ANKARA Ñ The regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is said to be
proceeding in its policy of deporting non-Arabs from the northern area under
government control.
Iraqi opposition sources said Saddam's efforts are focused on the
oil-rich northern Iraqi province of Kirkuk. They said those regarded as
non-Arabs are being forced to leave the area for the nearby Kurdish
autonomous zone or the south. This includes Assyrians, Kurds and Turkmans.
It was the latest allegation by Iraqi and Kurdish sources that Saddam
was expelling or threatening to eject Kurds and other non-Arabs from the
north. The sources said Iraqi government agents had launched attacks on key
Kurdish families to ensure their flight.
The allegations come amid Saddam's preparations for a U.S.-led attack on
Iraq. Saddam's agents have tried to evacuate Kurdish areas in the north for
the establishment of anti-aircraft bases. Kurdish leaders have publicly
opposed a U.S. attack on the Saddam regime.
[In a related development, the British Guardian daily reported on
Thursday that the Pentagon and the CIA have begun preparations for a
military campaign on Iraq that would involve up to 200,000 U.S. troops. The
newspaper said an attack could take place later this year.]
So far, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan said, 111 members from 18
Kurdish families have been expelled from the Kirkuk region, about 240
kilometers north of Baghdad, for the autonomous zone. Another 37 Turkman
families were expelled to southern Iraq in January. The vast majority of
Kirkuk's population has been Kurdish.
Opposition sources said Saddam has launched a policy of Arabization in
the north as part of an effort to reclaim his rule, lost after the 1991 Gulf
war. The autonomous Kurdish zone does not teach Arabic in schools and
conducts much of its trade with neighboring Turkey.