The Kurdish people are comparing themselves to the Jews in Hitler's Germany. Over 90 Kurdish civil society leaders, mayors, municipality workers and members of the Peace and Democracy Party. Most of those arrested are considered to be political moderates. The word on the street, "Who will be left outside of prison to work out the peace?"
A note was sent to her friend in the United States by a young Kurdish woman. Photo at right Flickr Creative Commons.
Kurdish politicians were arrested this week and sent to prison on Christmas Day in Diyarbakir. 11 people Cahit Kanbay, Aydin Kiliç, Selamet Akyüz, Veysi Gülseven, Gülizar Kamiz, Nesrin Kiliç, Rifat Basalak, Ilyas Saglam and Sirin Bagli and two other people whose names are unknown were sent to the court.
People gathered infront of the court but they were forced away from the building by the police. Around 1000 peope stayed in front of the court tlli late hours (they are still waiting).
Police came and arrested some more people. One of them is the ex-chief of Dtp of Batman branch his name is Ahmet Sormaz. we expect that they will also be sent to prison
Today also in Istanbul, Hakkari, Yuksekova, ?emdinli, Silopi and many other towns. there were protests and soldiers who wore civil clothes shot people who wanted to protest the recent events on the streets.
In the Turkish regions. the Kurds are attacked by the civil Turks and they are lynched if they are being recognized. It feels like being Jewish in Hitler's Germany.
Clashes between Kurds and Turks prior to decision to close DTP
PKK flags & Abdullah Öcalan supporters disrupt pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party congress
Kani Xulam at World Affairs Council Hillary Rodham Clinton lost her bearings in Kinshasa
Turkey and Armenia establish diplomatic relations - Turkish Kurds still have many concerns
In the video below: Turkish police and Kurdish demonstrators clashed for a second day over the recent arrest of 23 Kurds on charges of links to Kurdish rebels. The violence happened in Yuksekova, near the border with Iraq. (Dec, 27)
Comments
tbanks for this information
1. no need to 'smuggle'. There are thousands of post offices in the Kurdish dominated southeast of Turkey. It is free to send letters to USA. Bu sure, no one will read your letter.
2. "The Kurdish people are comparing themselves to the Jews in Hitler's Germany." No such discrimination in Turkey. Some presidents of Turkey were Kurdish like Turgut Ozal. Kurds are living in big metropols and cities with Turks. They have Kurdish and Turkish relatives.
3. 'Christmas day?' Kurds are not Christian and there is nothing special about Christmas day for Kurds and Turks. Many Turks and rarely Kurds celebrate new year.
4. An immodest lie: "In the Turkish regions. the Kurds are attacked by the civil Turks and they are lynched if they are being recognized."
LOL Turks will be turks. More Technology than us kurd but much stupider. still the kill innocent people wit all therRe technology. noo stupider race than turks. llike come on. they were gonna call you chickens but turkey Run faaster. Long Live Kurdistan and Burn in HELLLL TURKSSS. you guys got all up to date weapons and still cant do anything bout usss.....Rookies got a army of million for what. well line them boidies up jus keeping sending em our way
Dear Sedat
People are emailing the information, however, internet use is highly monitored, and people's phones are tapped. Really the situation there could be compared to East Berlin behind the wall. I doubt you have ever spent much time in the Southeast,as you are ignorant of the situation. I have seen first hand how people are attacked by Turks, and how the civil police harrass and attack people. I have seen it and as an American with Kurdish guests I have experienced it myself. If the Turkish people understood what was going on there, they would change, but the press is so manipulated and full of lies that you have many false ideas.
There is no Democracy in Turkey. Right now, prosecutors are investigating the mayor of Diyarbakir for saying the following in a speeceh:
During his Dec. 24 speech, Baydemir said: “The Minister of Interior Affairs said the initiative would be implemented soon. Not even one month passed and the DTP was eliminated; their status as parliamentary deputies was canceled. Despite all this, we have returned to Parliament with a bit of hope for a democratic solution. As a statement of insisting on democratic politics, 98 mayors and 10 municipal assembly members transferred to the BDP.
