The modern day Alexander Pushkin of Kurdistan, a poet know as Pashew, correctly depicts the immense sacrifices of the Kurdish nation for freedom, statehood, democracy..in his famous poem "The Unknown Soldier"....that poem is timely in the face of the recent rain of destruction by Turkish Aiur Force on the poor Kurdish countryside in the Iraqi part of Kurdistan under the pretext of eliminating the PKK....It was an attack on the novice democratic entity in Southren Kurdistan...Thugs in the miltary uniform in Turkey will fail in destroying Kurdistan:

"The Unknown Soldier

If someday a delegate comes to my land

And asks me:

"Where is the grave of the Unknown Soldier here?"

I will tell him:

"Sir,

On the bank of any stream,

On the bench of any mosque,

In the shade of any home,

On the threshold of any church,

At the mouth of any cave,

In the mountains on any rock,

In the gardens on any tree,

In my country,

On any span of land,

Under any cloud in the sky,

in Kurdistan

Do not worry,

Make a slight bow,

And place your wreath of flowers."

It will be impossible to comprehend the full aspects of the justice of the sacred cause of Kurdistan without knowing the pains, the suffering, the struggle, and the yearnings of the Kurdish people in Kurdistan for freedom. More than 300 years ago the equivalent of Shakespeare in Kurdistan, a great poet and Philosopher Ahmadey Khaney, wrote about Kurdistan, Turkish occupation, freedom, unity. And....

Our Trouble.
Bartender, for the love of God, please
Pour some wine into the crystal glass. [6]
Let the glass of wine reveal to the world.
Let there appear here whatever we wish.
Let events ahead of us come to light.
Let us know if the future holds promise for us.
Look, our misfortune has reached its peak.
Will conditions improve, do you think?
Or will they remain,
Until upon us comes the end of time?
Is it possible, I wonder, that for us, too,
A star will emerge out of the firmament?
Let lady luck be on our side for once.
Let there emerge from within us, too
One to shoulder the earth.
Let there be a king of our own.
Let his sword attest to our might.
Let the might of is pen be known.
Let there be an answer to our trouble.
Let there be a demand for our knowledge.
If we had an exalted leader,
Of good deeds wanting a poem,
Our bullion, too, would be stamped.
It would not be so unwanted and suspect.
However pure and clean they may be,
Value is added to gold and silver with a stamp.
If we had a king,
If God saw him deserving of a crown,
If a throne was appointed to him,
Our luck would turn around.
If he was provided with a crown
O course, for us, there would be respect.
He would feel sorry for us orphans.
He would set us free from bondage to the craven.
They would not be victorious over us, these Turks.
Ours would not turn into ghost towns.
We would not become fugitives: dispossessed, wretched.
We would not bow our head in defeat to the Turks, the Tadjiks.
Although it is disgraceful to be their subjects,
This disgrace belongs to the persons of repute.
This is a matter of honor of the chiefs, the leaders!
What can the troubadours and the dispossessed do?
Whoever took the mighty sword in his hand,
Established in manly manner a state.
Because the world is like a prize bride,
Its fate, too, determined by the mighty sword.
But its dowry, trousseau, jewels and wedding presents
Are goodness, generosity, kindness and forgiveness.
I asked the world, "What is your dowry?"
"Benevolence", it said to me.
In short, "With the sword and goodness,
The world submits and bows its head to man."
I am puzzled by God's wisdom:
In this world of states,
Why have the Kurds remained stateless, dispossessed?
For what crime have they become fugitives, condemned?
Like a great wall, the Kurds stand between the Turks and the Persians.
Here and there are the Kurds, occupying all four corners. [7]
Both sides make the Kurdish clans
Targets of their poison-tipped arrows.
As if the Kurds hold the key to crossing the borders,
Each clan is as strong as a great wall.
Yet however rough and stormy they get,
This Turkish ocean and Persian sea,
It is the Kurds who are spattered with blood
And, like a rampart, separate the two.
Generosity, benevolence, bravery,
Chivalry, guardianship and valor,
All are credited to the Kurdish clans.
The fame of their sword and their benevolence is far-flung.
To the same extent, they cherish freedom and independence.
It is submission and obligation they detest.
Yet this spirit of independence and exalted benevolence
Has become the obstacle to shouldering the burden of obligation.
Because of this, they are always without unity,
Divided and pitched against one another, they stand.
If we had unity amongst ourselves,
If we all, together, obeyed one another,
The Turks, the Arabs and the Persians
Would one and all be in our servitude.
Then would we perfect the art of government and religion.
Then would we acquire all wisdom and command all nature.
Wheat would be separated from the chaff
And the real achievers would come forth.
1: Xani refers to the tradition of writing in Arabic and Persian
2: 'Books' refers to the Holy Books of the Torah, the Bible and the Quran
3: Ciziri, Heriri and Teyra are three masters of the Kurdish Literature preceding Xani
4: 'Counterfeit jewels' presumably refers to Arabic and Persian words
5: Mirza is Kurdish for 'prince' and is also used as a name for a male
6: Xani refers to the legendary crystal ball of the ancient King Jamshid who could see into the future

