PKK guerillas in training: Turkey and the West say

they are terrorists, but Kurds consider them defenders.

Kurdish Media, Northern Iraq

In Betrayal, U.S. Helps Turkey

Commit State Terrorism ...

“The Kurds who have been displaced, wounded or killed are the very people who opened the Northern Front for the United States during the war against Saddam Hussein – doing so just when the Turkish Parliament refused to allow America the use of its territory.”

December 26, 2007

Iraqi Kurdistan - Iraq - Original Article (English)

Turkish hostilities against the Kurdish nation have reached a very serious stage. Over the past few weeks, Turkish warplanes have bombed the territory of southern Kurdistan, which according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, has resulted in the displacement of at least 18,000 people, along with deaths and injuries to many civilians. Thanks to the moral and logistical support of the United States, the Turkish attacks have been quite effective. The Kurds who have been displaced, wounded or killed are the very people who opened the Northern Front for the United States during the war against Saddam Hussein – and this just when the Turkish Parliament refused to allow America the use of its territory. That same parliament has given a mandate to the Turkish military to invade southern Kurdistan on the pretext of pursuing a terrorist organization.

The United States and European Union may regard the Kurdistan Workers’ Party [PKK ] as a “terrorist organization,” but Kurds regard Turkey and its allies as “Terrorist States.” For it is “State Terror” that is the most devastating to civilians and the environment.

The PKK is not the cause of the problem; it is the symptom of a lack of democracy, civil society, rule of law and the severe oppression of the Kurdish nation by the Turkish state. The suppression of Kurds in Turkey may constitute genocide. If not fully a genocide, what Turkey has committed against the Kurds can safely be called cultural genocide.

Nonetheless, the PKK is an important element of the Kurdish cause in the north. In the absence of democratic elections for northern Kurds to elect representatives to a regional government and parliament of their own, the PKK today is the most effective organization for asserting the Kurdish identity, which remains banned in Turkey despite the E.U. claims of Turkish domestic changes. Whether we like it or not, millions of Kurds in the north regard the PKK as their representatives. This reality must be accepted by Turkey, the U.S. and the E.U.

If Turkey, the U.S. and the E.U. are sincere about wanting to solve the “Turkish problem” and satisfy the “Kurdish quest,” they must have the courage to pursue granting the Kurdish nation the legal status and right to self determination it deserves. This is the same right that any European nation, such as the Scots, Wales, Basks and other have had. It’s nothing new and is in accord with the U.N. charter.

The hypocrisy of E.U. member states is clear. They would even encourage the accession of a nation like Scotland. They support a Palestinian state and are ready to recognize an independent Kosovo, while they link the Kurdish quest for their legitimate rights to “terrorism.”

Turkey, as a state that rejects the recognition of a nation of 40 million people, must not be given a spot among the civilized nations. The U.S. and E.U. both share responsibility for the repression that the Kurdish people are now being subjected. The U.S.-E.U. alliance with Turkey goes against human dignity, democracy, human Rights and social justice. Yet, both the U.S. and E.U. consider themselves as defenders of these ideals.

While the Turkish terror campaign continues, the Kurdish leadership in Kurdistan and Iraq have proven a shambles and incapable of leading the nation. Their failure in implementing Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution within its timescale, end of 2007, is a vivid example of the current leadership’s failure. The Kurdistani people deserve a more capable leadership than now in place, which appears to have no strategy and they compromise on all the Kurdish national interests. They have too comfortable a life and aren’t prepared to sacrifice this comfort for Kurdish national interests. A leadership that is drawn deep in corruption form top to bottom is unable to progress a quest of a nation.

The Kurds must not stay idle while they are slaughtered under the pretext of terrorists. They must stage a worldwide political and diplomatic campaign to undo the current regime of suppression. Turkey and its backers, US and EU, must understand that they cannot continue this suppression any longer. The Kurdish nation is well aware of this international conspiracy and they would react in due course.

The Kurdistan Democratic Alliance condemns strongly the naked present aggression against Kurdish nation and demands the aggressors to opt for peaceful and democratic solution that enforces peace and stability in the whole region of Middle East. The Kurdistan Democratic Alliance also calls upon the US and EU to honor the democracy, human rights and social justice they preach.

The Kurdistan Democratic Alliance