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October 25, 2007
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Turkish government policies towards Kurdistan
Kurdishaspect.com - By Karim Hasan
The Economist published “Turkey and Armenia: Unearthing the past, endangering the future” [1] on 18 October 2007. The article tackles the ways current Turkish decision to invade Iraqi Kurdistan is linked to the Armenian genocide bill.
It explains that “Turkey votes to invade northern Iraq, Congress considers the Armenian genocide. The two are dangerously connected”. It is unclear whether Turkey is going to ‘invade northern Iraq’, but the plan allows Turkish army an open-hand to conduct cross-border operations for one full year. This could lead to the outbreak of another war in an already war-torn region of the Middle East.
On 10 October 2007, Con Coughlin in the Telegraph described the situation is that, “When Kurds smell success, Turks go for guns” [2]. Kurdish success can be measured by economic growth, social and political reconciliation, an emerging organized civil society, good governance and above all regional stability [3].
Is it the interconnectedness of Armenian Genocide Bill and ‘Kurdish successes’ have made the “Turks to go for guns”? The Bill and ‘Kurdish successes’ are connected to the Turkish incursion-decision in a mild way.
The Turkish government avenges decision made by the Committee on Foreign Relations and the ‘Kurdish successes’ by deciding to intrude into Iraqi Kurdistan. An important question is: whether Turkey is preparing to lunch another genocidal campaign that Ottoman Empire conducted in its last dying-days against the Armenians, but this time against Kurds, the way Ba’ath regime deported and executed entire Kurdish population in Iraqi Kurdistan in 1980s?
Governments around the world have warned Turkey of severe outcome, if its army invades Iraqi Kurdistan. The United States of America, the United Kingdom, France, Mediterranean states, Germany, Russia, Jordon, Egypt, the European Union and the general secretary of the United Nations have expressed their disapprovals of Turkish parliament decision to intrude into Kurdistan region of Iraq [4].
Lose Angeles Times argues that “Kurdish problem is our problem” [5]. World public opinion will play a positive role. Kurds and people of Kurdistan have expressed that they will defend Kurdistan, if they are attacked [6]. They have made clear that they want a peaceful solution to this escalation.
Kurdish and Iraqi leaderships have articulated a united voice of dismay and objection at this vexing and irritating policy that the Turkish government has been practicing since early 1990s [7]. This policy has contributed to continuous internal instability in Iraqi Kurdistan, in the region, and it has caused more refugees knocking on Europe’s door–influx of Kurdish refuges.
The practice of this military incursion-policy into northern Iraq has been grounded on distorted knowledge. The Turkish government needs to know that distorted knowledge will neither be tolerated nor can be valid motive for this intrusion under the same pre-text by which the Turkish military has stationed military bases in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq since early 1990s.
Now, more than a decade later Prime Minister Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul are practicing the same policy, which has been allowing Turkey to retain military bases in the sovereign territory of Iraqi Kurdistan within the Federal state of Iraq.
Prime Minister Erdogan argues that ‘Turkey does not want permission from anyone to defend itself’. Mr. Prime Minister, I am a Kurd, and in principle, I agree with you that sovereign states have sovereign rights, but let us operationalize this abstract principle of ‘sovereign rights’:
Then, we will discover ‘the fact’ whether Turkey is under threat from Turkish policies of expansionism into Iraqi Kurdistan, which has been practiced by Turkish government since early 1990s, or from an internal conflict which is the result of ‘Kurdish effort for the ‘right to life, liberty and security’. The two are well connected, but it is the Turkish government expansionist policies foremost deny Kurds the ‘right to life, liberty and security’. This denial has led to the deterioration of Turkish sovereignty.
Similar expansionist imperial policies that denied the ‘right to life, liberty and security’, led the late Ottoman Empire to label Jews with a yellow ribbon-star on their arms and categorized them a third class citizen within its administrative borders [8]. Later, this practice was adopted by other states.
Early in the twentieth century, the Ottoman Empire’s desire to retain these expansionist policies through denying non-Turkic ethno-religious groups the ‘right to life, liberty and security’ led the Ottoman army to zero tolerance and committed first genocide in the history against Christian Armenians and Kurds, in which 1.5 million Armenians and Kurds died.
Armenian genocide is now recognized by many states including Canada and France. On October 10th, 2007 the House of Representative Foreign Relations Committee presented to the United States House of Representative Armenian genocide bill [9]. Many sources forecast the passage of this Bill.
Similar ambitions led the Turkish army to massacre Kurds in the Kurdish town Darsim in 1930s, in which thousands of Kurds were killed. Turkish government turned a blind eye on the Anfal genocide of the Iraqi Kurds in 1980s. The government that you represent deported hundreds of thousands of its Kurdish citizens from their homes, and razzed entire towns and villages to the ground [10].
The ethno-religious categorization of the Middle East under the Ottoman Empire brought to practice has left many problems for the people of the Middle East. This ethno-religious categorization policy has destabilized the region and has criminalized certain ethno-religious groups.
Every voice of justice and reason that points to the repression of Kurds has been silenced in Turkey. We read cases of criminal charges against Kurdish mayors, city councillors, business people, politicians, professors, and teachers for practicing Kurdish language.
Turkish government has imprisoned into confinement the sociologist Dr. Islmail Beşikçi of Turkish origin for almost 15 years over important findings about the life conditions of the 20 million Kurds within the administrative boarder of Turkey [11a, 11b]. Dr. Beşikçi deserves a Nobel Peace award.
If we search for the root-cause of militancy; we will end-up pointing at that Turkish state-sponsored policies are the source of continuing militancy, not the battered, deported and exploited, and massacred Kurds and other ethno-religious groups. Turkish expansionist policy is not new, if it continues, the region will be pulled in to further state of chaos.
