkan.
Terdapat laporan yang tidak
disahkan daripada pembunuhan beramai-ramai pada awal minggu ini, di mana 450
orang Kurdis yang diculik dibunuh oleh
pemberontak Al ‘Qaeda berkaitan. Menurut IranianTV saluran Al ‘Alam, militan
dari Jabat Al ‘Nusra Front menyerang bandar Tal Abyad berhampiran sempadan
Turki pada hari Isnin, membunuh 120 kanak-kanak dan 330 wanita. Pihak kerajaan
Syria atau pembangkang Syria telah mengesahkan laporan itu.
President of Iraqi Kurdistan
ready to defend Kurds in Syria. Masoud Barzani, the president of the Iraqi
Kurdistan region, has said that he will use “all capabilities” to defend
Kurdish civilians who are under threat by Al-Qaeda-linked fighters involved in
the Syrian civil war.
The statement comes days after
reports of a possible massacre in Syria. Barzani said that he wants a committee
to be formed to look into reports of violence, and has hinted that the
autonomous region of northern Iraq, which has a well-equipped army, would
intervene militarily to defend Syrian Kurds.
In a letter which he posted
online Saturday on the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) website, he said
that he told Kurdish representatives to go to Syria and investigate reports
that “terrorists of Al-Qaeda are attacking the civilian population and
slaughtering innocent Kurdish women and children.”
“If the reports are true,
showing that citizens, women and children of innocent Kurds are under threat
from murder and terrorism, Iraq’s Kurdistan region will make use of all its
capabilities to defend women and children and innocent civilians,” the letter
continued.
As well as being posted online
Saturday, the letter was sent on Thursday to the preparatory committee for a
Kurdish National Conference to be held later this month in Arbil – located in
the far north of Iraqi Kurdistan.
The statement referred to the
area of Syria where Kurds live as ‘Western Kurdistan.’ The Kurdish people are
spread over adjoining parts of Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran, and are the
largest ethnic group in the world without their own state.
Iraqi Kurds have already sent
food, medical supplies, and fuel to their Kurdish brethren in Syria but
Barzani’s statement is the first time that intervention has been suggested.
There were unconfirmed reports
of a massacre earlier this week, in which 450 Kurds were allegedly
murdered by Al-Qaeda-linked rebels. According to IranianTV channel
Al-Alam, militants from the Jabat Al-Nusra Front attacked the town of Tal Abyad
near the Turkish border on Monday, killing 120 children and 330 women. Neither
the Syrian government nor the Syrian opposition has confirmed the report.
Kem
pelarian berhampiran Zakho, sebuah bandar sempadan Iraq dengan Syria. (Refugee
camp near Zakho, an Iraqi border town with Syria. (Reuters/Azad Lashkari –
think IN pictures @1WORLDCommunity)
Walau bagaimanapun, RT berjaya
mendapatkan dalam hubungan dengan sumber Kurdis yang mengatakan bahawa
pertempuran peningkatan telah berlaku di kawasan itu.
“Militan Al ‘Nusra dan pasukan
pemberontak lain mengepung kampung itu. Mereka mula pergi pintu ke pintu,
memasuki setiap rumah. Jika terdapat mana-mana lelaki yang mereka membunuh
mereka dan mengambil wanita-wanita dan kanak-kanak sebagai tebusan,” kata
sumber itu.
Laporan-laporan terbaru
mengikuti kenyataan bulan lalu daripada Kementerian Rusia asing yang pelampau
Al ‘Qaeda berkaitan telah memegang 200 awam Kurdis sebagai tebusan. Militan
nampaknya mengambil membalas dendam untuk menangkap orang Kurdis pemimpin
pemberontak Abu Musab. 500 orang awam pada mulanya diculik tetapi beberapa
telah dibebaskan dalam perjanjian dengan Kurdis, yang juga dibebaskan Musab.
Kira-kira 200 orang yang dipercayai masih berada dalam tangan Golongan Jihad
ini.
“Dalam bidang ini, telah terdapat
lama menjadi pertembungan antara tentera pelampau antarabangsa bergabung dengan
Al ‘Qaeda dan tempatan militia Kurdis yang berdiri untuk melindungi rumah
mereka daripada serangan radikal Islam,” Kementerian Luar Rusia berkata dalam
satu kenyataan, Julai.
Orang Kurdis ialah halangan
utama kepada mengisytiharkan Islam keadaan de facto mereka sendiri di timur
laut Syria - kawasan yang Presiden Syria Bashar Assad mempunyai sedikit kawalan
ke atas.
Komen Barzani adalah lagi bukti
bagaimana konflik 2 tahun Syria yang melimpah ke negara-negara jiran.
Rantau utara Iraq Kurdistan -
yang telah mempunyai kerajaan sendiri dan angkatan tentera - juga telah mula
untuk meneruskan tenaga bebas dan dasar luar, yang telah menimbulkan kemarahan
kerajaan Syiah daripada Nouri Al ‘Maliki di Baghdad. Iraq Utara adalah satu-satunya
kawasan di negara ini yang telah melihat keamanan dan mustahak kestabilan sejak
tentera Amerika meninggalkannya pada tahun 2011.
However, RT managed to get in
contact with Kurdish sources who said that increased fighting had taken place
in the area.
“The Al-Nusra militants and
other rebel forces surrounded the village. They started going door to door,
entering every house. If there were any men they killed them and took the women
and children hostage,” said the source.
These latest reports follow a
statement last month from the Russian Foreign Ministry that Al-Qaeda-linked
extremists were holding 200 Kurdish civilians as hostages. The militants were
apparently taking revenge for the capture by the Kurds of rebel leader Abu
Musab. Five hundred civilians were initially abducted but some were released in
agreement with the Kurds, who also released Musab. Around 200 people are
believed to still be the hands of the Jihadists.
“In these areas, there has long
been confrontation between the troops of the international extremists
affiliated with Al-Qaeda and local Kurdish militias who stood up to protect
their homes from attacks by radical Islamists,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry said
in a July statement.
The Kurds are the main obstacle
to the Islamists declaring a de facto state of their own in the northeast of
Syria – an area which Syrian President Bashar Assad has little control over.
Barzani’s comments are further
proof of how Syria’s two-year conflict is spilling over into neighboring
countries.
The northern Iraqi region
of Kurdistan - which already has its own government and armed forces - has also
begun to pursue independent energy and foreign policies, which has infuriated
the Shi’ite government of Nouri al-Maliki in Baghdad. Northern Iraq is the only
area of the country which has seen peace and a semblance of stability since
American troops left in 2011.