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| Who’s to Blame? The Conflict between Turkey and the Kurds by: Laura McCloskey Imagine being a teen so angry with your country’s government that you are willing to fight for your rights. This may sound far-fetched in countries like the United States or Great Britain where teens peacefully protest in opposition to the government. Yet, Kurdish teens as young as 12 years old are joining a militant Kurdish group called the PKK to fight the Turkish government. What Happened The Kurds are an ethnic group comprising mainly people practicing the Sunni Muslim religion. They have their own language and culture separate from the countries where they live including Iraq, Turkey, Iran, and Syria. After World War I, many borders of the current Middle Eastern countries were drawn, but the Kurds were not given their own country or ruling government. Since then, they have been fighting with Turkey and Iraq to have their own country, government and separate rule of law. Up until recently, the Turkish government outlawed Kurdish cultural and political influences, even outlawing Kurdish names and Kurdish television. In response to these constraints, a number of Kurdish rebel groups have formed including the now more peaceful Kurdistan Democratic Party. Known as the KDP, the group brokered rights for the Kurdish people in the Turkish government including having Kurdish nationalists represented in Turkey’s parliament. Another Kurdish rebel group, the Kurdish Worker Party, otherwise known as the PKK, continues to threaten Turkey with military force to gain control of the Kurdish dominated area along the border between Turkey and Iraq. Almost 90% of families in many Kurdish communities live below the poverty line thanks to the Turkish government’s move to force the Kurdish people out of Turkey in the 1990s. The PKK wants to combat the Turkish move to “unify” their country under one rule because they see the Kurdish people struggling under the treatment by the Turkish government. The Turkish government responded recently to the PKK’s increased military presence, but bombing Kurdish rebels inside Northern Iraq this last December. With this type of violence, it becomes easier for the PKK to recruit Kurdish teens to join their group. The teens joined the PKK with the hope of gaining a better life for their families. Both sides of the story One New York Times editorial called Turkey’s anger at the PKK rebels “understandable” considering the PKK continues to violently attack the Turkish army from bases in Iraqi Kurdistan. These attacks led to a high death toll for the Turkish military forces. The Turkish government uses the PKK’s violence to justify any military retaliation. Yet, most editorials also point out the inevitable instability that a Turkish attack on Iraqi Kurdistan would have on an already troubled area. If Turkey chases the Kurdish rebels out of their country, both Iran and Syria might also chase out the Kurdish peoples living within their borders, making the Kurdish people into refugees. Consequently, the conflict between Turkey and the Kurds has the potential to threaten the stability of all the middle eastern countries. The tension between the Turkish government and the Kurdish rebels could cause a larger conflict if things are not brought under control soon. The United States got involved because it views the PKK as a terrorist organization. Consequently, the Turkish government received military intelligence from the United States in order to bomb the PKK targets in Iraq. Who is to blame? The Turkish and Iraqi governments blame the regional Kurdish government inside Iraq for not doing a better job controlling the PKK. Yet, the president of Iraq’s Kurdish region looks to the United States. “If there wasn’t a [U.S.] green light, the Turks could not have carried out the attack.” What next There are calls for a peaceful resolution, but Turkey continues to insist on maintaining its right to defend itself against the cross-border attacks from the PKK. With many PKK rebels killed from the Turkish air strikes in December, it remains to be seen what impact this had on the PKK forces. One thing is for sure, the Kurdish people are not happy with the way they are treated by the Turkish government. Even before the bombings, four Turkish police shot a 12-year-old Kurdish boy twelve times in the back – the Turkish court called it self-defense and freed the police. Tension remains between the Kurds and Turkey with the bombings and an image of a dying 12 year old burning in the heads. |
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