"the United States would end up on the side of the Kurks"

Um, is that the Kurds or the Turks? Either is just a one letter type away.

The US government wants to show the world how to establish freedom and democracy in Irak. Well done.
The Kurds had taken the friendship of Bush to serious. Now they have to sit back and think again where to find some reliable friends who can protect them from the aggression of Arabs and Turks.
Good luck.

Not Kurks, but Kurds. My bad. (Why didn't spellcheck work?) But yes,just one letter away.

In this crazy world, the US govt (or lack thereof) should be giving a shiite about the "kurks and the turds"...

I see the hand of Bremer. Feith, and Kagan in this.

The surge must have worked too well, need a little chaos.

By dividing Kurdish people's homeland, Kurdistan, among the four nations in the Middle East, the West has legal & moral obligations to protect the Kurds from genocidal practices of Turks & others. Leaving the Kurds to the mercy of the blood thirsty Turkish regime is like leaving chicks to the mercy of foxes. Turkey has no moral or ethical standards.

Impeach the neocon bastards NOW!

Read about Tutkish Oppression in today's edition of Alsharqalwaet

Kurd: The Forbidden Word in Turkey

16/12/2007
By Manal Lotfi

Diyarbakir, Asharq Al-Awsat -
Many of the Turks dislike the city of Diyarbakir; the ‘political capital’ of the Kurds worldwide. Located southwest of Turkey, it is considered the second-largest city in the Anatolia region after Gaziantep.

When the name Diyarbakir is mentioned in Ankara, Istanbul or Izmir, comments made by the Turkish people include “city of thieves”, “city of violence and death”, “city of poverty… there’s nothing there” and “city of dust and terrorists”.

A carpet vendor in Istanbul’s bazaar, in response to a question by a customer whether the carpets made in Diyarbakir were cheaper, said “Who would go to Diyarbakir to buy carpets? Diyarbakir has nothing but thieves.”

But the truth is that Diyarbakir is not as many have described it; it is a beautiful city that suffers from poverty and neglect. However, the residents of Diyarbakir describe this poverty and neglect as intentional on Ankara’s behalf and that it aims to break the moral spirit of the Kurds and preoccupy them with the obstacles of earning a living, rather than politics.

However if this is the intention then it has most certainly failed since the Kurds in Diyarbakir only discuss politics and the Kurdish issues and those relating to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), their problems with the authority in Ankara and what must be done about it. The residents of Diyarbakir are significantly more politically inclined; it may prove to be difficult to discuss political activities with Turkish students whereas the Kurdish students at Diyarbakir are extremely politically active.

Due to the recent security and political developments and the social problems in Diyarbakir, including unemployment, it is quite normal to witness dozens of Kurds sitting in cafes all over the city playing dominoes or chess. And when they tire of playing they discuss politics, then they resume their game. No signs of rest or happiness appear on their faces; rather, the signs of fatigue and exhaustion are visible.

