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Turkey hits Kurds with toxic gas, 6 civilians injured – reports

February 17, 2018 By administrator

Turkey hits Kurds with toxic gas

Turkey hits Kurds with toxic gas

Turkish forces engaged in Operation Olive Branch against Kurdish militias in the northwest of Syria have used gas, RT reported citing Syrian state media SANA. At least six civilians have been hospitalized.

“Six people have been admitted with symptoms of suffocation as a result of the use of projectiles with poisonous gas by the Turkish regime in the town of Aranda,” SANA quotes the hospital’s director, Joan Mohammed. Medics are working to determine the type of gas used, Mohammed said.

Local journalist Mohammed Hassan tweeted pictures of patients, who were purported to be victims of the attack, wearing breathing masks.

The hospital director said four of the victims were stable and two were in critical condition.

YPG spokesman Birusk Hasaka confirmed to Reuters that Kurds came under what appears to be a chemical attack during Turkey’s offensive on a village, saying that the symptoms of the six people affected are consistent with exposure to a gas poisoning.

Turkey launched Operation Olive Branch on January 20 with a stated goal of securing its borders against Kurdish militia seen as a terrorist organization by Turkey.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Kurds, toxic gas, Turkey

Breaking News: U.S.-backed Kurds Shoot Down Turkish Military Helicopter in Syria

February 10, 2018 By administrator

Kurds Shoot Down Turkish Military Helicopter in Syria

Kurds Shoot Down Turkish Military Helicopter in Syria

As of Friday, Turkish warplanes have launched a new wave of bombing of Kurdish militia targets in Syria’s Afrin region

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan says those responsible will ‘suffer the consequences.

A Turkish military helicopter has been shot down in northern Syria during an operation against US-backed Kurdish forces, according to Turkey’s President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Speaking in Istanbul, Mr Erdoğan did not mention the name of the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units or YPG but said those responsible would pay for their actions.

The Turkish military has not made a statement but a spokesman for the Kurdish militia, Mustafa Bali, confirmed his fighters downed the chopper in Raju, northwest Afrin.

“A military helicopter was downed. We will have losses, but they [perpetrators] will suffer the consequences,” Mr Erdoğan said, according to YeniSafak.

“Our security forces are engaging in a great fight. We destroyed many of their missile depots yesterday,” he added.

Turkey launched a military offensive on 20 January to uproot the YPG from Afrin in what has been dubbed Operation Olive Branch.

The YPG are considered by Turkey to be an extension of an insurgency within its own borders.

Nineteen Turkish soldiers have died since the operation started

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: helicopter, Kurds, Shoot Down Turkish, Syria

Erdogan warns Iraqi Kurds will go hungry if sanctions imposed

September 26, 2017 By administrator

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday warned that Iraqi Kurds would go hungry if Turkey decides to halt the flow of trucks and oil across its border with northern Iraq, and said all military and economic measures were on the table.

The comments, some of the harshest yet from Erdogan about Monday’s referendum in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region, came as Iraqi troops joined the Turkish army for joint military exercises near Turkey’s border with northern Iraq, Straitstimes.com reports.

Turkey has long been northern Iraq’s main link to the outside world, but sees the referendum as a threat to its own national security, fearing it will inflame separatism among its own Kurdish population.

“(They) will be left in the lurch when we start imposing our sanctions,” Erdogan said in a speech broadcast live on television. “It will be over when we close the oil taps, all (their) revenues will vanish, and they will not be able to find food when our trucks stop going to northern Iraq.”

Erdogan has repeatedly threatened economic sanctions, but has so far given few details.

Hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil a day flow through a pipeline in Turkey from northern Iraq, connecting the region to global oil markets.

 

He said that all options – from economic to military measures that involved land and air space – were on the table.

Iraqi soldiers joined Turkish troops for military exercises in southeast Turkey near the border with Iraq on Tuesday, a Reuters witness near the border said, as the two countries coordinate steps in response to the referendum.

Erdogan also accused Massoud Barzani, the president of the Kurdistan Regional Government, of “treachery” over the vote. “Until the very last moment, we weren’t expecting Barzani to make such a mistake as holding the referendum, apparently we were wrong,” Erdogan said.

“This referendum decision, which has been taken without any consultation, is treachery.”

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Erdogan, Iraqi, Kurds, warns

Kurds stick to independence vote, ‘never going back to Baghdad:’ Barzani

September 24, 2017 By administrator

Iraq’s Kurds will go ahead with a referendum on independence on Sept. 25, Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) President Massoud Barzani has said.

Iraqi Kurds will seek talks with the Shi’ite-led central government to implement the expected “yes” outcome of the referendum, even if they take two years or more, he said at a news conference.

“We will never go back to the failed partnership” with Baghdad, he said, adding Iraq has become a “theocratic, sectarian state” and not the democratic one that was supposed to be built after the 2003 overthrow of Saddam Hussein.

Barzani dismissed the concern of Iraq’s powerful neighbors Iran and Turkey that the vote could destabilize the region, committing to respecting the laws on international boundaries and not seek to redraw region’s borders.

“Only independence can reward the mothers of our martyrs,” he said, reminding the international community of the role played by the Kurds in the war on the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

“Only through independence we can secure our future,” he added.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: independence, Kurds, stick, Vote

Curfew imposed in Iraq’s Kirkuk after clashes between Kurds and Turkmen over Kurdistan vote

September 19, 2017 By administrator

A Kurdish man walks in the street in the Iraqi city of Kirkuk on September 18, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

Iraqi police have imposed a curfew in the northern city of Kirkuk, which witnessed skirmishes between Kurds and Turkmen days before a controversial Kurdish referendum on independence from the mainland.

The Iraqi Kurds plan to hold the plebiscite on September 25 in three provinces that make up their region, as well as in disputed areas that are controlled by Kurdish forces but claimed by Baghdad, including the oil-rich Kirkuk Province.

Baghdad has slammed the upcoming vote as unconstitutional, calling on the Kurdish leadership to drop the plan.

On Monday, Iraq’s top court temporarily suspended the Kurdish independence referendum, saying it “issued a national order to suspend the referendum procedures … until the resolution of the cases regarding the constitutionality of said decision.” Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi also formally asked the Kurdish officials to halt the process.

Later in the day, gunmen opened fire on one of the Kirkuk offices of the Iraqi Turkmen Front political movement, which is opposed to the Kurdish vote.

Mohammed Samaan Kanaan, in charge of the Front’s offices, told The Associated Press that guards returned fire, killing one and wounding two of the assailants.

Hours later, a police patrol attacked another office of the Iraqi Turkmen Front, but there were no casualties, he added.

Afterwards, Kirkuk was placed under a nighttime curfew, with provincial police chief, Brigadier General Khattab Omar saying that an investigation committee was probing the incident.

He blamed Monday’s clashes on “reckless enthusiastic youths” and said that arrests have been made.

Locals said Iraqi police had deployed overnight in Kirkuk to prevent any outbreak of ethnic violence ahead the Kurdish vote.

Last week, Iraqi Kurdish lawmakers approved holding the secession vote in the face of fierce opposition from the central government in Baghdad.

The United Nations and the US as well as regional powers like Iran and Turkey have also expressed concerns about the planned referendum by the semi-autonomous Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), arguing that it could create further instability in the already volatile region.

