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When Will the Mass Killing of Kurds Stop?
http://www.rudaw.net/english/science/op-ed-contributors/4303.html
08/01/2012 02:07:00 By DR. KAWA IBRAHIEM
Turkey's armed forces killed 35 civilians in a Kurdish village near
the country's border with Iraq. What a surprise!
The Turkish army is involved in a systematic killing of civilian Kurds
in the regions of eastern Turkey on a daily basis. Turkey is
responsible for various Genocides throughout history such as the
Armenian Genocide, the Dersim Genocide and so on. Historians,
politicians and the international community know that.
There is no consensus as to how many Armenians lost their lives during
the Genocide, but there is general agreement among western scholars
that over 500,000 died between 1914 and 1918. Estimates vary between
600,000 and 1,500,000.
A 2008 conference organized by Kurdish PEN about the Dersim Genocide
reached the conclusion that Turkey was guilty of genocide, estimating
that 50,000-80,000 Kurd were killed in the aftermath of the Dersim
rebellion.
Modern Turkey is not better than the old one. It continues its war
against anyone who is not a Turk in that country.
The Turkish government and it is politicians live in denial. Under war
on terrorism they attempt to stifle Kurdish voices and deny the right
of millions of Kurdish citizens.
In the past three years the Turkish government has mercilessly rounded
up close to 4000 intellectuals and Kurdish politician. At the same
time a devastating earthquake in the Kurdish city of Van killed
hundreds, left thousands seriously injured, and left thousands more
homeless in the cold of winter.
The Turkish government failed to protect and help the victims of the
earthquake. But it continues to spend millions on military operations
to oppress its own citizens just because they are Kurds.
The international community and including the United States choose
silence in the face of all this abuse of and violation of human rights
in Turkey.
Whenever a Turkish soldier is killed in a military operation, the US
condemns the act and asks for the elimination of Kurdish terrorist
groups without addressing the core of the issue. The United States
empowers Turkish politicians to go a head with their apartheid policy
in the Kurdish regions of Turkey. The United States has failed to give
a voice to minority groups or care about human rights violations in
that country.
"The United States condemns in the strongest possible terms the recent
attacks by the PKK in Turkey's Hakkari province. I join President
[Barack] Obama in offering our deepest condolences to the families and
loved ones of all those killed and injured in this tragedy," US
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a written statement on 19
October 2011.
USA is responsible for the suffering of Kurds in Iraq, Iran, Syria and
Turkey! The US could have a positive influence on those countries to
solve the 100-year-old Kurdish issue that started by the Treaty of
Lausanne.
America and other superpowers must know that Kurds will be silenced
and they will continue their peaceful struggle for a better and
prosperous life.
Turkey should know too that after 91 years of denial, apartheid and
assimilation policy was nothing but a failed policy. Turkey could not
and will not dissolve the Kurd in the Turkish culture. It is time for
the Turks to accept the most ancient people of the Middle East and
live peacefully together, or the Kurds would have to declare
self-determination.
According to the UN charter to which Turkey and US are signatories,
the Kurd have the right to self determination.
- Chapter 1, Article 1, part 2 states that purpose of the UN
Charter is: "To develop friendly relations among nations based on
respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of
peoples, and to take other appropriate measures to strengthen
universal peace."
- Article 1 in both the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). Both read: "All peoples have the
right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely
determine their political status and freely pursue their economic,
social and cultural development."
- The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights
article 15 states that everyone has the right to a nationality and
that no one should be arbitrarily deprived of a nationality or denied
the right to change nationality.
The Kurds are a peaceful nation and throughout the last century they
have suffered. They experienced Genocides, mass killing, deportation,
rape, and denial in all the countries they live in.
It is morally and ethically wrong for superpowers to empower Turkey
and other countries in the region to terrorize Kurds under the excuse
of fighting terrorism. Kurds are not terrorists. They are struggling
to preserve their culture. Their struggle is not different from the
American War of Independence.
By giving Turkey and other countries that oppress and massacre Kurds
technology and military support, those countries and their politicians
are responsible for assisting criminal acts and history will have no
mercy on them.
The international community has to come to the conclusion that there
will be no peace in the Middle East without solving the Kurdish issues
in those countries. Kurds are not less civilized than Arabs, Persians
and Turks. They too should be able to live in their own land
peacefully.
Since the invasion of Iraq by the US army in 2003, Kurds have approved
to the world that they are a peace-loving people and deserve all
respect.
I condemn in the strongest possible terms the mass killing of Kurds in
Turkey. I join hundreds of thousands of peace-loving people in the
world in offering my deepest condolences to the families and loved
ones of all those killed and injured in this and other tragedies.
