Kurdistan IO Email

[wm]

SE European Times, 25 May 07:

Turkey's Erdogan says he'll back military request for Iraqi incursion

This could be a shrewd political move by Erdogan. Especially given that he and Gul are facing serious concerns about their Islamist tendencies and have already been warned that the Turkish army will enforce what it views as an appropriate separation of church and state. One way to deflect the people's attention is to get his countrymen refocused on those nasty Kurds who keep blowing up Turks.

[tequila]

This could be a shrewd political move by Erdogan. Especially given that he and Gul are facing serious concerns about their Islamist tendencies and have already been warned that the Turkish army will enforce what it views as an appropriate separation of church and state. One way to deflect the people's attention is to get his countrymen refocused on those nasty Kurds who keep blowing up Turks.

Actually based on what I have read and heard from my one Turkish-American friend (rabidly anti-AK, former Turkish Army infantry officer) is that the anti-Kurdish push is largely the province of the secular nationalist officer corps. The AK Party is viewed by the officer corps as soft on Kurdish terrorism as part of their program to join the EU --- this is in line with the reforms AK has instituted regarding human rights. There were some initiatives which AK introduced in the southeast, for instance allowing Kurdish-language broadcasts, that were adamantly opposed and ultimately rolled back by the military in the late 1990s.

AK has largely sacrificed what pro-Kurdish tendencies it may have had since the Iraq War. The gains made by Iraqi Kurds and the military's increasing paranoia over this, as well as possibly related increasing militancy on the part of the PKK and the Kurdish terror groups, have put the kibosh on any possible Kurdish rights in Turkey. Suicide bombs going off in Ankara have a way of doing that, I suppose.

Of course whether the military is using the Kurdish issue as a way to regain its dominance over the government is also a major question, not least among Turks themselves.

[Jedburgh]

....The AK Party is viewed by the officer corps as soft on Kurdish terrorism as part of their program to join the EU --- this is in line with the reforms AK has instituted regarding human rights. There were some initiatives which AK introduced in the southeast, for instance allowing Kurdish-language broadcasts, that were adamantly opposed and ultimately rolled back by the military in the late 1990s....

The Turkish officer corps is heavily indoctrinated in the unique brand of Kemalist ethno-nationalism that makes up the mythology of the modern Turkish state. Of course they will view any party or individual who deviates from those lines as "soft on terrorism" and often as a threat to the state itself.

In any case, the AKP didn't come to power in Turkey until late 2002 - so how could they have introduced reforms that were rolled back in the "late 1990s"?

But getting to the point, the bans on Kurdish broadcasting and education were lifted in Aug 02 - before the AKP had their big electoral victory in Nov of that year. These bans have not yet been "rolled back", but they are sorely lacking in implementation. Significant obstacles have repeatedly been thrown in the way of any meaningful education in the Kurdish language, and what little Kurdish language broadcasting does go over the airwaves must pass through stern censor hurdles. It is easy to see how someone working in any branch of the Turkish military and security services would claim that they have "rolled back" the reforms....

[wm]

Actually based on what I have read and heard from my one Turkish-American friend (rabidly anti-AK, former Turkish Army infantry officer) is that the anti-Kurdish push is largely the province of the secular nationalist officer corps. The AK Party is viewed by the officer corps as soft on Kurdish terrorism as part of their program to join the EU --- this is in line with the reforms AK has instituted regarding human rights. There were some initiatives which AK introduced in the southeast, for instance allowing Kurdish-language broadcasts, that were adamantly opposed and ultimately rolled back by the military in the late 1990s.

AK has largely sacrificed what pro-Kurdish tendencies it may have had since the Iraq War. The gains made by Iraqi Kurds and the military's increasing paranoia over this, as well as possibly related increasing militancy on the part of the PKK and the Kurdish terror groups, have put the kibosh on any possible Kurdish rights in Turkey. Suicide bombs going off in Ankara have a way of doing that, I suppose.

Of course whether the military is using the Kurdish issue as a way to regain its dominance over the government is also a major question, not least among Turks themselves.

The antipathy for Kurds within the Turkish military is well known. They really do not like getting shot or blown up by the PKK rebels. (Can you blame them? I would not have been too partial to having my troops shot at by Louisiana Cajun separatists.) Erdogan may be trying to play to this tendency by his statements about supporting a cross-border incursion, buying the military off from intervening in his efforts to secure the presidency for his party.

