VOA常速英语2007年-Border Conflict Part of Complex Turkey-Iraq Rel

By Sonja Pace
Habur Crossing, on the Turkey-Iraq Border
06 November 2007
 

Tensions again loom¹ along the Turkey-Iraq border with a Turkish military incursion into northern Iraq and economic sanctions still a possibility despite diplomatic efforts to calm the situation. It all centers on a 23-year conflict between Ankara and Kurdish rebels fighting for autonomy in southeastern Turkey and often using bases in northern Iraq to launch their attacks. That conflict is part of a complex economic and political relationship between the two neighbors, as VOA's Sonja Pace reports from the Turkish-Iraq border at the Habur crossing.

There is no shortage of them - 100 or more on any given day - waiting to carry goods from Turkey into Iraq.

It's often a long wait - over a week, the drivers say, before they get cleared to go through. They say they bring cargo² from all over Turkey mainly into the Kurdish areas of northern Iraq.

It's not an easy life, lots of waiting, little comfort and not much money, drivers say.

And yet, trade between Turkey and Iraq is booming and worth billions of dollars per year.

Turkish companies are involved in reconstruction³ in Iraq, and Turkey imports oil and gasoline.

And yet, Turkey is threatening to impose economic sanctions against rebels of the outlawed⁴ Kurdistan Workers' Party, PKK, on the other side of the border.

In an exclusive interview with VOA in Istanbul, Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari says everyone stands to lose if sanctions were implemented⁵. "Definitely, it would hurt northern Iraq, but it will hurt Turkish business interests as well. I mean, Turkey is the one country that is benefiting more than any others in reconstructions⁶, in projects, business - they're operating from Basra (in the far south) to the north," he says.

Asked about the threat of a Turkish military incursion, Zebari says that carries even greater risks. "Any major military incursion will destabilize the one single, most stable part of Iraq, and this could undo⁷ many of the achievements on the security front, on the economic front, on service fronts - to undo them, which is in nobody's interest," he adds.

At the moment, trade sanctions are a contingency⁸ plan.

Iraq analyst⁹ Joost Hiltermann of the International Crisis Group says sanctions are not the answer. "My sense is that Turkey would be better off to find a political solution to the question of the PKK, to have some kind of amnesty and to work out a very close economic relationship with the Kurdish region [in northern Iraq]," he says.

The truck drivers here at the Habur border crossing are far from the corridors of power where the questions of military action and trade sanctions are dealt with. Here, they wait to cross the border to deliver their goods, come back and do it all over again - hoping that politics will not interfere¹⁰.

1 loom   

n.织布机，织机；v.隐现，(危险、忧虑等)迫近

参考例句：

• The old woman was weaving on her loom.那位老太太正在织布机上织布。
• The shuttle flies back and forth on the loom.织布机上梭子来回飞动。

2 cargo   

n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物

参考例句：

• The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
• A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。

3 reconstruction   

n.重建，再现，复原

参考例句：

• The country faces a huge task of national reconstruction following the war.战后，该国面临着重建家园的艰巨任务。
• In the period of reconstruction,technique decides everything.在重建时期，技术决定一切。

4 outlawed   

宣布…为不合法（outlaw的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Most states have outlawed the use of marijuana. 大多数州都宣布使用大麻为非法行为。
• I hope the sale of tobacco will be outlawed someday. 我希望有朝一日烟草制品会禁止销售。

5 implemented   

v.实现( implement的过去式和过去分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• This agreement, if not implemented, is a mere scrap of paper. 这个协定如不执行只不过是一纸空文。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The economy is in danger of collapse unless far-reaching reforms are implemented. 如果不实施影响深远的改革，经济就面临崩溃的危险。 来自辞典例句

6 reconstructions   

重建( reconstruction的名词复数 )； 再现； 重建物； 复原物

参考例句：

• Multicolored reconstructions have been formed using (black and white) volume holographic plates. 利用黑白体积全息片已经做成了彩色重建象。
• The method gives ways to evaluate collision speed in traffic accident reconstructions. 该模型为交通事故再现推算碰撞速度提供了有效实用的方法。

7 undo   

vt.解开，松开；取消，撤销

参考例句：

• His pride will undo him some day.他的傲慢总有一天会毁了他。
• I managed secretly to undo a corner of the parcel.我悄悄地设法解开了包裹的一角。

8 contingency   

n.意外事件，可能性

参考例句：

• We should be prepared for any contingency.我们应该对任何应急情况有所准备。
• A fire in our warehouse was a contingency that we had not expected.库房的一场大火是我们始料未及的。

9 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

10 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。