Information and liaison bulletin - Institut kurde de Paris
Information and liaison bulletin - Institut kurde de Paris
Information and liaison bulletin - Institut kurde de Paris
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Revue <strong>de</strong> Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro <strong>de</strong> la Prensa-Basin Ôzeti<br />
,~v American Y<br />
Cljtomcle<br />
Turks' Effective Weapon (Genoci<strong>de</strong>)<br />
Will be Upon Iraqi Kurds<br />
American Chronicle - Rauf Naqishbendl November 9. 2007<br />
Turkey's application to join the<br />
European Union has met with a<br />
lukewarm response. The relations¬<br />
hip between Washington <strong>and</strong> Anka¬<br />
ra has been going downhill since<br />
the commencement of the Iraq<br />
War. The United States Senate has<br />
passed two resolutions affecting<br />
this issue: one acknowledging the<br />
Turks' genoci<strong>de</strong> against Armenians,<br />
<strong>and</strong> the other, passed by an overw¬<br />
helming majority with a vote of 75-<br />
23, calls for the partitioning of Iraq<br />
into three autonomous regions. The<br />
aggregate effect of all these events<br />
has been the spiteful reaction of<br />
Turkish lea<strong>de</strong>rs as they attempt to<br />
vindicate themselves by making<br />
Kurds their scapegoat. According to<br />
them, Kurds are to blame for every¬<br />
thing, because if it weren't for the<br />
Kurds none of this evil would have<br />
befallen them. In this manner, they<br />
energized their mighty army to<br />
wreak their Turkish wrath (geno¬<br />
ci<strong>de</strong>) upon Iraqi Kurds.<br />
Let us examine the Turkish animo¬<br />
sity toward Kurds. First <strong>and</strong> fore¬<br />
most, the Kurds have not been in a<br />
position of power since the incep¬<br />
tion of Islam, more than a thous<strong>and</strong><br />
years ago. During this time Kurds<br />
have been at the mercy of their<br />
occupiers, of which Turks happen<br />
to be one. This implies that Kurds<br />
did not tear apart Turkish communi¬<br />
ties, they did not forcefully foist<br />
themselves on Turkish l<strong>and</strong>s<br />
against their will, <strong>and</strong> they did not<br />
<strong>de</strong>prive Turks of their human <strong>and</strong><br />
national rights. On the contrary,<br />
Turks imposed their draconian<br />
occupation on Kurdistan, they<br />
<strong>de</strong>monized, disenfranchised <strong>and</strong><br />
marginalized Kurds <strong>and</strong> treated<br />
them as less than slaves. Kurds<br />
then sought <strong>de</strong>cent <strong>and</strong> humane<br />
treatment from the Turks. Asking<br />
for humane treatment seems rea¬<br />
sonable to civilized people, but not<br />
to Turks.<br />
THEtfet&riMES « November 10, 2007<br />
Turkey has embroiled itself in a<br />
doleful war against the Kurdish<br />
Workers Party (the PKK) for the<br />
past two <strong>de</strong>ca<strong>de</strong>s, <strong>and</strong> there is no<br />
end in sight. While the PKK is<br />
fighting to enfranchise Kurds <strong>and</strong><br />
free them from the fetters <strong>and</strong><br />
shackles of human abuse, Turkey<br />
has embarked on a campaign to<br />
mute the Kurdish pleas for justice<br />
<strong>and</strong> equality <strong>and</strong> extirpate the PKK.<br />
The bloodshed took more than<br />
30,000 lives, the majority of which<br />
were innocent Kurdish civilians.<br />
Turks wiped out more than 2,000<br />
Kurdish villages <strong>and</strong> towns, forcing<br />
millions of Kurds to leave their<br />
homes <strong>and</strong> relocate in other parts<br />
of the country. During this time,<br />
Turkey has spent tens of billions of<br />
dollars which it didn't have <strong>and</strong> had<br />
to borrow <strong>and</strong> finance at the cost of<br />