It will be interesting to see whether this is operating as a subtext and whether the Turkish Army will go for the bait.
Disclaimer
[Lest someone take offense here, my choice of Cajuns is a purely silly example--I could have opted for a host of other groups in the US but they would have been even much less PC than the one I chose].

[tequila]

In any case, the AKP didn't come to power in Turkey until late 2002 - so how could they have introduced reforms that were rolled back in the "late 1990s"?

Yes, you are right, I am confusing a few trends here. The reforms passed under Ecevit's DSP.

Nonetheless I do stand behind the idea that it is the military who are the drivers of anti-Kurdish sentiment in Turkey. Historically it has always been the Islamic-based party, whether Welfare or AKP, who have reached out to Turkey's unassimilated Kurds, though Erdogan appears to be throwing them under the bus here.

[Jedburgh]

The antipathy for Kurds within the Turkish military is well known. They really do not like getting shot or blown up by the PKK rebels. (Can you blame them? I would not have been too partial to having my troops shot at by Louisiana Cajun separatists)...

....I saw that movie!



Seriously though, its important to keep in mind that the "antipathy" for Kurds in Turkey long predates the PKK. The Kurds are the largest ethnic minority in Turkey, and, since the foundation of the state, the only one that potentially threatens its territorial integrity. Almost immediately after Mustafa Kemal rallied the nation, kicked out the Greeks and forced the WWI allies to recognize the new Turkey at the Treaty of Lausanne, the country was wracked with major Kurdish revolts. The Sheikh Said rebellion in 1925, the Agri Dag revolt that lasted from 1927 to 1930 and the Dersim rebellion in 1937 all cemented in the minds of the government and the military that the Kurds were "the" internal threat to the Turkish nation.

[Tom Odom]

Disclaimer
[Lest someone take offense here, my choice of Cajuns is a purely silly example--I could have opted for a host of other groups in the US but they would have been even much less PC than the one I chose].

As a near-Cajun, I would say never fear; Cajuns are not into PC

There really are 3 "third rails" when it comes to the Turks:

a. Encroachment on Kemalism, especially the thread that separates the State from Islam

b. Pushing an Armemenian genocide agenda

c. Pushing a Kurdish identity inside the country of modern day Turkey; this too, challenges Kemalist thought. The PKK is viewed--rightly--as the armed wing of this movement.


Rails A and C are buzzing right now.

Tom

[Tom Odom]

here is another vew

Kurdish resort an oasis of peace in Iraq
WORLD BRIEFINGS
By Jason Motlagh
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
May 30, 2007


RAWANDUZ, Iraq
If the sight of jagged peaks towering above red-roofed chalets fails to conjure up the Swiss Alps, the screams of children riding the imported alpine toboggan make the comparison hard to avoid.
But armed guards at the gate betray what visitors would like to forget: The newly opened Pank Resort is located in Iraq, a country fractured by war.
Owner Hazem Kurda, a Kurd who fled to Sweden during the Saddam Hussein-era and opened a successful rice-processing plant, knows he took a huge risk when he decided to invest tens of millions of dollars of his own money to build a sprawling modern complex nestled high in the northeast of Iraqi Kurdistan.
"To speak of [Iraq] and tourism in the same breath may sound crazy to many people," Mr. Kurda said. "But I made up my mind to do something unique in my country. I thought somebody should take the initiative, and others will follow."
Coming attractions include a cable car across the limestone gorge that plunges from the edge of his property, an 18-hole mini-golf course and a camping site for those on tighter budgets. If all goes well, he thinks Hilton or Sheraton might one day lend its name.
Today, the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) and a growing number of bold entrepreneurs are going to great lengths to promote the north as "the other Iraq," a haven of relative calm where Iraqi Kurds, Arabs and foreigners alike are free to do business, retreat to nature or just live normally for a few days. See full report

According to the report, the Turks are the biggest investors.

Best

tom

[redbullets]

here is another vew


According to the report, the Turks are the biggest investors.

Best

tom

They are, and those profiting on either side of the border don't want this party to end early. The Chinese are in as well, and I have the photos to prove it. Most well educated highway construction crew I could ever conceive of - bumped into them on the road between Erbil and Suley.

Cheers,