Kurds Ready To Fight Bush Sell-Out
Oread Daily | 03.03.2003 21:53
KURDS READY TO FIGHT BUSH SELL-OUT
By the tens of thousands Kurds took to the streets this morning in the city of Arbil in the heart of Kurd-controlled northern Iraq to demonstrate opposition to the possibility of Turkish soldiers moving into the region if the United States goes to war against Baghdad. The protesters chanted "No Turkey" and other slogans as they converged on the United Nations offices in Arbil. Some demonstrators burned several Turkish flags during the demonstration. While the US and the Turks say that any incursion by Turkish troops would be merely to provide humanitarian aid and to secure the border, the Kurds aren’t buying. The Kurds believe Turkey's goal would be to suppress the creation of a truly autonomous Kurdish state in northern Iraq. Ankara fears such a development would inspire the Kurdish minority living in Turkey to resume its own struggle for independence.
Kurds believe that Bush is taking every opportunity to deny the Kurds the gains they have made over the past decade. They believe that in sealing a deal with the Turks for use of bases there, Bush is more than willing to agree to Turkey’s demands that Kurds be denied their inalienable right of self-determination. Not only is Turkey against an independent Southern Kurdistan, they have also insisted that the Americans move against any attempt by the Kurds to maintain and promote their autonomy. There is no more talk of a federated Iraq. Instead, Bush wants to sandwich the Kurds between the Sunni Arabs in the middle of Iraq and the Turkish army to the north. Bush essentially is willing to finish what Saddam started to do in Southern Kurdistan. By agreeing to Turkish intervention in Southern Kurdistan, Bush wants to destroy the Kurdish identity.
The Kurds are not willing to go quietly into the night. Kurdish leaders say that they will resist if the United States lets Turks join an invasion of northern Iraq. "Our people are going to resist the plan with all the means at their disposal," said Kurdish Deputy Prime Minister Sami Abdul Rahman. "Nothing whatsoever will persuade us to accept an incursion of Turkish forces. The answer of our people is a flat no." He added, "The freedom of our people is part of the price paid to Turkey" for its cooperation in the U.S. military plan. Kurds in bazaars, streets and the floor of the Kurdish parliament have said they would be willing to take up arms against Turkish forces that enter the autonomous enclave. "To allow Turkish forces into Iraqi Kurdistan despite the total objection of our people is a betrayal," said Abdul Rahman.
Although Turkey's parliament refused unexpectedly on Saturday to allow US forces to deploy on its soil, the party said it had been led to believe that up to 40,000 Turkish forces could establish a 25km-deep buffer zone into Iraqi Kurdistan if Ankara finally struck a deal. This could deny the Kurds key border crossings to their other neighbors Syria and Iran, and by consequence revenues from customs duties. Those revenues have helped keep the state-within-a-state afloat since it fell out of Baghdad's control in 1991. The Iraqi Kurds are also enraged at suggestions that Ankara wants a say in the formation of a post-Saddam government, and may be wanting the estimated 60,000-strong peshmerga, or Kurdish militiamen, disarmed.
"If the Turks are coming there will be war here," Cdr Kemal Musa Faqi said . "I myself will take my gun and shoot every Turk I see." The Kurds' enmity for the Turks is even fiercer than their hatred of Saddam, who has orchestrated the deaths of hundreds of thousands of since taking power in the 1960s. "Everybody here, the men, women and children, will fight the Turks. We expect them to be much worse to the Kurds than any one else. Saddam's forces are better than the Turkish; both are dictators but he is Iraqi and we are Iraqi also."
Sources: Kurdish Media, CBC, Baltimore Sun, AFP, Telegraph (UK), SAPA
ANNOUNCEMENT
VANCOUVER, BC: March 11 - Protest against any Turkish intervention in South (Iraq) Kurdistan. The protest will begin at 1 PM at CBC Radio and TV building at Hamilton and Georgia Street in Downtown Vancouver, proceed to the USA Consulate General at 1095 West Pender St, Vancouver. For more information contact any Kurdish organization in BC, or call Aram at 604-322-3155.