“Life in Diyarbakir is hectic. All the Kurdish youth who obtain a good education and find work in Istanbul or Izmir or Ankara leave the city and do not return except during Kurdish holidays, such as Nowruz [New Year celebrated on 21 March]. In cities like these, they forget about the problems related to identity and become preoccupied with making a living. Some of them do not even admit that they are Kurdish Turks, except when their Turkish accent gives them away,” according to Omar, a 23-year-old Kurd.

Despite the fact that the Kurds in Diyarbakir try to lead a normal life to the best of their abilities; the heart of the city is seething with political, economic and cultural conflict and concern for the Kurdish identity in Turkey. Abdul Raziq Sagakin who works in the Sur municipality [one of Diyarbakır’s metropolitan municipalities] told Asharq Al-Awsat, “Turkey is gradually retreating with regards to the few cultural reforms that it granted the Kurds with its aim to join the European Union (EU). Today, all that remains is a few hours of broadcast in Kurdish on Turkish television. The Kurds do not believe that this is sufficient and it does not represent recognition of the Kurdish identity. These are only temporary solutions.”

Diyarbakir is part of Turkish Kurdistan which constitutes approximately one-third of Turkey. It is also considered part of the mountainous region of Kurdistan, which is home to the majority of Kurds worldwide. The mountains of Kurdistan range between northern Iraq, northwest Iran, northeast Syria and southeast Turkey; however, Iraqi Kurdistan also ranges between southwest Armenia, Lebanon and Azerbaijan.

The recent clashes between the PKK guerrillas and the Turkish forces is not a new development; there is a general sentiment among the Kurds that there has been an international alliance against them as a “people” since World War I when the major powers agreed to divide the Kurdistan region and the Kurds between Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey after the Treaty of Lausanne in 1922.

Conflicts between the Turks and Kurds did not emerge until during Mustafa Kemal Ataturk’s regime after he made the Turkish language and culture the only official ones and closed down Kurdish schools and banned the use of the language in government institutions, official bureaus and schools, and even in books, magazines and newspapers. He also banned the formation of political parties.

Since the Turkish republic was in its early stages, and thus was relatively still gaining strength, the Kurds, along with other minorities, including Arabs, Circassians and Armenians staged a rebellion [Sheikh Said rebellion] under Sheikh Said Piran (1865-1925) in an attempt to gain their freedom and cultural rights, however it was quickly quelled and Piran and his aides were executed on 30 May 1925.

Following this rebellion, the Turkish authorities tightened its control over the Kurds and according to Western sources throughout the past nine decades over one million Kurds have been killed. Today, the number of Kurds in Turkey is unknown and there are no accurate figures available; however, estimates indicate that they form between 30-40 percent of the Turkish population that numbers approximately 75 million. According to this estimate, the Kurds would number approximately 20 million inhabitants.

Nowadays the word “Kurd” is still forbidden in Turkey; an example is the broadcast of Kurdish news on the official Turkish television channel in which the phrase “local residents” is used rather than the “Kurds of Diyarbakir”. According to Jalal Akin of the Kurdish Cultural Center the word Kurdish is not allowed to be used to the extent that the center in Diyarbakir is known as the “Cultural Centre” and the Kurdish Arts Centre in Diyarbakir is known as the “Arts Centre” and the same applies to the “Music Centre”.

Akin told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Kurdish Cultural Centre was established in 2002 with the intention of educating the new Kurdish generation in Kurdish culture and art. “Today Kurdish youth just want quick fame. The doorway to that is through singing in Turkish, not Kurdish. What we are trying to do is to teach Kurdish youth about traditional Kurdish art and heritage and to hold on to that rather than follow the trend of singing in the Turkish language. The truth is that all the prominent singers in Turkey today are Kurds who sing in the Turkish language.”

He added, “No one supports the center financially, all the teachers work voluntarily and do not receive any pay. We need help from Kurds who are capable of supporting us. Even the smallest cultural centre is in need of financial support. We wanted to set up a studio to record Kurdish songs, but that too requires money.”

