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December 29, 2007
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Wolves have better defenders than Kurds
Kurdishaspect.com - By Hataw Sarkawt
Although apolitical, I enjoy the friendship of people across the spectrum from right to left. As individual Americans our lives would be easier to be on the right side of the isle and take care of ourselves instead of waiting for somebody to take care of us. However, seeing daily political crimes as well as human and animal rights abuses around the world makes it difficult for many of us not to sympathize with the left for its selfless values. Based on our American simplified categorization the animal right activists might be considered leftists. Despite my sympathy for such leftists, I have not understood some of their priorities and biases.
As an example when the Online BBC World News reported on March 8, 2005 that Vulpus Vulpus Kurdistanica was changed to Vulpus Vulpus by the Turkish government (1), I expected the American human or animal right activists show some disagreement. I don’t think there was a reaction though. I concluded since some of the activists might be on the left site of the isle, it must have been difficult for them to put their bias aside and oppose a country that had opposed the current administration for changing Iraqi regime. I thought they would have been described as flip flop activists, if they had done so.
Then, on December 28, 2007 I received an email by these activists stating:” While most Americans have been celebrating the holidays, officials in the Bush/Cheney Administration have been working behind the scenes to pave the way for the killing of hundreds of wolves in the Greater Yellowstone area”. As an American I sympathized with the activists and the lovely endangered wolves. However, as a Kurdish American, I wished they had made a similar petition for the Kurds who are endangered as humans. I was wondering why they couldn’t mention: While most Americans have been celebrating the holidays, officials in the Bush/Cheney Administration have been working behind the scenes to pave the way for the killing of hundreds of Kurds in the Greater Kurdistan area.
I then checked the email further and saw the referral to this Care 2 Petition site: www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/366468936?z00m=12335056
The petition was titled: “Stop the Bush/Cheney Sneak Attack on Wolves, Protect Wolves in the Northern Rockies”. I thought it should have been titled “Let us all stop our American bias and protect the Kurds in the Northern Kurdistan”. The text of the petition further stated:
“As a supporter of Defenders of Wildlife and someone who takes great pride in the successful reintroduction of wolves to the Northern Rockies and Greater Yellowstone Region, I am deeply concerned with your agency’s actions to eliminate vital protections for this still-recovering population. In particular, I am disturbed by your agency’s support of rule changes that would allow wolves to be killed in Idaho and Wyoming even before these animals are removed from the list of federally protected threatened and endangered species. I am also concerned with your agency’s support for de-listing of gray wolves. Officials in Idaho and Wyoming have made clear that they intend to “manage” wolves at the lowest level permitted by law, a policy that will likely result in the removal of two-thirds of the wolves in Wyoming and all but approximately 100 wolves in Idaho. Your agency is charged with protecting America’s natural treasures and is accountable to the tens of thousands of people in the Northern Rockies and across the country who have spoken out against the proposal to de-list wolves. I sincerely hope that you will remember these facts as you consider your agency’s responsibility to America’s future generations”.
I thought if the Kurds were as valuable for the American politicians as the wolves for the American animal right activists, we could have approached them with a similar petition as above but modified as below:
As a supporter of Defenders of Kurdistan and someone who takes great pride in the successful reintroduction of Kurdish identity to the Northern Kurdistan and Greater Kurdish Region, I am deeply concerned with your party’s actions to eliminate vital protections for this still-recovering population. In particular, I am disturbed by your party’s support of rule changes that would allow Kurds to be killed in Iran and Turkey even before these people are removed from the list of federally protected threatened and endangered people in the no fly zone. I am also concerned with your party’s support for listing of PJAK and PKK as terrorists. Officials in Iran and Turkey have made clear that they intend to "manage" Kurds at the lowest level permitted by law, a policy that will likely result in the removal of two-thirds of the Kurds in Turkey and one fourth of them in Iran . The American government is charged with protecting human rights around the world and is accountable to the tens of thousands of people in the Northern Kurdistan and across the country who have spoken out against listing the Kurdish freedom fighters as terrorists. I sincerely hope that you will remember these facts as you consider your party’s responsibility to America’s and the world’s future generations.
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