Constructive dialogue is the only answer to the PKK-Turkey conflict

Kurdish Media, UK
Nov 3 2006

11/3/2006 KurdishMedia.com – By Rauf Naqishbendi

The diplomatic efforts between Washington and Ankara have been
incessant since the beginning of the Iraqi Liberation Campaign,
with the Turks hounding the United States’ officials, pushing three
of their main agendas: muting the Iraqi Kurds’ demand for statehood,
crushing the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), and of course, as always,
begging for foreign aid and more weapons.

Muting the Iraqi Kurds’ Demand for Statehood

Since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the mindset of the Turks
regarding the Kurds has been that if they were to renounce their
heritage, abdicate their culture, abandon their language and proudly
announce themselves Turks, then they could be free, not as Turks but
as moderate second-class citizens. To accomplish this, they engaged
in a campaign of intimidation, cruelty and repression. And they
didn’t stop with the idea of the wholesale conversion of Kurds to
Turks, but claim that freedom would be like a serpent to the Kurds,
their sovereignty poisoning them and the region as a whole. Sadly,
this kind of bigotry has been allowed although it has been pointed
out several times to high ranking US officials in both the White
House and the State Department.

It is imperative that US officials not allow this Turkish
opprobrium; they need to live up to the founding fathers’ principle of
comprehensive human dignity, and not allow themselves to be infatuated
with Turkey knowing its inhumane treatment of people and system
and government. They should not continue to involve themselves in
Turkish crimes against humanity by financing them as they have for
more than half a century. They should tell their Turkish friends
that Kurds are entitled to their sovereignty as much as they are,
the Kurds will become a free nation at last, and they better start
getting used to it. Moreover, they should not allow themselves to
be bullied by vicious elements of the Turkish government that are
attempting to manage our foreign policy. A line needs to be drawn
between friendly relations and bullying, and justice and injustice.

All this should be communicated to the Turkish authorities with great
courage and supplication to humble them into descending from their
high horse.

Crushing the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)

Injustice does not bring fortune, nor is there immunity from it. At
its best, humanity has always fought injustice. In Turkey, the Kurds
have tried every peaceful means to secure their rights, yet their
peaceful struggle has ever been refuted with acts of tyranny by the
Turkish authorities: their leaders have been imprisoned, many have
perished by barbaric torture, and many have fled to the mountains
fearing for their lives. This is why the PKK was born, and this is
why they resorted to an armed struggle. If Turkey had treated the
Kurds with a sense of decency, the PKK would not exist.

Against this backdrop, the State Department ignorantly and unfairly
listed the PKK as a terror organization, ignoring the fact that the
birth of the PKK was merely an effect of the brutality of Turks. The
PKK is by far more peace-loving and civilized than the Turkish
authorities. For proof, consider the fact that just recently for the
fifth time they unilaterally declared a ceasefire, and pleaded for
constructive dialogue.

The response from Turkey was, "No dialogue."

Turkey is trying to have America fight the PKK who found safe haven
in Kurdistan in Iraq. Turkey has been fighting the PKK for nearly
two decades without apparent success. Now they want America to assume
their failing endeavor and engage in a bloody fight with the PKK. If
America does that, they will alienate their only friend in the Islamic
world, the Kurds, and cause further deterioration of the already
fragile security of Iraq. It’s about time for the Turkish hatred to
relent; words of wisdom are needed from President Bush advising that
peaceful dialogue should not be decapitated by the ignorant desire
for violence. The Turks should be told that their abuse of human
rights was the cause of what they now dread, and that now it’s time
for humility and humanity from Turks – dialogue, not violence.

And of course, as always, begging for foreign aid and more weapons

Every high official the Turks send to the US comes begging for
foreign aid and more weapons. Indeed, Turkey, since America’s rise
as a world superpower after World War II, has been a welfare state
thanks to America’s sponsorship. Without it Turkey’s economy would
have remained as bruised as any third world country’s; the US’s
generosity was rendered unconditionally. On the other hand, consider
how the European Union dealt with Turkey – when Turkey applied for
membership in the EU, they made Turkey’s improved human rights toward
Kurds and other minorities a precondition of their consideration.

That was a right course of action, and brings up the question of why,
for half a century, the US ignored all Turkey’s human rights violations
and let Turks use American monetary and military aid to advance their
brutality against innocent civilians. Doesn’t Washington understand
that assisting these reactionary governments is a conscientious
endorsement to further advance their atrocities against humanity,
and what all this tells the world about America?

Shouldn’t the State Department, in an attempt to enhance America’s
standing regarding the promotion of human rights, deal with Turkey as
the EU has? America should make it clear to the Turkish authorities
that no more American aid is to be used for human atrocities and that
Turkey will not receive any more aid at all unless it improves its
human rights record in a verifiable fashion, just as the EU required.

President Bush should not trivialize constructive dialogue between the
PKK and Turkey. To this end, he should pressure the Turks politically
and economically to straighten out their treatment of minorities’
human rights, and to embark on the formation of a democratic system not
benefiting Turks alone, but rather all citizens of Turkey. Indubitably,
anyone who is familiar with Turkey cannot deny the magnitude of the
suffering that has been inflicted upon Kurds, Assyrians and Armenians
as a result of the misplaced American aid to Turkey. The remedy is
long overdue and the time to right the wrong is now.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress