Kurdish people resist U.S. manipulation
By Greg Butterfield
Kurdish people and their allies are speaking out against the
planned U.S. war and occupation of Iraq. They are also
denouncing Turkey's plan to send tens of thousands of troops
into northern Iraq to block an influx of refugees and "root
out" Kurdish revolutionaries of Kadek, the Congress for Freedom
and Democracy in Kurdistan, formerly known as the Kurdistan
Workers Party (PKK).
Hundreds of Kurds held a dramatic protest outside United
Nations headquarters in Baghdad on Jan. 28, vowing to act as
human shields against U.S. bombs and missiles. They said a U.S.
war against the Iraqi people could only hurt, not help, the
cause of Kurdish liberation.
In late February, Kurdish groups that supported the 1991
Gulf War and are friendly to Washington warned that Kurds in
northern Iraq would resist any intervention in the region by
the Penta gon's Turkish allies. They suggested that U.S. troops
could get caught in the crossfire.
And on March 1, following weeks of swelling anti-war
protests across Turkey, tens of thousands of Turkish and
Kurdish people converged near parliament in downtown Ankara.
Inside, legislators were voting on a long-delayed measure to
permit the United States to deploy up to 62,000 troops in
Turkey.
Pentagon plans call for using Turkey as the staging ground
to invade Iraq from the north, while simultaneously invading
from the south. Thousands of U.S. troops are already
permanently stationed at Turkish bases.
The Bush administration was so confident the compliant
Turkish regime would vote "yes" that tens of thousands of U.S.
troops and tons of war material were sitting on ships just
offshore, ready for deployment as soon as the vote was
taken.
Instead, 100 members of the ruling Justice and Development
Party broke ranks and voted against the deployment. Although a
small majority of parliament approved the measure-264 votes in
favor to 251 against-the measure failed. Under the Turkish
Constitution, 267 votes were required to make it law.
The power of the anti-war protests, Kurdish resistance and
90-percent public opposition to the war sent shockwaves through
Turkey's parliament and all the way to Washington.
Turkish labor unions called the March 1 demonstration,
supported by the left, Kurdish and other anti-war forces. "No
to war, don't let people die," chanted protesters standing
beneath a huge banner reading, "The people will stop this
war."
Kurdish activists and their supporters also raised slogans
opposing Turkey's plans to intervene in northern Iraq;
demanding freedom for imprisoned Kadek leader Abdulah Ocalan;
and in solidarity with Turkish and Kurdish political prisoners
on a "death fast"hunger strike. One hundred and five prisoners
have died in Turkey since the hunger strike began.
Western media reported the crowd's size as 10,000, but local
television stations in Ankara admitted that at least 50,000
came out, despite the presence of hundreds of riot police and
armored cars blocking the main road to the parliament
building.
While claiming it could still launch a northern assault from
other bases in Central Asia, the Bush administration
immediately began twisting arms in Turkish ruling circles.
Threats to cut off financial aid sent Turkey's stock market and
currency tumbling.
The New York Times reported March 3, "Under intense American
pressure, Turkey's foreign minister indicated today that his
government would ask Parliament to vote a second time on
whether to allow American troops to use the country as a base
for an attack against Iraq."
A history of U.S. betrayals
Kurds are a Middle Eastern people with a distinct language,
culture and history. The region known as Kurdistan encompasses
southern Turkey, northern Iraq, and parts of Iran, Syria and
Lebanon. Forty percent of historic Kurdistan lies within
Turkey's borders.
From 1984 to 1999, the PKK-Kadek's predecessor-waged a
revolutionary armed struggle in southern Turkey for Kurdish
rights and independence, closely allied with Turkey's communist
movement.
Until recently, Turkey claimed there were no Kurdish
people-only "mountain Turks." Their language was forbidden. It
was the fierce struggle of the PKK and its allies that finally
won some concessions on Kurdish civil rights.
With U.S. military and economic aid, a succession of Turkish
regimes conducted a brutal war against the Kurdish resistance.
More than 30,000 people died--mostly Kurdish civilians accused
of sympathizing with the PKK.
While the U.S. was assisting the slaughter of Kurds in
Turkey, across the border in Iraq Washington was playing a
cynical game with two bourgeois Kurdish groups, the Kurdistan
Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.
Those parties supported the U.S.-led Gulf War against Iraq
in 1991. Washington promised military and economic support for
a Kurdish uprising in the north against the Baghdad government.
The uprising failed when the first Bush administration withdrew
its support. A similar scenario played out under the Clinton
administration in 1994.
As Washington continues to squeeze Baghdad and encroach on
Iraq's sovereignty, the rival KDP and PUK have nominally
governed areas of northern Iraq under U.S. and British
control-the so-called "northern no-fly zone."
Both groups joined in denouncing the PKK/Kadek and attacking
its members. However, some Kadek guerrillas succeeded in
crossing the border and finding refuge in the mountains of
northern Iraq.
Trust Washington? No way, Kadek says.
Calling for national unity of the Kurdish people against
U.S. war in Iraq and Turk ish occupation of the northern
region, a Feb. 23 Kadek statement declared: "The Kurdish people
must prepare themselves for a serhilidan (popular uprising) in
the spring. The serhilidan will begin on March 8 until the end
of May and it will take an important place in history.
"PUK and KDP have often been used against the Kurdish
movement," the Kadek statement continued. "When it is time to
take steps toward a solution on the Kurdish question, Turkey
targets all the Kurdish forces ... There must be a plan to
solve the Kurdish question both in South and North Kurdistan.
...Everybody must take steps to avoid the war."
For background on the Kurdish struggle and U.S.
imperialism, see Sam Marcy's 1991 article, "Kurdistan: The
struggle in historical perspective," available at
www.workers.org/marcy/ cd/sam91/1991html/s910418.htm.
Reprinted from the March 13, 2003, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyrighted
under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
Subscribe to WW by Email: wwnews-subscribe@workersworld.net
Donate to
support pro-labor, anti-war news.
Email
this article
Printable
page