TURKEY, THE KURDS AND CYPRUS
By Gene Rossides
Hellenic News.com
?newsid=10560&lang=US
August 11, 2009
An article in the August 2, 2009 Cyprus Mail newspaper described
what it called a "drama under way" regarding Turkey and its Kurdish
problem. It reported that the lawyers for Abdullah Ocalan, the
"imprisoned leader of the PKK insurgents" were going to release on
August 15, 2009, Ocalan�s "road-map" to solve the Kurdish problem.
The PKK is the acronym for the Kurdish Worker�s Party outlawed in
Turkey. After pressure from Turkey, the State Department added the
PKK to its terrorist list. Objective newspapers refer to the PKK as
insurgents or guerrillas. The fact that the PKK has sometimes used
violence against civilians, which should be condemned, does not make
it a terrorist organization like al Qaeda.
PKK actions are not aimed at the U.S. The State Department should
remove it from their terrorist list. They should also reread the
history of the U.S. revolution and Britain�s� referring to the
rebel Americans as terrorists.
The discussion in the Turkish media about Ocalan�s forthcoming
plan has been substantial and very intense. Turkish Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan has responded that he will announce his own
Kurdish initiative. It would be real progress for all concerned if
the Turkish government and the Kurdish minority, close to 15 million,
could arrive at a satisfactory agreement.
The Turkish military and paramilitary have killed over 30,000 Kurdish
civilians since 1984. They burned over 3,000 villages and created
over three million refugees. See the article by Eric Rouleau in
the prestigious journal Foreign Affairs titled "Turkey�s Dream of
Democracy," (Nov./Dec. 2000, pages 100-114) for a devastating account
of what Turkey has done to its Kurdish minority. Eric Rouleau was
the Ambassador of France to Turkey from 1988 to 1992.
I doubt that Erdogan will come up with any proposals which would
provide the 20% Kurdish minority with full political, human and
cultural rights as other Turkish citizens have, and political autonomy
for the Kurds in their geographic region in eastern and southeastern
Turkey Erdogan is obviously not going to give the 20% Kurdish minority
the same rights it seeks for the 18% Turkish Cypriot minority, namely,
a veto over all key executive and legislative decisions; control
of 30% of the land; rotating presidency and 30% of government jobs,
among other items. Nor will Erdogan give the Kurds a separate state
such as Turkey has done illegally in Cyprus which no one recognizes
except Turkey.
The Washington Times reported on August 7, 2009 that the Obama
administration has dropped the phrase "war on terrorism," is not
fighting "jihadists" and is not locked in a "global war." John Brennan,
head of the White House homeland security office made these comments
on August 6, in a speech at the Center for Strategic and International
Studies, a Washington think tank and said the Obama administration
is solely in a "war with al Qaeda" and their violent allies. The
semantic change is welcome and should be followed by removing the
PKK from State�s terrorist list.
The Associated Press reported from Ankara on Friday, July 17, 2009,
that Turkey’s Prime Minister Erdogan "compared ethnic violence in
China’s Xinjiang province to genocide, escalating criticism of
Beijing following this week’s killing of at least 156 people —
including Turkic-speaking, Muslim Uighurs."
"These incidents in China are as if they are genocide," said
Erdogan. "We ask the Chinese government not to remain a spectator to
these incidents. There is clearly a savagery here."
So far Erdogan has gotten away with his aggressive remarks–(1) his
attack in January 2009 at the Davos, Switzerland World Economic
Forum against Israeli President Shimon Peres, telling Peres
"You kill people;" (2) his attack against the proposed new NATO
secretary-general from Denmark, Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen,
because he defended the freedom of speech for the Danish cartoonist
who lampooned the Muslim prophet Mohammed. Instead of being challenged
Erdogan was rewarded with one or two staff positions at NATO. Obama
and the other NATO heads should have challenged Erdogan and considered
suspending Turkey from NATO for its violation of the NATO Treaty by
its aggression against Cyprus, its continuing occupation of Cyprus
and its continuing violation of the Geneva Convention of 1949 by
bringing 180,000 illegal settlers/colonists from Turkey to Cyprus.
The U.S. needs to stop appeasing Turkey. The failure to recognize the
Armenian Genocide, the Greek Pontian and Assyrian Genocides, all part
of Ataturk�s anti-Christian policy, is a national disgrace. The
failure of the Executive Branch to press Turkey to remove now its
43,000 illegal occupation troops and 180,000 illegal settlers/colonists
from Cyprus is harmful to U.S. interests.
The U.S. government in its own self-interest should be pressing
for full political, human and cultural rights for the 20% Kurdish
minority. The late Senator from Rhode Island, Claiborne Pell, and
many others, properly described Turkey�s actions against the Kurds
as genocide.
Community action needed Call and write to your two Senators and
your Representatives and urge them (1) to support recognition of
the Armenian, Greek Pontian and Assyrian Genocides; (2) to call
for the immediate withdrawal of the illegal Turkish troops and
setters/colonists from Cyprus; and (3) to support full political,
human and cultural rights for Turkey�s 20% Kurdish minority.
The Honorable firstname lastname United States Senate Washington,
DC 20510 202-224-3121 (Main Switchboard) The Honorable firstname
lastname United States House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515
202-224-3121 (Main Switchboard) Call and write to President Obama and
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and ask them (1) to recognize
the genocides; (2) to press Turkey to remove now the illegal Turkish
troops and setters/colonists from Cyprus; and (3) to press Turkey to
give full political, human and cultural rights to its Kurdish minority.
President Barack Obama The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500 Tel. 202-456-1111 (Comments) 202-456-1414 (Main
Switchboard) Fax: 202-456-2461 E-mail: comments@whitehouse.gov The
Honorable Hillary Rodham Clinton Secretary of State 2201 C Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20520 Phone: 202-647-9572 Gene Rossides is founder
of the American Hellenic Institute and former Assistant Secretary of
the Treasury