Frontier Fracas

Holed up in the rugged, isolated mountain country that straddles the borders of Syria, Turkey, Iran, Russia and Iraq, the Kurds are a rebellious, trigger-happy breed who distrust the Arabs and traditionally hanker after little more than a fine horse, a good rifle, and a woman who can bear strong sons. For the past year, however, Iraq's Kurds have been in open revolt, last April demanded an autonomous Kurdish state in northern Iraq. Led by Red-leaning Mustafa Barzani, a onetime mullah (religious teacher) who spent twelve years of exile in Russia, Kurdish rebels have seized control of the northeast corner of Iraq, seriously imperiling the autocratic regime of Premier Abdul Karim Kassem.

Kassem's efforts to put down the revolt have been a dismal failure. He distrusts his army because one-third of its troops are of Kurdish stock, never gives raiding parties more than two days' supplies and ammunition lest they go over to the rebels. Fighting a hide-and-seek guerrilla war, the Kurds have made fools of Kassem's generals, currently have 2 1/2 divisions --half of Kassem's army--tied up in the frustrating campaign.

Fortnight ago, Iraqi air force planes bombed and strafed a Turkish village along the border between the two countries. Next day Turkish jets, catching two more Iraqi raiders inside Turkey, attacked and crippled one of Kassem's planes, which limped back across the frontier and crashed in Iraq. Angry diplomatic notes were exchanged between Ankara and Baghdad; in a fiery broadcast, Baghdad charged that Turkey not only was helping the Kurds but also had violated Iraqi air space with its jets.

The Turks denied the accusation, privately suggested that Kassem had made the charges only to cover up his inability to crush the Kurdish rebellion, was using them as a means to stir up new public support for his shaky government. But in a pointed warning to the Iraqis, the Turks last week ordered their ambassador in Baghdad back to Turkey "to complete his vacation period" and announced that the annual military maneuvers of the Turkish army would take place next month. Where? Along the Iraqi frontier, where a little sabre rattling might help the diplomats.

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