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What the Turkey's Sirnak Kurdish Massacre
Reveals
5.1.2012
By Dr Sardar Aziz |
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Sardar Aziz has a PhD in Middle Eastern studies from
University College Cork, Ireland. He has taught
orientalism at School of Asian Studies, University
College Cork.
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January
5, 2012
The number of those who lost their lives while
crossing the border from south of Kurdistan
[northern Iraq] to the north [southern Turkey] is
varied -- 35, according to official statements, 50,
according to the Kurds.
As the information indicates, they were all young in
their twenties, were not carrying any weapons and
did not have the slightest intention of terrorizing
anyone.
They were doing the impossible -- crossing the
border at night, amid minefields -- to earn money
for their families. One doesn't have to use their
imagination to realize how much this says about the
unbearable life in the north of Kurdistan.
They were carrying petrol, or cigarettes according
to the BBC. The price differential for these goods
between the two sides of the border is huge.
According to media reports, they were initially
spotted by an unmanned plane and later bombed by F16
jets. Both are from the United State of America.
So far, the military is insisting on their story
that the people who were killed were PKK members.
The Turkish government regards what happened as an
“error.”
The Turkish media are suspicious of provocation, and
the Kurdish political parties are describing it as a
massacre. The truth is somewhere among these two.
Setting aside all of these descriptions,
justifications and condemnations, is the sober
question of what this reveals. What happened to this
group of people at that place and at that time of
the year reveals a great deal about nature of life,
circumstances, political situations, military rule
and being a Kurd in Turkey.
Why are these young people risking their life to
cross the border in this dangerous zone? This is the
question asked by Turkish nationalists, but alas
answered wrongly.
For Turkish nationalist supporters, the question is
rather rhetorical. However, when the same question
is asked from the Kurdish perspective, the answer is
clear.
They were forced to risk their life because of the
harsh economic condition in the region, which is a
direct result of the political situation for the
Kurds in Turkey. This reality is the result of the
decade-long political,www.ekurd.net
economic and social discrimination from the state.
There were many among those who were killed crossing
borders to make enough money for their forthcoming
exams; an adventure to be able to leave a life of
deprivation.
Last summer when I traveled to Turkey I witnessed
the harshness and humiliating situation for anybody
who crosses the border legally, let alone illegally.
I spent a whole night sleeping in a car in the
middle of the border bridge waiting for the soldiers
to let us in at the end of the bridge.
Let's examine calmly what the massacre reveals.
First, and above all, it reveals the
contemptibleness of Kurdish life in Turkey,
especially from the military point of view.
Secondly, it reveals the level of injustice and
discrimination against the Kurdish people in Turkey.
Thirdly, the war which is occurring in Kurdistan is
not against the PKK alone; it is against the Kurds
indiscriminately.
Despite the use of high technology and the best
intelligence from the United State of America, what
is going on is a dirty war by all standards.
The claim by the Turkish media that those who were
killed were “Turkish citizens” is a smart language
game to cover up their Kurdishness. It is at best
misleading.
The massacre reveals that not much has changed
throughout history. The number of deaths and the
fact that the victims were villagers remind us of
the “33 bullet” incident in 1943 when General
Mustafa Muğlalı ordered the execution of 33 Kurdish
villagers who smuggled some livestock out of the
region in a barracks located in Van’s Özalp
district. Has anything changed in the past 70 years?
There is still a long way to go for Turkey to deal
with its racist institutions.
Sardar Aziz has a PhD in Middle Eastern studies
from University College Cork, Ireland. He has taught
orientalism at School of Asian Studies, University
College Cork.
Copyright © 2012, respective author or news agency,
rudaw.net
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