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ENABLING TURKISH ILLUSIONS
By Hadi Elis
KurdishMedia, UK
March 15 2007
Mr. Michael Rubin is look like the latest addition to the list of the
so-called scholars who have declared their real anti-Kurdish colour.
His writings are not worthy to read anymore as someone who claims too
be an "expert" on Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Kurdish Society, etc, however
his presentation of the affairs are biased and smells fabrications
of " facts" from anti-Kurdish sources which are neither reliable
nor credible. These kinds of attitude is not strange to the Kurdish
people anymore and only creates suspicions that he might be on a list
of payroll stamped Crescent and Star somewhere on it. We know that
there are many so-called scholars in the service of Turkish Republic
looking for careerism or financial benefits. These kinds of stuffs'
sooner or later come out to the surface. (A Good example presented at
Holocaust and Genocide Studies Vol. 9, Number 1, spring 1995, and pages
1-22, titled Professional Ethics and Denial of Armenian Genocide.)
Let's look at his article titled -Enabling Kurdish Illusions.
Why such a title? Why to say Kurds are in illusions? He tries to say
that Kurds cannot have an independent nation-state. He must know
better that this was illusions of many people/nation in the past
who realized the independent-nationhood called illusion; just asks
East Timorese who fought for years the Indonesian oppression. With
the help of UN and USA, the Kosovo could be very well a new case,
Independent Kosovo. So why to deny it to the Kurds?
Speaking before the Senate Appropriations Committee on February 27,
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stepped into a diplomatic minefield
when she referred to the Iraqi-Turkish frontier as "the border between
Turkey and Kurdistan." Turkish newspapers and television across the
political spectrum condemned her remarks. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan characterized her statement as "wrong" and said that Turkey;
at least, remains committed to Iraq's territorial integrity.
Honorable Condoleezza Rice said it correctly and very well that the
territory she meant is "the border between Turkey and Kurdistan". It
is not the border between Turkey and Argentina, (remember PM Erdogan
once said in his visit at USA I am against Kurdish rights even in
Argentina). Off course, Erdogan will say it was wrong. Off course it
was "wrong" for Erdogan who might even deny God if he needs to deny
Kurdish people's Rights. There is no limit for people like him.
Turkish Newspapers and television across the political spectrum
condemned her remarks. For me this means that she said the right
thing. Only on "Kurdish", "Kurds" and "Kurdistan" the Turkish right
and left will unite and deny Kurdish people's Rights. That is what
makes Turkish nationalism Racist.
While the State Department said Rice simply misspoke, Turkish
officials have reason to be concerned. In a plan coauthored with
former Council on Foreign Relations president Les Gelb, Senator Joe
Biden, the Democratic chairman of the foreign relations committee,
urges ethnic and sectarian federalism in Iraq, in effect breaking
the country into autonomous Sunni Arab, Shia Arab, and Kurdish units.
Biden claims endorsement of a bipartisan group of heavyweights
including former secretaries of state Henry Kissinger, Madeleine
Albright, and James Baker; former senior State Department officials
Dennis Ross, Richard Haass, and Richard Holbrooke; and a number of
senators and congressmen.
Here, Mr. Rubin, means with Turkish officials have reason to be
concerned. The US officials have hearth and mind change on the Kurdish
affairs, and what was done wrong at the time of creation of Iraq could
be corrected. That is to re-create Federal Republic of Iraq where
Kurds will be recognized as founding nation with Arabs, something
Kurds in Turkey has the same claim. Remember the Kurdish contribution
to the so-called national liberation war, which brought oppression,
assimilation and annihilation policies in return to the Kurdish people.
The same day as Rice's gaffe, Biden published an op-ed in the Boston
Globe saying his plan "offers a roadmap to a political settlement in
Iraq that gives its warring factions a way to share power peacefully
and us a chance to leave with our interests intact." He is wrong. As
French diplomat Francois Georges-Picot and his British counterpart Mark
Sykes discovered after World War I, boundaries drawn in a boardroom
have unintended consequences. And even as State Department spokesman
Sean McCormack sought to rectify Rice's error, Kurdistan Democratic
Party leader Massoud Barzani commented, "Turkey, Syria, and Iran
should get used to the idea of an independent Kurdistan."
Barzani's confidence is understandable. Iraqi Kurdish autonomy already
far exceeds his wildest pre-war expectations.
An Apology presented on behalf of both Georges-Picot and Sykes to
say that what they did let the Kurdistan's boundaries be partitioned
among the Kurd-haters caused "unintended consequences". Yes, and one
of the unintended consequences is what Honorable Massud Barzani said
keeping the idea of Independent Kurdistan alive for almost a Century
now. Yes, Mr. Barzani is perfectly correct with saying that " Turkey,
Syria nd Iran should get used to the idea of Independent Kurdistan",
as Indonesia does get use to independent the East Timor, and Etophia
does get use to independent Eritrea.
Federalism cannot be avoided. However, [it] is incorrect to assume that
federalism should be based on ethnic and sectarian division rather
than on Iraq's existing geographical provinces. Ethnic division will
not bring security.
It looks like there are people trying to avoid the federalism in
question. I will suggest to look at the www.forumfed.org , the website
of Forum of Federations, an NGO set up by Canadian Government that
promotes federalism around the world as a tool to prevent ethnic
conflict and solution to the Ethnic Conflict. Ethnic division will
not bring security. Are we forgetting the Story of Yugoslavia? Who
killed whom, why, Where, When and how?
Ankara's decision not to participate in Iraq's liberation lessened
Turkish influence in postwar arrangements. Many U.S. officials
assigned to northern Iraq were unapologetic in their sympathy for
Kurdish nationalism. Col. Dick Nabb (Ret.), for example, the head of
the Coalition Provisional Authority office in Erbil, printed business
cards with the Kurdish flag. U.S. military officers stationed in
Erbil accepted gifts from Barzani. One, facing corruption charges in
the United States, chose to remain in Erbil, where he now serves as
an adviser to the Kurdistan Regional Government.
Giving advice to Turkish officials not to disregard USA's policies
in M.E., not to repeat the past mistakes these days at the times
that USA is leaning towards Kurdish people little more then it used
to. It is good to remind Business Cards with Kurdish Flags to them,
so in the future Turkish Republic can do same for US Generals or US
Scholars (?) who likes Turkey.