“Right after that they detained over 80 elected people; including 16 of our mayors. Just yesterday we said the oak tree [the symbol of BDP] means hope. I am addressing the prime minister and the government with apologies to my people: Where in your body did the oak branch get stuck? We say, ‘F--- you,’ to those who separate us into doves and hawks. They will not find one Kurd to betray his own.”
imagine if the Obama administration tried to put the Mayor of Los Angeles in prison for speaking spanish to his people, or for standing up for the rights of minorities that are part of the population that elected him and you'll understand how racist and undemocratic Turkey really is.
Readers: Thank you for participating in this heated conversation about what is really going on between Turkey and it's Kurdish citizens. If the comment box is too small please feel free to send your news tips on this story thru the email address in my bio link at the top of this page. It is important to mainstream this struggle and give it balanced journalistic representation.
If you only had time to take in the full enormity of Turkey's brutal suppression of the Kurdish people.
Although not yet being taken to industrial killing factories, the Kurds do face similar hatred from fascist Turks as the Jews did from fascist Germans.
Over 30,000 Kurdish towns, villages and hamlets have been burnt to the ground over the last 15 years and over 2,000,000 Kurds have been forcibly displaced. Torture, extra judicial murder, imprisonment and racist hatred are all normal to the Kurds. What is abnormal and bizarre is the silence in the rest of the world. Not only silent but the US and UK have actively supported Turkey's barbaric suppression of the Kurds and supported Turkey's labelling of the Kurds as 'terrorists' in order to deny the Kurds any support.
Those 'who know' should mount a campaign on the main stream media to report on these atrocities carried out by the Turkish regime.
Please Google Hevallo for more.
This story is so ridiculous and full of lies. Kurds have the same rights like everyother citizen in Turkey. Comparing their situation to Jews in Hitler's Germany is emazing. Come on people. Don't be fooled by these ridiculous fabrications and deceptions. Even terrorist Ocalan who caused the death of 40 thousand Kurds and Turks can send mail from his jail cell. Ordinary folks can send anything they wish by mail, e-mail using 3G.
I agree with Dev and Sedat, the Kurds situation under the Turks cannot be compared to Jews under Hitler, for several reasons. Firstly, at least Germans of that day were more civilized than Turks of 2009. secondly, the extent and size of Kurdish suffering is another reason that Kurds cannot be compared with Jewish (with all my sympathy to all Jews). The Kurds sufferings under the Turkish goes back to the first years of the Ataturk’s (Turks Hitler) usurp to power in 1922. Thirdly, the Turks occupied Kurdish land (northern Kurdistan), and just a trip to Kurdistan under the Turkish occupation, and with hundred of thousand of Turkish forces thousands of camps, army castles, prisons and secret polices is enough to understand how the Kurds suffer under the Turkish occupation since 1920s. Finally and most importantly, in the-post Hitler’s rule majority of German had apologised and compensated the Jewish, but in the post-Ataturk Turkey, hundreds if not thousands of Turkish junta and majority of
in the-post Hitler’s rule majority of German had apologised and compensated the Jewish, but in the post-Ataturk Turkey, hundreds if not thousands of Turkish junta and majority of politicians and the many Turks blame Ataturk for not doing enough in his genocide campaign against the Kurds. In fact Ataturk still ruling the Turks from his grave, and that is why Kurds cannot be compared to the Jewish under Hitler
The DTP were closed and deputies imprisoned due to their live ties to the outlawed PKK. On one hand I can understand the Kurds feeling the need to take arms against Turkey in the South East for historical victimisation, but those times are past. Turkey is much more democratic and the military less of a guiding force than they used to be. Turkey is trying to grow up, it's time the Turkish Kurds did so too. Ocalan's in prison, the AKP are making strident moves to give Kurds more rights and freedoms and, in reponse, the PKK is stepping up their campaign. There's a thin line between fighting for freedom and terrorism being used as a front for illegal gains, such as PKK drug trafficking. The IRA were no different and neither is any long standing 'freedom fighter' force - they all lose their way and fall to meaningless terrorism eventually.
"smuggling" a letter? Hitler's Germany?? Come on ... This is laughable.
