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Imperialism and Kurdish self-determination
14.12.2007
By Mazda Majidi - The contents of this article reflect
the author's personal opinions
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December
14, 2007
A case of manipulation
On Nov. 25, the commander of U.S. forces in Europe,
Gen. Bantz Craddock, became the third U.S. general
to travel to Turkey in one week. Two other two
generals, including Patreaus, went to Turkey on Nov.
20. The purpose of the visits is to reassure the
Turkish government of U.S. support against the
Kurdistan Workers Party, the PKK.
The visits followed a decision by Turkey’s
parliament to authorize its military to go over the
border to Iraq’s Kurdistan and attack PKK camps.
Turkey then launched "limited" cross-border
artillery strikes into Iraq on Dec. 1.
If a larger-scale military incursion occurs, it will
constitute a blow to U.S. interests in the region,
which strives for stability in both Turkey and the
Iraqi part of Kurdistan while it continues to occupy
Iraq.
Kurdistan is a region divided between four
countries, Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria. Of the
approximately 40 million Kurds, more than half live
in Turkey. Kurdish people comprise the largest
nationality in the world that lacks its own state.
From a Marxist perspective, every oppressed nation
has the right of self-determination, including the
right to secede and form an independent state.
But imperialism, through a constant policy of divide
and conquer, has intensified national oppression.
Imperialism perpetuates national oppression not just
between imperialist countries and oppressed ones,
but also amongst different nationalities of
oppressed countries.
The political geography of the Middle East is the
product of deals made between victorious colonial
powers following World War I. With the defeat of the
Ottoman Empire,www.ekurd.net
the British and the
French drew the maps of the countries in the region
in consideration of their colonial interests. The
people of the region had no say in this process.
Since World War II, U.S. policy on the Kurdish
question has exemplified imperialist manipulation of
legitimate struggles against national oppression to
advance imperialist aims. The United States
simultaneously has supported and opposed the Kurdish
national struggle depending on the nature of the
state of the country in which it has been waged.
In the 1970s, the United States supported the
Kurdish struggle in Iraq, where U.S. strategy after
the Iraq revolution of 1958 was to destabilize the
Iraqi state. At the same time, Washington opposed
the struggle of the Kurds in Turkey and in Iran
under the Shah, a U.S. puppet. In fact, the United
States funneled supplies to Iraqi Kurds through
Iran’s Kurdistan region, while Iranian Kurds were
repressed by the Shah’s U.S.-armed military.
Today, Turkey is a member of NATO and an ally of
imperialism in the region. Turkey is the biggest
recipient of U.S. military aid after Israel and
Egypt. Turkey has carried out a brutal campaign
against the Kurdish population, destroying 3,000
villages and killing tens of thousands of Kurds.
Throughout this bloody campaign, the United States
has been its major supporter and supplier of arms.
At the same time that the United States aids Turkey
in its oppression of the Kurds, it actively supports
the cause of Kurdish independence in Iran. Turkey
has by far the largest Kurdish population, and the
most oppressed.
Imperialist intervention
The United States and the European Union officially
classify the PKK as a terrorist organization. A wing
of the PKK, the Party for Free Life in Kurdistan or
the PJAK, has been engaged in attacks against Iran’s
military inside Iran. These attacks are very similar
to attacks carried out by the PKK against the
Turkish military.
According to the Oct. 23 New York Times, the PKK and
the PJAK "appear to a large extent to be one and the
same." They have the same overall goal and guiding
leadership. However, the United States and European
imperialists do not consider the PJAK a terrorist
organization. In fact, they support the PJAK.
In August, the PJAK’s leader, Rahman Haj-Ahmadi,
visited Washington, D.C. and appealed for U.S.
military and financial support for the group’s
campaign to overthrow the regime in Iran.
Support for the wing of PKK in Iran while (openly)
opposing the PKK in Turkey is only one aspect of the
imperialist manipulation of the Kurdish cause.
Much of Turkey’s ruling establishment has been
strongly opposed to the Justice and Development
Party, led by Prime Minister Erdogan. In an
electoral victory in August, Abdullah Gul, Erdogan’s
close ally, was elected president and strengthened
that party’s control of the state.
This Erdogan/Gul grouping has exhibited some level
of independence from the United States, earning the
wrath of the traditionally entrenched ruling
establishment in Turkey, including the military
leadership. There was speculation about the
possibility of a military coup following the August
elections.
Some have speculated that Turkey’s military would
like to use the PKK to whip up a nationalistic
frenzy among the majority ethnic Turks, win support
for military action against the Kurds and strengthen
the military’s position vis-ŕ-vis the civilian
leadership.
To the extent that it does not spill fully over to
Iraq, this would be a welcome development for
Washington. It would jeopardize the position of
Erdogan and Gul and make them less able to pursue
independent policies.
In Iraq, since the first Gulf War in 1991, Kurdistan
has been an autonomous region. The main political
forces in Iraq’s Kurdistan, the Patriotic Union of
Kurdistan and the Kurdish Democratic Party,www.ekurd.net
have since been close
allies of the U.S. imperialists. In fact, the
Kurdish militia, the Peshmerga, has been fighting
the Iraqi resistance on the side of the imperialist
'occupying forces' of Iraq.
Whether the Kurdish people eventually form an
independent state, remain as an autonomous state
within their respective countries, or choose any
other path through their struggle, it is for them to
exercise their right of self-determination.
Imperialist intervention and manipulation can only
weaken the aspirations of the Kurdish national
struggle.
Whatever short-term gains the Kurdish leadership may
make through forming alliances with imperialism are
subject to take -backs, as dictated by future
imperialist tactics. Such "gains" sow the seeds of
division among the region’s people, perpetuating the
objective conditions for continued oppression.
Real gains can only be won through forging unity
with the anti-imperialist struggle of the other
oppressed peoples of the region against imperialist
domination.
pslweb org
The contents of this article reflect the author's
personal opinions and do not necessarily represent
the views of ekurd.net
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