|
Armenian Genocide resolution should pass
22.10.2007
By Jim Horn |
|
|
|
October 22, 2007
A brouhaha is brewing regarding the proposed
resolution ---- the timing is an issue ---- to
recognize the Turkish genocide directed at Armenians
ninety years ago when more than 1.5 million
Armenians were slaughtered by Turks. During the two
years I lived in Turkey, I got to know and
understand the Turks and Armenians, as well as other
downtrodden minority groups in that country.
The resolution is a Democratic initiative and
President Bush is trying to block it, claiming the
resolution will provoke the Turks to cut off routes
used to supply our bases in Iraq.
The Turks are angry at Iraqi Kurds who harbor
guerrillas who have been attacking Turks in support
of Turkish Kurds who want independence from Turk
oppression. The Turks are threatening to mount a
significant incursion across the border into Iraqi
Kurdistan to attack the Kurds, the most successful
of the three major Iraqi groups in self-government.
In this attack, the Turks would cut those supply
lines anyhow.
The resolution is driving the Turks batty because
they want to control how we Americans manage our
internal affairs. Their threatening to cut off
routes through Turkey that we use to supply our
bases ---- and Iraqi Kurds ---- if it passes is just
an excuse they are using in support of their
argument to attack Iraq.
While the Turks were a useful ally during the Cold
War, the Cold War is over and that alliance means
nothing now. The Turks needed us more than we needed
them because Joe Stalin was ready to trounce them,
and NATO gave the Turks protection.
The Turks sabotaged our pre-invasion plans in Iraq.
They have been the most useless, costly and
problematic NATO partner in the alliance, repeatedly
in disputes with a more stalwart NATO partner,
Greece.
If the Turks cut off our supply lines into Iraq or
attack Iraq ---- the Iraqi Kurdistan ---- they
should be booted out of NATO, and all American and
European military assistance to Turkey should be cut
off. They no longer need it. They are no longer
threatened by the USSR.
A clarifying note: The so-called Turks garnered a
reputation of incredible ferocity during the Korean
war. The reality is that the "Turks" who fought so
valiantly were in fact Kurdish conscripts, along
with conscripted Christian Armenians, Assyrians,
Bulgars and Greeks. The only contribution the Turks
made was their officers and senior noncoms who stood
behind the conscripts with machine guns at the ready
to gun down any who faltered.
A congressional vote for the resolution would be
well-deserved recognition for the significant
contributions Armenian-Americans have made to
America, a lot more than the Turks have contributed.
Jim Horn of Sun City is a retired U.S. diplomat.
nctimes.com
* First world war
massacres | Related
issue:
Armenian Genocide by Turkish Muslims against
Christians
Turkey faces international pressure to recognise
that more than 1 million Armenians were massacred
during a 1915 campaign of ethnic cleansing by
Ottoman Turks. Turkish officials claim that most
deaths were caused by hunger and disease.
* Since 1991, the Kurds of Iraq achieved self-rule
in part of the country. Today's teenagers are the
first generation to grow up under Kurdish rule. In
the new Iraqi Constitution, it is referred to as
Kurdistan region. Kurdistan region has all the
trappings of an independent state -- its own
constitution, its own parliament, its own flag, its
own army, its own border, its own border patrol, its
own national anthem, its own education system, its
own International airports, even its own stamp inked
into the passports of visitors.
**
Kurds are not recognized as an official minority in
Turkey and are denied rights granted to other
minority groups. Under EU pressure, Turkey recently
granted Kurds limited rights for broadcasts and
education in the Kurdish language, but critics say
the measures do not go far enough.
The use of the term "Kurdistan" is vigorously
rejected due to its alleged political implications
by the Republic of Turkey, which does not recognize
the existence of a "Turkish Kurdistan" Southeast
Turkey.
Others estimate over 40 million Kurds live in
Big Kurdistan (Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Iran, Armenia),
which covers an area as big as France, about half of
all Kurds which estimate to 20 million live in
Turkey.
Turkey is home to over 25 million ethnic Kurds, some
of whom openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK for a
Kurdish homeland in the country's mainly Kurdish
southeast of Turkey.
Before August 2002, the Turkish government placed
severe restrictions on the use of Kurdish language,
prohibiting the language in education and broadcast
media.
The Kurdish alphabet is still not recognized
in Turkey, and use of the Kurdish letters X, W, Q
which do not exist in the Turkish
alphabet has led to judicial persecution in 2000 and
2003
The Kurdish flag flown officially in Iraqi Kurdistan
but unofficially flown by Kurds in Armenia. The flag
is banned in Iran, Syria, and Turkey where flying it
is a criminal offence"
Southeastern Turkey:
North Kurdistan ( Kurdistan-Turkey)
wikipedia
Top |
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the content of news
information on this page
|
® 