Any Turkish citizen of Kurdish ethnicity has as much - or less - rights as any other Turkish citizen as long as that citizen doesn't take up arms, incite the public, violate laws, etc. Moreover, with the implementation of new initiatives being disusssed, Kurdish Turks will have more rights than other citizens. Go figure.
PISS Turkeyyy.... LOL You dumb turks dont see what we doo. Potesting for a kurd in turkey is like picking up your rifle and going to fight.. get you facts straight budddy.
Us Kurds willl Never Step Down Till you Kill The Last One. You only know how to Go After our inoccent people. lol PKK is in the moutains. but what these dumb ass turks dont know is turkey isfilled with PKK in the cities and mountains. any kurd you run into in turkey respects PKK more than the respect you Turks. sooo turkey is dumb . soon there will be no turkey ishallahh...BIJI Kurdistan
I agree with hama, Hevallo Azad, Bulent and Suzan.
“Kurdish Turks….” what a shameful description in the 21st century..!!! yes probably Turkish Democracy, which its three pillars are: one flag (Ataturk’s flag), one nation (ethnic Turks) and one language (Turkish; the language of the sun!!!!!) the Kurds will get more rights than other citizens: every single day in their school the childern of “Turkish Kurds” kids can shout more loudly HAPPY IS THE ONE WHO SAYS ''I AM TURK” ..what a SHAME!!!!!
"smuggling" a letter? Hitler's Germany?? Come on ... This is laughable.
Any Turkish citizen of Kurdish ethnicity has as much - or less - rights as any other Turkish citizen as long as that citizen doesn't take up arms, incite the public, violate laws, etc. Moreover, with the implementation of new initiatives being disusssed, Kurdish Turks will have more rights than other citizens. Go figure.
Dear Dev Meyers:
"Kurds are comparing themselves to the jews in Hitler's Germany". What a great statement! I am sure the jew did not have any terorist organization against their government called PKK.
PKK is a separatist terorist organization and its members are nothing but terrorists. According to the British M15 reports, it is one of the bloodiest terror organizations. It means that there is no difference between Al-Quida and PKK before the Western Legal system. Kurds enjoy equal access to jobs, education, housing, and and fairly represented in the corridors of power. Unlkike the jew in Hitler's Germany, Kurds have been president, prime minister, and the leader of the National Assembly. Therefore, Ms. Meyers, I find your article quite misleading and biased!
In Turkish paradise and their unique democracy if a Kurd use the letter of W, or X he/she is charged for being a member of the “bloodiest terror organizations”. if a Kurds put a Kurdish name into his/her new born kid he/she will be charged for a guilty of being a member of “bloodiest terror organizations.” 5000 Kurdish villages towns and communities were destroyed for their guilty they not being able to say “HAPPY IS THE ONE WHO SAYS ''I AM TURK”, 80 years of turkification, assimilation and ethnic cleansing committed by Turks and they are not happy to even explain these pains through smuggling letters. The biggest Turkish lay is that “Kurds have been president, prime minister. only turkified Kurds, who deny their Kurdishness and only can speak the “Sun Language= Turkish) can get positions in Turkish state. Kurds who insist and declare their Kudishness are not employed as a maid (with my respect for all maids), if someone insists on his Kurdishness his destiny will be Turkish Jail.
About smuggling letters and what not, as an American who has visited and stayed with friends in the southeast, I second all of Suzan's remarks, it was exactly my impression, indeed the phones are tapped, huge swaths of the internet are blocked(not just youtube, I couldn't even visit any homepages of universities based in the Kurdish region of Iraq).
Finally, Bulent's comparison is spot on; Turkey is by and large a wonderful place, but so was the US in the 1950's when a huge number of US citizens of the southern states lived under the crushing oppression of the Jim crow laws.
The PKK is not a separatist group; it is a terrorist organization listed alongside Al-Qaeda under the United States Anti-Terrorism Act.
Since 1984, the PKK has caused the deaths of over 30,000 and injuries of over 200,000 people, mostly civilians. The PKK has executed thousands of school teachers, doctors, dentists, and social workers who were working to raise the standard of life in the Turkish southeast. The PKK has caused billions of dollars of property damage. The PKK is not a Turkish organization, but an ultra-nationalist Kurdish organization based outside of Turkey and targeting the people of Turkey, including Turkish Kurds.
The PKK does not represent the interests of Turkish Kurds, as Kurds are proportionally represented in the Turkish legislature and private sector, and the vast majority are integrated with the other 30 ethnic groups that comprise the Turkish citizenry and proudly carry Turkish nationality.
The PKK funds its terror mostly by drug trafficking, cigare
Part II
The PKK funds its terror mostly by drug trafficking, cigarette smuggling, human trafficking, and women trafficking.
The PKK is one of the largest crime syndicates in the world, still managing to operate under the cover of human rights or self determination. And the PKK terrorists are still referred to as freedom fighters or rebels-- haughty PR labels recklessly promoted by gullible reporters—while their nameless, faceless victims do not find as much voice in the media as a letter smuggled by a PKK sympathizer (or member.)
Part III
There seems to be a tendency in the article and its supporters below to throw the baby with the bathwater. DTP, a party which could not distance itself from the PKK terrorists, is closed down by the highest court in the country based on soundly chosen, existing laws against terrorism and the decision is well founded and articulated. The legal argument is flawless. If there is an issue or a problem with the law, any law for that matter, as some Kurdish nationalists and their supporters seem to believe, then the tool change it is debate and the place for that tool is the parliament, not guns and mountains. This vitally important fact is habitually belittled, dismissed, or ignored by DTP and PKK adherents and/or supporters. This may also explain why radical Kurdish religious groups, warlords, and/or revolutionary fanatics keep hitting their heads to the rock in many previous revolts.
America, which had its own problems with slavery, racism, ethnic cleansing of natives, dis
Part IV
America, which had its own problems with slavery, racism, ethnic cleansing of natives, discrimination against many immigrant groups, and currently fighting a global war on terrorism, should understand better than most, this arrogant disrespect for law and order, human rights, women’s rights, and children’s rights among Kurdish nationalists, whether in the Turkish Parliament or out on Turkish Eastern Anatolia.
Fair Observer - you have not identified yourself - please tell us who you are and why we should believe you are fair in your representation?
To the Turkish nationalists repeating the same lines about the PKK, let me say this.. while not defending the PKK,the biggest problem Turks have is that they label all Kurdish activity as being "terrorist" Q W X, terrorist letters. I have seen articles in Turkish newspapers that proclaim this. To say that Kurds have equal rights is laughable.Yes, there was a Kurdish president, and he was most likely killed when he was trying to initiate a Kurdish initiative. To sit and scream over and over about the PKK is to ignore the situation that has not changed during the life of this "so called" Republic. Its in the constitution, you have to be "Turk". What happens if you proclaim you're not? Well, if Hrant Dink was alive, he might have something poetic to say about it, but he was shot in the streets of Istanbul. The Turkish State will either become flexible and accept its own people, (pkk ties or not), or its going to crumble the way Iran is today.
Someone named Stu commented that the Mayors, Human Rights Leaders and municpality workers who have just been imprisoned all have ties to the PKK. I have interviewed four of the people who were taken, and have spent many hours with some of them. I have personal knowledge of their activities and views and they were not connected to the PKK. They were the more moderate voice of the Kurdish movment. There are two scenarios likely !. the AKP wants to destroy the Kurdish party so it will be the only party left against MHP and CHP-- or 2. This is a provocation by the deep state elements to bring the country to total chaos so that another coup can be initiated. In a way this is a kind of coup on its own. Time will tell.
Also, I am tired of reading absurd comments about how the PKK has killed 30 thousand people. While the PKK are not "clean" they are also quite different than Al Qaeda (they are not a group of religious extremists, they are marxist based who originally fought to end the occupation of the Turkish State on their homeland. A more apt comparison would be to the IRA.). Most of the deaths in the civil war were Kurdish citizens, thousands have been disappeared by JITEM, this is all front page new in Turkish newspapers today. Aren't you guys reading your own newpapers? What do you think about Ergenokon? Actually, the Turkish military needs the PKK so it can have an excuse to keep up the oppression, the big arms deals and all its little perks.
Also, if one were to apply the same kind of ruling to MHP, shouldn't it be closed for its ties to Ergenokon?
Fairobservor just relax, dont worry the US understand the Turkish atrocities against Kurds and Americans know that the Turkish government has been far worse to the Kurds than Saddam because the The USA Government and since 1950s joined the Turkish Government in order to perpetrate atrocities against the Kurdish people. and that is why many ordinary Americans may believe you about the lay of PKK's story, becasue Turkey's atrocities against the Kurds haven't been covered much in the West, and again because Turkey is American ally.
For Bozkurt,
Have you heard of Diyarbakir prison number 5? What happened there was some of the worst tortures in the history of mankind. This is one of the things that created the PKK. People were forced to march for hours saying "I am a Turk!", they were forced to drink bleach, eat exrement, they were raped by guards, beaten constantly, forced to make pyramids on top of each others bodies and stay that way for hours, forced into freezing water for hours on end. I interviewed people who endured these things, and it is well documented by many NGO's as well. In a way, the PKK is a creation of the Turkish State because of its treatment of its own citizens. And yes, it became like a school, and when people left there they went in droves to the mountains. It is better to try and understand history than to repeat slogans you've learned while being brainwashed. Uyan!
and yes slemaniya-kurdistan you are right, America is giving huge support to the Turkish government and military. Our tax dollars flow in the billions to pay for the helicopters used to shoot and burn and bomb Kurdish villages. These recent arrests came right after Erdogan's meeting with Obama. Its why as an American, who went there and saw for my own eyes, I want other Americans to understand what is happening there. I went to Turkey with NO AGENDA and the suffering there of Kurds and Turks under their government, will never leave my mind. The Turkish government spends millions of dollars to lobby our American Congressmen, and our Senators, there are huge arms deals at stake. People who are interested should read about the Sibel Edmonds case.
Hey Chargers fan, maybe you oughta stick to football.
terriorist letters Q, W, and X
In Turkey, a law dating back to the 1920’s, which is used against Kurds, bans the use of the letters Q, W and X. using the letters Q, W and X can land you in jail. These LETTERS are considered a TERRORIST LETTERS and AND they are guilty for their involvement in drug trafficking, therefore article 222 of the Turkish penal code bans their use. Many were found quilty for these terrorist actions and got them an 18 month prison sentence because of using Q, W and X. WHAT A SHAME!!!
Over 30,000 Kurdish villages, towns and hamlets were razed to the ground during the nineties. That was by the Turkish army the figure of 30-40,000 that is always attributed to the PKK is made up of mostly Kurdish civilians killed during the village clearances.
I remember travelling through the area and spending 11 days there in 1993. It was exactley like living in a film about the subjugation of the Jews in the early years of Nazi pogroms against them. Walking through the ashes of towns that were burnt by teams of flamethrowers and chemicals being shovelled onto shop floors that combusted upon impact. Millions of rounds of ammunition holes peppered the whole town.
The PKK have the popular support of the Kurdish people....FACT. And millions of Kurdish people give billions of dollars/pounds/Euros willingly and with great honour.
I know that Turkish people like the ironically named 'faircomment' have been subjected to Turkish military intelligence propaganda for years.
The
1. Palestinian's are considered terrorists yet the United States is trying to give them a state.
2. When you're denied your identity and couldn't talk in your mothers tongue for years, assimilated, tortured, executed on the spot just because of your identity....what else do you have to live for?
3. If Kurds or PKK are terrorists than George Washington and the founding figures of America were also terrorists...because they stood up to British tyrrany and got rid of the lobsters.
4. Turkey's democracy is a joke, their consitution is racist. did you know there are thousands of little boys and girls age 12-17 that are in Turkish jail just for participating in a demonstration? do you know they're being treated in front of the courts as terrorists? you call that democracy?
The Turkish state will eventually fail. You cannot supress 20+ million of the population forever.