Akin pointed out that there was a small studio in the city where Kurdish songs are recorded and illegally distributed but that they cannot be distributed through the official Turkish distribution companies. During our exchange, a young Kurdish man walked in with a lute and began to play a sad song, singing the words, “I am my mother’s only child,” to which Akin said, “Kurdish songs contain a lot of grief.”

Serdar Sengwl, foreign affairs adviser at the Diyarbakir mayor’s office told Asharq Al-Awsat that he was forced to complete his PhD studies outside of Turkey because the university refused to discuss his dissertation, which included the word “Kurd”. He explained that, “In 2001, I decided to resume my PhD studies in anthropology. I applied to Hacettepe University, which is a liberal university that adopts an open approach to study. I passed the written examination and all that remained was an oral examination and an interview with the department professors. During the interview they asked me what my proposal was and I told them that I wanted to examine Kurdish schools in Turkey, stressing that it was important and that a study of modernization in Kurdistan would be impossible without considering the impact of schools. They asked me if I would use the words ‘Kurd’ or ‘Kurdistan’ in my thesis, ‘of course,’ I replied.

They looked at me briefly and said, ‘It would be best if you did not use these words.’

‘But why?’ I asked, ‘This is an anthropology department, do you want to eliminate Kurdish ethnicity?’

‘Of course not,’ they said, ‘however, we believe that the words ‘Kurd and Kurdistan’ are banned from use in academic studies and if you use them the department will be shut down and we will all be sent to jail.’”

“This is one example,” Sengwl said, “Another is the case of the Turkish sociologist Ismail Besikci who used the word ‘Kurd’ in his thesis 30 years ago and was jailed for 20 years.”

Sengwl moreover revealed that Kurdish letters were also forbidden from official use, such as the letter ‘w’, which does not exist in the Turkish alphabet and that whoever uses it is tried before courts.

The people of Diyarbakir feel indignant at the way the Turkish government portrays the Kurdish situation to this day, the most recent of which was Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s statement that the Kurds do not know what they want.

In response to that, Sengwl said, “Erdogan does not know what he is saying… We want our identity and our cultural rights; the first of which is the right to speak our mother tongue. We have been saying this for a century. Why is it difficult for them to understand? Why are identities at war? I am Kurdish, I was born into another language that is not Turkish, so why must I eliminate my Kurdish identity to become Turkish? Why can’t I keep my Kurdish identity and still be a Turkish citizen simultaneously?”

Diyarbakir is a Kurdish ‘ghetto’, over 95 percent of its inhabitants are Kurds and the rest are Arabs, while Turks are a rare minority. Due to political and economic problems there have been increasing rates of migration over the past few years, especially amongst the younger generations.

Binyamin, a Kurd in his early twenties living in Diyarbakir, told Asharq Al-Awsat that he wanted to study medicine so he applied for a scholarship granted by the Kurdistan government in Iraq, because he knew that they give grants to Turkish Kurds to resume their studies in universities in northern Iraq.

“I love Diyarbakir but I hope to study abroad. Here we suffer human rights violations. There are Kurdish children in Turkish prisons. We have suffered massacres and forced displacement. Four thousand Kurdish villages were vacated of their residents in 1980 following Kenan Evren’s military coup. Mehdi Zana who was the mayor of Diyarbakir at the time was arrested and imprisoned for 15 years  of course, there was no other choice… elements of the PKK fled to the mountains after the coup and began to carry out armed operations against the army. What do you expect the people to do?”

Diyarbakir is a city that lacks color, it is a desert land and the climate is hot and dry. Most of its streets are unpaved, and unlike Turkish cities Diyarbakir is not clean; the streets are filled with heaps of garbage and muddy water. When you raise these concerns with the mayor of Diyarbakir, Osman Baydemir or any other official in the city, the response you always get is that the Turkish government grants a “politicized budget” to Diyarbakir and that the officials cannot fulfill their roles or establish new projects or even improve the infrastructure of the city.