* Dr. Kawa Ibrahiem is a Kurdish Human Rights Activist based in
Kitchener, Canada.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
http://www.rudaw.net/english/science/op-ed-contributors/4303.html
08/01/2012 02:07:00 By DR. KAWA IBRAHIEM
Turkey's armed forces killed 35 civilians in a Kurdish village near
the country's border with Iraq. What a surprise!
The Turkish army is involved in a systematic killing of civilian Kurds
in the regions of eastern Turkey on a daily basis. Turkey is
responsible for various Genocides throughout history such as the
Armenian Genocide, the Dersim Genocide and so on. Historians,
politicians and the international community know that.
There is no consensus as to how many Armenians lost their lives during
the Genocide, but there is general agreement among western scholars
that over 500,000 died between 1914 and 1918. Estimates vary between
600,000 and 1,500,000.
A 2008 conference organized by Kurdish PEN about the Dersim Genocide
reached the conclusion that Turkey was guilty of genocide, estimating
that 50,000-80,000 Kurd were killed in the aftermath of the Dersim
rebellion.
Modern Turkey is not better than the old one. It continues its war
against anyone who is not a Turk in that country.
The Turkish government and it is politicians live in denial. Under war
on terrorism they attempt to stifle Kurdish voices and deny the right
of millions of Kurdish citizens.
In the past three years the Turkish government has mercilessly rounded
up close to 4000 intellectuals and Kurdish politician. At the same
time a devastating earthquake in the Kurdish city of Van killed
hundreds, left thousands seriously injured, and left thousands more
homeless in the cold of winter.
The Turkish government failed to protect and help the victims of the
earthquake. But it continues to spend millions on military operations
to oppress its own citizens just because they are Kurds.
The international community and including the United States choose
silence in the face of all this abuse of and violation of human rights
in Turkey.
Whenever a Turkish soldier is killed in a military operation, the US
condemns the act and asks for the elimination of Kurdish terrorist
groups without addressing the core of the issue. The United States
empowers Turkish politicians to go a head with their apartheid policy
in the Kurdish regions of Turkey. The United States has failed to give
a voice to minority groups or care about human rights violations in
that country.
"The United States condemns in the strongest possible terms the recent
attacks by the PKK in Turkey's Hakkari province. I join President
[Barack] Obama in offering our deepest condolences to the families and
loved ones of all those killed and injured in this tragedy," US
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a written statement on 19
October 2011.
USA is responsible for the suffering of Kurds in Iraq, Iran, Syria and
Turkey! The US could have a positive influence on those countries to
solve the 100-year-old Kurdish issue that started by the Treaty of
Lausanne.
America and other superpowers must know that Kurds will be silenced
and they will continue their peaceful struggle for a better and
prosperous life.
Turkey should know too that after 91 years of denial, apartheid and
assimilation policy was nothing but a failed policy. Turkey could not
and will not dissolve the Kurd in the Turkish culture. It is time for
the Turks to accept the most ancient people of the Middle East and
live peacefully together, or the Kurds would have to declare
self-determination.
According to the UN charter to which Turkey and US are signatories,
the Kurd have the right to self determination.
- Chapter 1, Article 1, part 2 states that purpose of the UN
Charter is: "To develop friendly relations among nations based on
respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of
peoples, and to take other appropriate measures to strengthen
universal peace."
- Article 1 in both the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). Both read: "All peoples have the
right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely
determine their political status and freely pursue their economic,
social and cultural development."
- The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights
article 15 states that everyone has the right to a nationality and
that no one should be arbitrarily deprived of a nationality or denied
the right to change nationality.
The Kurds are a peaceful nation and throughout the last century they
have suffered. They experienced Genocides, mass killing, deportation,
rape, and denial in all the countries they live in.
It is morally and ethically wrong for superpowers to empower Turkey
and other countries in the region to terrorize Kurds under the excuse
of fighting terrorism. Kurds are not terrorists. They are struggling
to preserve their culture. Their struggle is not different from the
American War of Independence.
By giving Turkey and other countries that oppress and massacre Kurds
technology and military support, those countries and their politicians
are responsible for assisting criminal acts and history will have no
mercy on them.
The international community has to come to the conclusion that there
will be no peace in the Middle East without solving the Kurdish issues
in those countries. Kurds are not less civilized than Arabs, Persians
and Turks. They too should be able to live in their own land
peacefully.
Since the invasion of Iraq by the US army in 2003, Kurds have approved
to the world that they are a peace-loving people and deserve all
respect.
I condemn in the strongest possible terms the mass killing of Kurds in
Turkey. I join hundreds of thousands of peace-loving people in the
world in offering my deepest condolences to the families and loved
ones of all those killed and injured in this and other tragedies.
* Dr. Kawa Ibrahiem is a Kurdish Human Rights Activist based in
Kitchener, Canada.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress