Is Kurdistan coming to the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh?  10.9.2009  
By Dev Meyers 

Ahmet Turk, leader of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party, urged the Turkish government to open dialogue with Kurdish rebels to end the 25-year-old conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people.

The Kurdish people do not have their own political borders. They live in eastern Turkey, northern Iraq, nothwestern Iran, Azerbaijan, nothern Syria and Armenia.

What if the ceasefire is not extended? Will these same peaceful demonstrators upstage the work that needs to be accomplished at the G20 Summit?

A reader AJ commented, "We, the Kurdish people, are a completely different race/enthinicity than Arabs, Persians, and Turks. We occupied these land for thousands of years. After the fall of the Ottoman Empire, we were promised an independent country. Attaturk (the modering founder of Turkey) did not want to give the Kurdish a seperate homeland, even though we number about 45-50 million people. The allied powers gave the Kurdish people a country in the Treaty of Sèvres. Due to Turkish opposition it was never implemented, thus the treaty was replaced by Treaty of Lausanne which the Turks agreed to. This left the Kurds without a homeland and divided between four states (Turkey, Iran, Syria, and Iraq). Iraq was not even a state, it's artificially created state so the British could control it's vast oil resource.

"We, The Kurdish people, have spent the last century fighting for our rights."

Kurdi from Duhok in Iraqi Kurdistan region said, "Whence Kurdish nation ask for their right from the occupier within their land, they receive a military answer. I'm from southern Kurdistan and i do not want to be part of Iraq. This is my human rights choice so why not Kurd who live in Turkey have their own right?

"By the way, the land we took back from the Iraq we took get by million of Kurdish blood. And believe me if Turks or Iranian fars and Syrian Bathist won't solve Kurdish problem within their fake and forced named country there will be no peace and you well see more blood shed."

The United States has designated the PKK a terrorist organization. Terrorists or not, there are tens of thousands of people who feel disenfranchised. But many feel that the solution can be obtained through peaceful methods.

Emre Uslu writes, "Turkey's EU membership bid has fundamentally changed the concept of nation-state, and it diverted the argument to focus on individual rights rather then the right to have a nation-state. Therefore, while the rest of the world is debating the beheinefits of lining in borderless territories, Kurdish nationalists' victimization argument, which highlights their demands to establish a Kurdish nation-state, does not make sense for ordinary Kurds. This is especially important for Kurds in Turkey because in almost every home there are one or more people who have relatives in Europe. Thus,www.ekurd.netfor the majority of Kurds, being a part of Europe is not wishful thinking, but it is the reality of their everyday life. It is the reality that many Kurds depend on the money that comes from Europe through their relatives in Europe. Hence, dreaming of attaining a nation-state through the victimization argument is just a dream for Kurdish nationalists, but not the majority of Kurds in the region." - Problems of Kurdish intellectuals, Today's Zaman.

If by some miracle, the Turks and Kurds celebrate the end of" the Eid ul-Fitr festival by shaking hands on a peace agreement, then the Kurdish people will take their rightful place along side their Turkish countrymen at the G20. And the Kurds may not actually visit the Allegheny mountains during the G20, their story and their partnership with Turkey will be reported in the Allegheny mountains by the major news networks.

Peace or violence is the choice that mankind must make. Survival of the planet or the alternative.

Dev Meyers: Dev grew up in the Squirrel Hill. After earning an MBA at the Katz School of Business, she relocated cross country, discovering that most Americans have family ties to Pittsburgh. She's passionate about the history of the region and the amazing people who made it what it is.

Copyright, respective author or news agency, examiner com

* Since 1984 the Turkey's Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) took up arms for self-rule in the mainly Kurdish southeast of Turkey (Turkey-Kurdistan). A large Turkey's Kurdish community openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK rebels. Turkey refuses to recognize its Kurdish population as a distinct minority.

The PKK demanded Turkey's recognition of the Kurds' identity in its constitution and of their language as a native language along with Turkish in the country's Kurdish areas,www.ekurd.net the party also demanded an end to ethnic discrimination in Turkish laws and constitution against Kurds, ranting them full political freedoms.

The PKK is considered a 'terrorist' organization by Ankara, U.S., the PKK continues to be on the blacklist list in EU despite court ruling which overturned a decision to place the Kurdish rebel group PKK and its political wing on the European Union's terror list.

Turkey refuses to recognize its Kurdish population as a distinct minority. It has allowed some cultural rights such as limited broadcasts in the Kurdish language and private Kurdish language courses with the prodding of the European Union, but Kurdish politicians say the measures fall short of their expectations.


** 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 25 million live in Turkey. 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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