The president of Iraq’s Kurdistan region, Massoud Barzani, said once again late Monday that he would proceed with the referendum despite warnings at home and abroad.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Clashes, Curfew imposed, kirkuk, Kurdistan vote, Kurds, Turkmen

When Kurds Draw the Map of the Middle East

June 6, 2017 By administrator

Kurds Draw the Map of the Middle East

Kurds Draw the Map of the Middle East

By Vicken Cheterian,

In the second half of the 20th century, when the central conflict in the Middle East was around the Palestinian question, there were few analysts who said that the 21st century would see a greater conflict in the region, this time centered on the Kurdish question. They argued that just like the Palestinian people, who were stateless and lived under foreign occupation and therefore struggling for national independence, the Kurds had the same problem but four times as complex. The Kurdish people lived under four states – Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria – four states that were going through centralization process and therefore bringing huge pressure on the Kurdish traditional autonomy and its social fabric. Often, these states did not even recognize the existence of the Kurdish people – as in Turkey and Syria. In the age of nationalism, the Kurdish question was ignored by the states, and by the opposition parties alike. The Kurds were the major stateless people, and this anomaly could not continue, they argued.

Yet, history has its own ways of doing things, and the Kurdish question emerged much earlier than anyone expected. Two developments put the Kurdish question on the Middle Eastern map. The first was the 1980 military coup in Turkey, which practically destroyed the powerful Turkish leftist movements, leaving behind vacuum that had to be filled by a new force. As a result, a small Kurdish latecomer with the name “Kurdistan Workers’ Party” or PKK emerged as a major actor. PKK entered the field of armed struggle with a Stalinist-nationalist ideology quite late, as the party was founded in 1978 and it launched its armed campaign in 1984, which makes it one of the latest guerilla groups that uses a mixture of nationalist-Marxist ideology for its armed struggle. A decade later only Islamist groups would play a similar role. PKK was in alliance with the Baathist regime in Damascus, with bases in Syria and training camps in Lebanese Bekaa Valley. Yet, the salvation of PKK will come with its divergence of bases and networks – in the Kurdish communities in Europe and more important with establishing bases in the Kandil mountains on Iraqi-Turkish border hence outside Syrian control. When PKK was chased out of Syria in 1999, these two bases permitted PKK to survive, reorganize, and re-launch its armed struggle in 2004.

The other major event was the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990. The event turned Middle Eastern geopolitics upside down, and we are still living its aftershocks. Saddam Hussein’s misadventure, two years after the end of a disastrous war with Iran turning against his Gulf and American allies, led to the downfall of the Iraqi state in the next decade. It also led to the emergence of a new state on the map, which eventually became the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq. This was happening as the Cold War was coming to an end, and a new geopolitical map was being drawn. It was a time when each and every player, superpower or a local militia group, was trying to find a new role. Now it is evident that for the US strategy in post-Cold War Middle East, the Kurds of Iraq but also elsewhere have a role to play.

Many underestimated the emerging Kurdish factor, namely Turkey. Instead of understanding the emergence of a new, powerful reality and working with it, Turkish political strategists desperately fought against it. Turkey opposed the emergence of KRG, only later to build close commercial collaboration with Erbil. Turkey continued to fight against its own Kurds, even after the Kemalists lost power to Erdogan. This conflict with the Kurds has put Ankara not only against the trend of history in the Middle East, but also against its own allies within NATO. Ankara opposed US invasion of Iraq in 2003, closing down its Incirlik base to US military operations. In 2012, Ankara opposed to Kurdish role in Syria, fearing the emergence of yet another Kurdish de facto state to its southern borders, and instead betting on radical Islamist militants. Both bets have clearly failed.

The visit of Turkish President to Washington in May this year made things clear concerning the role of the Kurds. Erdogan was hoping that Trump would correct the “mistakes” of the Obama administration, namely to distance itself from alliance with PKK-PYD in Syria. Two days before Erdogan’s visit to Washington, the US announced that it was going to arm Syrian Kurdish units of PYD with heavy weapons, including anti-tank guided missiles. The fact that Trump-Erdogan meeting lasted only 22 minutes including translation means that no meaningful discussion took place between the two leaders. Trump was to follow Obama’s policy of considering PYD its major ally inside Syria. In other words, the role of PYD in Syria is not a question of US administration and its policies, but it is a strategic choice; for US military planners not only the Iraqi Peshmerga counts in their fight against ISIS, but also PYD-PKK is to lead the attack on ISIS “capital” of Raqqa. For Washington, Paris or Berlin, the Kurdish role is evidently more important than the Incirlik airbase, and Turkish role as Western partner in the Middle East.

