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Kurdish women PKK fighters: The Turks
refuse to speak to us
21.11.2007
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November 21, 2007
The London daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat recently
published an interview with several Kurdish women
fighters from the Turkey's Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
The interviewees spoke about why they had joined the
party, and about its policy and stance vis-a-vis
other countries such as the U.S. and Syria. During
the interview, mention was made of a strategic
alliance between Turkey and Iran, and it was also
stated that Turkish incursions into southern
Kurdistan were aimed at sabotaging U.S. plans in the
Middle East.
Following are excerpts from the interview:
[1]
A Female Fighter: My Life is Dedicated to the
Liberation from the Turkish Oppression A young
female fighter, N.J.R., 34, from one of the villages
from the Sharnakh area, who had joined the PKK over
15 years before, said that it was "the severe
suffering of the Kurdish women in Turkey" that had
prompted her to join the party ranks. |
Kurdish women, the PKK freedom fighters in southern
Turkey (Northern Big Kurdistan) |
She further stated that
"the systematic policy of the Turkish authorities
was to lock [women] up in their homes, to deprive
them of opportunities to study, and to widen the
gender gap with respect of social rights..."
N.J.R. continued: "As a Kurdish young woman, along
with millions of other Kurdish women, I was
forbidden to speak my native Kurdish language in my
homeland. I excelled in academic studies throughout
my school years. In high school, my grade average
was high enough to get me accepted to medical
school; however, the Turkish authorities subjected
me to such insupportable pressure on account of my
Kurdish ethnicity that I was forced to abandon my
studies. www.ekurd.net
"A Kurdish woman living there [i.e. in Turkey] is
under three kinds of pressure: the first due to her
Kurdish ethnicity; the second due to her being a
woman; and the third stemming from the lack of
social justice and equality between man and woman. I
became convinced that by joining the Kurdistan
Workers Party, it would be possible to correct these
unjust aspects of our lives... The speeches and
lectures of leader [Abdullah] Ocalan made a great
impression on me, filling me with hope that one day
we will be delivered by virtue of the party...
"None of us can attain freedom alone, and here,
between the mountains and valleys [of northern
Iraq], the course of our lives is somewhat slowed
down. Nevertheless, here I feel great freedom and
liberty. Women who live in the surrounding villages
do not have as much as one hundredth of the freedom
with which we, young women, are endowed. The weapons
we always carry for the lofty purposes of liberation
fill our hearts with fulfillment and boost our
morale... I am determined to devote my whole life to
the struggle for the liberation of other women like
myself."
A Strategic Turkey-Iran Alliance
Asked whether she expected an attack from Iran
simultaneously with an attack from Turkey, a fighter
calling herself Nawroz replied: "If this happens,
the U.S. will never tolerate it; moreover, a joint
attack of this kind would reveal the strategic
alliance signed between Iran and [Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip] Erdogan, which both sides are
trying to keep secret.
"Early last summer, a Turkish military convoy was
attacked by our comrades in arms in the Bingol
region, well within the Turkish borders, and it was
later discovered that the convoy vehicles had been
loaded with Iranian weapons. The Turkish
authorities, however, covered up this incident -
which reveals the nature of the strategic agreement
between Turkey and Iran.
"It can be claimed with certainty that the
anticipated Turkish attack has nothing to do with
us, but rather is related to steps contemplated by
the U.S. as part of its plans in the Middle East. I
believe that the crisis is connected to Iran.
"[This crisis] was dubbed, by Russian President
Vladimir Putin and U.S. President George Bush, one
of the precursors of World War III. It is part of
the issue. Note that every time that disagreement
between the U.S. and Iran is exacerbated, Turkey
resumes military operations in the area of southern
Kurdistan, in order to sabotage U.S. plans regarding
Iran.
"It is this [sabotage of the U.S. plans] that is the
ultimate aim of the anticipated Turkish attack -
rather than the military operations against the
Turkish army that our fighters carried out months
ago in the Kabar area - which is some 600 km from
the border with southern Kurdistan, according to the
Turks' claims.
"It is common knowledge that [Turkey] had been
preparing for this operation for a long time; it
launched it by bombing the Senjar area in the
Kurdish region of Iraq, with the full acquiescence
and participation of Syria and Iran. This was a
clear threat to the Kurds in southern Kurdistan, to
show Turkey was in a position to strike them.
"At the same time, they were subjected to political
pressure, when Ankara announced that it was not
prepared to establish relations with a Kurdish
tribal leader, hinting at [Jalal] Talabani, the
president of the Iraqi republic. [Ankara] intended
to harm his [i.e. Talabani's political] standing, as
a kind of diplomatic pressure.
