Say what ?

"The Turks, Iranians and Shiite rulers in Baghdad would have found common purpose in subjugating separatist Kurds by killing as many Kurdish nationalists as possible -- on both sides of their joint borders -- hopefully driving a stake once and for all through the heart of Kurdish nationalist ambitions."

Are you serious ?

"...hopefully driving a stake once and for all through the heart of Kurdish nationalist ambitions."

Who hopes for this ? You ? Certainly not.

by Tony Forest (4 articles, 14 quicklinks, 129 diaries, 1201 comments) on Wednesday, November 14, 2007 at 2:21:11 PM
 

Reply

No not me. I am big admirer of the Kurds, though I don't believe they have a right to a hunk of either Turkey or Iranian territory. I hope they get their rightful hunk of Iraq. If Bush is looking for a seed bed of democracy in the region Kurdistan is his best bet. But leave it to Bush to even screw that one up.

Steve 

by Stephen Pizzo (86 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 26 comments) on Wednesday, November 14, 2007 at 3:52:48 PM
 

okay, let us talk Turkey

Quoting Wikipedia to some extent....well, okay, copy & paste;

"Due to the size of their community, the Kurds are viewed as a threat to Turkey's national security. Kurds have largely resisted forcible assimilation policies of the government since 1930s. The main official strategy for assimilating the Kurds has been suppression of their language. Most Kurds have retained their native tongue, despite the governmental efforts over several decades to promote Turkish among them."

and

"Most Kurds live in Turkey, where their numbers are estimated somewhere between 11,400,000[2] and 15,000,000[3]"

From what I have gathered, Kurdish Turks, or Turkish Kurds (whichever is politically correct) would be happy to remain citizens of Turkey if only Turkey would allow them to speak Kurdish, teach it to their children (in schools) and leave them be for a change. 

Please refer to the info and links posted in my diary entitled Largest Ethnic Group Without Their Own State

I'm no more an expert on the Kurdish people than anyone else here but I have been to Turkey, have spoken with Kurds in both larger cities in Turkey and more remote areas further south and east. I have kurdish friends, work with a few Kurds (from Iran, Iraq and Turkey) and have even picked up a few phrases in one of the many Kurdish dialects. The only thing I've been able to gather from all these eperiences is that the Kurds are a very proud ethnic group and they would all like for nothing more than to live in peace. You see, they haven't had much peace in their lives, none of them. The Iranian Kurd has had to flee to Iraq for shelter. The Iraqi Kurd to Iran (as a young boy) and then on to Europe. The Turkish Kurds have had to flee or be killed. In fact, most of them are now sheltered under the umbrella of political asylum, in Europe. Here in Europe, they don't see one another as Turks, Iraqis or Iranians (and I know there's more to it than just these three nationalities), they see themselves as Kurds. They're smart, they have their very own culture and I doubt they'll be content with a piece of northern Iraq with the Americans sitting on their front doorstep guarding (LOL) their oil. So far, in Iraq, the Kurds have been playing a good game of chess with the Americans. In my opinion, these guys invented the game. Their greatest weapon, by the way, is patience. Just like the Irish ; never lose faith and remember what you are fighting for.

by Tony Forest (4 articles, 14 quicklinks, 129 diaries, 1201 comments) on Thursday, November 15, 2007 at 1:32:44 PM
 

Will Turkey Invade No Matter What the Kurds Do?

Stephen,

Great article!  I don't claim to be an expert on the Kurdish issue, but some of the people who I read say that there is another element besides PKK raids on the Turkish military that may be driving Turkey's bellicose behaviour.  Eric Margolis points out there is a strong right-wing, nationalist streak in Turkey, and that some of the most extreme of these elements are eyeing greedily the oil fields of Kirkuk.  In this scenario, a Turkish invasion would have eliminating the PKK as a pretext, with the real grand prize being the grabbing of Iraqi Kurdistan's natural resources.

I don't think the current Turkish government wants anything to do with such an invasion of Northern Iraq, but there may be some elements of the Turkish military who push the government into such a position.  Do you think this might be an additional motivation for Turkey to launch an invasion?

Also, I have heard Turkey is likely to fail in any invasion.  Between the PKK and the Iraqi Kurds, they might get bogged down in a quagmire. 

by Mike Mejia (11 articles, 1 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 6 comments) on Thursday, November 15, 2007 at 11:24:59 AM