political conFlictS and Migration in the Mena StateS 167
Libya and the US (beginning in 1973), which culminated in the bombing of
Tripoli and Benghazi on 15 April 1986. The extent of that conf lict, however,
was the exception.
Conf licts concerning the protection of minorities were, in rare cases,
the cause of border disputes between two countries. One example is the
Arabic minority in South-West Iran (Khuzistan) whose claim to have been
repressed by Saddam Hussein in the early 1980s was instrumentalised in the
dispute with Iran (Rubin 2005). Perhaps the best-known example, however,
is that of the Kurds, who live in an area spanning Turkey (main area of set-
tlement with 13.7 million inhabitants = 24.1 per cent of all Turkish citizens),
Northern Iraq (4.4 million), Iran (6.6 million) and Syria (1.3 million). Even if
the main problem is more an internal political one, particularly in Turkey
(see below), the development of relations between Turkey and Iraq have
been strongly affected by this conf lict since 2003. The fall of Saddam Hus-
sein in 2003 led the Kurds to become more autonomous in Northern Iraq,
politically stable and economically strong, feeding the idea of a separate
Kurdish state and leading to renewed activities by the Kurdish organisation
PKK in Eastern Turkey. This, in turn, caused the Turkish army (in particular
since May 2007^10 ) to threaten to invade Northern Iraq in order to destroy the
logistical bases of the PKK (van Gent 2007). The danger of a war breaking out
between Turkey and Iraq is still latent. In fact, the Turkish army continued
targeting PKK camps in Iraq in 2011 (Reuters 2011).
The Arab-Israel conf lict, also known as the Middle East conf lict, arose
from the claim laid by two peoples to the same territory – Palestine. This
fact has already been treated in quite a few studies (Ferdowsi 2000; Pappe
2004; Tessler 1994) that reveal details on the origin of the conf lict, its course
over the years, the effects it has had on all sorts of regional subsystems and
the international political scene, as well as the military (Hanning 2000),
economic (Brynen 2000) and social aspects involved. The conf lict took place
in several phases – among others, the foundation of the State of Israel in
1948, the Palestinian War of 1948/1949, the Six-Day War of 1967, the October
War of 1973, the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt in 1979, the Intifada
from 1987 onward, the peace process of 1991 and thereafter (Oslo I), the Gaza-
Jericho Agreement of 1993, Oslo II in 1995, the al-Aqsa Intifada from 2000
10 Following a suicide bombing in mid-May 2007 in Ankara, the voices supporting an invasion
of Northern Iraq became louder. The Turkish Army already had, at this time, several thousand
soldiers and heav y equipment stationed along the Turkey-Iraq border. Yet the parliamentary
resolution to march into Iraq was still missing. On 17 October 2007 this resolution permitting
military operations across the border with Iraq was accepted by the National Assembly.