1. Monacu: population: 32,000...independent.
2. Nauru: Population: 13,000...independent.
3. Tuvalu: Population: 12,000...independent.
4. San Marino: Population: 29,000...independent.
5. Liechtenstein: population: 34,000...independent.
6. Marshall Islands: Population: 58,000...independent.
7. Maldives: population: 340,000...independent.
KURDISTAN: POPULATION 35-45 MILLION....NOT INDEPENDENT.
you don't think there's something wrong with this picture??? come on people......use your head. Our lands are occupied by four countries. and we're prosecuted, tortured, killed, unjustly punished for just mentioning our identity....the only place in this world where the Kurdish people have ever had any peace has been in Europe and America....
I don't care if PKK is labled as a terrorist or not....they're fighting for our god-given natural rights like every other human being.
Kelly....
i don't know what to say...you're like the only American I know that is aware of the situation in Turkey. What happened there in the 1990's is the closest thing to genocide/ethnic cleansing. And yes....America is selling Turkey military hardware in the Billions. America likes Turkey for a strategic ally and has turned a blind eye to what Turkey is doing to the Kurds.
And for that Chargers fan...read a little bit. Learn a little bit....oh and btw..your Chargers suck and will never make it to the Super Bowl.....Steelers own you guys and we'll be back at it next year.
Smuggling a letter out of Turkey. I am refraining my self from expressing my dismay with your rhetoric and anti-Turkish, but this is really the top. Why would she smuggle a letter out of Turkey? She can simply use Turkish postal service or better and faster, email the letter from one of the internet cafes in Diyarbakir..You are so manipulative, and I realize that you have some anti-Turkish readers that fail to see you..You do not fail to go below the belt whenever you have the opportunity against the Turks, it is so clear and obvious. I am dismayed. I though we had cleared this few months ago on your pages...Whatever..
Kurds like Jews in Nazi Germany !!!Right..When was the last time a Jew became the president of Germany ? Turkey has one president Turgut Ozal and one Prime Minister Akbulut..As a matter of fact, Ozal was the most influencial Turkish leader since Ataturk. They just have to realize, whether they are a Kurd or Laz, they are a Turk too, just like the Americans in the US
Addition. Ozal and Akbulut were Kurdish Turks, like Obama is an African-American, and Kennedy was an Irish-American. How would you feel if Kennedy supported IRA, and praise IRA terrorist in meetings. What honestly Kurdish politicians failed here, and I am being fair to Kurds; failed to grap the political opportunity created after years of ethnic violence in Sour East and turn into an win-win situations. Politics is an art of compromise and say what needs to be said on time and right place. You cannot simply talk with emotions and ideology based on violence. Kurdish politicians failed to recognize balance of power in politics. If they were smart enough to fight for Kurdish rights, they should have been a lot more political and use the opportunities they are giving, instead of praising PKK and Ocalan on the floor of Turkish Parliament. They have become prisoners of their emotions, and failed to fight for Kurdish rights in smart way. I feel sorry for Kurds in Turkey. I will explain why..
Yes Kurds were manipulated and used, but mainly by their own people for thousands year. Kurds up to today, lived under semi-feudal system, which Turkish government worked on eliminating in last 60 years. (the system exists in Iraqi Kurdistan today under two competing feudal families, Brazani and Talibani). Yes under national unity building politics of 1940s and 1980, their certain rights were taken away, which they gor them back TODAY. So, this was the time for peaceful coexistence, finally, but what happened, the very politicians they elected, started praising PKK and Ocalan, a recognized terrorist entity in the World. Can you imagine an American politicians is praising Al-Qaeda in the US senate?? CAN YOU ??????
Ahh, did I tel you one thing.. I am a Kurd, A Turkish-Kurd...
The PKK is not a separatist group; it is a terrorist organization listed alongside Al-Qaeda under the United States Anti-Terrorism Act.
Since 1984, the PKK has caused the deaths of over 30,000 and injuries of over 200,000 people, mostly civilians. The PKK has executed thousands of school teachers, doctors, dentists, and social workers who were working to raise the standard of life in the Turkish southeast. The PKK has caused billions of dollars of property damage. The PKK is not a Turkish organization, but an ultra-nationalist Kurdish organization based outside of Turkey and targeting the people of Turkey, including Turkish Kurds.
