Kirkuk rivalries boil up on Kurdish claim

[DuctapeFatwa]

"The situation is deteriorating," admitted Saleh Ahmad Farej, who represents 70 Kurdish families occupying a former government building across from the headquarters of a Turkmen political party.

"It was calm until December 21 but since then we have been attacked by the Turkmen and the Americans came to search our homes several times," said Farej.

The families were thrown out of Kirkuk in 1991 under the former government’s policy of settling Arabs in the area. But they returned after the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s regime, only to find their houses destroyed or occupied.

The Kurds today swear they will never leave again.

"We are sons of Kirkuk. We are not asking for anything other than the right to remain here even if we have to eat dust and sleep on the ground," said 71-year-old Abdulkarim Ali, whose whole family suffered badly at the hands of the Baath party.

http://www.kurdmedia.com/news.asp?id=4607

[acmavm]

1. Like this wasn't another pre-invasion prediction. Now all we have to

wait for is the Turks to jump into the fray.