Turkey's strategy towards Kurds rebels
Eastern Turkey has been destabilised by the Kurd rebels for a long time. The Kurd problem was originally created by the British. During the First World War (1914-1918), the British enlisted the Kurds, totalling 27 to 37 million, to fight with them on a promise that they would create a separate state of Kurdistan. When the British and French won the First World War against the Ottoman Empire, they did not keep their pledge but instead divided the empire and created many independent states such as Syria, Iraq, Jordan. The Kurds, spread over in many countries in the Middle East, were disappointed. Who are the Kurds?
Kurds are an ethnic group who are indigenous to a region often referred to as Kurdistan, an area that includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. Ethnically related to other Iranian people, they speak Kurdish, an Indo-European language of the Iranian branch and not Arabic. However, the Kurds' ethnic origins are uncertain. The Kurds are the largest ethnic group in the world without their own state, and for much of the century, Kurd separatists have sought to establish an independent Kurd homeland without success. Only in northern Iraq there is a regional government of Kurdistan that governs the Kurds with the support of the US. The government flies its own flag, not the Iraqi flag, although it is an integral part of Iraq. Kurds in Turkey
About 11 to 15 million Kurds live in Turkey. They constitute a large ethnic and linguistic group. Millions of the country's Kurd citizens identify themselves as Kurds and speak Kurdish. Kurds who publicly or politically asserted their Kurdish identity or publicly espoused using Kurdish in the public domain risked public censure. However, Kurds who were long-term residents in industrialized cities in the West were in many cases assimilated into the political, economic, and social life of the nation, and much intermarriage has occurred over many generations. Kurds migrating in the southeast brought with them their culture and village identity, but often little education and few skills. The Kurds are the minority group with the greatest impact on national politics. Because of the size of the Kurdish population, the Kurds are perceived as the only minority that could pose a threat to Turkish national unity. Indeed, there has been an active Kurdish separatist movement, Kurdistan Workers' Party, (Partiya Karkere Kurdistan-PKK,) in southeastern Turkey since 1984. In Turkey, the Kurdish national movement dates back to at least 1925. History has it that Atatürk suppressed a revolt against the new Turkish republic motivated by the regime's renunciation of Muslim religious practices. Uprisings in the 1930s and 1940s prompted by opposition to the modernizing and centralizing reforms of the Turkish government in Ankara also were put down by the Turkish army. Kurdish opposition to the government's emphasis on linguistic homogeneity was spurred in the 1960s and 1970s by agitation in neighboring Iran and Iraq on behalf of an autonomous Kurdistan, to include Kurds from Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria. The majority of Kurds, however, continue to participate in Turkish political parties and to assimilate into Turkish society. President Özal's 1991 call for a more liberal policy toward Kurds and for the repeal of the ban on speaking Kurdish raised the hopes of Kurdish politicians. Following the parliamentary elections of October 1991, several Kurdish deputies, including Hatip Dicle, Feridun Yazar, and Leyla Zayna, formed the HEP, a party with the explicit goal of campaigning within the National Assembly for laws guaranteeing equal rights for the Kurds. Turgut Özal, who became prime minister in 1983 and president in 1989, broke the official taboo on using the term Kurd by referring publicly to the people of eastern Anatolia as Kurds. Subsequently, independent Turkish newspapers began using the term and discussing the political and economic problems in the eleven predominantly Kurdish provinces. In 1991 Özal supported a bill that revoked the ban on the use of Kurdish and possession of materials in Kurdish. Turkey's other leaders were not as willing as Özal to recognize Kurdish distinctiveness. However, the use of Kurdish in government institutions such as the courts and schools is still prohibited. 15 years of guerrilla war with the Kurdish rebels have claimed approximately 30,000 lives. After the capture of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan and his later conviction in 1999 for treason the PKK announced its willingness to negotiate an end to the conflict. Ocalan's death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. However the truce was temporary. Turkey's strategy towards rebel Kurds
Turkey wishes to be a member of the European Union. On human rights, Turkey wants to be soft as far as possible so that the EU does not criticize their record. Turkey does not want to be harsh to the Kurd rebels unless they threaten its security. When more than 30 soldiers were killed at the hands of Kurdish PKK rebels, Turkish government could not be a silent spectator and the Turkish parliament provided the government the authority to undertake military operations against the rebels in northern Iraq. Iraq's northern area is governed by Kurds and it is believed that the rebels operate from there with the support of many Kurds in northern Iraq. If Turkey attacks northern Iraq to pursue the rebels, Iraq would be further destabilized. A hurried diplomatic activity started among the US, Turkey and Iraq as to how to resolve this problem. Iraq has taken the responsibility to ensure that Kurdish rebels do not pose a threat to Turkey. The US supported Iraqi position, as it wanted to resolve the issue diplomatically. President Bush fully supported the Turkish position against PKK. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Turkish troops were amassed on the Turkish-Iraqi border, but Turkey did not launch large-scale attack on northern Iraq to pursue the rebels because of assurance of Iraq, not allowing the rebels to cross over Turkey and attack their soldiers. Turkey demonstrated its restraint. Another reason, less known to others, is that Turkey's attack may be too high in economic terms. About 80% per cent of foreign investment in self-governing Kurdistan of northern Iraq comes from Turkey. In Dohuk, the largest city in Kurdistan, the seven largest infrastructure and investment projects are being built by Turkish companies. Some of the projects including overpasses, museum and hotel are financed or owned by the Kurdistan Regional Government. Turkish goods including food and clothing are very popular among Kurds in Iraq. They are better than those from Iran and Syria, according to Kurdish consumers. Indications in Turkey show that Turkish officials do not want a war. The Prime Minister of Turkey, Erdogan, suggested in Washington during early November that military operations in Iraq, if taken, would be narrowly concentrated on guerrillas from PKK, who use the jagged mountain border frontier as a haven after attacks in Turkey. Turkish government has to convince the public that the government is taking action against the PKK. That is why Turkish soldiers are amassed on the border as a show of force. If a large attack were to occur, Turkish soldiers would encounter not only Kurd rebels but also Kurdistan's pesh merga hardened fighters who have formed a defensive line that parallels the Turkish border along the ridges of the mountains. The pesh merga fighters indicated that if Turkish attack would result in civilian deaths, they would fight against Turkish soldiers. Therefore it is not an easy walkover for Turkish soldiers. Against the background, current Turkish position seems sensible. If Iraq and the US prevent the rebels from attacking Turkish soldiers, there is no need for large-scale military operations against rebels in Iraq. However, people in Turkey are giving the benefit of doubt to the strategy of the government towards PKK. Professor of political science, Ilter Turan, of Istanbul Bilgi University reportedly said: " Most are relieved that no major operation will start on Iraq." The author is a former Bangladesh Ambassador to the UN, Geneva.
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