Kurdish Media, UK
Sept 23 2006
It’s Time for the Bush Administration to Put Turks in Their Place
By Rauf Naqishbendi
A friendship between America and Turkey has been a liability for
America since the beginning, due to Turkey’s notoriously dirty human
rights record. During the Cold War Turkey’s strategic location
propelled America to seek a close relationship with Turkey.
Thankfully, all that changed when the Iron Curtain fell pronouncing
Turkey a triviality. Moreover, the Iraq War has proved Turkey’s
uselessness to America. While the Turks continue their human rights
abuses and threaten to cause trouble in Iraq, the Bush administration
has not put the Turks in their place, as justice demands.
Since the Iraqi Liberation mission, Turkey has been opposing the
notion of an independent Kurdistan, fearing that once the Kurds in
Iraq are free and democratic, their counterparts on the other side of
the border will demand the same. Clearly they are of the opinion
that, in order for the Turks to justify their violation of Kurdish
human rights in their country, Kurds ought to be abused everywhere in
the world.
It is bewildering why America would want to support and befriend a
regime such as Turkey’s with all their atrocities against humanity,
not only against Kurds but also Serbs, Greeks, Assyrians and
Armenians. The United States’ apathy is overwhelming; for decades
they have generously provided assistance to Turkey without
considering the country’s human rights record. Common sense and
common justice has been rare with American leaders regarding their
relationship with Turkey. Think of the Armenian genocide committed by
Turks, yet America ignored the plight of Armenians demanding Turks to
acknowledge their atrocities.
And reaching the height of absurdity, American leaders and
politicians have been calling Turkey a great democracy in the Middle
East, in order to justify the United States’ immense support of
Turkey, citing the Turkish elections and constitution as proofs.
While it’s true that election is a vital pillar of democratic
establishment which reflects fair representation, and fair
representation requires a sound and moral constitution; these pillars
of democracy need to be genuine, otherwise their casual application
will weaken the foundation of the institution. A constitution is
vital to democracy, but it needs to be moral and apply consistently
to every citizen. But Turkey’s constitution excludes all non-Turks
who live in Turkey by a simple declaration that all citizens of
Turkey are Turks. This is a moral predicament since one third of
Turkey’s population is Kurds, and there are also Arabs, Assyrians and
Armenians. Where is justice and morality in a constitution that is
privileging one portion of the population and demonizing the rest?
Turkey has been a violent country for decades as the Kurdish rebel
P.K.K has been fighting for an equitable system of justice and
equality for all. During this period Turkey’s rulers usually have
been civilians on the surface, but military at heart. Thus the rule
of army and violence has made democracy in Turkey scarce, for under
the rule of army and bloody violence there is no democracy.
Additionally, Turkey is not a pristine democracy; rather, it is a
corrupted country with bribery, favoritism and cronyism ubiquitous.
These attributes encumber the glory of democracy, and go against its
true essence. As one can see, these arguments contradict any
proclamation that Turkey is a democracy. If anyone claims that it is,
that person either does not have a true knowledge of Turkey or does
not understand the true meaning of democracy.
President Bush would display a new degree of enlightenment if he were
to address the prime minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan in his
next visit to Washington as follows: "Mr. Erdogan, we have heard
enough of your exploitation of the Kurds, and your opposition to the
inspiration of the world’s biggest nation without statehood to obtain
their independence. I feel compassion for the Kurds because of what
they have suffered in your country; we let your leaders be as
intolerant as they desired for a long time. We lavished you with
monetary, political and military assistance, and you utilized it as
fodder for your prejudice and pride. These are unfounded in today’s
world and are just relics of your past. We have gone as far as
arguing the case for your membership in the EU, even though we knew
your nation doesn’t resemble Europeans.
You know it has been an established tradition of our presidency for
the US president not to apologize, and I shall not violate this
tradition, but were I permitted to break that tradition, I would
proffer the Kurds in your country an earnest apology for our support
to your government and that of your predecessors that they have
turned to abuse against the Kurds.
The Kurds have been our faithful ally in our war against Saddam and
terrorism, and America is looked upon as respectable and popular
among the Kurdish; on the other hand, the degree of anti-American
sentiment amongst your people is shamefully high. Therefore, we are
not going to forsake our faithful friends, the Kurds, to please an
old friend who has proven perfidious.
A free and independent Kurdistan is imminent for it is the will and
determination of the Kurdish nation. The will of a nation is
impassable and neither you nor anyone else can hinder it. That leaves
you with no choice but to accept and put aside your bigotry towards
the Kurds. A free and independent Kurdistan will be beneficial to you
and your people, therefore I ask you not to merely tolerate it but
rather to welcome it wholeheartedly. I will join you and your people
in celebrating the birth of a free and independent country,
Kurdistan, with its waving flag visible from your border. We should
let this new nation prosper and bloom; we should all help these great
people who are good friends of ours. I assure you, they too will be
your and your people’s friends."