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COMMENTARY: ARMENIANS, KURDS, CYPRIOTS, GREEKS CAN FORM ANTI-TURKEY COALITION
PanARMENIAN.Net
October 28, 2011 - 17:30 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - Kurds and Kurdistan have never felt so much promise.
Federalism in Iraq is secure. Iraqi Kurdistan attracts billions of
dollars in investment, Masud Barzani no longer needs a borrowed Turkish
passport to travel abroad, and the Kurdistan Regional Government
has offices which act as virtual embassies in Washington, London,
and other major capitals. It is ironic, therefore, that against this
progress, Kurds wield so little influence over the issues about which
Kurds inside and outside Iraqi Kurdistan most care, says a commentary
posted on the website of the American Enterprise Institute for Public
Policy Research.
"After Kurdistan Workers Party [PKK] members attacked Turkish military
outposts in the early morning hours of October 19, Nechirvan Barzani,
a former prime minister who retains the power of that post, rushed
to Ankara to try to defuse any retaliation. He failed. So too did
regional president Masud Barzani, who placed an emergency phone call
to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan," Michael Rubin writes in the
article titled "Is It Time for an Anti-Turkey Coalition?"
"The failure of Kurdish leaders to fulfill their diplomatic agenda
extends beyond the latest Turkish incursion. After all, even before
the Hakari attacks, the Turkish Army stationed more than 1,000 troops
stationed on mountains and around villages several kilometers across
the Iraqi and Iraqi Kurdish border," the article says.
"While Arab states focused on the simultaneous rupture in the
Israel-Turkey partnership, Turkey's bellicosity toward Cyprus was the
subject of greater concern not only in Nicosia and Athens, but also
in many other European capitals. Apart, neither Cyprus nor Kurdistan
has much leverage. Turkey's 37-year occupation of Cyprus is seldom
front page news in Washington, London, or any other country. While
former Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer tries to broker
an agreement, and occasionally UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
makes statements about the need to resolve the conflict, lack of
international interest condemns Cyprus to continued division."
"Of all Turkey's neighbors, it is the Armenians who have the greatest
influence in Washington. Corollary Armenian Diaspora groups are also
influential in London, Paris, and across Europe. In the United States,
at least, the Armenian lobby has failed repeatedly in its principle
goal to win American recognition of Armenian Genocide by Ottoman
Turks in World War I," it says.
According to the author, the Armenians can join the Kurds, Cypriots,
and perhaps Greeks as well in eschewing coalitions in a failed attempt
to go it alone. "If those victimized or threatened by Turkey, however,
would pool their resources and demands, each group may find its
influence amplified exponentially. Kurds who seek recognition of the
Anfal as genocide might solicit the support of Armenian counterparts,
but also must be willing to offer support as well. Kurdish officials
should be outspoken in support of Greek Cyprus, and should leverage
Cypriot and Greek influence to ensure that a Turkish withdrawal from
Iraq and Kurdistan becomes a European Union platform."
"Kurds should be proud of their achievements, but they are not as solid
as they once were. That the Kurds have no friends but the mountains
will simply be an epitaph unless Kurdish leaders become far more apt
at building alliances than they are now," the article concludes.
PanARMENIAN.Net
October 28, 2011 - 17:30 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - Kurds and Kurdistan have never felt so much promise.
Federalism in Iraq is secure. Iraqi Kurdistan attracts billions of
dollars in investment, Masud Barzani no longer needs a borrowed Turkish
passport to travel abroad, and the Kurdistan Regional Government
has offices which act as virtual embassies in Washington, London,
and other major capitals. It is ironic, therefore, that against this
progress, Kurds wield so little influence over the issues about which
Kurds inside and outside Iraqi Kurdistan most care, says a commentary
posted on the website of the American Enterprise Institute for Public
Policy Research.
"After Kurdistan Workers Party [PKK] members attacked Turkish military
outposts in the early morning hours of October 19, Nechirvan Barzani,
a former prime minister who retains the power of that post, rushed
to Ankara to try to defuse any retaliation. He failed. So too did
regional president Masud Barzani, who placed an emergency phone call
to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan," Michael Rubin writes in the
article titled "Is It Time for an Anti-Turkey Coalition?"
"The failure of Kurdish leaders to fulfill their diplomatic agenda
extends beyond the latest Turkish incursion. After all, even before
the Hakari attacks, the Turkish Army stationed more than 1,000 troops
stationed on mountains and around villages several kilometers across
the Iraqi and Iraqi Kurdish border," the article says.
"While Arab states focused on the simultaneous rupture in the
Israel-Turkey partnership, Turkey's bellicosity toward Cyprus was the
subject of greater concern not only in Nicosia and Athens, but also
in many other European capitals. Apart, neither Cyprus nor Kurdistan
has much leverage. Turkey's 37-year occupation of Cyprus is seldom
front page news in Washington, London, or any other country. While
former Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer tries to broker
an agreement, and occasionally UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
makes statements about the need to resolve the conflict, lack of
international interest condemns Cyprus to continued division."
"Of all Turkey's neighbors, it is the Armenians who have the greatest
influence in Washington. Corollary Armenian Diaspora groups are also
influential in London, Paris, and across Europe. In the United States,
at least, the Armenian lobby has failed repeatedly in its principle
goal to win American recognition of Armenian Genocide by Ottoman
Turks in World War I," it says.
According to the author, the Armenians can join the Kurds, Cypriots,
and perhaps Greeks as well in eschewing coalitions in a failed attempt
to go it alone. "If those victimized or threatened by Turkey, however,
would pool their resources and demands, each group may find its
influence amplified exponentially. Kurds who seek recognition of the
Anfal as genocide might solicit the support of Armenian counterparts,
but also must be willing to offer support as well. Kurdish officials
should be outspoken in support of Greek Cyprus, and should leverage
Cypriot and Greek influence to ensure that a Turkish withdrawal from
Iraq and Kurdistan becomes a European Union platform."
"Kurds should be proud of their achievements, but they are not as solid
as they once were. That the Kurds have no friends but the mountains
will simply be an epitaph unless Kurdish leaders become far more apt
at building alliances than they are now," the article concludes.