Turkey's Kurdish Agenda
"The message we hear from the jets is: 'We are in your heart and we will destroy your heart and your freedoms."
Adnan Seyit, cafe owner, Diyarbakir, Turkey
"[Turkey has a right] to react to any form of terrorism.The response, however, must be proportionate, targeted and by no means endanger the democratic political dialogue.""[Turkey must refrain from any action] that could further destabilise the region".European Union's enlargement commissioner, Johannes Hahn
 |
| Turkish Air Force fighter planes land at Incirlik Air Base, on the outskirts of the city of Adana, southern Turkey, Thursday, July 30, 2015. After months of reluctance, Turkish warplanes last week started striking militant targets in Syria and agreed to allow the U.S. to launch its own strikes from Turkey's strategically located Incirlik Air Base. In a series of cross-border strikes, Turkey has not only targeted the IS group but also Kurdish fighters affiliated with forces battling IS in Syria and northern Iraq and Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK positions within Turkey. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) |
It is precisely because of Turkey's human rights record in its violent opposition to Turkish Kurds agitating for a homeland of their own to be partially hacked out of a corner of Turkey's geography, that the European Union constantly refers to Turkey's unreadiness to become a member of the EU. And because it is a member of NATO, the only Muslim country to be part of that military alliance, member-states see it as an obligation to support Turkey's move, albeit with reservations.
"We want to see the PKK renounce violence and re-engage in talks with
the government of Turkey. And... we want to see the Turkish government
respond proportionately", stated State Department spokesman Mark Toner in Washington. This does create rather a dilemma for the United States, which has found the Kurdish militias in Syria and Iraq to be enormously useful in the battle against Islamic State. And just when Washington thought that Ankara had relented to support airstrikes against ISIL, its agenda widened to focus on ferocious attacks against the PKK in their Iraqi bases.
In the Kurdish heartland of southeastern Turkey a military helicopter was seen by residents of Lice to swoop over a forest to drop white incendiary powder on a brush fire which served to ignite a massive wildfire that then raced through the mountains, destroying orchards and livestock. The town of Lice was burned down by the Turkish army twice in the 1990s. Kurds reason the military was attempting to smoke out Kurdish militants.
A car bomb set off near Lice killed a soldier and wounded four others. And Ankara was responding in its inimitable way. "Just like the old days, they want to spread fear", commented local journalist Metin Bekiroglu. The year-and-a-half-old truce is swiftly unravelling. The Turkish government's new offensive against the Islamic State turns out to represent in actual fact, a series of vicious attacks against the Kurdistan Workers' Party.
Killing and retaliation are set to be renewed with a vengeance.
Fighter jets have been taking off from Diyarbakir, the spiritual capital of Turkish Kurds, for dozens of sorties targeting PKK strongholds in northern Iraq. Many of the people living in Diyarbakir take all of this quite personally, since it is after all, aimed at them. And their relatives in the mountains which the Turks are targeting. Even so, the Kurds have been caught off guard at the air mobilization's swift arrival; the unexpected depth and barbarity of the attacks.
 |
| The Turkish military says three soldiers were killed in a PKK attack in Turkey's southeast province of Sirnak, amid Ankara's continued assault on the pro-Kurdish militants. |
Kurdish militants had kidnapped a policeman in the area of Lice and set off a car bomb, striking a military convoy. This, because Kurdish politicians have accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of a rush to tarnish the Kurdish party, hoping to win back his majority status, while Kurds ae also holding Ankara responsible for inciting ISIL bombers to attack Kurdish socialists, killing 32 assembled in the town of Suruc, across the border from Syrian Kurdish Kobani.
Soon afterward, two Turkish police were killed in what is being seen as a PKK attack, inviting retaliation with military airstrikes and a nationwide sweep of 'terrorists' inclusive of both ISIL operatives and Kurdish and leftist suspects. As far as Ankara and the Justice and Development Party are concerned, they are all in the same camp; ISIL, the PKK and their Kurdish socialist friends.
The extent of the military attacks against the Kurds has resulted in claims by the Anadolu Agency that 260 'rebels' had been killed in the PKK targets in Iraq. The PKK claims there have been extensive civilian casualties and without a shadow of doubt there have been. The peace process has gone the way of the Israeli-Palestinian talks for peace. President Erdogan's charges of genocidal intentions by Israel against the Palestinians reflect in fact his intentions against the Kurds.
 |
Labels: Conflict, Islamic State, Kurds, Turkey
posted by Pieface @ Tuesday, August 04, 2015
<< Home