What about the guy who remains in Kurdistan to avoid facing corruption
charges in USA? How come USA can abduct Mr. Abdullah Ocalan from Kenya
however can not take one of their own from Kurdistan? What's wrong with
the logic bringing this American Guy issue in the Enabling Kurdish
illusions? May be Mr. Rubin telling Kurdish Regional Government to
arrest him and give to USA. If so Mr. Rubin must write about it more
openly then we all know what he means with bringing up this issue.
Rice's inattention to symbolism further bolstered the Iraqi Kurds'
nationalist drive. Rather than reinforce Iraqi unity and demand
that Barzani meet her in Baghdad, during her first trip to Iraq
as secretary of state, Rice flew directly to Barzani's mountaintop
compound at Sari Rash. Kurdish officials painted her decision as an
endorsement of their national aspirations.
Why should Mrs. Rice "demand "to meet Mr. Barzani in Baghdad? In the
city that reminds every possible horrible thing done to the Kurdish
people. May be it will help psychologically terrorizing Mr. Barzani
to subdue to the Sunni and Shia demands, to tell Mr. Barzani Kurdistan
is Arab land, and Kurds are living on it as Guest -Nation, as exactly
as Baath'ist were saying.
Barzani and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan leader (and current Iraqi
president) Jalal Talabani deserve credit for being tough negotiators.
As Iraqi politicians debated the constitution, Barzani and Talabani
won the right both to preserve their own party's militias and to veto
the deployment of the Iraqi army into the Kurdish region.
Which one these two sentences should be in brackets? Patriotic
Union of Kurdistan leader or current Iraqi president. Which one is
more important to mention? Why this negative attitude towards Right
Honorable Jalal Talabani? Should I say this attitude is more than
being anti-Kurdish or discrimination or even racism towards Kurdish
people? Is he consciously or subconsciously doing this?
But the State Department has been unwilling to meet toughness
with toughness. By restricting freedom of movement on the basis of
ethnicity, Kurdish authorities have violated the Foreign Assistance Act
of 1961. Foggy Bottom nonetheless refused to make U.S. aid conditional
on better behavior of the Kurds. On June 23, 2004, U.S.
authorities transferred $1.4 billion to Kurdish leaders. Less than a
week after receiving that windfall, the Kurdistan Regional Government
signed its own oil-prospecting agreement with the Norwegian company
DNO, a slap in the face to Iraqi unity.
This is the complaints section where Mr. Rubin complaints to the
US administration that why they are not using the Foreign Aid
to semi-colonize Kurdistan, and force them to inform US on every
decision they take such as agreement with Norwegians who are anti-US
or something like that, that US should be concerned about Norway. US
has strategic interests, and Kurds and Norwegians don't have any.
This is like a slap in the face because US did not impose conditions
on Foreign Aid given to the Kurdish people.
Once the Iraqi Kurds were flush with cash, U.S. leverage eroded.
Iraqi Kurdistan now issues its own visas. The Kurdistan Region
maintains separate representation overseas. The Kurdistan Development
Corporation competes with Iraq for investment. Barzani's nephew Sirwan
runs Korek, the local cell phone company, which for nationalist reasons
refuses to cooperate with the Iraqi National Communications and Media
Commission, in effect keeping the Kurdistan Regional Government's
capital cut off from the rest of the country.
On September 1, 2006, acting by decree, Barzani outlawed display of
the Iraqi flag.
What a negative attitude towards the Iraqi Kurds to say "Once the
Iraqi Kurds were flush with cash, US leverage eroded". What you think
the Iraqi Kurds are? Bunch of criminals who run away as soon as they
grab the money. Why Mr. Rubin, you are to complain like a Turk or a
Sunni or Shia Arab that Kurds are not acting as the way they wish?
Aren't you an American?
Why we should let the Flag of Genocide to display in
Kurdistan. Mr. Barzani is very right on this issue.
Biden is correct that federalism cannot be avoided. However, he
is incorrect to assume that federalism should be based on ethnic
and sectarian division rather than on Iraq's existing geographical
provinces. Ethnic division will not bring security. Rather than embrace
peace with his neighbors, Barzani now mimics the strategy of the late
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat--seeking diplomatic legitimacy while
refusing to renounce violence.
This is one of the most meaningless part of the article. God knows
what was in his mind when he wrote this. Comparing Honorable Massud
Barzani with Terrorist Arafat is a serious mistake Mr. Rubin. Don't
make the World laugh at you. Embracing peace with the neighbors must
be an advice to given to your friends Turks, who until yesterday
were denying the existence of Kurdish people everywhere in the North
and South Kurdistan. Thanks to PKK and Mr. Ocalan, today Turkish
people and Government are recognizing the Kurdish people's existence
in Turkey. Kurdish and Turkish people had sacrificed 30,000 people
for the ignorance and arrogance of Turkish Governments. Also Turkish
people and Turkish Government will soon learn that there are Kurds
in Syria and Iran, too. Wait till USA goes after those two Kurdish
enemies, and Kurdish people over there help USA and western allies
in issues related to those countries.
Kurdish television and newspapers are rife with incitements to
unrest, often referring to Iraqi Kurdistan as "South Kurdistan,"
thereby implying that large chunks of Turkey must be "North
Kurdistan." Likewise, they place the eastern Syrian City of Qamishli
in "West Kurdistan." The Kurdish flag adopted by Barzani is that
of the short-lived, separatist Mahabad Republic, which, with Soviet
backing, declared its independence from Iran in 1946. Maps printed on
Iraqi Kurdish presses and sold in the Erbil and Sulaymaniyah markets
show a Greater Kurdistan stretching from the Mediterranean to the
Persian Gulf.
I smell discrimination here. Any simple book on Kurds will say that
Kurdistan is divided amongst the Gang of Four. City of Qamishli is
easily hundred times older then the Syrian Arab Republic. It became a
"eastern Syrian City" due to the French occupation after WWI.
Remember Georges-Picot and Sykes again, the guys you have mentioned
for drawing boundaries ME borders in a boardroom where they could
not realize what unintended consequences could arose from that action.
Just as Arafat transformed the Palestinian Authority into a safe haven
for terrorists, so too does Barzani. His administration provides safe
haven and supplies to Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) terrorists who
have been responsible for approximately 30,000 deaths in Turkey since
1984. The Turkish government accuses the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional
Government of furnishing passports to PKK terrorists on Turkey's
most wanted list. Turkish officials complain there are six PKK bases
operating in territory controlled by Barzani's party. Just as weapons
supplied by the Clinton administration to Palestinian security forces
ended up in the hands of terrorists, so too have arms supplied by
the U.S. government to Kurdish fighters, the peshmerga, found their
way into PKK hands.