The PKK does not represent the interests of Turkish Kurds, as Kurds are proportionally represented in the Turkish legislature and private sector, and the vast majority are integrated with the other 30 ethnic groups that comprise the Turkish citizenry and proudly carry Turkish nationality.
The PKK funds its terror mostly by drug trafficking, cigare
Part II
The PKK funds its terror mostly by drug trafficking, cigarette smuggling, human trafficking, and women trafficking.
The PKK is one of the largest crime syndicates in the world, still managing to operate under the cover of human rights or self determination. And the PKK terrorists are still referred to as freedom fighters or rebels-- haughty PR labels recklessly promoted by gullible reporters—while their nameless, faceless victims do not find as much voice in the media as a letter smuggled by a PKK sympathizer (or member.)
DTP, a party which could not distance itself from the PKK terrorists, is closed down by the highest court in the country based on soundly chosen, existing laws in the books against terrorism and the decision is well founded and
articulated. The legal end of all this is flawless.
If there is an issue or a problem with the law, any law for that matter, as some Kurdish ultra-nationalists and PKK supporters seem to believe, then the tool to change it is political debate and the place for that tool is the parliament, not guns in the street or on the mountains. This vitally important fact is
habitually dismissed or ignored by DTP/PKK adherents and their sympathizers This may also explain why radical Kurdish religious groups, warlords, and/or ultra-nationalists keep hitting their heads to the rock, as in many previous revolts.
America, which had its own problems with slavery, racism, ethnic
cleansing of natives, organized discrimination against many immigrant groups, and currently fighting a global war on terrorism, should understand better than most, this arrogant disrespect for law and order, human rights, women's rights, and children's rights, that seems to be so prevalent among Kurdish nationalists, whether in the Turkish Parliament or out in the mountains of Turkey's Eastern Anatolia.
All the legitimate ways to conduct politics are wide open. If DT, now BDP--Peace & Democracy Party-- members choose to transfer this democratic debate from the parliament to the streets and the mountains, inviting more violence and retaliations, that would be a clear indication that BDP are not looking for peaceful solutions based on equality of all citizens but a privileged status which no self-respecting state, including Turkey, would allow.
The Kurdish People fund the Kurdish Freedom Movement. Every year all over the world the Kurdish people give billions of pounds, dollars and Euros to the Kurdish Freedom Struggle. They give willingly and, believe me, they give generously. It is a shame that many just without thought nor research repeat the lies of the Turkish Military Intelligence. These are lies spouted by the Turkish regime to 'label' the legitimate Kurdish Movement as 'terrorists' or 'criminals'. Just as many labelled the ANC as 'terrorists' to the glee of the racist Aparthied regime so you do the work of the racist Turkish regime by swallowing their lies and psychological warfare.
Believe me, the Kurdish people love the PKK and fund the PKK and most will have family members in the PKK.
The PKK is the ANC of the Kurdish People.
Long Live the Kurdish Freedom Struggle.
More at: Key word: Hevallo
None of this is “Anti Turkish”, anymore than it is “anti American” for me to criticize the things the American Government has done. I wish for the peace of the Turkish people, as well as the Kurds, and it is in their interest that this dirty war be ended. Turks and Kurds will suffer if this government continues this course. It is important to criticize and discuss what governments are doing, that is the job of responsible citizens in a democracy. Unfortunately, in Turkey that can land you in prison (or dead). Remember Hrant Dink. The list of names of writers killed for their writing and for their ideas is too long to print here but if called on, I will begin it.
1.To ConcernedAmerican
This column is not about the PKK, but it is impossible to have a discussion with a Nationalist Turk (no matter what name you use on the internet) without having to encounter a tidal wave of screed and propaganda about the PKK. So let me go point by point through your slosh of your regurgitated brain-wash bile.
2.The United States only recently listed the PKK as a terrorist organization. This was after the friction with Turkey over the USA wanting to open a front to invade Northern Iraq. It was done to placate Turkey. The PKK has never been an enemy to the United States, if fact there are many rumors that the US has funded PJAK, the sister organization to the PKK. To equate the PKK with Al Qaeda and label them as terrorists of the same tree is a linguistic tactic to obfuscate the truth.
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