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Kurds' struggle blocks Turkey's entry into
EU
4.3.2007
By Andrew Borowiec |
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March 4, 2007
NICOSIA, Cyprus -- Their uprisings have been
drowned in blood, but the cry "Freedom for
Kurdistan" reverberates in the barren, wind-swept
mountains where Turkey meets Syria, Iraq and Iran.
The unfulfilled quest of the Kurds for statehood is
now emerging as a major barrier in Turkey's path to
the European Union and in Ankara's relations with
the United States.
It risks becoming the dominant issue of this year's
Turkish parliamentary and presidential elections,
and a considerable diplomatic irritant involving the
United States, Europe and a large portion of the
Middle East inhabited by Kurds -- an ethnic group
deprived of self-rule for centuries.
Hardly a day goes by without Turkish threats to
enter Kurdistan region (northern Iraq) in pursuit of
Kurdish rebels waging a 32-year-old guerrilla war
that has claimed an estimated 37,000 lives. It is in
that part of Iraq that the Kurds have succeeded in
establishing a form of limited autonomy which, to
the Turkish government, looms as the possible
nucleus of a Kurdish state.
And the very concept, Turkish officials say, is
dynamite under the foundations of the Turkish
republic, where the Kurdish minority is officially
labelled "mountain Turks" and where their national
aspirations have been constantly thwarted.
The problem emerged with new urgency last month when
two senior Turkish officials, Foreign Minister
Abdullah Gul and Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, the chief of
general staff, visited the United States in search
of joint action to eliminate Kurdish guerrilla bases
in Iraq. They returned home unhappy, if one believes
the reaction of the Turkish press.
Turkish officials feel that the United States does
not want to antagonize Iraqi Kurds, perhaps the only
genuinely pro-American faction on the tormented
Iraqi battlefield. Turkish and Greek analysts,
unusually in agreement on this issue, claim that
Washington wants to establish a firm base in Iraq's
Kurdish areas in order to control Middle Eastern oil
routes.
And to Turkey, a member of the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization and a key U.S. ally in an area where
Europe meets Asia, any form of a Kurdish state is
anathema.
Hope for freedom
There are no accurate statistics, but the number of
Kurds living in Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria is
estimated at 15 million to 20 million -- most of
them in Turkey. **[Others estimate as many as 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.]
Their history is one of broken pledges, useless
appeals for international help, murder, the
destruction of entire villages, and an unsatisfied
clamor for nationhood.
They have been muzzled in Turkey and Syria, betrayed
by the last shah of Iran and massacred by Saddam
Hussein in Iraq. Yet their slogans of freedom
persist in their mountain hide-outs and in the
shantytowns on the outskirts of Turkish cities.
In recent months, Turkey has made some concessions,
including limited use of the Kurdish language on
television. But the reforms are far from satisfying
to the Kurds, and to the European Union, which
constantly urges a change of policy toward a large
minority considered to be downtrodden.
Although a number of Kurds in Turkey have been
assimilated and have even reached high government
positions, according to Jean-Francois Perouse, a
French specialist on the Kurdish question, the
Turkish Kurds have been "economically and
politically marginalized, becoming the republic's
second-class citizens, prone to violence."
Violence and terror have been the main weapons of
the militant Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), the main
guerrilla group considered to be terrorists by both
Turkey and the United States. Its periodic campaigns
have been marked by riots, bomb explosions and
threats of more carnage.
Turkey has also rejected several cease-fire
proposals from the PKK, instead demanding its
unconditional capitulation.
Uprisings squelched
During the past 80 years, 29 Kurdish uprisings have
been stifled in Turkey -- except for the last one,
now in its 33rd year. The last unilateral truce
proclaimed by the PKK took place from 1999 to 2004,
when the relentless war resumed.
Last year Abdullah Ocalan, a jailed Kurdish leader,
appealed from his cell through his lawyer for
another truce. He was rebuffed by Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who said that the solution of
the Kurdish problem on Turkish terms is more
important than Turkey's efforts to join the European
Union.
"The first and foremost principle is to eradicate
entirely this terrorist group," said Edip Baser,
coordinator of the struggle against the PKK. "The
PKK should lay down its arms unconditionally and
surrender." Some Kurdish leaders deny Turkey's claim
that they would like to join the Iraqi Kurds and
their local administration in Kurdistan region
(northern Iraq).
"We don't want to join a state created by the Iraqi
Kurds," said Ahmet Turk, leader of the Democratic
Society Party, which seeks more cultural and
political rights. "Our home is in Turkey, we want to
build a more free and open society here."
Such statements are generally ignored by the Turkish
government, which insists that permanent links exist
between the Iraqi and Turkish Kurds. Some officials
in Ankara hint that the United States, although it
labels the PKK a "terrorist" organization, has
closed its eyes to the flow of weapons from Iraq to
rebel bases in Turkey.
"The terrorist organization has access to arms
sources that are under the control of the Iraqi
government, and this should be prevented," said
Turkish Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu.
Special envoy
The problem has been a constant irritant in
U.S.-Turkish relations, and led last summer to
Washington's appointment of a special envoy dealing
with Turkey's claims. He is Joseph Ralston, a
retired Air Force general who has served as U.S.
chief of staff and NATO supreme commander.
Last September, Gen. Ralston urged Turkey to be
patient, saying "There will be a wide range of
measures, some of which will be visible, and some
behind the scenes."
Six months later, apparently pressured by the Turks
for U.S. military action against the PKK, Gen.
Ralston said: "Nothing is off the table, and that's
how we will work with our counterparts in Turkey and
Iraq to come up with the best methods."
Turkish officials think that Gen. Ralston's
activities have centered mainly on preventing a
massive Turkish military incursion into Iraq that
would further destabilize that country.
So far, the predominantly Kurdish areas have been
spared the terrorism plaguing most of Iraq.
Iraqi Kurds assisted the U.S. invasion of Iraq in
2003, while Turkey refused to allow its territory to
be used as a U.S. base for attacks from the north.
The refusal considerably chilled ties between the
two countries while it increased Washington's
commitment to the Iraqi Kurds.
Last month, Iraq's Vice President Adel Abdel Mahdi
urged Turkey to stop threatening cross-border
military action against Kurdish rebels in Iraq.
Ankara claims that about 3,000 PKK guerrillas
operate from bases in Iraq's Kurdish areas and
demands for their pursuit intensified in recent
months along with Turkish nationalism.
washingtontimes com
** 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 as many as 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 some 20 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
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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