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U.S. risks Kurdish alliance
27.12.2007
By
Harry Sterling
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It's
doubtful Kurds will ever forgive Americans for
allowing Turks to attack
December
27, 2007
It was the one area of Iraq relatively free from
sectarian violence and terrorist bombings.
It also was the only region fervently pro-American.
But all that could change following the bombing of
villages in northern Iraq's Kurdistan province by
Turkish fighter planes, resulting in hundreds
fleeing after homes were destroyed in 10 villages,
and unconfirmed numbers of Kurds killed.
According to Turkish officials, the bombings by as
many as 50 aircraft targeted sanctuaries of the
Turkey's Kurdistan Workers' Party, PKK, and had the
approval of the Bush administration to permit
Turkish warplanes to fly within U.S. controlled
airspace.
The United States denies approving the bombings,
although it acknowledged Washington had prior
knowledge of the attacks.
Washington risks alienating the Kurds, one group in
Iraq that has steadfastly supported the U.S.
invasion and occupation of Iraq.
The Kurds' goodwill has permitted the United States
to concentrate its military forces in central Iraq,
the site of most of the sectarian violence by
extremists and Al-Qa'ida forces.
The co-operation of Kurdish leaders in buttressing
the current Shiite-dominated coalition in Baghdad
has been instrumental in keeping the lid on further
violence among Iraqi factions. The president of
Iraq, Jalal Talabani, is himself a Kurd and has been
a voice of moderation in Iraq's shaky democracy.
The bombings, however, clearly could change the
equation in the Kurdistan region. Whatever Iraq's
Kurds might think about the Turkish Kurds of the PKK
using their territory as a sanctuary and launching
area for attacks into southeastern Turkey,www.ekurd.net
their goodwill could be
severely tested over the Americans' permitting
Turkish military attacks against their territory.
Not surprisingly, the president of the Kurdistan
government, Massoud Barzani, refused to meet U.S.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during her visit
last week to Baghdad. Prime Minister Nechirvan
Barzani said it was "unacceptable that the United
States, in charge of monitoring our airspace,
authorized Turkey to bomb our villages."
The bombings also draw attention to the issue of
Turkey's policies and attitudes toward its large
Kurdish minority, about 20 million of Turkey's 75
million population.
Until recently, Turkish governments wouldn't even
acknowledge Kurds existed, euphemistically calling
them "Mountain Turks." The Kurdish language was
forbidden in schools or to be broadcast on radio or
television. A famous anthropologist was imprisoned
for using the term "Kurd" in an academic paper.
Newspapers and magazines considered to be promoting
Kurdish themes were regularly banned, as were
political parties thought to be pro-Kurdish.
Denying Turkish Kurds their own identity ultimately
led to the founding of the PKK, which launched an
uprising in 1984, resulting in close to 35,000
killed and widespread devastation in the Kurdish
region.
This suppression of anything Kurdish began to change
only in the 1990s because of Turkey's application to
join the European Union. The EU insisted Turkey must
end laws restricting fundamental human rights,
including rights of minorities and freedom of
speech.www.ekurd.net
The EU also said the
military interfering in government policies had to
stop - the military has overthrown three governments
since 1960, even executing Prime Minister Adnan
Menderes in 1961.
It was the coming to power in 2002 of Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his pro-Islamic Justice and
Development Party, AK which introduced greater
pragmatism toward the Kurdish issue. Erdogan
admitted the Kurdish region faced serious
socio-economic difficulties and lack of investment.
He said his government would rectify that situation.
Many Kurds believed Erdogan, it seems, because the
AK party won more than half the parliamentary seats
in the region during this year's national election,
a thinly disguised pro-Kurdish party coming second.
Notwithstanding Erdogan's more moderate policies
toward Kurdish issues - which some consider mere
window dressing for the EU's benefit - recent
attacks within Turkey by the PKK, resulting in
numerous casualties among Turkish troops, have
aroused the Turkish population.
Many demanded Turkey invade PKK sanctuaries in
northern Iraq, an action Turkey's chief of staff had
already demanded. Last week's attacks by the Turkish
air force presumably were at least partially
intended to appease the Turkish public, especially
since a large-scale ground invasion in winter
becomes increasingly difficult.
If the Turkish authorities want a long-term solution
to Kurdish discontent, they will require concrete
steps to respect the right of Kurds to their own
cultural traditions and identity and initiatives to
greatly improve the overall socio-economic situation
in predominantly Kurdish provinces.
This can be accomplished only by a dialogue of
goodwill and mutual respect that includes the
reconciliation of Kurdish militants, not by military
force.
Harry Sterling, a former diplomat posted in
Turkey, is an Ottawa-based writer.
canada com
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