Using Turkish (un)Intelligence Organization's ( MIT Milli Istihbarat
Teskilati, by the way all of these words are Arabic, not Turkish)
sources for these kinds of fabricated and repeated to be convincing
over and over many times until it annoys you which makes Mr. Rubin
not a scholar but a Turkish propagandist. Let see why we have Kurdish
problem in so-called Republic of Turkey. Turkey was a paradise on
Earth, and Kurdish people did not want to live in that paradise,
suddenly decided to be terrorist, and go to Iraq (?) to fight
against it.
Please do your homework right, Mr.Rubin.
Turkish Republic is one of the racist regimes in the world where
anything Kurdish were denied, and some of the things are still
denied. If we look only at the US State Department's reports on Turkey,
it will show you how much wrong you are.
Don't forget if it was not for the international illegal abduction
of Mr. Ocalan, -from USA, Israel, Russia, Greece, Kenya and few in
the middle- PKK was going to defeat Turkey militarily long time ago.
USA, NATO, Germany, France, Russia, Britain etc many countries in
the World helped Turkey militarily, in intelligence and financially
for years to defeat PKK. If this is not true then why Turkish Foreign
Minister Abdullah Gul and Chief of Staff General Yasar Buyukanit met
with national security adviser Stephen Hadley and Vice-President Dick
Cheney to demand real action against terror group. Why to seek the
help of USA to defeat PKK? Or is this means so-called second biggest
Army of NATO is not able to defeat PKK alone. Or maybe many millions
of Kurdish people are supporting PKK. May be PKK is not only an armed
group, a national movement, a social movement, a peace movement or
all of the things above.
USA administrations closed their eyes and ears to the Silent Genocide
of Kurdish people in Turkey for a long time. However we are seeing
changes in the policies, and they are leaning to be positive for
Kurdish people.
Mr. Abdullah Ocalan declared in Italy his readiness to an International
Criminal Court to be set up for PKK's and Republic of Turkey's crimes
in this Turco-Kurdish war. Let's remember who stopped this from taking
a place. Mr. Abdullah Ocalan sent letters to the Presidents and Prime
Ministers of most Western Government asking for their involvement
in finding a political and constitutional solution to the Kurdish
problem in Turkey. His letter to President Clinton is widely and
easily available on the Internet.
Barzani places little restriction on PKK travel within northern Iraq.
In October 2006, two PKK leaders received treatment in an Erbil
hospital; three months later they were photographed in an Erbil
restaurant. Meanwhile, the PKK continues to smuggle explosives
and carry out attacks in Turkey. Barzani refuses to stop weapons
trafficking across the border with his own peshmerga militia, and
refuses the Iraqi army permission to do so.
Turkish authorities have made countering the PKK their top priority.
At the June 2004 NATO summit in Istanbul, President Bush promised
Turkish officials a U.S. crackdown on the PKK. The next year, Rice
repeated the pledge. But only in September 2006, after Kurdish
terrorists detonated bombs in Istanbul and several Mediterranean
resorts, killing not only Turks but also wounding more than a dozen
European tourists, did the State Department appoint Gen. Joseph Ralston
as special envoy to counter the PKK. His appointment has so far been
more symbolic than effective. Last month, Turkish foreign minister
Abdullah Gul and military chief of staff Yasar Buyukanit met with
national security adviser Stephen Hadley and Vice President Dick
Cheney to demand real action against the terror group. Privately,
Ralston told journalists he does not believe Washington will respond.
Turkish leaders rightly ask why Washington can cross borders to chase
terrorists, but they should not.
Thank you Mr.Ralston. I see that you are sharing your knowledge
and information appropriated from field research and fact finding
missions in Turkey and Kurdistan at least privately. We hope to see
you that saying it to the Kurdish people that Kurdish people is Right
and Turkish State (or should I say Turkish Army) is wrong. Kurds in
Turkey and Kurds in Iraq are friends of USA, as long as USA do not
support Racist and Genocidal Regimes like Former Iraq, and Republic of
Turkey blindly. There is no strategic US interest in banning Kurdish
language, destroying Kurdish Historical Sites with building dams on
them such as Hasankeyf and Ilisu Dam project. There is a strategic
interest for US in becoming friends with Kurdish people, and helping
them to live in peace and democratic regimes.
Turkish leaders are wrongly asking Washington to be hostile to the
Kurdish people in Turkey, whom PKK is only there for their Ethnic,
Democratic and Human Rights. Please read Mr. Abdullah Ocalan's
statements presented to so-called Turkish courts. Democratic solution
to the Kurdish Question is available as PDF file and as a book. It
should not be difficult to ask your Turkish friends to give you a copy,
in case you can not find one on your own.
Mr. Ocalan's new book Roots of Civilization is on sale at Amazon.com.
too. Yes, Roots of Civilization is in Kurdistan, Roots of Barbarism
in Turkey. May be this will be the title of second volume, if it is
on its way coming.
They may very well begin doing so, especially if the Biden plan gains
traction. A perfect storm is gathering: For the first time since 1973,
Turks face selection of a president and election of a parliament in
the same year. Election year nationalism is incendiary.
Barzani's rhetoric and PKK terror add fuel. Meanwhile, according
to the Iraqi constitution, there must be a referendum by the end
of this year on whether the oil-rich city of Kirkuk should become
part of Kurdistan. Both Barzani and Talabani call Kirkuk the Kurdish
"Jerusalem," but it is an ethnically mixed city with deteriorating
security.
Both KRG President Honorable Massud Barzani and Right Honorable
President Jalal Talabani are right with calling Kirkuk the Jerusalem
of Kurdistan. Will Israelis give Jerusalem to the Palestinians with
or without a referendum? Isn't Jerusalem ethnically as mixed as Kirkuk
or vice versa?
Asked during a February 27 Senate Armed Services Committee hearing
whether Turkey would "stand on the sidelines and watch an independent
Kurdistan be formed in the north [of Iraq] without going to war,"
Director of National Intelligence Vice Admiral J. Michael McConnell
said, flatly, no.
