Kurdish activists released

The Outraged Optimist is looking for more information about a group of Kurdish activists who were arrested in northern Iraq this month. The Halabja-based Kurdish advocacy group, CHAK, says police detained the five men in in the northern Iraqi town of Sulemani after they issued a statement condemning Turkey's ongoing bombardment of Kurdish targets in northern Iraq.

Interestingly, CHAK maintains that the security forces -- who are managed by Iraq's Kurdish president, Jalal Talabani -- arrested the activists to keep them out of the way during the Turkish president's visit. After President Gul cancelled his visit Iraq (it seems he has a nasty ear infection which makes it uncomfortable to fly), police let the activists go free.


Iraq's government signed a deal with Turkey last month to work together against the "threat" posed by the separatist Kurdish Workers Party, or PKK. Ankara maintains that Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region is sheltering the PKK. Are these arrests a response to such accusations?

So far, we have only CHAK's version of events. We welcome any further information, rebuttals, or reactions.