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By the tens of thousands Kurds took to the streets this morning in the city of Arbil in the heart of Kurd-controlled northern Iraq to demonstrate opposition to the possibility of Turkish soldiers moving into the region if the United States goes to war against Baghdad. The protesters chanted "No Turkey" and other slogans as they converged on the United Nations offices in Arbil. Some demonstrators burned several Turkish flags during the demonstration. While the US and the Turks say that any incursion by Turkish troops would be merely to provide humanitarian aid and to secure the border, the Kurds aren’t buying. The Kurds believe Turkey's goal would be to suppress the creation of a truly autonomous Kurdish state in northern Iraq. Ankara fears such a development would inspire the Kurdish minority living in Turkey to resume its own struggle for independence.
Kurds believe that Bush is taking every opportunity to deny the Kurds the gains they have made over the past decade. They believe that in sealing a deal with the Turks for use of bases there, Bush is more than willing to agree to Turkey’s demands that Kurds be denied their inalienable right of self-determination. Not only is Turkey against an independent Southern Kurdistan, they have also insisted that the Americans move against any attempt by the Kurds to maintain and promote their autonomy. There is no more talk of a federated Iraq. Instead, Bush wants to sandwich the Kurds between the Sunni Arabs in the middle of Iraq and the Turkish army to the north. Bush essentially is willing to finish what Saddam started to do in Southern Kurdistan. By agreeing to Turkish intervention in Southern Kurdistan, Bush wants to destroy the Kurdish identity.
The Kurds are not willing to go quietly into the night. Kurdish leaders say that they will resist if the United States lets Turks join an invasion of northern Iraq. "Our people are going to resist the plan with all the means at their disposal," said Kurdish Deputy Prime Minister Sami Abdul Rahman. "Nothing whatsoever will persuade us to accept an incursion of Turkish forces. The answer of our people is a flat no." He added, "The freedom of our people is part of the price paid to Turkey" for its cooperation in the U.S. military plan. Kurds in bazaars, streets and the floor of the Kurdish parliament have said they would be willing to take up arms against Turkish forces that enter the autonomous enclave. "To allow Turkish forces into Iraqi Kurdistan despite the total objection of our people is a betrayal," said Abdul Rahman.
Although Turkey's parliament refused unexpectedly on Saturday to allow US forces to deploy on its soil, the party said it had been led to believe that up to 40,000 Turkish forces could establish a 25km-deep buffer zone into Iraqi Kurdistan if Ankara finally struck a deal. This could deny the Kurds key border crossings to their other neighbors Syria and Iran, and by consequence revenues from customs duties. Those revenues have helped keep the state-within-a-state afloat since it fell out of Baghdad's control in 1991. The Iraqi Kurds are also enraged at suggestions that Ankara wants a say in the formation of a post-Saddam government, and may be wanting the estimated 60,000-strong peshmerga, or Kurdish militiamen, disarmed.
"If the Turks are coming there will be war here," Cdr Kemal Musa Faqi said . "I myself will take my gun and shoot every Turk I see." The Kurds' enmity for the Turks is even fiercer than their hatred of Saddam, who has orchestrated the deaths of hundreds of thousands of since taking power in the 1960s. "Everybody here, the men, women and children, will fight the Turks. We expect them to be much worse to the Kurds than any one else. Saddam's forces are better than the Turkish; both are dictators but he is Iraqi and we are Iraqi also."
Sources: Kurdish Media, CBC, Baltimore Sun, AFP, Telegraph (UK), SAPA
ANNOUNCEMENT
VANCOUVER, BC: March 11 - Protest against any Turkish intervention in South (Iraq) Kurdistan. The protest will begin at 1 PM at CBC Radio and TV building at Hamilton and Georgia Street in Downtown Vancouver, proceed to the USA Consulate General at 1095 West Pender St, Vancouver. For more information contact any Kurdish organization in BC, or call Aram at 604-322-3155.
The Oread Daily provides daily (Monday-Friday) progressive, left, anti-racist, anarchist, commie, activist, environmental, Marxist, revolutionary, etc. news and information from around the US and around the world.
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