|
Turkish Kurds See Iraq As an Inspiration
5.4.2006
By Selcan Hacaoglu
|
|
|
|
DIYARBAKIR,
Kurdistan-Turkey, -- For Ramazan, an elderly
Kurdish businessman, the recent battles between
masked Kurdish youths and Turkish police have
rekindled a dream -- the creation of an autonomous
zone for his people in Turkey, much like the one
carved out of Iraq. But that dream is Turkey's worst
nightmare.
While Kurds look to northern Iraq for inspiration,
Turks see it as an example of what the future could
bring: a collapsed central state and a brewing
ethnic civil war.
Iran and Syria also are concerned that Kurds in
Iraq's oil-rich north could set up an independent
state if the Iraqi central government collapses --
serving as a rallying call for their own restless
Kurdish minorities and destabilize the entire
region.
Iran's ambassador to Turkey, Firouz Dowlatabadi,
warned in an interview published Tuesday that
Turkey, Iran and Syria need a joint policy on the
Kurdish issue or "the U.S. will carve pieces from us
for a Kurdish state."
But international politics was of little concern to
Ramazan when he headed out into the streets as soon
as he heard Kurdish protesters were confronting
Turkish police.
The protests started late last month in Diyarbakir,
the largest city in southeastern Turkey, the
predominantly Kurdish region devastated by more than
a decade of warfare between autonomy seeking Kurdish
guerrillas and the army.
At least 15 people were killed and hundreds were
injured and detained as the rioting spread, with
mass demonstrations throughout the southeast and
smaller protests in Istanbul.
"I did not throw any stone, I did not enter the
clashes. I am old, you know," said Ramazan, who
refused to give his last name or details about his
life for fear the police could track him down. "But
I went out to support the Kurdish revolution. I had
to be there since I am a Kurd."
"I am a Kurd, we want our language, our rights,"
Ramazan said.
Turkey refuses to recognize Kurds as a minority, and
speaking Kurdish was illegal until 1991. At the
prodding of the European Union, Turkey recently has
granted some cultural rights to Kurds such as
limited broadcasts on television, but many say it is
too little, too late.
Turks fear that increasing cultural rights could
lead to the breakup of the country along ethnic
lines. Stoking that fear is a U.S.-supported Kurdish
region in northern Iraq, complete with its own
government and militia.
Kurds -- brutally repressed under Saddam Hussein
before the autonomous zone was created after the
Gulf War in 1991 -- have played a key role in the
new Iraqi government and are prepared to stay in a
federal Iraq. But many Kurds say their real
aspiration is independence.
Turkish businessmen already are flocking to the area
as the Kurdish economy in northern Iraq grows. Some
Turkish Kurds living on the border regions are
sending their children to universities in the area.
That is coming as Turkey's economic program to build
up the southeast is faltering. The government has
done little to improve ruined roads or the
dilapidated health care system, and blackouts are
common.
Fighting between government and rebel forces --
which has left 37,000 dead since 1984 -- largely
ended after the 1999 capture of guerrilla leader
Abdullah Ocalan but began to flare up again after
the guerrillas declared an end to their unilateral
cease-fire in 2004.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged
not to give in to the rioters.
"No one should dare to test the power of the state
or the nation," Erdogan said Tuesday in an address
to his party. "The government will not step back
from expanding democracy, laws and freedom of
expression."
Many Kurds have pinned their hopes on Turkey's push
to join the EU, which repeatedly has said Ankara's
treatment of the Kurds will be a key determining
factor in its decision on whether to accept the
country. But that process could take at least a
decade and frustrations among Kurds are growing.
Unemployment is extremely high in the region, which
helps increase support for Kurdish guerrillas based
in northern Iraq. Ankara says the guerrillas also
have been able to acquire sophisticated plastic
explosives in Iraq for bombings in Turkey.
"No doubt, the region is affected by winds of change
from northern Iraq," former Kurdish lawmaker Hasim
Hasimi said.
For Ramazan, the fate of the Kurdish dream lies with
Washington and the EU.
"Give us a federal status like in Iraq, that's
enough," he said. "I hope, it will happen this
time."
AP
Top |
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the content of news
information on this page
|
® 