"In other words, Turkey had been preparing for this
operation for a considerable time. This is evident
from the recent explosions in Kirkuk, in which
Turkey was directly involved. Their objective was to
preempt the public poll regarding the future of
Kirkuk. All this means that the aim pursued by
Erdogan's government in this operation was much
broader than [tackling] the Workers Party." www.ekurd.net
The Idea of Establishing an Independent State is
No Longer Alive
Asked whether the [Kurdistan] Workers Party was
continuing to pursue the agenda of establishing an
independent Kurdish state or whether it had
relinquished this idea, Nawruz said: "The
establishment of an independent Kurdish state has
been and will remain our main aspiration. However,
our concept of a Kurdish state presupposes that the
Kurdish people's political problems cannot be solved
as long as there are powerful and subjugated and
rich and poor, and as long as the discrimination
against women as opposed to men in this state
persists.
"So we thought that the best way to solve our
problem was through political dialogue, albeit of a
different kind, in the framework of [our] right to
self-determination. In other words, the idea of
establishing an independent state is dead and gone,
and has been replaced by a claim to the
self-determination of the Kurdish people via
political dialogue, [i.e.] through peaceful means."
Regarding the party's Communist leanings, Nawruz
commented: "At this time, we do not aspire to
establish a Communist regime similar to the one that
existed in the former Soviet Union prior to 1990;
rather, we are working towards a democratic order,
which will give each district or province the right
to manage its affairs independently."
Ready for a Dialogue with Turkey
About the possibility of a dialogue, Nawroz said:
"Yes, we are ready for it. Evidence to our [quest]
for peace is our repeated announcements of ceasefire
vis-a-vis the Turkish forces, although [the Turks]
are concentrating their forces in great numbers in
order to attack us. We are always emphasizing our
readiness to conduct negotiations and a democratic
dialogue, on condition that Turkey desist from
military attacks, and prove its willingness to find
democratic solutions to our problems."
We Avoid Harming Civilians
Nawroz further stated: "Since the declaration of
armed hostilities in 1984, we carried out no
terrorist operations inside the cities, and have
always tried to avoid harming civilians in our armed
operations. If any civilians were hurt during our
operations, their number does not exceed one month's
casualties in Iraq - in other words, we have not
harmed civilians at all.
"However, if Turkey continues its attacks against
southern Kurdistan and its pressure on our people in
northern Kurdistan - such as, for example, arresting
municipality heads or threatening Kurdish
representatives in the Turkish parliament - and if
it continues its chauvinist acts against the Kurdish
people, then we will spare no effort, and will not
hesitate to do everything in our power.
"Our intention is certainly not to harm civilians,
since this is forbidden by our party's legal code;
international law, on the other hand, openly
stipulates that an area of fighting is open to any
eventuality - in other words, the Turkish cities
will also become a battlefield."
We Receive No Assistance from U.S. or Syria
To a question on the party's source of financing and
weapons, Nawroz replied: "I would like to state
clearly and unambiguously that, to this day, we have
not received as much as half a dollar of assistance
of of any kind or form, from any country or other
element. All our means come from our party
organizations, as well as from the assistance given
us by our people."
On the source of its U.S. weapons, Nawroz said: "We
categorically deny receiving weapons directly from
the U.S. There are plenty of American weapons in the
Istanbul markets, and anyone with money can buy
them. If you go to Afghanistan, you will find that
there too the Taliban fighters carry American
weapons; also in Baghdad, members of extremist
religious groups carry American weapons and guns
with silencers.
"This certainly does not mean that the U.S. is
supplying these groups with weapons, but rather that
there is a market that trades [in U.S. weapons], and
that we buy them there."
On the question of whether Syria is still supporting
the Kurdistan Workers' Party, Nawroz commented:
"Syria was the first country to declare its support
for the Turkish attack after the Turkish
parliamentary resolution regarding [the attack] was
released - which means that we are not getting
assistance from Syria."
There is No Connection with PEJAK
On the current relations between Kurdistan Workers
Party and the Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan [PEJAK],
which is an opposition party active in Iran, Nawroz
said, "PEJAK was an independent political
organization, carrying out its own political
struggle in the eastern, that is, the Iranian, part
of Kurdistan, and there was no connection between it
and the party [i.e. PKK]."
We Have No Connection with Ocalan
Asked if her party was still receiving orders and
instructions from imprisoned leader Abdullah Ocalan,
Nawruz stated: "Certainly not. Our leadership has
announced time and again that [our] leader Ocalan is
[being held] under conditions which do not allow him
to direct the party organizations. However, if
political negotiations commence, or if a ceasefire
is announced, then the orders will most definitely
come from our leader Ocalan." www.ekurd.net
Asked if this meant that there was communication
between them and their imprisoned leader, Nawruz
said: "None whatsoever - until his lawyer, who met
with him a month ago, informed us that [Ocalan] had
lost 10 kg, and that his health had deteriorated."
* [1] Al-Sharq Al-Awsat (London), October 17, 2007.
memri org
**
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
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