Kurds’ democratic exercise heightens Turk paranoia

By: Khasraw Koyi

Feb 4, 2005

They pretend to be civilized; they claim to be democratic; they aspire European identity; they are utterly protective of everyone and everything they consider Turkish and they arrogate non-Turks to be an integral part of their mono-ethnic based nationalist state ‘most hypocritically’ as their brothers and equal citizens. These types of thoughts and tendencies have led the political and intellectual minds of both open and disguised Turk nationalist statesmen throughout the life of the modern Turkish state and probably it will continue to be the case well into the future.

How pathetic those leading Turks nationalists can get to claim loudly that they abide by human rights and democratic principles, while they rather go deaf but hear words such as Kurd and Kurdistan; go blind but see the identity and cultural expressions of the Kurds, including their national flag and the map of Kurdistan; drop dead but accept the thought of   South Kurdistan Federation or a United Independent Kurdistan.

According to the CIA Fact book, only 5% of Iraq’s population is of non-Kurd and non-Arab origins. By all credible accounts, Turkomen population (descendants of Ottoman Empire remnants in Iraq) do not exceed 2% or 500,000, of which no more than 200,000 live amongst the Kurdish population in all South Kurdistan, Kekruk included. This figure makes up about 4% of the Turkomen living in S. Kurdistan compared to more than 20 million Kurds of North Kurdistan who make up about 30% of Turkey’s population.

Shamelessly, Tansu Çiller (Prime Minister of Turkey, 1993-1995) went as far as inflating Turkmon figure in Iraq by 8 folds to 4 million. Well, considering the ideological circle she belongs to, she may had endured a tenuous session of compromising process to downgrade the much greater figure Turkey’s Military tyrants and political fascists (such as Gen. Hilmi Ozkok, chief of Turkey's general staff and his deputy, Gen. Ilker Basbug or Devlet Bahceli, the leader of Turkey’s Nationalist Action Party) had in mind for Turkomen population. Ironically and in contrary to all the civilized expectations, these outdated pathological Turk leaders continue to impact the political process and the public opinion in Turkey and on all its state level.

Now this small percentage of the Turkomen in South Kurdistan has become the joker card for the nationalist Turks to use in just another round of their filthy games against the Kurds. Turk officials claim that Turkomen rights will become in jeopardy if the Kurds prove to be the majority in Kerkuk. As if the Turkomen all along have done much better under the central rule of the various Iraqi regimes. Thanks to the pluralistic and democratic nature of the Kurds, Kurdistan’s Turkomen have never had enjoyed so much freedom before. Therefore, there is no secret why ‘unlike the Turkomen Front pro Baathist and Kemalist thugs’, the majority of the ordinary Turkomen have decided not to act as the puppets of the Turkish Kemalist military and intelligence organs against the Kurds.

With Justice and Development Party of Recep Tayyip Erdogan coming to power in November 2002, many were hopeful that a new era will emerge in which true democratic principles will be adopted and a departure from the rule of Turk majority dictatorship to a free pluralist society will be signalled. It is a fact that the AKP government has taken some nominal steps in the right direction, however there have been many ominous signs that Erdogan’s Government momentum has ceased in the face of the counter pressures from the more nationalist Turks of Kemalist fascist ideology and radical Muslims of loyalty to various groups of political Islam. Examples of such pressures are the reflected official policy of the his Government against the gains and the unanimous aspiration of the Kurdish nation in South Kurdistan for freedom and prosperity; supporting nationalist Arab Baathists and Islamist terrorist groups by describing their dead as martyrs, while condemning the forces that fight them in Iraq; mobilizing pro-Kemalist puppet groups such as the Turkomen Front to aid the Baathists and ferment disturbances against the Kurds and the democratic process in Iraq; Conspiring with the Syrian and Iranian repressive regimes to fail the democratic process in Iraq.

Those who follow up on the daily conducts of Turkish AKP government, they can easily identify many more holes and cracks in the bigger picture which all provide sufficient conviction that this government is either have a hidden Islamist agenda which is more in lime with political Islam, or it has cowered and caving in under the accumulative pressure of both Turkish nationalist fascism and Islamic fundamentalism who both are united in adopting repression and violence to achieve their objectives.

Considering the profound changes that true democracy can bring to any individual country and the Middle East as a whole, the Turks who for decades were intellectually nurtured on ethnic prejudice and the sanctioning of violence and repression in the name of preserving a unitary state and Turkey’s territorial integrity may have a very tough time to absorb the true principles of democracy and the emergence of benevolent civic societies. Out of necessity, they may play the game of going along, but only up to the point where their established eccentric nationalist and religious ideological norms are not threatened.

