Masoud Barzani Confirms That Interim

Masoud Barzani confirms that the Interim Governing Council’s Consensus is against Turkish Troops

Masoud Barzani, leader of the Kurdistan Democracy Party and prominent member of the American-appointed Interim Governing Council in Iraq, told an audience in Kuwait on Saturday that a consensus exists among the Iraqi people that troops from neighboring countries, including Turkey, should not be stationed in Iraq. (- al-Sharq al-Awsat) He said the IGC will oppose the move even if the US and Turkey take steps to implement it. Iraq, he explained, wants development aid from neighbors, but not military forces (remember, he is speaking in Kuwait).

According to al-Sharq al-Awsat, members of the Kurdish parliament in the north also expressed their dismay at the vote in the Turkish parliament to send troops to Iraq (without an Iraqi invitation) as showing contempt for Iraqi sovereignty. More ominously, an associate of Barzani’s who is a leader of the peshmerga, the Kurdish militia that is powerful in the north, warned that the advent of Turkish troops on Iraqi soil could well lead to clashes with his forces.