November 26, 2007
BAGHDAD: A Turkish journalist who reported that Iraq's Kurdish president personally escorted two guerrilla commanders to Europe for eventual extradition to Turkey was expelled from Iraqi Kurdistan on Monday for publishing "false news," the semiautonomous government said.
The journalist for Ihlas news agency, Sadiq Kahraman, cited anonymous sources in his Nov. 24 report saying Massoud Barzani had accompanied two senior Kurdish guerrilla commanders on a military plane to a European country. The report said U.S. or Iraqi Kurdish authorities preferred the two be extradited through a third country.
Saveen Dazi'e, head of foreign relations for Kurdistan Democratic Party, denied the report and said Kahraman was being deported for his role in publishing "false news that escalates the situation with Turkey," which has long been angered that Kurdish rebels seek haven in northern Iraq while launching attacks on Turkish soldiers.
Ihlas said Iraqi Kurdish officials came to the news agency's office on Sunday and demanded he name his sources.
"We can't name our sources, and we believe our sources. I have been working in Iraq for a long time and we are under pressure," Kahraman said Monday, according to Ihlas. He said the rebels, known by their Kurdish acronym PKK, have also threatened the news agency.
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