The paradoxical political reality in Turkey is just too obvious to be missed by anyone with basic concern for universal democratic principles. On state levels and as a tactical measure of encouragement, some Western governments (US Administration topping the list) have overridden all the essentials of democracy in its choosing to label Turkey as a democratic state. However, such an erroneous incentive may have served Turk nationalists to feel complacent and maintain their repressive and antidemocratic path. Here, the question that begs a clear answer is: Should Turkey is considered a democracy?

Knowing the answer to some basic questions is all what it takes to gauge the actual state of democracy in Turkey. Is there pluralism in Turkey? The answer is a big NO. The dictatorship rule of ethnic Turk majority has been and continues to be the norm. Is there viable minority, cultural rights? The answer is no again. 20 million Kurds in Turkey have no right to speak Kurdish in public and/or use Kurdish language in education and media. AKP governments’ cosmetic changes in this regard have added up to nothing of any significant value to satisfy the base minimum expectations of the Kurds. Is there equal freedom of assembly and expression for all the citizens of Turkey? The answer is no. Anything that contradicts the nationalist and mainstream religious believes and interests of the ethnic Turk majority are banned and punishable, sometimes by extrajudicial means including pro-state covert acts of kidnappings and assassinations. Is there equal social justice in Turkey? Again the answer is a big NO. Turk inhabited areas enjoy many times more the benefits of state investment and development in all the critical areas of life, such as economic, health and education. Effectively, the Turks have used such resources to render the Kurds underdeveloped and ineffective. The genocide they have been shy about to achieve physically, they have done an excellent job in achieving at a slow pace by impoverishing the Kurds and destroying the very fibre that holds the Kurds together as a sound distinct entity immune from forced assimilation.

No one should need a microscope to identify the many uncivilized and undemocratic policies and conducts of the Turkish state. The facts are so loud, obvious and numerous that should not escape the attention of anyone with a little interest in knowing the truth and the reality as it is, than as painted. Thanks to the many legitimizations of the practices of real politics, as well as the insatiable eccentric interests of some of the major political powers, Turk rulers have managed to conceal much of their true colours and misleadingly introduce themselves as the most civilized, democratic and secular Muslims in the Middle East, but with no tangible assets to their credit. With all the NATO countries pampering of the Turks for exchange of Turkey’s strategic importance, not much of positive has been the result. After many long decades and while the world is embracing the concept of freedom, democracy and globalization, the Turks continue to adhere to their 80 year old fascist and repressive Kemalist mentality. Today, the interpretation of Islam in much of Turkey concerning democracy is not much different than that of the various Islamic groups who are characterized with fundamentalism and fanaticism. As for the actual practices of democracy, Turkey is not much ahead than much of the Arab countries, which linger under the repressive rule of their tyrants and autocrats.

The other question is: Will Turkey with its Kemalist political foundation will ever emerge as a true democracy. The true answer is never and ever. Kemalism (the sacred dogma of modern Turk nationalists) has been and will continue to be the major obstacle in such a process.  Since pluralism and freedom of expression are synonymous terms to democracy, it is impossible for Kemalism to accommodate such principles. In Kemalism Turks and Turkish must be the only acceptable identity and language in Turkey. As for the 20 million Kurds, they have no other given choice but to eventually assimilate and become an integral part of Turkish ethnicity. Despite the various acting the Turks have put on to gain recognition and privileges from the West, their allegiance to the Kemalist principles has not given much of a leeway in favour of true democratic and civilized influences.

Do the Western governments and various influential political and media institutions know most of the facts surrounding the reality of the Turkish state? The answer is yes. Can they do much to influence the political state of affairs in Turkey? The answer is yes? Do they have the motive and the will to act in this direction? The answer is yes and no. For Turkey being a NATO member and considered a strategic country, up to this day, most NATO countries exercise reservation in doing anything effective enough to upset those who represent the true power in Turkey, which continues to be embodied in the Kemalist military leadership. Yes there is an elected parliament with an elected government in Turkey; however their authorities and actions cannot undermine the principles of Kemalism, which is closely and nervously guarded by the military.

It is only a natural outcome for the new reality in Iraq to come in direct conflict with the vision and the wishes of the Turk nationalists. Their major fear stems from the fact that any meaningful democracy in Iraq will allow the Kurds to rightfully exercise their natural rights and thus cherish their freedom of expressing, their identity, and do what it takes to advance their interests in their ancestral homeland Kurdistan, with Kirkuk naturally being an integral part of. The Kemalist Turks with their inhibited iconoclastic characteristics are terrified from such a natural outcome of democracyy.