So Turkey will not stand on the sidelines and watch independent
Kurdistan be formed in the north [of Iraq] without going to war. Does
any Turkish international lawyer knows that Turkish occupation of
Southern Kurdistan will give the Southern Kurdistan the legal basis
to wage a War of National Liberation and ask for UN to respect the
people's right to self-determination to the Kurdish people?
How Turkish struggle against Allied occupation in 1919 could be called
as Turkish war of National Liberation and Kurdish struggle against
Turkish occupation NOT a Kurdish War of National Liberation?.
The Kurds underestimate Turkish resolve. Many Iraqi Kurds say the
peshmerga can defeat the Turkish army in the mountains of northern
Iraq--and believe that, in any case, it won't come to that. But in
1998, a similar standoff occurred when the Syrian government ignored
Turkish demands that Damascus stop sheltering the PKK. The Turkish
army mobilized. The late Syrian dictator Hafez al-Assad had a more
sober view of the Turks and expelled PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan,
who now serves a life sentence in a Turkish prison. Those in Turkey's
political and military decision-making circles from the time said they
planned to enter Syria, with or without a green light from Washington.
Who is in the illusions here for the God's sake?. The almighty Iraqi
Army and oil rich economy could not defeat the Peshmarga, the bottom
to top corrupted and oil poor Turkish Army and Economy will defeat
the Peshmarga. Turkish Army could not defeat the PKK guerrillas of 10
to 15 thousands for 20 years, don't expect me believe the so-called
second biggest Army in NATO to defeat over 100 000 Peshmarga forces.
That's way Turkish officials are bothering USA to help them to defeat
few hundreds PKK guerillas.
I should remind you that the all might NATO can not defeat 5000 or
so Taliban in Afghanistan for years now, and you telling us that
Turkey is mightier then NATO. Too many contradictions for an "expert"
scholar or confused propagandist new on the job.
Syria was left alone in Arab world for many years and without Russia
at the backyard it was easy to scare Syria in the front where Israel
is waiting for an opportunity to hit good for once and for all at
the back.
Barzani also overestimates the meaning of U.S. sympathy for the
Kurds. He may believe Kurdish leaders' friendship with Peter Galbraith,
a former U.S. ambassador to Croatia, will pay off.
Galbraith, who has testified repeatedly in Congress on behalf of
his Kurdish clients, seeks redeployment of U.S. forces to bases in
Iraqi Kurdistan, in effect shielding Barzani from the consequence
of his actions. But the fact is, while Washington would not bless
a Turkish operation to attack PKK camps in northern Iraq, it would
understand one.
Honorable Peter Galbraith is someone who see/saw the scale and effects
of the Kurdish Genocide, sufferings, etc on the Kurdish people and
Kurdish land, and the horrible consequences of Genocide.
I have visited Germany couple years ago, and I visited many of the
Jewish concentration camps, bought some books, collected some free
and sold pamphlets, and I am still with images of what I saw there of
what have happened over there 60 plus years ago. I have an idea what
is Jewish Holocaust, and not being a Jewish myself I am still able
to imagine its horror. Since then I am very sympathetic to Armenian
Genocide, and others such as Rwandan Genocide. I am a follower of
Kurdish Genocide Studies whatever available out there.
What Honorable Galbraith doing in Kurdistan and in USA are very
Honorable works, and I personally thank him again and again for what
he is doing for Kurdish people. American people will appreciate his
contribution to the American-Kurdish friendship in the years to come.
At a time everywhere and everyone hates Americans, Honorable Galbraith
works for American-Kurdish friendship. In one of the latest polls,
Turkish people found the most Anti-American.
Anti-Americanism is the most selling Turkish nationalist stuff,
and a pillar subject in Turkish Newspapers and television across the
political spectrum, left and right, were all of them anti-American
these days.
By the way I should remind everyone to watch Valley of the Wolves-Iraq.
May be these days USA will understand the Turkish Military operation
in Northern Iraq, however I should remind you that after the Kurdish
national Liberation War from Turkish occupation, the same USA will
understand the declaration of Independence of Republic of Kurdistan.
Nor would fear of European disapproval deter Ankara from attacking
PKK bases. Too many European leaders have already made clear that
Turkey has no hope of entering the European Union. And polls show
the Turkish public no longer looks favorably upon E.U. membership.
Turkish officials understand that even if they receive no green light
from Washington, the only consequence of a cross-border raid would
be to force Iraqi officials to seal their northern border.
It would be ironic if, while the surge is beginning to show success in
Baghdad, Senate leaders undercut Iraq's integrity. The Biden-Gelb plan
may look good on paper. So did the Oslo Accords and, for that matter,
the Bush administration's emphasis on holding free elections where
they had never before been held. But in each case, good intentions
were undermined by the same Achilles' heel: the unwillingness of
U.S. officials to adopt a zero tolerance policy toward incitement
and terrorism.
Iraqi Kurdish leaders continue to shelter the PKK. Whether their
support is active or passive is irrelevant, for there are no acceptable
levels of support for terror. Nor is it responsible to undercut the
security of a long-term NATO ally like Turkey. Until Iraqi Kurdish
leaders expel terrorists in their midst and renounce interests beyond
Iraq's border, any congressional encouragement of ethnic federalism
risks plunging the region into chaos.
Rubin is a resident scholar at AEI.
If there are no acceptable levels of support for terror, then I
will say the same thing to you that Kurdish people do not accept your
support for State Terrorism by Republic of Turkey to the Kurdish people
everywhere. Kurdish people in Southern Kurdistan did not fight Baath
regime to be replaced with Racist Turkish one.
Mr. Abdullah Ocalan and PKK has been offering cease-fires and peace
talks to bring an end to the Turco-Kurdish conflict, which Turkish
State's assimilation and annihilation policies are the reasons for
its origin.
The last cease-fire and peace talk offer was made at September 1st
2006, and still valid. However neither Turkish Government nor any
western Government responded positively yet.
Peace and Democracy in Turkey is only possible with finding a just
and sound solution to the Kurdish question. That's one of the reasons
EU insist on, and tells Turkey to solve. It is over 50 years Turkey
could not be member of EU, and Turkey alone will not be able to solve
Kurdish question peacefully another 50 years. That's way there is
the need of third party involvement, such as USA.
With the news of poisoning Mr. Ocalan in Turkish prison, one really
wonders who wants Peace and democracy in Turkey, between Kurdish and
Turkish people.
It looks like PKK and Kurdish people, and may be former Turkish
President General Kenan Evren who staged the coup de Etat of 12
September 1980, and fought the fierce War against PKK.