Anyone visiting Diyarbakir is always asked, “Which Diyarbakir did you visit?” In reality the city is divided into two cities; the old city with its historical tall walls, the second-highest wall in the world after the Great Wall of China, and the so-called modern city. Despite the fact that the old city is unpaved and despite the difficult economic situation and the unemployment rates, the worn out buildings are still characterized by unique architecture. The narrow alleys are crammed with buildings and passing pedestrians.

As for the ‘modern’ city; it is mainly a number of long paved roads and tall brightly colored buildings, painted red and yellow for example. In the heart of this part of the city is a huge building belonging to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which is an Islamist-inclined party that the Kurdish residents accuse of attempting to reinforce the Islamic movement in Diyarbakir as a means of countering the Kurdish national force.

Some may assume that Diyarbakir has a higher percentage of veiled women than the rest of Turkey and mistake it for a growing Islamic influence, however the reality is that the traditional Kurdish garb for women is modest and it includes a head cover. However, Diyarbakir remains to be in contact with the outside world, there are McDonalds and Burger King franchises in the city.

The modern part of the city is inhabited by government officials and middle class Kurds. The city suffers as a result of its weak economy and many of the Kurdish politicians accuse the government of Ankara of deliberately neglecting Diyarbakir economically. There are small textile factories and small-scale foodstuff manufacturing factories; however they cannot absorb the workforce, which results in high levels of poverty and unemployment in comparison to Turkish cities.

The average monthly salary ranges between US $100-500, which is less than half the average monthly salary around Turkish cities. The rampant poverty in Diyarbakir has generated a number of alarming social phenomena, such as children begging and dropping out of school or running away to the extent that the Turkish government in cooperation with the Diyarbakir municipality has launched a project entitled “Let’s Go to School Girls” to urge poor families in Diyarbakir to send their daughters to school instead of sending them to factories or letting them beg in the streets.

The Kurds of Diyarbakir agree that the crime levels are high and that there are cases of theft; however, according to Abdul Raziq Sagakin who works in the Sur municipality, “After 4000 Kurdish villages were displaced following Kenan Evren’s military coup, many Kurds headed to Diyarbakir in a random manner to take up residence there. The problem is that their lives in the villages were much better; they were farming and raising cattle on land that they owned. After that coercive displacement many, as a repercussion of unemployment, were forced to steal.”

A Kurdish citizen who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity said, “I fled from Turkey to Syria at the beginning of the ‘90s because of security reasons and I returned three years ago. Now I want to leave again due to economic conditions and the harassment. If I didn’t have a family I would have fled by now. I do not even use my real name so as to avoid security pursuing me. There are children in Diyarbakir today who only speak Turkish while their parents only speak Kurdish. I do not want to be in this situation with my children.”

But this is not only what causes discontent among the Kurdish community; stereotypes of Kurds on television and in cinema also raise objections, “A Kurdish person is either portrayed as one who causes hardships or who is a simpleton. It is not overtly stated that he is Kurdish; he appears as a rural character who speaks Turkish with an accent. This means he is Kurdish and this is the distorted image that we suffer from,” said Sagakin.

As a result of these stereotypes Sagakin added, “The Kurds themselves are influenced by these stereotypes and they try to speak Turkish without an accent. The Kurdish accent sets you apart socially and culturally and makes it difficult to secure a job and live among Turks. Many Turks who look for work in Ankara, Istanbul or Izmir conceal the fact that they are Kurdish.”

But Gogercin Gul who is a Turkish girl who has never visited Diyarbakir disagrees, “many of the top-level bureaucratic posts are occupied by Kurds, no one asks them about their origins.”

However, Abdullah Demir Paasche, the head of the municipality of Sur in Diyarbakir argues that Ankara’s claim that it had permitted Kurdish language classes is unfounded. “These classes that they refer to are extra classes that you get charged for. Those are two conditions that would make anyone try to avoid them. Kurdish people teach the language to their children at home so why would they send their children to classes they would have to pay for? This is Ankara’s excuse to tell the world, we set up Kurdish language classes and no one attended,” he said.

It is difficult for Kurdish newspapers and magazines to survive whenever a new publication is founded; it faces the possibility of being closed down. ‘Welat’ (Nation) newspaper was closed down so it began republishing under the name ‘Welat Ma’ (Our Nation) and after it was banned again it was reissued under the name ‘Azadiya Welat’ (Freedom of the Nation).

A journalist from ‘Azadiya Welat’ told Asharq Al-Awsat that, “The problem with the unbearable constraints on our freedom of expression is that many journalists have fled abroad. There are too many hardships to confront. We have a distribution of 10,000 copies, which we deliver by hand because the [distribution] companies refuse to distribute Kurdish newspapers.”

On the walls of the newspaper office are pictures of youth and children, which the journalists said were “martyrs” who were killed by Turkish security men.

Back in Diyarbakir there is only one Kurdish magazine called ‘al Harf’, its Editor-in-Chief, Omar Azad told Asharq Al-Awsat, “We began publishing in 2004 and our objective is to protect the Kurdish language. We focus on Kurdish culture, art, poetry and prose. We publish small books from time to time. Since we fund ourselves, we publish a book and when it sells, we publish another. We do not receive any financial gain from this; the truth is that we pay for it ourselves.”

The lack of television channels means that many Kurds tune into Kurdish satellite channels that are broadcast from Belgium, which some Turkish Kurds partially finance.

So what do the Kurdish people want?

“We want recognition of our identity in return for integration. We cannot fully integrate into the Turkish republic and stop all the PKK activities if the Kurdish cultural rights are not recognized first. Our demands are simple and not difficult to fulfill: We want the Kurdish language to be recognized as a second official language, and that it be used in schools. However, some in the hard-line secular and nationalist circles absolutely oppose that and believe that it would lead to the secession of the Kurds and the fragmentation of the unity of the state.”

Abdul Raziq Sagakin said, “For a long time I have felt that our issue has not been fairly [tackled] because the Turkish media has frequently portrayed us as terrorists. We often forget how just and humane our demands are because support for us abroad is limited.”

Qandil mountains's winters are very harsh. Its Kurdish residents are very poor. Two nights ago the Santas's of Mustafa Kamal brought gifts in the forms of bombs for the children of Kurdistan. They terrorized the poor villagers for 4 hours. Bravo Turkish pioneers of terror for never failing to be true to your nature of killings, terror, and being beasts. The acts of savagery that led to children being killed , wounded & terrorized will not get you closer to your sick aim of destroying Kurds & Kurdistan. Turkish criminals & thugs in Ankara, you have novice Kurdistan in your cross hairs, not the PKK. You wicked acts shall never cause Kurdistan's fllame to be put out. The deeper the wound of Kurdistan, the sooner it will be the death of the Turkish dagger. The lace on poor Kurdistan's childern whose villages Turkish criminals bombed is worth much more than the medals of the military generals in Ankara.

The PKK, KDP, and PUK are doing more to destroy any possibility of a Kurdish nation then the Turkish government could ever hope to do. With the wide-spread graft, nepotism, and basic disregard for human rights this experiment that is Kurdistan is far from a success. Throughout history the Kurdish people have never allowed themselves to reconcile their own petty disagreements with each other to enable their people to show to their neighbors that then can govern themselves.

As far as this article is concerned - during the winter the villagers that live in the mountains all move back to the cities. There are no villages in the mountains anymore. I have spent years traveling these mountains and know that the villages mentioned are filled with PKK sympathizers and the PKK themselves. The air-strikes were not meant to kill off the PKK directly but to destroy their safe-places.

I do not agree with the attacks, nor do I agree with any form of oppressions. I just do not think the Kurds should be looked at as international victims. They have had peace and freedom since 1991. They spent the first six years of that freedom killing each other for control of the land. When that was finally decided they commenced amassing fortunes in the billions of dollars. This money has all come through the form of Iraqi Reconstruction money and the money the US has given the KRG to rebuild its country. The only problem is that most of the money either goes into pet-projects of the Kurdish elite or directly into the Swiss Bank accounts.

