My Article Published In Dunya News.
Turkish State Terrorism Will Not Eradicate The Age-Old Kurdish National Question
Time after time, conquerors after conquerors, Kurdish people have gone through tragedies and repression. Even then they have always shown resistance against oppression and preserved their identity, culture and language. Kurdish tragedy didn’t happen overnight, it was conditioned by local and international settings. After WW1, the Kurdish people were parceled out among newly born states: Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran. It was done by the powerful states, mainly British and France for their interests to keep this region in conflict. Now, in the recent decade, the Kurdish question is on the rise in Turkey, Syria and Iraq and it is mainly brutally oppressed by Ankara. In this article, it will be discussed how Turkey is targeting and oppressing the Kurds and repressing their national question.
In 1988, Saddam Hussain dropped poison gas bombs on the Kurdish City of Halabja; thousands died within hours. This was known as Black Friday for Kurdish people. Turkish state is also not pious or kind to Kurds; it has spread state-terror among the Kurds, viciously attacked them to serve its interests and controlled their population, which is approximately 18 million – the 4th largest ethnic group in the Middle East. Cultural Survival Quarterly Magazine states that the Turkish state has targeted the Kurds’ identity, culture, and language and kept them economically and politically deprived after WW1. A 1924 mandate forbade Kurdish schools, organisations and publications. Even the words “Kurd” and “Kurdistan” were outlawed, making any written or spoken acknowledgement of their existence illegal. According to Association France-Kurdistan, between 1925 and 1939, 1.5 million Kurds, a third of the population, were deported and massacred. Thousands of Kurds are detained, hanged, tortured, exiled, jailed and killed. They are called “the mountain Turks.” They are neither Turks nor Persians and Arabs – they are Kurds. If one looks at the past two years, the Turkish police and armed forces have displaced half a million people from their homes in the southeastern Turkey, thousands have been detained and killed. Human rights are brutally violated by the state. The Kurd factor is securitised and perceived as a threat; in this regard, Kurds are deemed enemies, savagely suppressed and oppressed.
After the US attack on Iraq in 2003, Iraqi Kurdistan has become stronger. Islamic State and the conflicts in Iraq and Syria are creating a vacuum for the Kurds. A vacuum which is being filled with struggle and blood. The People’s Protection Units (YPG), a Kurdish militia, is fighting against the Islamic State and regaining their territories with the help of US, but it is targeted by Turkey. In 2015, the peace talks between Erdogan and The Kurdistan Workers’ Party finished, and PKK started resisting again, on account of Turkey’s operations against the Kurds. The IS factor and conflicts in the Middle East have given an outlet to the Kurdish question. History does not move in a straight line; it is spiral, revolutions are downed with the counter-revolutions. This is what needs to be seen in the future: how the Kurds and their leaders make their cause more prominent and achievable.
Turkey’s recent foreign policy is not driven by the Islamic ideology, or personality, but by the geopolitical circumstances. Turkey perceives Kurds as a bigger danger than IS, and has targeted the Kurdish forces fighting against the IS. Turkey is also targeting YPG in Syria, a Kurdish militant organisation supported by US. Turkey is targeting PKK and YPG forces who are fighting against the IS but supporting the Peshmerga forces of Iraq. The reason why Turkey is targeting the YPG is that it is the immediate threat – as there are 18 million Kurds living in Turkey. The areas which are captured by YPG are called the Kurdish independent territories, a self-declared autonomous region known as Rojava. The independence in Syria will have a ripple effect in Turkey. That is why Turkey calls YPG as the affiliated group of PKK. PKK is considered a terrorist origination by Turkey, US and EU, but YPG is not considered as a terrorist outfit – and Turkey has failed to prove it so.
The separatist movements can be theoretically defined through different lenses, like minority-majority-complex, fear and grievance, nationalism of oppressed, and the violence committed by state has the reaction in violence. Turkey is fighting against the separatist guerrilla group for decades and trying to crush the Kurds. Yet, it has failed to do so. There is famous saying among the Kurds: “No friends but the mountains” – by living in the mountains, Kurds have struggled for their survival. Circumstances in the region have gone in favor of Kurds though they have lost thousands of lives, they are gaining their territories.
Turkey is terrorising the Kurds by threat and use of force. National identity cannot be eradicated by force; the way Turkey is trying. The Kurdish question has been there for many decades, yet Turkey could not solve it. Turkey is repressing the Kurds as did Saddam Hussain, but today, Iraqi Kurdistan has greater autonomy and may move towards independence.
Kurds are a very ancient ethnic group and the sense of their national identity is dwelling in their genes. Turkey needs to look at Kurds as the insurgent groups, not as terrorist militias. The Kurdish national question remains very pertinent in the Middle East.
By: Pirzada Zuhaib Ahmed
Here is the link.
http://blogs.dunyanews.tv/15967/turkish