Turks’ Effective Weapon (Genocide) Will be Upon Iraqi Kurds
Rauf Naqishbendi
November 9, 2007
Turkey’s application to join the European Union has met with a lukewarm response. The relationship between Washington and Ankara has been going downhill since the commencement of the Iraq War. The United States Senate has passed two resolutions affecting this issue: one acknowledging the Turks’ genocide against Armenians, and the other, passed by an overwhelming majority with a vote of 75-23, calls for the partitioning of Iraq into three autonomous regions. The aggregate effect of all these events has been the spiteful reaction of Turkish leaders as they attempt to vindicate themselves by making Kurds their scapegoat. According to them, Kurds are to blame for everything, because if it weren’t for the Kurds none of this evil would have befallen them. In this manner, they energized their mighty army to wreak their Turkish wrath (genocide) upon Iraqi Kurds.
Let us examine the Turkish animosity toward Kurds. First and foremost, the Kurds have not been in a position of power since the inception of Islam, more than a thousand years ago. During this time Kurds have been at the mercy of their occupiers, of which Turks happen to be one. This implies that Kurds did not tear apart Turkish communities, they did not forcefully foist themselves on Turkish lands against their will, and they did not deprive Turks of their human and national rights. On the contrary, Turks imposed their draconian occupation on Kurdistan, they demonized, disenfranchised and marginalized Kurds and treated them as less than slaves. Kurds then sought decent and humane treatment from the Turks. Asking for humane treatment seems reasonable to civilized people, but not to Turks.
Turkey has embroiled itself in a doleful war against the Kurdish Workers Party (the PKK) for the past two decades, and there is no end in sight. While the PKK is fighting to enfranchise Kurds and free them from the fetters and shackles of human abuse, Turkey has embarked on a campaign to mute the Kurdish pleas for justice and equality and extirpate the PKK. The bloodshed took more than 30,000 lives, the majority of which were innocent Kurdish civilians. Turks wiped out more than 2,000 Kurdish villages and towns, forcing millions of Kurds to leave their homes and relocate in other parts of the country. During this time, Turkey has spent tens of billions of dollars which it didn’t have and had to borrow and finance at the cost of more destruction and human tragedy. The country was now polarized with Turks against Kurds. Given this background, it is amazing that Turkish authorities still have not pursued diplomacy, and instead continue to wield their iron fist and angry violence as the only remedy. The Turkish repulsion of dialogue with the PKK is a conspicuous reaffirmation of the Turkish government’s desire to continue the status quo suppression of the Kurds.
To clear the way for their atrocities against Kurds, Turkey is determined to block any inroads Kurds would make toward their freedom and statehood anywhere in the region. Since the Iraqi liberation, thanks to America, the Kurds in Iraq have been breathing freely, cherishing their opportunities and making their region shine as the bright spot of the American Iraqi liberation. Turkish authorities have been adamant about their hatred for Kurds and they have taken advantage of every chance they got to derail their achievements. The Turkish mindset is that anything good for Kurds is bad for Turks, while Kurds perceive it entirely differently.
In the Middle East, where vendettas are commonplace, and the revengeful “eye for an eye” mentality reigns, Kurds are practicing harmony and friendship even with their foes. Since the Iraqi liberation Kurds, as a gesture of good will, have granted many contracts to Turkish companies and entrepreneurs, and have engaged in every proper neighborly action to attempt to establish a good relationship with Turkey. It is telling to see how Kurds responded to Turkish intolerance with good deeds and forgiveness. This is a clear indication that a sovereign Kurdish state in north Iraq would by no means be harmful to Turkey, but on the contrary would be beneficial to Turkey given the Kurds’ peaceful sentiments. Turks should not scorn the idea of a sovereign Kurdish state; it is inevitable and they better get used to it.
So often people get caught up in nostalgia for their past in such a way that it taints their vision and judgment in the present. Turks must realize that the way of arbitration of the Ottoman Empire is a century old, and in the modern world the prevailing remedy for contention and clashes between nations is sound diplomacy not violence and bloodshed. Should Turkey continue in a path of hatred and violence, it will have much to lose, whereas genuine diplomacy would return an immense dividend of peace and prosperity. Resources they have devoted to destruction and bloodshed could be diverted toward reconstruction and social welfare. The division of Turkey into classes, where Turks are superior and everyone else inferior hinders social and economic advancement. Justice for all will invigorate the society to work for the good of the nation as a whole, and consequently enhance Turkey’s economic and political stand in the world. The enemy of Turkey isn’t Kurds but rather the members of the chauvinistic Turkish right wing who have never accepted the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and still aim at world domination.
Since the 1980s, the Turkish military has violently intruded into Iraqi Kurdistan several times and left thousands of their solders and heavy war machinery in Kurdistan to fight the PKK, yet the PKK have not by any stretch of imagination given up their struggle or ceased to exist. Since this is what happened in the past, Turks must realize that another bloody tour into Kurdistan will fail as miserably as their previous tours. Thus, they now insist that American troops fight their battle for them, as if America is a Turkish colony. Thankfully, Washington has refused their demands. If the Turkish government were to hearken to the voice of reason, it would have peacefully resolved this problem long ago. That being said, time is neutral and it is never too late to do what is right.
Turks have suffered the consequences of their own present and past crimes. Due to their lack of courage to face reality, they found in Iraqi Kurds a scapegoat to take the edge off their misery. Iraqi Kurds must beware for Turks have at their disposal a lethal and fatal weapon. They used it effectively against Kurds in their own country as well as Armenians, Assyrians and others of the Christian faith - this weapon is called GENOCIDE.
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=42542
It sounds to me the Annan plan is desperately needed here...
Unbelievable!!! 