The operational logic of this expansionist Turkish policy has labelled a certain Kurdish group ‘a destabilizing factor’, this group has declared unilateral cease-fire with Turkish government many times, but Turkish government has never responded to this positive initiative. The certain group that gets blamed by the Turkish government changes every now and then.
Let us put this theory to test. Yesterday, 22 October 2007 the Kurdish group that Turkish army has been accusing of destabilizing factor declared cease-fire and willingness to peaceful solution [12]. They have pronounced peace. The Turkish government best bet is to accept this cease-fire at the formal level, negotiate a solution to the Kurdish question and peace in the region.
If the Turkish government claims sovereignty over Kurds within its administrative borders, it has to be able to put its house in order and stop blaming, attacking, and invading its neighbours for its own incompetencies. Previous incursion resulted in further destabilization, because war cannot solve Kurdish question in Turkey [13].
Mr. Prime Minister, stop this chaos. You and your government bare the burden of a solution to ‘Kurdish right to life, liberty and security’ within the administrative boarder of Turkey. Kurds are not minority, but they constitute almost one third of the population of the state of Turkey. The longer this fact is ignored, the more problematic it becomes.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Baba-can pointed out that his government will exhaust all diplomatic avenues before it begins military action [14a]. It is apparent that Turkish government has exhausted all diplomatic options to avert the Kurdish Regional Government success, and now it has decided that Kurdistan progress cannot be diverted through diplomatic means, a military invasion may do the job.
The ‘Kurdish successes that Con Coughlin pointed out is partially about economy and stability. Since Turkish parliament incursion-decision, oil prices have already jumped to about $ 90 per barrel. Does the Turkish government plan to commit the same mistake that the Ba’ath regime did with Kuwait?
These are dangerous war-games that the Turkish government has been playing since early 1990s. Good neighbours design their relations in a peaceful manner. For certain, good neighbour-relations are reciprocal and reflexive. The onus is on Turkey to accept calls for peace. Let us read reports about that ‘when Kurds succeed, Turks throw away their guns’, because peaceful-civilized options will come to horizon.
We see, and the World is watching and they call on you, Mr. Prime Minister, Rajab Tayeb Erdogan to get rid of ‘gun politics’, and to put an end to exploitative-repression of Kurds, reconsider the cease-fire that you rejected at the first moment of its announcement without slightest consideration [14b]. Non-violent, fair methods are best possible methods, Mr. Prime Minister look to the south of the border and embrace them.
Karim Hasan is a Ph.D. Candidate in Sociology at Carleton University
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The author does not necessarily agree with the views and details of the newspaper articles that have been referred to in this analytical review of current tension between Turkey and Iraq. Rather, the approach is a review of current engagements from verity of sources.
Notes:
[1] The Economist Print Edition (18/10/2007) ‘Turkey and Armenia: Unearthing the past, endangering the future’.
[2] Con Coughlin, (12/10/2007) ‘When Kurds Smell Success, Turks go for Guns’: Telegraph. UK , Print edition.
[3] Gareth Stansfield (2003) Iraqi Kurdistan: Political Development and Emergent Democracy London: Routeldge.
[4] Molly More, (18/10/2007) ‘Turkish Parliament Ok’s attack on Kurds in Iraq’: The Washington Post, Print Edition.
[5] Lose Angeles Times (22/10/2007), ‘The Kurdish problem’ is our problem’: Print Edition.
[6] (22/10/2007) ‘Iraqi Kurds Warn Turkey not to Attack’, Associated Press, Print Edition; republished on KRG website: http://www.krg.org
[7] Kurdish Aspect (22/10/2007) ‘Iraqi Parliament Condemns Turkey Incursion Threat’: http://www.kurdishaspect.com/doc102207AFP.html,
[8] Denise Natali (2005) Kurds and the State: Evolving National Identity in Iraq, Turkey and Iran Syracuse: Syracuse University Press.
[9] The United States House of Representative Committee on Foreign Relations (10/10/2007) ‘Statement on House Foreign Relation Committee’ http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/press_display.asp?id=430.
[10] Martin van Bruinessen (1994) ‘Genocide in Kurdistan? The suppression of the Dersim rebellion in Turkey (1937-38) and the chemical war against the Iraqi Kurds (1988)’, in: George J. Andreopoulos (ed), Conceptual and historical dimensions of genocide. University of Pennsylvania Press, pp. 141-170.
[11a] Martin van Bruinessen (2005) ‘Ismail Beşikçi: Turkish Sociologist, Critic of Kamalism and Kurdologist” The Journal of Kurdish Studies, vol. V 19-34.
[11b] Kurdistan Informations-Zentrum, ‘Ismail Beşikçi: A Life in service of Truth’
According this information provided in late 1990s, the Turkish justice system has charged the Turkish sociologist Dr. Basckci 99 times; convicted him 38 times; 21 changed were upheld by appeals courts; he had 17 appeal pending charges; 61 pending changes, and received total prison sentences of 76 years and 7 months; and total fines of 6, 550, 746, 666 Turkish Liras. Dr. Besckci deserves a Nobel Peace Award, yet the Turkish government has treated Dr. Besckci as a criminal, it is the same logic that has passed legislation to unilateral intrusion into Iraqi Kurdistan.
[12] PUK Media, (10/22/2007) ‘Iraqi President Jalal Talabani calls for ceasefire and peaceful solutions’. Hushyar Zibary, Iraq’s foreign minister also encouraged ceasefire. http://pukmedia.com/
[13] KDP Media (10/22/2007) ‘Kurds set to declare ceasefire with Turkey, http://www.kdp.se/
[14ab] The Globe and Mail (23/10/2007) report from Associated Press ‘Turkey Rejects any Cease-fire by Kurdish Rebels’ Print Edition.
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