Kurdish Demonstrations in Irbil on Behalf of Kurds of Syria
Reuters reports that some 5000 Kurds demonstrated in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil, waving Kurdish flags, in support of the Kurds of Syria. There was a soccer riot in the northeastern town of Kameshli last Friday, which sparked Arab-Kurdish fights that later spread to other cities like Aleppo. The Kurds in Irbil demand that the United Nations intervene to ensure the human rights of Syria’s Kurds, who may form 11% of that country’s population.
Turkey, which also has a huge Kurdish minority in eastern Anatolia, has been worried about the prospect of a semi-autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan that might establish political ties with other Kurds in the area and encourage political separatism that would tear Turkey apart.