Iranian Minority Groups Seeking US Help to Topple Regime (DC meeting)

[Gloria]

From the new World Media Watch up now at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical
Tomorrow at Buzzflash.com

and in my DU Journal


2//Turkish Daily News, Turkey Thursday, June 1, 2006

http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=44969



IRANIAN MINORITY GROUPS SEEKING US HELP TO TOPPLE REGIME

Iranian Kurd parties say they want a federal Iran, not secession

Ümit Enginsoy

WASHINGTON - Turkish Daily News - Gathering in Washington, representatives from four large Iranian minority groups urged the United States and the Western world to help them overthrow the Islamic regime in Tehran.

"The peaceful removal of this regime, which is the world's strongest supporter of terrorism, will help to stabilize the region, particularly in Iraq," said Mustafa Hejri, secretary-general of the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran (IKDP), one of the groups taking part in a conference here.



"To achieve this, the international community, particularly the West, must be united and speak with one voice. So far, the regime has gained the most from the differences in approach between Europe and America in dealing with Iran," he said. "They must redirect their support to the democratic opposition forces both inside and outside Iran."



The Komala Party was another Iranian Kurdish group at the conference. The Diplomatic Mission of Southern Azerbaijan, whose representative Ali Riza Nazmi Afshar said was speaking on behalf of the Azeri Turks of Iran, the Baloochestan People's Party and the Ahwaz Human Rights Organization -- representing the Arab minority in the southwestern region of Khuzestan -- were also participating.



The one-day conference, held at a congressional building on Tuesday, was organized by two groups, the Kurdish National Congress of North America and the Kurdish American Committee for Democracy in Iran; a flag of the ill-fated Mahabad Kurdish Republic -- created in western Iran in 1946 and destroyed later that year -- was hanging in front of the speakers.

(MUCH MORE)

[IndianaGreen]

1. More Chalabi wannabees

We have been down this road before, and now we have 2,500 dead GIs, over 17,000 wounded GIs, and over 100,000 dead and wounded Iraqis. Let's not repeat this folly again!

[VegasWolf]

14. Why change a winning formula?

:puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke:

[gordianot]

2. This really sounds really familiar, at first I thought you wrote Iraq.

[Gloria]

3. Yeah, there have been meetings before....however, recently

there have been stories about how the US isn't making much headway within Iran with recruiting people to topple the gov.

The US groups seem to have different ideas....

[gordianot]

13. Throw a party and no one comes. n/t

[cantstandbush]

4. The Kurds --just who are these people?

They seem to be to the Iran-Iraq issue what the Israelis are to the Palestinian issue. It seems they want continuous destablization and war just so long as they can take control of land and oil and water resources.

[Recursion]

6. Huh?

You're joking, right?

The Kurds are the ethnic group that has bar-none been fucked over the most by Middle East political upheavals. They are a minority in Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and all the various -stans to the north of them. They have been (and in some cases are) brutally repressed in all of those countries. None of those countries could give them a Kurdistan if they wanted to, because then the Kurds in the neighboring countries would break away too and all hell would break loose.

To blame the instability in the Middle East on the #1 name on its victim list seems pretty silly, to me.

[IndianaGreen]

9. Kurds are as much victims as the Israelis are vis-a-vis the Palestinians

I was among those that felt for the Kurdish "historical victimhood" until the Kurds took control of Northern Iraq and proceeded to make victims of all the other ethnic groups: Sunis, Shias,Turkmen. The Kurds acted as if they learned nothing from being a persecuted minority except settling historical accounts by doing their own bit of oppression.

If the Kurds are willing to die to carve out their own nation out of present-day Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Turkey, they are most welcome for all I care. However, not one drop of American blood should be put in harm's way to settle ancient ethnic disputes between peoples that are worth neither the time nor the effort to protect from their own stupidity.

[11cents]

11. Nice way to smear an entire people, dude.

Haven't we grown beyond this kind of infantilism?

The Kurds were screwed out of their own state in the post-WWI settlement. The Kurdish lands were split between four nations, creating Kurdish minorities in all of them. And yes, the Kurds of northern Iraq haven't shown much generosity to their own Turkomen and Arab minorities. Wow, you mean being victimized doesn't make people inhumanly saintly, just as becoming powerful doesn't make them inhumanly evil? Fancy that.

[daleo]

5. "So, let's go around the table and introduce ourselves"

"My name is Curveball"

"No, my name is Curveball"

"I too am called Curveball"

"I am known as Curveball"

"Just call me Curveball"

etc.

[Terran1212]

7. I've known a few Iranians

Almost none of them like their government but none of them would ask for a US coup there; that's insane to them as it should be to us.

These peopel are either extremists or looking for power grabs.

[ShockediSay]

8. smells like sombody's set-up

again!!!!!!!!!!1`

[Gloria]

10. More on the Kurds from the article--want a federal Iran

"At the Washington conference, Iranian Kurdish representatives were cautious over their objectives.

"Kurds have a right to self-determination. But Kurds in Iran are for a federal Iran," said Komala's Muhtadi. "Iranian and Iraqi Kurds have good relations, influence each other, but are not controlled by each other."

[BrotherBuzz]

12. Two bits say Sal Russo will start catapulting this propaganda in America

As the 'Truth Tour' fades into the ether, Russo Marsh & Rogers, a California-based public relations firm with close ties to the Republican Party, is now helping the Kurds prepare for the future

The Kurdish Regional Government hired Russo Marsh & Rogers (RM&R) -- a Sacramento, Calif.-based public relations firm with close ties to the Republican Party -- to promote its interests. The word was the project has not yet gotten underway and it was unclear how long the contract will actually run, but i think they just got the green light with a bonus if they perform to expectations. And don't think for one minute the Iraqi Kurds aren't behind this. They want a united Kurdistan, bank on it!

"The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep."

[NorthernSpy]

15. NO, goddammit!

The answer is NO!

:grr:

[jwirr]

16. Chalabi