The emergence of Kurdish factor has a number of shortcomings. The first is the internal divisions within the Kurds, which reflects deep historic, social and geographic realities. In Iraq, the Barzani and Talabani leaderships reflect deeper divisions, geographic identities and tribal loyalties, which at times came into violent clashes as during 1994-97 inter-Kurdish wars. The divisions are equally important within Turkey. First, there are the “village guards” or Kurdish militias armed by the Turkish military to fight against the PKK. These village guards belong to Kurdish tribal chiefs, or aghas, who can trace their lineage back to Hamidiye Cavalry, who in the 19th century were armed by the Ottomans to play the role of auxiliary to the army. More important, today there is an important Kurdish middle class in major Turkish cities such as Istanbul, Ankara or Adana, who are not interested to see the emergence of an independent Kurdish state, but rather prefer to live in a democratic Turkey where rule of law and minority rights are respected. It will be the Turkish xenophobic push, rather than the Kurdish nationalist pull, that could make this group join the cause of the guerillas.

Second, Kurdish political groups built alliances full of contradictions. In the 1980’s and 90’s, PKK received support from Syrian authorities to fight Turkish military, while thousands of Syrian Kurds did not even have nationality, and did not enjoy basic cultural rights. How will a reinforced regime in Damascus treat the Kurdish autonomy “Rojava” in the north? Similarly, in Iraq Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) is in alliance with Ankara, while Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) is close to Baghdad-Tehran. Kurdish nationalism, much like Arab nationalism, is pluralist in nature, and rejecting this fact would be ignoring reality.

Lastly, Kurdish nationalism is a latecomer, when the entire regional politics is in post-nationalist epoch where sectarian identities have become important. Kurds are largely Sunni Muslims, but also Alevi, Shiite and other religious groups. Kurds have also been impacted by Islamic radicalism and sectarianism, for example the Kurdish Mullah Krekar was the one who introduced Abu Mus’ib al-Zarqawi to northern Iraq in 2003, and many ISIS members are Kurds from Iraq, Turkey or Syria. Religious differences were also clear in the case of Yazidis of Sinjar. When ISIS attacked Yazidis in August 2014, their areas were under the protection of Peshmerga forces. But Peshmerga did not fight, and evacuated its forces, leaving the Yazidi civilians to the jihadi fighters. Evidently, the Kurdish leaders did not see the Yazidis as part of “their group” and did not feel obliged to defend them. This has created a deep divide between the Yazidi population of Sinjar area, and the KRG authorities. More generally, it is yet to be seen how the growing Sunni-Shiite polarization could affect the emerging, yet fragile, Kurdish identity and mass consciousness.

Source: agos

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Kurds, map, Middle East

Turkey faces two uneasy choices in Syria. Neither of them is good #SyriaWar

January 31, 2017 By administrator

Turkish forces invading the northern Syrian town of Jarabulus in August 2016

By David Barchard,

Turks woke up to hear a pleasant and quite unexpected surprise on their morning news last Thursday.

But then, just a few hours later, it was followed by equally unexpected, but to most Turks, unwelcome news.

Taken together, the two developments suggest that any firm agreement between Turkey and the other outside players in the war in Syria may still be far off.

It leaves the Ankara-Moscow partnership vulnerable to upset, while Turkey’s military operations in Syria could be checked, at least temporarily.

Washington and Moscow at odds

The good news, at least initially to Turkish government ears, came from US President Donald Trump, who announced that he intended to help set up safe zones in Syria to act as bases for refugees. Turkey has been pressing for safe zones in northern Syria – originally to be combined with no-fly zones – for nearly four years now.

With a ceasefire now declared in Syria and operations against the regime of Bashar al-Assad currently halted, the zones would presumably no longer be used for military purposes.

Nevertheless, they faced the tacit but unwavering opposition of both the Obama administration in the United States for several years, contributing to the bitter rift which steadily opened up between Washington and Ankara from 2013 onwards, mainly because the US refused to assist a Turkish military operation in Syria.

