Nov. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Kurds in southeast Turkey ( Turkish-occupied Kurdistan)
voted this summer in record numbers for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and
his promise to bring peace to their region. Now, with Turkish troops massed for
a possible invasion of Iraq, the talk is of curtailed political rights and
ethnic strife.
Erdogan is threatening a full-scale military operation in Iraqi Kurdistan to
root out guerrillas from the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, after almost 50
soldiers were killed last month. Such a move would exacerbate tensions between
Turks and the estimated 15 million Kurds in Turkey, who represent 20
percent of the country's population.
"The rising tide of nationalism feels directed at Kurds, and people here fear a
civil war,'' said Fahri Timur, 33, head of the Human Rights Association in the
mainly Kurdish town of Hakkari. ``This government has improved the situation for
Kurds, but we can't expect respect for human rights in the middle of a war.''
On Oct. 17, parliament approved a military incursion into Iraq. Since then,
there have been at least 17 attacks on pro- Kurdish Democratic Society Party
offices, including arson and crowds smashing windows, said the party, which has
20 lawmakers in parliament.
The U.S. opposes an invasion by Turkey, its only Muslim ally in the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization, because such a move might further destabilize
Iraq. Erdogan, 53, is scheduled to meet with President George W. Bush in
Washington Nov. 5. Turkey's top general, Yasar Buyukanit, has said the army will
wait for that meeting before starting any major operation.
Deployed on the Border
The province of Hakkari, which has the same name as its capital and shares
borders with Iraq and Iran, was the site of an Oct. 21 clash with the PKK that
killed 12 Turkish soldiers. The Turkish army has deployed 80,000 troops on the
border and last week shelled areas inside Iraqi Kurdistan.
Security has tightened around the town of Hakkari, surrounded by mountains some
2,000 meters (6,500 feet) high and accessible by only one road. Guards now check
travelers for identification, and Kurds armed and hired by the Turkish military
to fight the PKK perch on small ridges above the road, which snakes along the
Zapsu River.
Timur said the conditions are reminiscent of the period from 1987 to 2002 when
Hakkari and other, mostly Kurdish, southeastern Turkish provinces were under
martial law.
Rebellion
Kurds first revolted in the 1920s following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.
The newly formed Turkish republic crushed the rebellion. The next major uprising
came in 1984, when the then-Maoist PKK took up arms against Turkey's government.
Fighting was reduced to sporadic clashes after Turkish commandos captured PKK
leader Abdullah Ocalan in 1999 and forced most of the rebels to retreat to the
mountains of northern Iraq. About 40,000 people, mainly Kurds, have died since
the mid-1980s.
The death toll in the first half of this year is 225, compared with 294 in all
of 2006, according to the Human Rights Association.
"People are jumpy, worried it's a return to dark days,'' said Hakkari Deputy
Mayor Ismail Akboga. "There was a collective sigh of relief as the worst of the
conflict appeared behind us. Advances will be lost if there's a war.''
Akboga, a member of the Democratic Society Party, says the lives of Turkey's
Kurds have improved, partly because of government efforts to comply with
European Union membership criteria.
Political Solution
Since taking power in 2002, Erdogan's Justice and Development Party has lifted
bans on Kurdish-language broadcasting and education and called for a political
solution to end the PKK insurrection. Almost half the voters in the southeast
backed the party in the July elections, helping Erdogan capture 341 seats in the
550-member parliament.
"People voted for Justice because they believed it has the power to solve the
Kurdish problem,'' said Akboga, 33. "Now the fear of bombs has eroded that
hope.''
Increased government aid to the region for health care, basic services and
education also drew Kurdish support, said Ahmet Sen, head of Hakkari's chamber
of commerce. Hakkari's annual per-capita income is $1,000, less than a fifth of
the national average, and unemployment is about 60 percent, he said.
Economic Mainstays
The conflict with the PKK has nearly wiped out the former economic mainstays of
agriculture and animal husbandry as thousands of Kurds have fled fighting near
their villages for the town, where the population more than doubled in the 1990s
to 70,000 now.
Hakkari province's sole border crossing to Iraq has been shut for two decades,
Sen said. Erdogan last week threatened trade restrictions to force Iraqi Kurds
who run the semi- autonomous area there to crack down on the PKK.
Ali Ozdemir, 42, works for a Turkish construction company in Iraqi Kurdistanand
hasn't returned to his job because he fears an all-out war. He estimated 4,000
Turkish nationals work in Iraq's north, where Kurds have family and linguistic
ties.
"These borders don't mean much to us, and an attack on Iraqi Kurdistan is an
attack on our brothers,'' said Ozdemir, who voted for Erdogan in the last
election. ``Justice won with the hope to end this conflict. A war will
extinguish our optimism.''
To contact the reporter on this story: Ayla Jean Yackley in Hakkari, Turkey,
at ayackley@bloomberg.net .
