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Essay on Kurdistan
| Date: |
11-18-99 7:41pm |
| Subject: |
Politics |
| Word Count: |
1174 |
| Page Count: |
4.7 |
Kurdistan
Since the end of World War I, Kurdistan has been administered by five sovereign
states, with the largest portions of the land being respectively in Turkey
(43%), Iran (31%), Iraq (18%), Syria (6%) and the former Soviet Union (2%). The
PKK's origins can be traced back to 1974, when calan, in Ankara, led a small
group of radicals out of Revolutionary Youth (DEV-GENЗ). The Kurdistan
Workers Party, "Partiya Karkeren Kurdistan" (PKK) was established in
1978. Цcalan, the leader of the organization took refuge in Syria, after
1980, following the efficient struggle against such organizations by the Turkish
Security Forces. In the annual report of the U.S. State Department published in
April 1993 under the title of "Patterns of Global Terrorism" the PKK
is described as a "Marxist Leninist terrorist group composed of Turkish
Kurds seeking to setup a Marxist state in Southeastern Turkey" The PKK is
recognized and classified as a terrorist organization by all Western countries
including the European Parliament and the Council of Europe. France and Germany,
recently, banned the activities of this terror group and other West European
governments, are closely monitoring the situation. PKK's Subordinate Military
Committee established under the name of Liberation Units of Kurdistan (Hazen
Rizgariya Kurdistan-HRK) was dissolved and replaced by Kurdistan Peoples
Liberation Army (Arteshen Rizgariya Gelli Kurdistan-ARGK) after the Third
Congress of the PKK held in Damascus-Syria in October 1986. The external center
of the PKK operates through the National Liberation Front of Kurdistan (Eniya
Rizgariya Netewa Kurdistan-ERNK) which was established on March 21, 1985. The
ERNK started to operate after 1989 when the European countries opened their
doors and allowed it to flourish in their territories. The United States
Department of State Bureau of International Narcotic Matters, has published a
report in 1992, called "International Narcotics Control Strategy".
This report stipulates that the European drug cartel is controlled by PKK
members. NUMBER OF DEATHS YEAR Terrorist Civilian Soldier Police Village Guard
1984 11 20 24 - - 1985 100 82 67 - - 1986 64 74 40 3 - 1987 107 237 49 3 10 1988
103 81 36 6 7 1989 165 136 111 8 34 1990 350 178 92 11 56 1991 356 170 213 20 41
1992 1055 761 444 144 167 1993 1699 1218 487 28 156 1994 4114 1082 794 43 265
1995 2292 1085 450 47 87 (First 6months) TOTAL 10416 5124 2087 313 813 RESOURCE:
http://www.mfa.gov.tr/grupa/ac/acf/acf1/pkk.htm GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF
APPROXIMATE KURDISH POPULATION YEAR 1990 Region Population (in thousands)
proportion to total Doрu 2230,29 41,96 Gьneydoрu 2365,04 64,98
Ege 296,99 3,98 Karadeniz 37,88 0,5 Эз Anadolu 579,38 5,53 Marmara
810,13 6,09 Akdeniz 726,55 8,95 Total 7046,25 12,6 RESOURCE: S.MUTLU,"The
Population of Turkey by Ethnic Groups and Provinces", New Perspectives on
Turkey, 12 (Spring 1995), p.49 2- VALUE BASED ISSUES The Republic of Turkey
openly states that: 1. The territorial integrity and sovereignty of Turkey is
beyond discussion. PKK is an organization, whose ideology is based on
Marxism-Leninism, seeks to establish an independent Kurdish state encompassing
Turkey's southeastern provinces. The Anatolian people have a common past. They
have lived together for ten centuries thus creating a Turkish identity. The term
"Turkish" refers to being a Turkish citizen. It does not reflect any
ethnicity. The Anatolian people as a whole struggled for the independence of
Turkey and everybody has contributed immensely in building this state. Turkey is
forced to its legitimate self-defense for its territorial integrity and the
protection of its people. 2. In the Republic of Turkey, which relies upon the
rule of law, everyone has the freedom to pursue his or her rights through legal
means. The constitution of the Republic of Turkey treats individuals on equal
footing before the law irrespective of their language, race, color, sex,
political opinion, conviction, religion and creed. The terrorist acts of PKK in
a country where all legal and democratic means for the prevalence of justice is
open for all, cannot be justified. It is the legitimate right of any country
facing terrorism to root it out with all legal means available to it. Turkish
citizens, irrespective of their ethnic origins, are free to form or to support a
political party that expresses their political views and all Turkish citizens.
Moreover regardless of ethnic background, have the right to participate actively
in Turkey's multi-party system. All citizens are free to organize and to join
political pressure groups, including human rights organizations. 3. Turkish
citizens of Kurdish ethnic origin live throughout the country and are not found
exclusively in Southeastern Anatolia. It is estimated that two thirds of Turkish
citizens of Kurdish origin live in the larger cities and towns outside the
Southeast. They participate in all walks of social, economic and political life
on equal grounds with other Turkish citizens. On the other side it is claimed by
PKK that: 1. PKK is a revolutionary socialist national liberation movement
formed in the 1970s which later developed into a party formation whose agenda
was set against the background of a global wave of revolutionary struggles,
influenced by the successful national liberation movements of Asia, Africa, and
Latin America. 2. In order to gain the right of self-determination for Kurdish
people who are linguistically, culturally and racially distinct from the rest of
the Turkish population, PKK resists in all arenas and by all means against the
genocide that the Turkish fascism, the striking power of imperialism is
committing in Kurdistan. PKK resists against the threat it constitutes to
humanity. Turkey is involved in the activities of the destruction and
depopulation of thousands of Kurdish villages, massacre of tens of thousands,
the torture of hundreds and thousands, the expulsion of millions of our people
and the unceasing violation of human rights. 3- INTEREST BASED ISSUES The Kurds
remained one of the few ethnic groups in the world with indigenous
representatives in three world geopolitical blocs: the Arab World (in Iraq and
Syria), NATO (in Turkey), the South Asian-Central Asian bloc (in Iran and
Turkmenistan), and until recently the Soviet bloc (in the Caucasus, now Armenia,
Azerbaijan and Georgia). As a matter fact, until the end of the Cold War, Kurds
along with the Germans were the only people in the world with their home
territories used as a front line of fire by both NATO and the Warsaw Pact
forces. Turkish authorities agree that The Southeastern part of Turkey is faced
with economic problems. The Turkish state has inaugurated major programs to
ameliorate the living standards of the people living in the area. Among such
development projects, the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP) is the most
important one. This project, which is disrupted by PKK terrorism, aims at
changing the whole the social and economic fabric of the region and Turkey
doesn’t want to put GAP at stake with all the risks of running a costly war
against the guerrilla warfare. Water and petroleum constitutes the main clash of
the two parties’ interests. The region that is claimed to be the Kurdish state
is the gateway to the North Iroquoian petroleum. Many critical issues such as
the construction of Baku-Ceyhan pipe line, water issue concerning the Fэrat
and Dicle Rivers, and the transfer of petroleum from Caspian occupy the policy
agenda of the same region. The region, consisting of the boundaries between
Middle East, Russia and Caucasian, has an incredible geopolitical significance
for Turkey in order to provide national security for her people. Keeping the
absolute control of this territory which is situated in one of the most
vulnerable areas in the world, is the only way for the Republic of Turkey to
formulate a unitary state system, which respects the human rights, pluralist
democracy and a secular establishment.
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