By Hadi Elis
KurdishMedia, UK
March 15 2007
Mr. Michael Rubin is look like the latest addition to the list of the
so-called scholars who have declared their real anti-Kurdish colour.
His writings are not worthy to read anymore as someone who claims too
be an "expert" on Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Kurdish Society, etc, however
his presentation of the affairs are biased and smells fabrications
of " facts" from anti-Kurdish sources which are neither reliable
nor credible. These kinds of attitude is not strange to the Kurdish
people anymore and only creates suspicions that he might be on a list
of payroll stamped Crescent and Star somewhere on it. We know that
there are many so-called scholars in the service of Turkish Republic
looking for careerism or financial benefits. These kinds of stuffs'
sooner or later come out to the surface. (A Good example presented at
Holocaust and Genocide Studies Vol. 9, Number 1, spring 1995, and pages
1-22, titled Professional Ethics and Denial of Armenian Genocide.)
Let's look at his article titled -Enabling Kurdish Illusions.
Why such a title? Why to say Kurds are in illusions? He tries to say
that Kurds cannot have an independent nation-state. He must know
better that this was illusions of many people/nation in the past
who realized the independent-nationhood called illusion; just asks
East Timorese who fought for years the Indonesian oppression. With
the help of UN and USA, the Kosovo could be very well a new case,
Independent Kosovo. So why to deny it to the Kurds?
Speaking before the Senate Appropriations Committee on February 27,
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stepped into a diplomatic minefield
when she referred to the Iraqi-Turkish frontier as "the border between
Turkey and Kurdistan." Turkish newspapers and television across the
political spectrum condemned her remarks. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan characterized her statement as "wrong" and said that Turkey;
at least, remains committed to Iraq's territorial integrity.
Honorable Condoleezza Rice said it correctly and very well that the
territory she meant is "the border between Turkey and Kurdistan". It
is not the border between Turkey and Argentina, (remember PM Erdogan
once said in his visit at USA I am against Kurdish rights even in
Argentina). Off course, Erdogan will say it was wrong. Off course it
was "wrong" for Erdogan who might even deny God if he needs to deny
Kurdish people's Rights. There is no limit for people like him.
Turkish Newspapers and television across the political spectrum
condemned her remarks. For me this means that she said the right
thing. Only on "Kurdish", "Kurds" and "Kurdistan" the Turkish right
and left will unite and deny Kurdish people's Rights. That is what
makes Turkish nationalism Racist.
While the State Department said Rice simply misspoke, Turkish
officials have reason to be concerned. In a plan coauthored with
former Council on Foreign Relations president Les Gelb, Senator Joe
Biden, the Democratic chairman of the foreign relations committee,
urges ethnic and sectarian federalism in Iraq, in effect breaking
the country into autonomous Sunni Arab, Shia Arab, and Kurdish units.
Biden claims endorsement of a bipartisan group of heavyweights
including former secretaries of state Henry Kissinger, Madeleine
Albright, and James Baker; former senior State Department officials
Dennis Ross, Richard Haass, and Richard Holbrooke; and a number of
senators and congressmen.
Here, Mr. Rubin, means with Turkish officials have reason to be
concerned. The US officials have hearth and mind change on the Kurdish
affairs, and what was done wrong at the time of creation of Iraq could
be corrected. That is to re-create Federal Republic of Iraq where
Kurds will be recognized as founding nation with Arabs, something
Kurds in Turkey has the same claim. Remember the Kurdish contribution
to the so-called national liberation war, which brought oppression,
assimilation and annihilation policies in return to the Kurdish people.
The same day as Rice's gaffe, Biden published an op-ed in the Boston
Globe saying his plan "offers a roadmap to a political settlement in
Iraq that gives its warring factions a way to share power peacefully
and us a chance to leave with our interests intact." He is wrong. As
French diplomat Francois Georges-Picot and his British counterpart Mark
Sykes discovered after World War I, boundaries drawn in a boardroom
have unintended consequences. And even as State Department spokesman
Sean McCormack sought to rectify Rice's error, Kurdistan Democratic
Party leader Massoud Barzani commented, "Turkey, Syria, and Iran
should get used to the idea of an independent Kurdistan."
Barzani's confidence is understandable. Iraqi Kurdish autonomy already
far exceeds his wildest pre-war expectations.
An Apology presented on behalf of both Georges-Picot and Sykes to
say that what they did let the Kurdistan's boundaries be partitioned
among the Kurd-haters caused "unintended consequences". Yes, and one
of the unintended consequences is what Honorable Massud Barzani said
keeping the idea of Independent Kurdistan alive for almost a Century
now. Yes, Mr. Barzani is perfectly correct with saying that " Turkey,
Syria nd Iran should get used to the idea of Independent Kurdistan",
as Indonesia does get use to independent the East Timor, and Etophia
does get use to independent Eritrea.
Federalism cannot be avoided. However, [it] is incorrect to assume that
federalism should be based on ethnic and sectarian division rather
than on Iraq's existing geographical provinces. Ethnic division will
not bring security.
It looks like there are people trying to avoid the federalism in
question. I will suggest to look at the www.forumfed.org , the website
of Forum of Federations, an NGO set up by Canadian Government that
promotes federalism around the world as a tool to prevent ethnic
conflict and solution to the Ethnic Conflict. Ethnic division will
not bring security. Are we forgetting the Story of Yugoslavia? Who
killed whom, why, Where, When and how?
Ankara's decision not to participate in Iraq's liberation lessened
Turkish influence in postwar arrangements. Many U.S. officials
assigned to northern Iraq were unapologetic in their sympathy for
Kurdish nationalism. Col. Dick Nabb (Ret.), for example, the head of
the Coalition Provisional Authority office in Erbil, printed business
cards with the Kurdish flag. U.S. military officers stationed in
Erbil accepted gifts from Barzani. One, facing corruption charges in
the United States, chose to remain in Erbil, where he now serves as
an adviser to the Kurdistan Regional Government.
Giving advice to Turkish officials not to disregard USA's policies
in M.E., not to repeat the past mistakes these days at the times
that USA is leaning towards Kurdish people little more then it used
to. It is good to remind Business Cards with Kurdish Flags to them,
so in the future Turkish Republic can do same for US Generals or US
Scholars (?) who likes Turkey.
