|
USA: Nashville Kurds say Turkey's threat
are for show
10.7.2007
|
|
|
|
Turkey flexing muscles before election, they say
July
10, 2007
Some members of Nashville's Kurdish community say
Turkey's threatening posture is saber-rattling for
political gain.
"The biggest reason is that they are having their
elections, so a lot of it is to stretch their
muscles, to basically show that the military still
has power over the people," said Dr. Goran Bekhtyar,
42, founder of the nonprofit Improved Health Systems
for Iraq.
Isa Chalky, 34, who works with the Nashville Kurdish
Council, acknowledges that the Turkish threat does
cause concern here; Music City has one of the
largest Kurdish populations outside Iraq.
"I don't believe the Turks would make that mistake,"
he said. "They have been warned by our president, by
our secretary of state, our secretary of defense.
"I don't think they will do anything. They are
trying to show force ... but it's pretty much
advertising for their elections."
Nawzad Hawrami, director of the Salahadeen Center of
Nashville, said the Turks are using a Kurdish
separatist rebel group as an excuse to make the
threat.
But if there is any invasion, "the Turkish make a
big problem."
For the past three months, there have been reports
that "the Turkish army is prepared to violate
Kurdistan" and that the talk is heating up as the
elections near and the military flexes its muscles
to show that the state of martial law is still
strong, Hawrami said.
It's time for democracy
None of the three completely disregard the Turkish
threat.
"I escaped chemical and biological weapons (in
Iraq), and I lived in Turkey for 3½ years," Chalky
said. "I saw the brutality and violence of the
Turks."
He sees some envy and fear on the part of the Turks.
"They are seeing the development in the Kurdish
region, and it's safe. It's totally different from
the rest of Iraq. And they are thinking that if Iraq
is partitioned, there will be a Kurdish independent
state."
He also said that while the Turks see the Kurdish
Workers' Party as terrorists, "the Kurdish people
don't see it that way.
They believe the Turks are the state of terrorists.
"The Kurdish leaders have warned Turkey and said any
incursion into our region would be incursion onto
the sovereignty of Iraq."
Chalky said the day for fighting is past. "It is
time for democracy, for diplomacy, time to sit on
the same table, side-by-side and to solve this
issue."
Bekhtyar, who just returned from a medical mission
in Kurdistan four days ago, said the threat from
Turkey is nothing new.
"They need to solve this politically. The days of
martial law and threats, keeping people from their
individual human rights, those days are long gone.
"But Turkey hasn't come to that realization yet. And
I think it will."
tennessean 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.
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.
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
Top |
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the content of news
information on this page
|
® 