more <strong>de</strong>struction <strong>and</strong> human<br />
tragedy. The country was now<br />
polarized with Turks against Kurds.<br />
Given this background, it is ama¬<br />
zing that Turkish authorities still<br />
have not pursued diplomacy, <strong>and</strong><br />
instead continue to wield their iron<br />
fist <strong>and</strong> angry violence as the only<br />
remedy. The Turkish repulsion of<br />
dialogue with the PKK is a<br />
conspicuous reaffirmation of the<br />
Turkish government's <strong>de</strong>sire to<br />
continue the status quo suppres¬<br />
sion of the Kurds.<br />
To clear the way for their atrocities<br />
against Kurds, Turkey is <strong>de</strong>termi¬<br />
ned to block any inroads Kurds<br />
would make toward their freedom<br />
<strong>and</strong> statehood anywhere in the<br />
region. Since the Iraqi liberation,<br />
thanks to America, the Kurds in Iraq<br />
have been breathing freely, cheris¬<br />
hing their opportunities <strong>and</strong> making<br />
their region shine as the bright spot<br />
of the American Iraqi liberation.<br />
Turkish authorities have been<br />
adamant about their hatred for<br />
Kurds <strong>and</strong> they have taken advan¬<br />
tage of every chance they got to<br />
<strong>de</strong>rail their achievements. The<br />
Turkish mindset is that anything<br />
good for Kurds is bad for Turks,<br />
while Kurds perceive it entirely<br />
differently.<br />
In the Middle East, where ven<strong>de</strong>ttas<br />
are commonplace, <strong>and</strong> the reven¬<br />
geful "eye for an eye" mentality<br />
reigns, Kurds are practicing harmo¬<br />
ny <strong>and</strong> friendship even with their<br />
foes. Since the Iraqi liberation<br />
Kurds, as a gesture of good will,<br />
have granted many contracts to<br />
Turkish companies <strong>and</strong> entrepre¬<br />
neurs, <strong>and</strong> have engaged in every<br />
proper neighborly action to attempt<br />
to establish a good relationship with<br />
Turkey. It is telling to see how<br />
Kurds respon<strong>de</strong>d to Turkish intole¬<br />
rance with good <strong>de</strong>eds <strong>and</strong> forgive¬<br />
ness. This is a clear indication that<br />
a sovereign Kurdish state in north<br />
Iraq would by no means be harmful<br />
to Turkey, but on the contrary<br />
would be beneficial to Turkey given<br />
the Kurds' peaceful sentiments.<br />
Turks should not scorn the i<strong>de</strong>a of a<br />
sovereign Kurdish state; it is inevi¬<br />
table <strong>and</strong> they better get used to it.<br />
So often people get caught up in<br />
nostalgia for their past in such a<br />
way that it taints their vision <strong>and</strong><br />
judgment in the present. Turks<br />
must realize that the way of arbitra¬<br />
tion of the Ottoman Empire is a<br />
century old, <strong>and</strong> in the mo<strong>de</strong>rn<br />
world the prevailing remedy for<br />
contention <strong>and</strong> clashes between<br />
nations is sound diplomacy not<br />
violence <strong>and</strong> bloodshed. Should<br />
Turkey continue in a path of hatred<br />
<strong>and</strong> violence, it will nave much to<br />
lose, whereas genuine diplomacy<br />
would return an immense divi<strong>de</strong>nd<br />
of peace <strong>and</strong> prosperity. Resources<br />
they have <strong>de</strong>voted to <strong>de</strong>struction<br />
<strong>and</strong> bloodshed could be diverted<br />
toward reconstruction <strong>and</strong> social<br />
welfare. The division of Turkey into<br />
classes, where Turks are superior<br />
<strong>and</strong> everyone else inferior hin<strong>de</strong>rs<br />
social <strong>and</strong> economic advancement.<br />
Justice for all will invigorate the<br />
society to work for the good of the<br />