Jalal Talabani has stated that there are over 13 billionaires in Sulemaniya alone. The leaders in the country have multi-million dollar homes and private jets while school teachers and university professors make less then $300 per month. Each ministry has large grandiose monuments of buildings constructed to house their ever growing egos, but electricity is not present 24-hours per day. The PM of Kurdistan travels around with a 45 vehicle convoy whenever he travels in side of Kurdistan but hospitals do not have enough medicine to treat the ever growing number of illnesses that are caused by poor sanitary practices by the municipalities. These same municipalities that cannot afford to build proper landfills, or create recycling programs are building large park areas and canal systems that serve no purpose but to show-off their power.

I think the Kurds have become experts at pointing fingers and being victims. They are not sure what to do with freedom and responsibility. When Kissinger turned his back on the Kurds it was because they had never filled any part of any agreement that he had made with them. In the end he dropped his support and allowed their country to dissolve. It may be happening again...I wonder who the Kurds will blame now?

Anyone who follows the actions and policies of the US government knows that nothing is more important than their goals. Friends today are enemies tomorrow. Enemies today are friends tomorrow. The Kurds are just a convenience to US imperial plans. Just a tool. Just as Pakistan is, or anyone else. You know the repercussions of this action have been weighed. Overall the US will benefit from this.

As for latest Turkey’s criminal actions & more threats, the simple fact is Turkey needs to change its views on the Kurdish nation. The current Turkish perspective is still the relic of a not too pretty past history when Kurds were treated like animals & they were called “Mountain Turks”.

Violence is terrible. Kurds have suffered the most under the latest Kurdish revolt that started in 1984. Some 3,000 Kurdish villages have been destroyed in Turkey by the Turkish army and their local militia known as village guards. The great majority of the 30K+ people who have been killed were Kurds.
Yet the Turkish writers hide the fact that Kurds in Turkey have suffered tremendously. The time & weather have erased & washed away the color of the blood of the repeated Turkish massacres of Kurdistan people.

Turkey needs to become more democratic and a federal state of the two nations that comprise it, Turks & Kurds. It is good for Turkey to treat Kurds fairly. If the present birth rates of Kurds & Turks continues, Kurds will be majority in Turkey 50 years. Will the current slogan of "happy is who calls himself Turk" be replaced with "Happy is who calls himself Kurd"? The simple fact is all nations are precious at God's sight: Turk, Arab, Kurds, yellow, and white. Turkey should promote brotherhood, democracy, and tolerance instead of degrading slogans to non-Turk citizens.
The great hero of Indian independence, Nehro, write about the Kurdish struggle and Turkish oppression in his book glimpses of world history. He said it is impossible to destroy the struggle of a nation like Kurdish people who are prepared to sacrifice for it. The Turkish oppression of the Kurds has been so severe that even Mandela refused to accept the Ataturk prize. The deplorable violence in Turkish part of Kurdistan is abhorrent. But it is not disease. It is the symptom of a serious disease called Turkish oppression.
The Turkish nation is Kurdish nation's brother. They are related by humanity & tradition. Turkey needs to abandon the denial of the Kurdish people's rights in Turkey. Promote friendship with the Kurdish administration in Southern Kurdistan. Do not threaten Kurds any more. You brought destruction to the poor innocents in the mountains. civilians suffered not the PKK. SHAME ON THE LATEST BLOODSHED PERPETRATED BY TURKEY.

As for latest Turkey’s criminal actions & more threats, the simple fact is Turkey needs to change its views on the Kurdish nation. The current Turkish perspective is still the relic of a not too pretty past history when Kurds were treated like animals & they were called “Mountain Turks”.

Violence is terrible. Kurds have suffered the most under the latest Kurdish revolt that started in 1984. Some 3,000 Kurdish villages have been destroyed in Turkey by the Turkish army and their local militia known as village guards. The great majority of the 30K+ people who have been killed were Kurds.
Yet the Turkish writers hide the fact that Kurds in Turkey have suffered tremendously. The time & weather have erased & washed away the color of the blood of the repeated Turkish massacres of Kurdistan people.

