"Iraq's Kurds and Turkey
An unusual new friendship
Feb 19th 2009 | ERBIL
From The Economist print edition
Turkey and Iraq’s Kurds are getting on a lot better than usual
AN AUDIENCE of Turks and Kurds, gathered in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan’s capital, waited with bated breath as the Turkish consul-general took the stage. He was to address a gathering organised by followers of Turkey’s most powerful Sunni cleric, Fetullah Gulen, who has long preached friendship between Turks and Iraqi Kurds. During his short speech, the Turkish envoy, Huseyin Avni Botsali, uttered the word “Kurdish” only twice: a measure of how edgy Turkey still feels about the Iraqi Kurds’ autonomy and the impact it may have on its own 14m-odd Kurds. That is also why Mr Botsali is based in Mosul, a dangerous city in Arab Iraq, rather than in Erbil, in the safety of Iraqi Kurdistan."
More:Friendship between Turkey and Iraq's Kurds | An unusual new friendship | The Economist
