Kurds return, Arabs flee, as a mass migration redraws the map of northern

[Judi Lynn]

Kurds return, Arabs flee, as a mass migration redraws the map of northern Iraq
By Scheherezade Faramarzi, Associated Press, 2/16/2004 15:41



SANGOOR, Iraq (AP) In a quiet mass migration, Arabs are fleeing their villages in northern Iraq and Kurds are moving back in, reversing Saddam Hussein's campaigns of ethnic cleansing and effectively redrawing the demographic map.

At the same time, politicians in Baghdad are trying to negotiate a formula for the future of Iraq, ahead of the July 1 planned transfer of power to Iraqis and the end to the U.S.-led occupation.

The United States and some Iraqi leaders are pushing for a federal system they hope will maintain the country's unity while satisfying Kurds, who want to preserve the autonomy they have held for years in the north.

That would mean eventually defining the frontiers of a Kurdish federation. And with more Kurds moving back into their ancestral lands, Kurdish leaders' claim over a larger area in a future federal division is strengthened raising tensions with Arabs.
(snip/...)

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/047/world/Kurds_return_Arabs_flee_as_a_m:.shtml

[aquart]

1. Gosh, it sound so peaceful and serene.

Why do I not believe that?

[grytpype]

2. I'm sure Turkey is going to be pleased with this.

Didn't ANYBODY in the Bush Adminstration think this through before they invaded????

[Kinkistyle]

3. Uh oh.... Turkey can't be happy about this.

I wonder who the U.S. will back when Turkey decides to put an end to an machinations of forming an independent "Kurdistan".

[izzie]

4. Looks like a brake down in the country.

I do not think Bush thought at all. He was just going to turn the oil over to his friends and become the 9 year old playing war.