What about the guy who remains in Kurdistan to avoid facing corruption
charges in USA? How come USA can abduct Mr. Abdullah Ocalan from Kenya
however can not take one of their own from Kurdistan? What's wrong with
the logic bringing this American Guy issue in the Enabling Kurdish
illusions? May be Mr. Rubin telling Kurdish Regional Government to
arrest him and give to USA. If so Mr. Rubin must write about it more
openly then we all know what he means with bringing up this issue.
Rice's inattention to symbolism further bolstered the Iraqi Kurds'
nationalist drive. Rather than reinforce Iraqi unity and demand
that Barzani meet her in Baghdad, during her first trip to Iraq
as secretary of state, Rice flew directly to Barzani's mountaintop
compound at Sari Rash. Kurdish officials painted her decision as an
endorsement of their national aspirations.
Why should Mrs. Rice "demand "to meet Mr. Barzani in Baghdad? In the
city that reminds every possible horrible thing done to the Kurdish
people. May be it will help psychologically terrorizing Mr. Barzani
to subdue to the Sunni and Shia demands, to tell Mr. Barzani Kurdistan
is Arab land, and Kurds are living on it as Guest -Nation, as exactly
as Baath'ist were saying.
Barzani and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan leader (and current Iraqi
president) Jalal Talabani deserve credit for being tough negotiators.
As Iraqi politicians debated the constitution, Barzani and Talabani
won the right both to preserve their own party's militias and to veto
the deployment of the Iraqi army into the Kurdish region.
Which one these two sentences should be in brackets? Patriotic
Union of Kurdistan leader or current Iraqi president. Which one is
more important to mention? Why this negative attitude towards Right
Honorable Jalal Talabani? Should I say this attitude is more than
being anti-Kurdish or discrimination or even racism towards Kurdish
people? Is he consciously or subconsciously doing this?
But the State Department has been unwilling to meet toughness
with toughness. By restricting freedom of movement on the basis of
ethnicity, Kurdish authorities have violated the Foreign Assistance Act
of 1961. Foggy Bottom nonetheless refused to make U.S. aid conditional
on better behavior of the Kurds. On June 23, 2004, U.S.
authorities transferred $1.4 billion to Kurdish leaders. Less than a
week after receiving that windfall, the Kurdistan Regional Government
signed its own oil-prospecting agreement with the Norwegian company
DNO, a slap in the face to Iraqi unity.
This is the complaints section where Mr. Rubin complaints to the
US administration that why they are not using the Foreign Aid
to semi-colonize Kurdistan, and force them to inform US on every
decision they take such as agreement with Norwegians who are anti-US
or something like that, that US should be concerned about Norway. US
has strategic interests, and Kurds and Norwegians don't have any.
This is like a slap in the face because US did not impose conditions
on Foreign Aid given to the Kurdish people.
Once the Iraqi Kurds were flush with cash, U.S. leverage eroded.
Iraqi Kurdistan now issues its own visas. The Kurdistan Region
maintains separate representation overseas. The Kurdistan Development
Corporation competes with Iraq for investment. Barzani's nephew Sirwan
runs Korek, the local cell phone company, which for nationalist reasons
refuses to cooperate with the Iraqi National Communications and Media
Commission, in effect keeping the Kurdistan Regional Government's
capital cut off from the rest of the country.
On September 1, 2006, acting by decree, Barzani outlawed display of
the Iraqi flag.
What a negative attitude towards the Iraqi Kurds to say "Once the
Iraqi Kurds were flush with cash, US leverage eroded". What you think
the Iraqi Kurds are? Bunch of criminals who run away as soon as they
grab the money. Why Mr. Rubin, you are to complain like a Turk or a
Sunni or Shia Arab that Kurds are not acting as the way they wish?
Aren't you an American?
Why we should let the Flag of Genocide to display in
Kurdistan. Mr. Barzani is very right on this issue.
Biden is correct that federalism cannot be avoided. However, he
is incorrect to assume that federalism should be based on ethnic
and sectarian division rather than on Iraq's existing geographical
provinces. Ethnic division will not bring security. Rather than embrace
peace with his neighbors, Barzani now mimics the strategy of the late
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat--seeking diplomatic legitimacy while
refusing to renounce violence.
This is one of the most meaningless part of the article. God knows
what was in his mind when he wrote this. Comparing Honorable Massud
Barzani with Terrorist Arafat is a serious mistake Mr. Rubin. Don't
make the World laugh at you. Embracing peace with the neighbors must
be an advice to given to your friends Turks, who until yesterday
were denying the existence of Kurdish people everywhere in the North
and South Kurdistan. Thanks to PKK and Mr. Ocalan, today Turkish
people and Government are recognizing the Kurdish people's existence
in Turkey. Kurdish and Turkish people had sacrificed 30,000 people
for the ignorance and arrogance of Turkish Governments. Also Turkish
people and Turkish Government will soon learn that there are Kurds
in Syria and Iran, too. Wait till USA goes after those two Kurdish
enemies, and Kurdish people over there help USA and western allies
in issues related to those countries.
Kurdish television and newspapers are rife with incitements to
unrest, often referring to Iraqi Kurdistan as "South Kurdistan,"
thereby implying that large chunks of Turkey must be "North
Kurdistan." Likewise, they place the eastern Syrian City of Qamishli
in "West Kurdistan." The Kurdish flag adopted by Barzani is that
of the short-lived, separatist Mahabad Republic, which, with Soviet
backing, declared its independence from Iran in 1946. Maps printed on
Iraqi Kurdish presses and sold in the Erbil and Sulaymaniyah markets
show a Greater Kurdistan stretching from the Mediterranean to the
Persian Gulf.
I smell discrimination here. Any simple book on Kurds will say that
Kurdistan is divided amongst the Gang of Four. City of Qamishli is
easily hundred times older then the Syrian Arab Republic. It became a
"eastern Syrian City" due to the French occupation after WWI.
Remember Georges-Picot and Sykes again, the guys you have mentioned
for drawing boundaries ME borders in a boardroom where they could
not realize what unintended consequences could arose from that action.
Just as Arafat transformed the Palestinian Authority into a safe haven
for terrorists, so too does Barzani. His administration provides safe
haven and supplies to Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) terrorists who
have been responsible for approximately 30,000 deaths in Turkey since
1984. The Turkish government accuses the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional
Government of furnishing passports to PKK terrorists on Turkey's
most wanted list. Turkish officials complain there are six PKK bases
operating in territory controlled by Barzani's party. Just as weapons
supplied by the Clinton administration to Palestinian security forces
ended up in the hands of terrorists, so too have arms supplied by
the U.S. government to Kurdish fighters, the peshmerga, found their
way into PKK hands.
