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Turkey takes out anger on wrong victim
31.12.2007
By Chege Mbitiru
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December
31, 2007
Authorities in Turkey are allowing paranoia to
suppress reason. That explains the country’s
military incursions in Kurdistan 'northern Iraq'
beginning early last month. The real problem remains
at home.
The incursions aimed at fighter of the Turkey's
Kurdish Worker’s Party, PKK, in mountainous northern
Iraq. Turkey says the rebels provoked the latest
flare-up. That’s correct.
In early October, the rebels killed 25 Turkish
soldiers in two separate incidents near Iraqi
Kurdistan border. They knew that in between Turkish
legislators had authorised the military to pursue
them inside Iraq.
The killings provoked anti-PKK feelings. Street
protests erupted spontaneously. From then on, Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan set the military loose
or more plausible,www.ekurd.net
the generals told him
just do the talking, and we’ll do the fighting.
Beginning this month, Turkish troops went after PKK
targets. Hardly anyone addressed the real issue:
Turkey’s treatment of its Kurds.
Country’s actions
Mr Erdogan defended his country’s actions, claiming
it acted “within the framework of authority granted
by international law.” Had Turkey always observed
that law, PKK wouldn’t exist.
Directly concerned about the flare-up is the United
States and Iraqi government, notably Iraq’s regional
Kurdish government of President Massoud Barzani. The
region turns out to be most peaceful in Iraq,
without US or any foreign troops. Turkey’s paranoia
of a Kurdish state is on overdrive.
Mr Barzani protested. The US backed Turkey and
provided intelligence. President George W. Bush
reiterated to Mr Erdogan US support for war against
PKK. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had already
done that. Mr Barzani snubbed Ms Rice.
The US, the EU and Turkey consider PKK a terrorist
organisation. The PKK certainly plants bombs here
and there in Turkey. However, how did the
organization get to that and what are Turkey and the
US doing to revert the march?
The Kurds have always existed in Kurdistan—mostly
mountainous parts of Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran,
Armenia and Azerbaijan. Nobody really knows, but
their number could be as large as 25 million. The
majority lives in Turkey. If a people ever got a raw
deal after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the
Kurds did.
Britain and France played the major role in creating
new nations, Syria, Iraq, et al. The Treaty of
Sevres in 1920, which dismantled the Ottoman Empire,
promised northern and western Kurdistan
independence. The treaty of Lausanne two years
later, handed the regions to Turkey.
The Kurds, a large ethnic minority—culture,
language, etc.—has had raw deals mostly in Turkey,
Syria and Iran. Turkey tried to wipe out their
identity. Until 1991, the country didn’t allow Kurds
to speak their own language.www.ekurd.net
They were Turks, got
lost on the hills and forgot identify. Former Iraqi
President Saddam Hussein poison gassed as many as he
could. Iran forbids Kurds to use Kurdish names.
In 1984, the Kurds in Turkey, led by Mr Abdullah
Ocalan, formed the PKK. The PKK demanded equality as
citizens of the Republic of Turkey or an independent
state. Turkey now says at least 3,000 Kurdish
fighters are hunkered in the Qandil mountain range,
especially where Turkey, Iran and Iraq borders each
other. However, a majority of Kurds live in
southeaster and eastern Turkey.
Eventually, it seems, somebody sold Mr Ocalan to
Turkey. However, by mid 1990s, the PKK had made its
point. Ottoman Empire hangover prevailed in Ankara,
Turkey’s capital.
The Human Rights Watch reported more than 3,000
Kurdish villages had been “virtually wiped from the
map.” Body count didn’t really matter. Few any
longer care about the Armenian Genocide, in Turkey.
In August 2005, Mr Erdogan, visiting predominantly
Kurdish region in southeast admitted the state had
made mistakes in dealings with Kurds. There’s little
evidence he planned corrections. A fair deal from
Turkey would lower Kurdish temperature worldwide.
nationmedia com
**
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, a
large Turkey's Kurdish community 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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