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Reports From Iraq > Fri., Apr. 2, 2004
Will the US Army Attack the (Turkish) Kurds?
5,000 Turkish Kurdish guerillas are hiding in small camps
in the Qandil Mountains of Northern Iraq. Turkey wants
the American Army to bring them out. |
by Aaron Glantz
BAGHDAD, IRAQ -- American soldiers could be on the verge
of fighting another war in the Middle East.
In Washington for meetings with US military leaders, the
Deputy Chief of the Turkish Army General Staff demanded the
US Army start fighting against against approximately 5,000
Turkish Kurdish guerillas hold up in camps in the snow-capped
mountains of Northern Iraq. ... After a bloody twenty year
civil war and more than 30,000 mostly civilian casualties,
the PKK withdrew from Turkey and called a unilateral cease-fire
when their leader, Abudlla Ocalan, was captured four years
ago. But, it seems, the Turkish Army wants American troops
to keep fighting.
After meeting with senior American military officials in
Washington, the Deputy Chairman of the Turkish Army faced
reporters. The General, Ilker Basburg, told reporters the
Bush Administration agreed to take what he called "concrete
steps" against the PKK before handing authority over
to the Iraqi Governing Council at the end of June.
In response to a question from the Turkish Press, the Chairman
of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Richard Myers offered this
statement.
"This is an issue the coalition forces inside Iraq take
very seriously," he said. "Let me assure you that
there is very close collaboration with Turkey and that they
will be dealt with appropriately."
Kurdish leaders say they're doing everything to make peace
with the Turkish Army. ... For four years, they've honored
a unilateral cease-fire, called by their leader Abdulla Ocalan
from his island prison in the Aegean Sea. Ozlem Bolcal editor
at the Kurdish-interest newspaper Free Agenda, based in Istanbul,
notes the Kurdish fighters in Northern Iraq have repeatedly
tried to turn in their arms.
She describes the case of Ali Sapan, a PKK guerilla who came
from the mountains as a peace delegate. She compares his case
to the Zapatista's Subcomandante Marcos who won after years
of struggle won a meeting with the President of Mexico. "Ali
Sapan came for a similar meeting," she says. "He
was arrested. He's been in prison for more than 8 years. Now
he's in solitary confinement."
In addition to filling Turkey's jails with Kurdish leaders,
the Turkish Army continues to maintain two bases in Northern
Iraq -- one near the border and the other in the middle of
one of Northern Iraq's largest cities, Arbil.
At home, Turkish prosecutors moved last week to ban the country's
largest Kurdish political party, DEHAP, on the grounds that
it supports terrorism. The Kurdish language remains largely
banned from Turkish television and Radio. Under new broadcast
regulations approved in January, Kurdish can be broadcast
just two hours a day -- and even then there are conditions.
Meihdi Perincheck is on the Executive Board of Turkey's Human
Rights Association, which is suing to over-turn the new regulations.
"With these laws Kurdish programs can only be broadcast
on national television with sub-titles in Turkish," he
says. "But for the local radios its illegal. No children's
programming is allowed. It's a big hard-ship because the children
can't learn Kurdish and they forget their own language. The
children have a right to learn in their mother tongue. In
this law, we don't have that right."
Iraqi Kurds, by contrast, have enjoyed the patronage of the
United States for more than a decade and as a consequence
have been able to build schools and media institutions where
Kurdish is exclusively spoken. Hakim Umar of Iraq's Patriotic
Union of Kurdistan's foreign office, says Iraqi Kurds aren't
willing to risk losing that in a confrontation with the American
and Turkish Armies -- but he thinks the United States should
think twice before opening up a new front in the Kurdish mountains.
"Maybe they are going to fight the PKK," muses
Umar. "But its very difficult in these mountains to find
someone and take them out. Saddam Hussein, during the 30 years
(he ruled) he couldn't finish us in the mountains. Even all
America can't finish bin Laden in Afghanistan.'
"But they try," he sighs. "And they will support
the Turks against the PKK."
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