Trump’s remarks suggested that he sees the zones in terms of relieving pressure from refugees, rather than as having crucial significance for the strategic balance in Syria.

Before floating the idea, Trump has evidently had not taken soundings from Moscow. Within an hour or two, President Vladimir Putin’s press spokesperson, Dimtry Peskov, warned pointedly: “It is important that this does not exacerbate the situation with refugees, but probably all the consequences ought to be weighed up.”

As the day wore on, that message began to sink in. Turks felt uncertain, perhaps even uneasy, about what Trump was actually proposing.

What missing: enclaves

The crucial detail which was missing from his remarks was his attitude to the Syrian Kurds who belonged to the Democratic Union Party (PYD), which rules the Syrian Kurdish enclaves but is an affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the militant movement which is fighting an all-out terrorist campaign against the Turkish government.

Ankara views the PYD enclaves as dangerous and unacceptable and would like to see them ended – though how this could be achieved is unclear.

It also wants Syrian Kurdish military advances against IS stopped because this is bringing close the spectre (for Ankara) of a militarily strong independent Kurdish area in Syria. That brought it into confrontation with Obama. Will it do the same with Trump?

Trump’s decision to retain Brett McGurk as “special envoy” (ie de facto organiser) of the US-led coalition against Islamic State (IS) has already disappointed Ankara.

McGurk is regarded as the architect of a military pact between the US and the Peoples Protection Units (YPG), the YPD militia, through which the Syrian Kurds have access to a supply of weaponry which might be used in potential stand-offs with Turkish or Syrian opposition forces.

Alarm bells in Ankara

And then, later on Thursday morning, Turkish TV news reported the bad news.

Till the end of last week almost nothing was revealed about the content of the talks between the Syrian government and opposition groups at Astana in Kazakhstan, though a mood of disappointment seemed to be setting in among the various groups in the Free Syrian Army opponents of the regime.

This is awkward for Turkey, which is seeking to combine them into a single unified political entity, which will be able to act for the opposition in any long-term deal for the future of Syria.

However if Russian press sources are to be believed, a draft constitution was presented to participants at Astana by the Russian delegation. The details that have been revealed are deeply unpalatable both for the regime’s Sunni Arab opponents and for Turkey.

Under the draft, a non-Arab, non-Islamic state would be created. It would be based on cultural and religious diversity, with the non-Sunni group (30 percent of the total based on the country’s pre-war population) holding an entrenched position.

No map has yet been published but obviously Assad would retain the prosperous coastal provinces while the Sunni area would probably be in the north near Turkey.

“The cultural diversity of the Syrian society will be ensured,” the draft stated. The plan would stop just short of outright federalism, something which almost everybody in Turkey is nervous about on principle, regarding it as the prelude to a permanent breakaway by the Syrian Kurdish enclaves known as Rojava along the south of the Turkish border.

For groups which have been fighting to create a unified Sunni state, all this is unlikely to be acceptable.

The really contentious point in the draft, and the one which immediately set alarm bells ringing in Turkey, was the proposal that there could be autonomous Kurdish regions and that in these there would be equality for both the Kurdish and Arabic languages.

Who benefits – and who loses out?

The PYD were excluded from the Astana meeting at Turkey’s request, but a rival group, the Kurdish National Council (ENKS), an offshoot of the Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government, was present.

Contrary to what Ankara hoped, indeed probably expected, Moscow’s sights now seem to be focused on involving the PYD in the settlement.

A PYD delegation was invited to Moscow on 26 January to be briefed on the outcome of the Astana meeting and the new constitution by Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister. However last Friday, a Russian spokesperson backtracked, denying Russia supported autonomy for the Kurds.

The immediate implication of this is that, regardless of whatever Trump decides on, Russia is not going to acquiesce in a future attempt by Turkey to subdue “Rojava”, as the Syrian Kurdish enclaves style themselves.

