ZAWITA, Iraq (MCT) – Hamid Nabi remembers 1988 like it was yesterday. Stringing his… ZAWITA, Iraq (MCT) – Hamid Nabi remembers 1988 like it was yesterday. Stringing his plastic worry beads through wind-chapped hands, the retired Kurdish fighter remembers watching his village razed to the ground by Saddam Hussein’s bulldozers. He remembers carrying his month-old son into the mountains with thousands of other Kurds to escape the government’s chemical bombs.

But when asked who he considers his greatest enemy, the man who spent half his life fighting Saddam’s army readily answered, “I hate Turkey more than Saddam. Turkey is more dangerous than Saddam was – if it could, it would destroy all the Kurdish villages in the country.”

Nabi and his neighbors in this village 30 miles from the Turkish border say they are ready to take up arms if the Turkish government were to invade northern Iraq in pursuit of Kurdish rebels. “When Turkey said ‘We’re on the border,’ we also say, ‘We’re on the border,'” he said.

Aware of those sentiments, Kurdistan’s regional government in northern Iraq is treading a fine line as it warily awaits a move from Ankara.

The Kurdish authority has made an effort to demonstrate goodwill toward Turkey by taking a series of steps over the past week to contain the Kurdish rebels, known as the PKK. And it has openly stated its desire to be involved in talks with the Turkish, Iraqi and American governments over solving the rebel problem without an invasion that could destabilize the region.

At the same time, they are building up their military presence along the Turkish border, in a move whose stated purpose is to limit the movement of the PKK, but which could also be construed as a defensive measure to counter the buildup of Turkish troops and reassure villagers that the Kurds will maintain their territorial integrity no matter what incursion takes place.

The United States has been pressuring the Kurds to make these initial moves against the PKK, hoping they will assuage Ankara enough to restart the three-way dialogue over the fate of the rebel group, even as it contemplates military action against them. Another meaningful gesture the Kurds could make, U.S. officials say, is to arrest a PKK leader or two. – Bay Fang, Chicago Tribune

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (MCT) – President Pervez Musharraf said Sunday elections will be held by Jan. 9 to usher Pakistan out of its political crisis. But he said the vote must be held under his emergency rule regime, which has jailed thousands of his opponents and decapitated the judiciary.

Many Pakistanis were immediately skeptical, saying no free election can be held under the crackdown.

Speaking at a press conference, Gen. Musharraf said he will take office as a civilian president whenever the Supreme Court rules on challenges to his election last month.

He appeared to imply, but did not directly state, that he would give up his post as army commander at the same time.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Musharraf’s announcement a “positive element.” But, speaking on ABC television, she added that “he needs to lift the state of emergency” and restore the constitution “as soon as possible.”

Musharraf’s main political rival, Benazir Bhutto, called the election plan “a positive step to defuse the situation to some extent.” But she added, “Musharraf should retire from his army post, restore the judiciary, release the political activists and restore the constitution.”

In a country where scholars say elections routinely have been tilted or rigged by the several military and civilian intelligence agencies, many Pakistanis say an independent media and Supreme Court is essential to improving chances for a fair vote this time.

“The media and judiciary are the two institutions that have been creating hope” for greater democracy, said Fahad Khan, an economics teacher in Islamabad who is supporting a grass-roots protest movement against Musharraf. “Now those institutions are being ruined,” he said.

Musharraf seized emergency powers and scrapped the Supreme Court when it became clear that the Chaudhry-led court was ready to invalidate his controversial election as president last month. – James Rupert, Newsday