nation as a whole, <strong>and</strong> consequen¬<br />
tly enhance Turkey's economic <strong>and</strong><br />
political st<strong>and</strong> in the world. The<br />
enemy of Turkey isn't Kurds but<br />
rather the members of the chauvi¬<br />
nistic Turkish right wing who have<br />
never accepted the collapse of the<br />
Ottoman Empire <strong>and</strong> still aim at<br />
world domination.<br />
Since the 1980s, the Turkish milita¬<br />
ry has violently intru<strong>de</strong>d into Iraqi<br />
Kurdistan several times <strong>and</strong> left<br />
thous<strong>and</strong>s of their sol<strong>de</strong>rs <strong>and</strong><br />
heavy war machinery in Kurdistan<br />
to fight the PKK, yet the PKK have<br />
not by any stretch of imagination<br />
given up their struggle or ceased to<br />
exist. Since this is what happened<br />
in the past, Turks must realize that<br />
another bloody tour into Kurdistan<br />
will fail as miserably as their pre¬<br />
vious tours. Thus, they now insist<br />
that American troops fight their<br />
battle for them, as if America is a<br />
Turkish colony. Thankfully, Was¬<br />
hington has refused their <strong>de</strong>m<strong>and</strong>s.<br />
If the Turkish government were to<br />
hearken to the voice of reason, it<br />
would have peacefully resolved this<br />
problem long ago. That being said,<br />
time is neutral <strong>and</strong> it is never too<br />
late to do what is right.<br />
Turks have suffered the conse¬<br />
quences of their own present <strong>and</strong><br />
past crimes. Due to their lack of<br />
courage to face reality, they found<br />
in Iraqi Kurds a scapegoat to take<br />
the edge off their misery. Iraqi<br />
Kurds must beware for Turks have<br />
at their disposal a lethal <strong>and</strong> fatal<br />
weapon. They used it effectively<br />
against Kurds in their own country<br />
as well as Armenians, Assyrians<br />
<strong>and</strong> others of the Christian faith -<br />
this weapon is called GENOCIDE.<br />
For her the war is over: the PKK fighter who<br />
wants to end killing<br />
Deborah Havnes in Irbil, northern Iraq<br />
With her Kalashnikov fol<strong>de</strong>d in half to stop it<br />
dragging on the ground <strong>and</strong> ammunition<br />
strapped around her tiny waist, Zerya was 12<br />
when she became a Kurdish fighter in the Tur¬<br />
kish mountains after running away from home.<br />
Sixteen years later her body bears the scars of<br />
countless battles with Turkish soldiers <strong>and</strong> her<br />
eyes are haunted by the memories of friends<br />
she has lost. No longer a guerrilla for the Kur¬<br />
distan Workers' Party (PKK), she is trying to fit<br />
80<br />
back into society, using a mobile phone for the<br />
first time <strong>and</strong> discovering treats such as ice<br />
cream <strong>and</strong> pizza that she never had in the<br />
mountains.<br />
Zerya's experience of fighting against Turkey to<br />
secure greater rights for the Kurds, she says,<br />
has taught her that the problem can be solved<br />
only by agreement between both si<strong>de</strong>s. "If the<br />
guerrillas <strong>de</strong>ci<strong>de</strong>d to come down from the<br />
mountains <strong>and</strong> disarm, then Turkey would kill<br />
all of them," she said, speaking to The Times at<br />
a secret location in the Kurdish north of Iraq.<br />
"When it comes to Turkey you either submit or<br />
you fight - there are only two options," said the<br />
28-year-old, who has shed the dark green fati¬<br />
gues of the outlawed rebel group for a smart<br />
trouser suit <strong>and</strong> heeled shoes.<br />
The PKK offered a new way for both si<strong>de</strong>s to<br />
step away from confrontation yesterday. The<br />
group said that it was open to dialogue with