WHO BENEFITS FROM THE INSTIGATION OF AN ARMENIAN-KURDISH CLASHES?

In view of the revelation of the American programs aimed at the
disintegration of Iraq and the deepening Turkish-American
confrontation, it becomes inevitable for the Armenian society,
scientific and political circles to demonstrate an interest in the
Kurdish issue and especially `in the past and the current stage of the
Armenian-Kurdish relations.
This is quite a natural and inevitable process, and the Armenian
society and political circles have been involved in it for several
years on end. And during the whole period we have been sticking to the
reserved approach that the Turkish and later the Azerbaijani policy
have always viewed the Kurds as most appropriate tools. Some of our
historians currently transfer this obsolete assessment to the Kurdish
activists and political circles as well. Moreover, such lighthearted
conclusions drawn by the historians and political scientists
interested in history are beginning to provide rich materials to the
Turkish and Azerbaijani propaganda which is now sweating its guts out
for refreshing and using the intolerance still preserved in the
Armenian-Kurdish relations.
In contrast to us i.e. Armenians, the Turks and Azeris guide
themselves by the current policy of coercion. And the noteworthy
feature of that moment is the combination of the prospect of forming
the independent state of Kurdistan with the process of recognizing the
Armenian Genocide on the basis of the Kurdish autonomy. Both these
developments are a deadly threat for Turkey and Azerbaijan, because
the risk of driving an Armenian-Kurdish wedge is being sketched
between these processes. Therefore, it is not accidental that the
Turkish propaganda currently continues to provoke anti-Armenian
dispositions among the Kurds and at the same time remind them of the
fate of the Armenians. As regards the Azerbaijani propaganda, its Web
sites are full of studies concerning the Armenian-Kurdish relations.
The American scenario of advancing the Kurdish and Armenian issues
simultaneously is not beneficial to Turkey and Azerbaijan, its
supporter, and they are doing their best to use the historical
conflicts of the two peoples with the purpose of solving their current
problems. To that end, the Azerbaijani propaganda is on the one hand
sparing no effort to refresh the issue of the Kurdish pretensions to
Western Armenia and on the other hand, drawing the Kurdish
politicians’ attention to the well-known disputes periodically
breaking out between the Kurdish and Ezid communities of Armenia.
Realizing all the underlying the political calculations, the
Armenian politicians must now cease to approach the Kurdish issue
through the glasses of a historian. We, Armenians, know our own
history well, but when the Azeris and Turks begin to use it leaning on
the recent historical studies or assessment of R. Ohanyan or
G. Asatryan, we unwillingly have to ask ourselves: who needs the
incitement of debates, in view of the complex situation currently
existing in the region.
The answer is clear and definite: the recognition of the Iraqi
Kurdistan and the Armenian Genocide in the current political situation
are processes objectively contributing to each other. And the Armenian
authors who believe that the formation of an independent Kurdish state
in Northern Iraq is dangerous from the point of view of our interests
are gravely mistaken or else, they are guided by the interests of
third countries. On the contrary, the formation of this kind of state
is the first step that may make the disintegration of Turkey
inevitable in perspective.
However, perspective is one thing, and futile efforts of `crossing
the river before reaching it’ ` quite a different thing. There’s no
need to run ahead of the developments, because this time we have found
ourselves in positions which are favorable for the third party. The
Kurdish state which is being formed in Iraq will be the same for the
Kurdish nation as the current territory of the Republic of Armenia
became for us, th
assive displacement of Kurds from the current Turkish territory,
especially the territory of Western Armenia. In the aftermath, Turkey,
a country not punished for the Armenian Genocide and the Kurds, who
once became a tool for it will continue the long and bloody drama for
the possession of lands not belonging to them.
We believe, the international community will inevitably face the
fact of the desolating the territories shared between Armenia and the
autonomous Kurdistan under the Treaty of Sever (1920) and turning them
into demographic disaster zones, and this will directly and inevitably
result in the Armenian Genocide remaining unpunished.
Predicting the inevitability of such developments, there’s no need
to run ahead of the events and search enemies in the Kurdish Movement,
a factor which objectively contributes to the weakening of Turkey’s
positions but is actually powerless in terms of making maximalistic
demands.

VARDAN GRIGORYAN