Since the establishment of the modern state of Turkey it has been official Turkish policy, as Inonu said at the Turkish Assembly, to "Turkify the inhabitants of this land". A forced assimilation policy has been pursued by the Turkish regime since then. It is fine to say that there have been Turkish Presidents of Kurdish origin but as long as they deny their Kurdish background they are fine. As soon as they stand up and demand Kurdish human and political rights then the only place for them is the grave or jail. The PKK are only the latest in a long history of resistance to Turkish repression. The Turks burnt over 4,000 Kurdish villages, towns and hamlets in the nineties and continue to repress the Kurds. The majority of Kurds in Turkey support the PKK and the only solution is a political and diplomatic one. Journalists and commentators would be of much more use to turn their attention to find out the reasons why Turkey refuses any political offer of ceasefires and political solutions from the Kurdish side. There is no military solution but the Kurdish Freedom Movement is ready both for peace and war!
It’s Not About The West
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To a certain extent, Washington is in an impossible position. The Turks and the Kurds are two of its closest allies in the region. Even the PKK, though nominally Marxist, are pro-American, like their Iraqi Kurdish protectors. PKK chief of daily operations Murat Karayilan spoke glowingly to NEWSWEEK about democracy, human rights and "Mr. Bush's new Middle East project" in September. He claimed his fighters could be a valuable ally for the U.S. against Islamic fundamentalism. And PJAK's Germany-based leader, Rahman Haji Ahmadi, made a trip to Washington last July to ask for support to foment regime change inside Iran—though he claims he was snubbed and had only "limited contact" with American officials. "If someday our common interests [the United States' and PJAK's] are on the same line, we're ready, we can negotiate," says Beryar Gabare, a top PJAK commander in Iraq.
Still, it is "shortsighted" for Washington to believe that cooperation with Kurd leaders is more valuable than a strategic alliance with Turkey, says Morton Abramowitz, the former U.S. ambassador to Turkey. "We are in a defining moment," he says. But now, and only belatedly, is Washington coming to realize that if it does nothing to mend its ties with Turkey, it risks losing the relationship altogether. Last week the White House fought successfully to stall Congress' Armenian resolution. Washington then offered to share information about the whereabouts of PKK bases with Turkish military intelligence. Helping the Turks to clean house in Qandil could, if handled right, even mark a turning point in a relationship that is surely damaged, but not yet beyond repair.
Which way Turkey ends up leaning remains a matter of enormous debate within the Turkish government—one which has stood many traditional affiliations on their head. Turkey's AK Party has Islamist roots, for instance, yet favors sticking to a program of joining the EU and maintaining friendly relations with the United States, despite all the setbacks. The Army, by contrast, has traditionally been close to the United States—yet is pushing hard to go into Iraq, in defiance of Washington. In fact, it seems that ideology is not much of a factor in Ankara's shift eastward. Rather, says RAND Corporation analyst Stephen Larrabee, pragmatism drives policy. "This isn't all about Turkey turning its back on the West," he says. "It's simply a matter of Turkish national interests." In other words, which hemisphere can offer Ankara a better return on its diplomatic investments? At the moment, a Turkish backlash against the West remains a serious danger—and not just for the narrow reasons of Mideast diplomacy. If the West can't manage to engage with the Islamic world's most democratic and liberal member, there is little hope it can find common ground with the rest.
With Sami Kohen in Istanbul, Kevin Peraino and Michael Hastings in Qandil and Babak Dehghanpisheh in BaghdadWith in Istanbul and in Qandil and in Baghdad
© 2007
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