Having traded all the good values human beings could have, for their fascistic lust to neutralize others’ identities in favour of their ethnic grandeur and superiority, nationalist Turks have paid an ultimate price with the image and the credibility of their Turkish nation. After 80 years and many advantages and good opportunities, the Turks have gotten to no where and no one would envy them for what they are and what they have achieved in terms of their national reputation, economic potential, since and technology or anything of measured value to others.

Many South-East Asian nations with much less advantages as the Turks have, have managed to impress the outside world with their technological advances and economic developments; simply because that is where they channelled their intellectual and human resources and whatever other natural resources their land could provide. Instead, Turk nationalists dedicated most of their human potential to feed their egocentric nature and inherent lust for violence, hatred and repression. Assimilating the Kurds and wiping out their name in the existence has been their major obsession and their prime goal to achieve. After 80 years of malicious manoeuvring and feeble excuses and pretences, they have only managed to cultivate ample of potential seeds of animosity and mistrust between the Kurds and the Turks. Their words and actions have only resulted in giving the Kurds every good reason to wish nothing more than living free and independent from the Turks.

All along the history, the Turks have repressed the Kurds in every way they could master. They have invaded the land of the Kurds ‘Kurdistan’; they have massacred innocent Kurds in thousands; they have destroyed Kurdish homes and villages and all the means of their survival; they have rendered them poor, unhealthy and underdeveloped; unethically, they have manipulated and forced Kurds to fight each other; and now they are trying to extend their criminal hands beyond their state borders, using as many irrational and ridiculous excused they can fabricate.

In the recent days, it seems that Turk huff and puff is ringing loud again. Since ever the US invasion of Iraq took place in March 2003, the Kemalist Turks have freaked out from the fact that the grounds of mutual interest destined the Kurds to form some proximity with the US Administration. In the mind of a nationalist Turk, how on earth a great country such as the US ‘a NATO ally of Turkey’ should bypass the Turks and deal with the Kurds! Many may wonder how the pompous nationalist Turks think about some snobby British or Germans who look at the Turks as Asiatic Muslims with no relation to the Europeans and their religion ‘Christianity’. I can’t see how such Turks enjoy any sense of pride when they are fully aware that there are those who can lookdown on them for many good reasons while helplessly, they possess little or no modern capital to encounter them! Yet, the same Turks are very pleased and happy to lookdown upon the Kurds and spare no effort in repressing and humiliating them in any ways possible (as if this is their only way to deal with a deep sense of inferiority complex). I say to these Turks: If you don’t have the right mind and the good human values to help yourselves, remember to be faithful to your children by preparing them for a happy life where the principle of equality ‘in a universal sense’ and wilful mutual acceptance will be their only keys to success and a meaningful life.

Now, it is the 21^st century. It is the era of intellectual productivity and communication skills. Resorting to violence and repression to achieve power and grandeur will only prove to be self-inflicting and will haunt back the perpetrators. Meaningless huff and puff will not solve issues and generate credibility but a true sense of justice and humanity will. No proud and rational people on this planet should risk revealing their violent nature in such despicable manners as to justify the deprivation of another people “with a language, culture, history and homeland of their own” from the very same rights they allow to have for themselves and for their scattered kin here and there.

 Today, no proud Turk (civilian and military leaders, intellectuals, journalists, or any average Turk) should have any reason whatsoever ‘other than ignorance, hatred and malice’ to deny that there exist a people of a distinct identity who are called ‘Kurds’ and who for thousands of years lived as a predominant majority on a land called ‘Kurdistan’. No Turk should claim that the Kurds ‘unlike the Turks themselves’ should not have rights, dreams and aspirations of their own and should not be able to determine the course of their destiny by themselves. Unless deliberate intellectual perverts, Turkish intelligentsia must take an effective stand against the ongoing Turk nationalists’ fascistic expectations and inhuman desire to undermine Kurd’s natural capacity for freedom and self-determination both within Turkey and the other countries on which Kurdistan proper is divided against the will of the Kurdish nation.

 Despite the demagogic views and fascistic wishes of Erdogan, Gul and their Kemalist military generals, the Kurdish nation will exercise her natural right to determine her own destiny by herself as based on the democratic wishes of the Kurds themselves. Turks have no right to dictate their nationalist terms on the Kurds and they will never succeed in doing so. Their best bet is to wake up to the reality of the new era and do what it takes to help their nation by improving its image to levels acceptable by the civilized world.

As for Kerkuk, it has been and will remain an integral part of Kurdistan. The jealous craving of Turk nationalists for the oil in Kurdistan will never be satisfied. Not just the Kurds, but the civilized nations also would not let that to happen. They are well aware of the fact that further empowerment of the violent and repressive natured states will prove to be against the very same goals of global freedom, democracy and peace they strive for.  

khasrawkoyi@yahoo.com