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| www.GlobalAware.org | www.GlobalAware.ca | www.GlobalFairTrade.ca The GlobalAware Peace Notice Board.......Say what you think! Express yourself in words, pictures, poetry or art. Send it in to GlobalAware: info@GlobalAware.orgWhat is this picture? I’ll give you a hint, it has something to do with the region currently under attack by the US… no it’s not an Iraqi village after US/UK bombing, though it could be…
It’s actually a picture taken in Turkey of a Kurdish town. Way back in 1984, the Kurdistan Workers Party started a struggle for independence from Turkey – where they have never experienced cultural tolerance or freedom. In 1987, Turkey imposed a State of Emergency on the 4 Kurdish provinces which gave the police and military unprecedented powers against Kurds. The fighting waged until 1999 when Turkey captured the KWP leader, Ocalan (you probably heard of him in the same sentence as ‘terrorist’ rather than ‘freedom fighter’). During 15 years of state repression, more than 30,000 Kurds were killed and half a million were forced to leave their homes at gunpoint by the Turks. “The Turkish government has been far worse to the Kurds than Saddam has,” is a comment oft repeated in southeastern Turkey. The rape of men and women and public executions by being dragged by tanks were common. The State of Emergency was lifted at long last in December of 2002. Have the Turks seen the light? Are they willing to embrace their Kurds? No, they want to be considered for European Union membership and the EU frowns on a country that tortures it's own citizens.You probably heard that Saddam Hussein and his Baathist Party haven’t
been exactly hospitable to their Kurds either. You’re right. Way
back in 1963, the US decided that the Iraqi leader, Kassem, who had deposed
the Iraqi monarchy in 1958, had to go. The CIA got their sticky fingers
into Iraq’s political pie and decided the Baathist Party would be
the best secular option to rising socialism in the area. They armed the
Kurds against Kassem, managed to get him out and then stood back and crossed
their arms while the Baathists instigated a bloody purge of the educated
elite of the country. Once the Baathists agreed to let Mobil and BP into
the gas fields of Basra, the West was content to abandon the Kurds and
help their new friends oppress them. Saddam had to wait for a few more
palace coups before he came to power but when he did he was useful to
Western interests. In 1988, he gassed the Kurdish town of Halabja killing between 5000 and 8000 people. Since Gulf War II ended in 1991, the US has protected the Kurds in Iraq
but as Gulf War III approached were preparing, once again, to abandon
the Kurds. In their scramble to get Turkey to allow US bases on Turkish
soil, the Americans promised US$6 billion in direct aid for 62,000 troops
– that’s almost $100,000 per GI! And they quietly assured
the Turks that they would not allow Iraqi Kurds to declare independence
using the oil wells of Kirkuk, the Kurdish capital, and Mosel as the basis
for statehood. They even proposed to let the Turks police Iraqi Kurdistan
to allay their fears that Iraqi Kurds might inspire Turkish Kurds to another
long bloody war for independence. © GlobalAware All rights reserved. info@GlobalAware.org www.GlobalAware.org | www.GlobalAware.ca | www.GlobalFairTrade.ca The GlobalAware Peace Notice Board.......Say what you think! Express yourself in words, pictures, poetry or art. Send it in to GlobalAware: info@GlobalAware.org
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