Kurdish Group Issued Forged Passports

[King Ashurbanipal]

17 February 2007 , Two weeks ago Internationally renowned freelance journalist Nuri Kino revealed that Norwegian police had cracked a forgery gang who issued forged Iraqi ID documents. The IDs had afterwards been used as basis for the issue of passports at the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm.

One Turkish member of parliament, Turan Cömez now accuses Sweden and France (where the same thing has taken place) for giving protection to terrorists, since Swedish and French authorities, he claims, knew about the falsifications but did nothing to stop them. It doesn't stop there. According to several sources, Kurds from Turkey, Syria and Iran have received Iraqi passports, issued in Stockholm. Now, these false Iraqis, travel to the oil-rich town of Kirkuk in northern Iraq in order to influence the area's demography to the advantage of the Kurds, and to claim the town's oil wealth. The Kurdish regional government in northern Iraq -- which abides under the central government in Baghdad - has done this in order to increase the Kurdish numbers in Kirkuk. This in order to drive other groups away from the town in the future.

At the same time it is reported that the passport scam has given rise to international consequences. Great Britain and the Benelux countries have, due to security reasons, closed their borders for Iraqis with passports issued at Iraqi embassies in Sweden and France.

The USA has introduced similar rules. It is of course impossible for anyone to be sure that someone traveling with a passport issued in Stockholm is not a terrorist. According to the newspaper Boston Globe, thousands of Iraqis with valid American visas are, due to the new rules, kept out of the USA. Among them are businessmen, diplomats and many students at Harvard and other American prestigious universities. The scandal has forced thousands of Iraqis to cancel legitimate studies and travel abroad.

Iraq's foreign minister Hoshyar Zebari will soon visit Sweden to try to sort out the passport scandal currently shaking the country's embassy in Stockholm.

The news about the Iraqi Minister's visit has already given rise to criticism. From the Turkish side it is said to be nothing but a diversion; Zebari is also a Kurd and is close to Iraq's ambassador in Sweden, and is visiting Sweden only to save face for his countrymen.

The scandal has also given rise to consequences in Baghdad. The government has begun to issue new and safer passports, but in order to receive such a passport you need to go to the Ministry of Interior in Baghdad. Many Iraqis living abroad hesitate before traveling to today's unstable Iraq. And many Shiites also hesitate before going to the Ministry of Interior, which is currently under strict Sunni control.

Easternstar News Agency

[Diri]

Hahahaha


Dest xoş... Our countrymen are wising up and learning some new tricks...