Using Turkish (un)Intelligence Organization's ( MIT Milli Istihbarat
Teskilati, by the way all of these words are Arabic, not Turkish)
sources for these kinds of fabricated and repeated to be convincing
over and over many times until it annoys you which makes Mr. Rubin
not a scholar but a Turkish propagandist. Let see why we have Kurdish
problem in so-called Republic of Turkey. Turkey was a paradise on
Earth, and Kurdish people did not want to live in that paradise,
suddenly decided to be terrorist, and go to Iraq (?) to fight
against it.
Please do your homework right, Mr.Rubin.
Turkish Republic is one of the racist regimes in the world where
anything Kurdish were denied, and some of the things are still
denied. If we look only at the US State Department's reports on Turkey,
it will show you how much wrong you are.
Don't forget if it was not for the international illegal abduction
of Mr. Ocalan, -from USA, Israel, Russia, Greece, Kenya and few in
the middle- PKK was going to defeat Turkey militarily long time ago.
USA, NATO, Germany, France, Russia, Britain etc many countries in
the World helped Turkey militarily, in intelligence and financially
for years to defeat PKK. If this is not true then why Turkish Foreign
Minister Abdullah Gul and Chief of Staff General Yasar Buyukanit met
with national security adviser Stephen Hadley and Vice-President Dick
Cheney to demand real action against terror group. Why to seek the
help of USA to defeat PKK? Or is this means so-called second biggest
Army of NATO is not able to defeat PKK alone. Or maybe many millions
of Kurdish people are supporting PKK. May be PKK is not only an armed
group, a national movement, a social movement, a peace movement or
all of the things above.
USA administrations closed their eyes and ears to the Silent Genocide
of Kurdish people in Turkey for a long time. However we are seeing
changes in the policies, and they are leaning to be positive for
Kurdish people.
Mr. Abdullah Ocalan declared in Italy his readiness to an International
Criminal Court to be set up for PKK's and Republic of Turkey's crimes
in this Turco-Kurdish war. Let's remember who stopped this from taking
a place. Mr. Abdullah Ocalan sent letters to the Presidents and Prime
Ministers of most Western Government asking for their involvement
in finding a political and constitutional solution to the Kurdish
problem in Turkey. His letter to President Clinton is widely and
easily available on the Internet.
Barzani places little restriction on PKK travel within northern Iraq.
In October 2006, two PKK leaders received treatment in an Erbil
hospital; three months later they were photographed in an Erbil
restaurant. Meanwhile, the PKK continues to smuggle explosives
and carry out attacks in Turkey. Barzani refuses to stop weapons
trafficking across the border with his own peshmerga militia, and
refuses the Iraqi army permission to do so.
Turkish authorities have made countering the PKK their top priority.
At the June 2004 NATO summit in Istanbul, President Bush promised
Turkish officials a U.S. crackdown on the PKK. The next year, Rice
repeated the pledge. But only in September 2006, after Kurdish
terrorists detonated bombs in Istanbul and several Mediterranean
resorts, killing not only Turks but also wounding more than a dozen
European tourists, did the State Department appoint Gen. Joseph Ralston
as special envoy to counter the PKK. His appointment has so far been
more symbolic than effective. Last month, Turkish foreign minister
Abdullah Gul and military chief of staff Yasar Buyukanit met with
national security adviser Stephen Hadley and Vice President Dick
Cheney to demand real action against the terror group. Privately,
Ralston told journalists he does not believe Washington will respond.
Turkish leaders rightly ask why Washington can cross borders to chase
terrorists, but they should not.
Thank you Mr.Ralston. I see that you are sharing your knowledge
and information appropriated from field research and fact finding
missions in Turkey and Kurdistan at least privately. We hope to see
you that saying it to the Kurdish people that Kurdish people is Right
and Turkish State (or should I say Turkish Army) is wrong. Kurds in
Turkey and Kurds in Iraq are friends of USA, as long as USA do not
support Racist and Genocidal Regimes like Former Iraq, and Republic of
Turkey blindly. There is no strategic US interest in banning Kurdish
language, destroying Kurdish Historical Sites with building dams on
them such as Hasankeyf and Ilisu Dam project. There is a strategic
interest for US in becoming friends with Kurdish people, and helping
them to live in peace and democratic regimes.
Turkish leaders are wrongly asking Washington to be hostile to the
Kurdish people in Turkey, whom PKK is only there for their Ethnic,
Democratic and Human Rights. Please read Mr. Abdullah Ocalan's
statements presented to so-called Turkish courts. Democratic solution
to the Kurdish Question is available as PDF file and as a book. It
should not be difficult to ask your Turkish friends to give you a copy,
in case you can not find one on your own.
Mr. Ocalan's new book Roots of Civilization is on sale at Amazon.com.
too. Yes, Roots of Civilization is in Kurdistan, Roots of Barbarism
in Turkey. May be this will be the title of second volume, if it is
on its way coming.
They may very well begin doing so, especially if the Biden plan gains
traction. A perfect storm is gathering: For the first time since 1973,
Turks face selection of a president and election of a parliament in
the same year. Election year nationalism is incendiary.
Barzani's rhetoric and PKK terror add fuel. Meanwhile, according
to the Iraqi constitution, there must be a referendum by the end
of this year on whether the oil-rich city of Kirkuk should become
part of Kurdistan. Both Barzani and Talabani call Kirkuk the Kurdish
"Jerusalem," but it is an ethnically mixed city with deteriorating
security.
Both KRG President Honorable Massud Barzani and Right Honorable
President Jalal Talabani are right with calling Kirkuk the Jerusalem
of Kurdistan. Will Israelis give Jerusalem to the Palestinians with
or without a referendum? Isn't Jerusalem ethnically as mixed as Kirkuk
or vice versa?
Asked during a February 27 Senate Armed Services Committee hearing
whether Turkey would "stand on the sidelines and watch an independent
Kurdistan be formed in the north [of Iraq] without going to war,"
Director of National Intelligence Vice Admiral J. Michael McConnell
said, flatly, no.
So Turkey will not stand on the sidelines and watch independent
Kurdistan be formed in the north [of Iraq] without going to war. Does
any Turkish international lawyer knows that Turkish occupation of
Southern Kurdistan will give the Southern Kurdistan the legal basis
to wage a War of National Liberation and ask for UN to respect the
people's right to self-determination to the Kurdish people?
