Iraqi President receives Kurdish figure 

November 30, 2001 

HAWLER, Kurdistan (GULAN)— Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein, received well-known
Kurdish figure, Fouad Arif, in Baghdad Wednesday, reports INA.  President Hussein
reiterated that it is important that Iraqi Kurdistan remains as a part of Iraq.
 
Mr. Arif who has long been a loyal Kurd to the central government in Baghdad spoke about
his experiences in Kurdistan as an autonomous region and criticized the pro-independence
voices within mainstream Kurdish debate. 

President Saddam Hussein, who recently deployed Iraqi Special Forces along the
Iraqi-Kurdish border and fears a total Kurdish separation from central rule, used a softer
rhetoric addressing the Kurdish question. 

"We want our Kurdish people to make its choice by itself,” he said, “and to remain stable on
it for a long period without being changed according to fancy. The base in this is dialogue
and to deal with the subject on the base that the Kurdish people are ours and he who wants to
differentiate is the only one that should be criticized." 

The question of whether Kurdish population of northern Iraq wishes to remain as a part of
Iraq or not has once more risen in the debates.    

A possible US-led attack on Iraq, as an instance in the war against terrorism, has been
speculated even before the attacks on Afghanistan began, and as late as last week, American
President threatened to attack Iraq, if it does not let inspectors to enter the country. Baghdad
fears if such strike occurs it clears the way for a possible Kurdish state declaration. 

Meanwhile both Kurdish leaders KDP’s Massoud Barzani and PUK’s Jalal Talabani have
repeatedly said that they have no intention of separating Kurdistan from central government
but that they demand “genuine autonomy” in a democratic Iraq.  
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