Turkey needs to become more democratic and a federal state of the two nations that comprise it, Turks & Kurds. It is good for Turkey to treat Kurds fairly. If the present birth rates of Kurds & Turks continues, Kurds will be majority in Turkey 50 years. Will the current slogan of "happy is who calls himself Turk" be replaced with "Happy is who calls himself Kurd"? The simple fact is all nations are precious at God's sight: Turk, Arab, Kurds, yellow, and white. Turkey should promote brotherhood, democracy, and tolerance instead of degrading slogans to non-Turk citizens.
The great hero of Indian independence, Nehro, write about the Kurdish struggle and Turkish oppression in his book glimpses of world history. He said it is impossible to destroy the struggle of a nation like Kurdish people who are prepared to sacrifice for it. The Turkish oppression of the Kurds has been so severe that even Mandela refused to accept the Ataturk prize. The deplorable violence in Turkish part of Kurdistan is abhorrent. But it is not disease. It is the symptom of a serious disease called Turkish oppression.
The Turkish nation is Kurdish nation's brother. They are related by humanity & tradition. Turkey needs to abandon the denial of the Kurdish people's rights in Turkey. Promote friendship with the Kurdish administration in Southern Kurdistan. Do not threaten Kurds any more. You brought destruction to the poor innocents in the mountains. civilians suffered not the PKK. SHAME ON THE LATEST BLOODSHED PERPETRATED BY TURKEY.

It was the West that divided Kurdistan among its current tormentors following WW1. The biggest part of Kurdistan was given to Turkey that has to up to now denied the basic national human rights to the 30 million Kurds in Turkey. Turkey used to refer Kurds as "Mountain Turks". By dividing the Kurdish people's homeland among despotic countries of Turkey & Iraq, the West has legal & moral obligations to redress the wrongs done to Kurds. Kurds are a nation entitled to certain rights among them is freedom...pursuit of happiness. The latter words came from the greatest document in the history of mankind. The authors of that document were called terrorists by the despotic monarchic regime in UK.

I condemn all violence whether it was done by PKK or the Turkish regime. However, most of the violence is done by the Turkish regime that has killed more Kurds in a single campaign than Buffalo Bill killed buffalos.

Turkey should not be allowed to swallow Kurdistan of Iraq as it did Cyprus. Kurdistan is not Cyprus. It is too big to be swallow it. An assault by Turkey on Kurdistan will ignite a fireball that Turkey & Kurdistan will both be losers. Turkey needs to think about investing in Iraqi Kurdistan, solve the Kurdish question within its borders and not invade the only part of the so-called Iraq that is free & democratic. There is much more freedom for the few thousand Turkic speaking people in Iraqi Kurdistan run by the novice Kurdish regional government than for the 30 million Kurds in the military influenced Turkey..

The Turkish threats of invading Kurdistan are a threat to that tree of freedom. That gift OF FREEDOM must be protected from the war moves & threats of the people in Military uniform in Ankara.
May God bless Kurdistan & America.

I wonder how many US "Contractors" are living amongst the "Tank Girls", selling arms to the PKK then selling info to whatever pipeline the Ankara/Arlington coalition is buying from?

I wonder how much money they're raising from their bothers in the poppy fields to change into shoulder-fired missiles, rifles and IEDs.

And I wonder how many innocent men, women and children will die because the only solution humans seem to come up with is to drop giant, exploding rocks from aircraft on villiages that they assume "nobody will miss".

The military/industrial complex will always play all sides of the fence...it is the only way to bank ALL the money!

-T

Click here to see the destruction & killings of the savage TURKISH AIR ATTACKS on poor Kurdistan vilages.

http://kurdistannet.info/2007/12-2007/19-12/topbarani-qendil.htm

http://kurdistannet.info/2007/12-2007/19-12/topbarani-qendil.htm
The above link shows the savagery of Turkish air attacks on Kurdistan. Viewer discretion is advised.