How Turkish struggle against Allied occupation in 1919 could be called
as Turkish war of National Liberation and Kurdish struggle against
Turkish occupation NOT a Kurdish War of National Liberation?.
The Kurds underestimate Turkish resolve. Many Iraqi Kurds say the
peshmerga can defeat the Turkish army in the mountains of northern
Iraq--and believe that, in any case, it won't come to that. But in
1998, a similar standoff occurred when the Syrian government ignored
Turkish demands that Damascus stop sheltering the PKK. The Turkish
army mobilized. The late Syrian dictator Hafez al-Assad had a more
sober view of the Turks and expelled PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan,
who now serves a life sentence in a Turkish prison. Those in Turkey's
political and military decision-making circles from the time said they
planned to enter Syria, with or without a green light from Washington.
Who is in the illusions here for the God's sake?. The almighty Iraqi
Army and oil rich economy could not defeat the Peshmarga, the bottom
to top corrupted and oil poor Turkish Army and Economy will defeat
the Peshmarga. Turkish Army could not defeat the PKK guerrillas of 10
to 15 thousands for 20 years, don't expect me believe the so-called
second biggest Army in NATO to defeat over 100 000 Peshmarga forces.
That's way Turkish officials are bothering USA to help them to defeat
few hundreds PKK guerillas.
I should remind you that the all might NATO can not defeat 5000 or
so Taliban in Afghanistan for years now, and you telling us that
Turkey is mightier then NATO. Too many contradictions for an "expert"
scholar or confused propagandist new on the job.
Syria was left alone in Arab world for many years and without Russia
at the backyard it was easy to scare Syria in the front where Israel
is waiting for an opportunity to hit good for once and for all at
the back.
Barzani also overestimates the meaning of U.S. sympathy for the
Kurds. He may believe Kurdish leaders' friendship with Peter Galbraith,
a former U.S. ambassador to Croatia, will pay off.
Galbraith, who has testified repeatedly in Congress on behalf of
his Kurdish clients, seeks redeployment of U.S. forces to bases in
Iraqi Kurdistan, in effect shielding Barzani from the consequence
of his actions. But the fact is, while Washington would not bless
a Turkish operation to attack PKK camps in northern Iraq, it would
understand one.
Honorable Peter Galbraith is someone who see/saw the scale and effects
of the Kurdish Genocide, sufferings, etc on the Kurdish people and
Kurdish land, and the horrible consequences of Genocide.
I have visited Germany couple years ago, and I visited many of the
Jewish concentration camps, bought some books, collected some free
and sold pamphlets, and I am still with images of what I saw there of
what have happened over there 60 plus years ago. I have an idea what
is Jewish Holocaust, and not being a Jewish myself I am still able
to imagine its horror. Since then I am very sympathetic to Armenian
Genocide, and others such as Rwandan Genocide. I am a follower of
Kurdish Genocide Studies whatever available out there.
What Honorable Galbraith doing in Kurdistan and in USA are very
Honorable works, and I personally thank him again and again for what
he is doing for Kurdish people. American people will appreciate his
contribution to the American-Kurdish friendship in the years to come.
At a time everywhere and everyone hates Americans, Honorable Galbraith
works for American-Kurdish friendship. In one of the latest polls,
Turkish people found the most Anti-American.
Anti-Americanism is the most selling Turkish nationalist stuff,
and a pillar subject in Turkish Newspapers and television across the
political spectrum, left and right, were all of them anti-American
these days.
By the way I should remind everyone to watch Valley of the Wolves-Iraq.
May be these days USA will understand the Turkish Military operation
in Northern Iraq, however I should remind you that after the Kurdish
national Liberation War from Turkish occupation, the same USA will
understand the declaration of Independence of Republic of Kurdistan.
Nor would fear of European disapproval deter Ankara from attacking
PKK bases. Too many European leaders have already made clear that
Turkey has no hope of entering the European Union. And polls show
the Turkish public no longer looks favorably upon E.U. membership.
Turkish officials understand that even if they receive no green light
from Washington, the only consequence of a cross-border raid would
be to force Iraqi officials to seal their northern border.
It would be ironic if, while the surge is beginning to show success in
Baghdad, Senate leaders undercut Iraq's integrity. The Biden-Gelb plan
may look good on paper. So did the Oslo Accords and, for that matter,
the Bush administration's emphasis on holding free elections where
they had never before been held. But in each case, good intentions
were undermined by the same Achilles' heel: the unwillingness of
U.S. officials to adopt a zero tolerance policy toward incitement
and terrorism.
Iraqi Kurdish leaders continue to shelter the PKK. Whether their
support is active or passive is irrelevant, for there are no acceptable
levels of support for terror. Nor is it responsible to undercut the
security of a long-term NATO ally like Turkey. Until Iraqi Kurdish
leaders expel terrorists in their midst and renounce interests beyond
Iraq's border, any congressional encouragement of ethnic federalism
risks plunging the region into chaos.
Rubin is a resident scholar at AEI.
If there are no acceptable levels of support for terror, then I
will say the same thing to you that Kurdish people do not accept your
support for State Terrorism by Republic of Turkey to the Kurdish people
everywhere. Kurdish people in Southern Kurdistan did not fight Baath
regime to be replaced with Racist Turkish one.
Mr. Abdullah Ocalan and PKK has been offering cease-fires and peace
talks to bring an end to the Turco-Kurdish conflict, which Turkish
State's assimilation and annihilation policies are the reasons for
its origin.
The last cease-fire and peace talk offer was made at September 1st
2006, and still valid. However neither Turkish Government nor any
western Government responded positively yet.
Peace and Democracy in Turkey is only possible with finding a just
and sound solution to the Kurdish question. That's one of the reasons
EU insist on, and tells Turkey to solve. It is over 50 years Turkey
could not be member of EU, and Turkey alone will not be able to solve
Kurdish question peacefully another 50 years. That's way there is
the need of third party involvement, such as USA.
With the news of poisoning Mr. Ocalan in Turkish prison, one really
wonders who wants Peace and democracy in Turkey, between Kurdish and
Turkish people.
It looks like PKK and Kurdish people, and may be former Turkish
President General Kenan Evren who staged the coup de Etat of 12
September 1980, and fought the fierce War against PKK.