What’s more, if there is to be a settlement in Syria along the lines envisaged at Astana, then the Free Syria Army groups will have to co-exist alongside their Kurdish neighbours. 

Turkey has been engaged in an all-out bid to crush its own Kurdish militants since July 2015. The idea of permanent autonomous Kurdish enclaves on its southern border, which are friendly to the PKK, is a nightmare.

The situation might be different if Turkish forces in Syria, which have been besieging the IS-held town of al-Bab since early December, had the upper hand. Then the Turkish army could move on towards Kurdish-held Afrin and Manbij, which are closer to the southern border.

But so far, IS has proved tenacious, though there are reports that it might withdraw from al-Bab. Ankara, which has lost around 50 soldiers in the siege, is unwilling to risk more casualties in an all-out assault on a town which lost most of its strategic importance when east Aleppo fell in December.

Turkey may now face two uneasy choices: remaining bogged down in Syria; or striking a deal with Russia, which would give it far less than it hoped for and leaves it still facing both IS and the PYD.

– David Barchard has worked in Turkey as a journalist, consultant, and university teacher. He writes regularly on Turkish society, politics, and history, and is currently finishing a book on the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Kurds, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Russia, Turkey

SYRIA Mustafa Muslim: World powers will abandon the Kurds again after use

May 30, 2016 By administrator

kurd after useAccording to Professor Mustafa Muslim, the great powers will abandon the Kurds again once their objectives achieved.
Mustafa Muslim, older brother Salih Muslim, co-chairman of the PYD, analyzed the situation of the Kurdish population in the region to the official Anadolu news agency.
He believes that the support of major world powers to the Kurds PYD leads to an uncertain future, recalling that already in the past, the Kurds were “used and then abandoned” by the

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: abandon, after, Kurds, use, World powers, ’ again

Kurds celebrate Newroz amidst bloody war against Islamic State and Turkey

March 20, 2016 By administrator

12884581_10154064183678872_452736500_n-620x413AKRE – The Kurds in Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey celebrate the coming of spring every year [Newroz] on the 21st of March and they lit fires and torches all throughout Kurdistan despite the war against the Islamic State (ISIS) and an economic crisis in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Near 1,500 Kurdish Peshmerga forces have been killed since the Islamic State attacked the Kurdistan region of Iraq in August 2014, and thousands of Yezidis have been killed, raped, and enslaved by ISIS when they took over Shingal (Sinjar) region in northern Iraq.

In addition, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq has been suffering from an economic crisis due to the low oil prices and Kurdish dependence on oil exports, while the Kurdish government promised to tackle corruption and cut expenditures.

“It is true that Newroz [New Year] this year is celebrated differently because a lot of people wanted to celebrate Newroz but didn’t have money to celebrate it, and we have Daesh [ISIS],” said Adil Muqdad from the city of Kelek. “But the Kurdish people try to be above all of these problems and celebrate it as much as they can,” he added.

Adil’s brother agreed. “This is something Kurdish and this has been going on for a long time. If we don’t celebrate Newroz, Daesh and other enemies of the Kurds will be happy and say they prevented Newroz,” said Shkar Muqdad. “The celebration of Newroz will hopefully continue forever because this is a national Kurdish celebration.”

“In terms of the economic situation it has gotten worse, “ said Bilend Akre, 34. “Of course there is corruption but there is corruption everywhere, it’s natural and it can be tackled,” he added.

“Newroz is a national Kurdish celebration, we have to do it every year,” said Bestun Jamal, 33. “The sacred Kurdish martyrs are celebrated this year and we pay tribute to the martyrs,” he added.

“Newroz will continue because Newroz is a symbol for Kurds and it’s about freedom and a national occasion. Kurds should unite to overcome the current challenges,” said Dilgesh Yousef, 30, a Kurd from Syria.

For many Kurds it is a part of their national struggle against rival states. “The Peshmerga forces are defending Kurdistanm from Shingal until Kirkuk’s disputed territories, “ said Heval Akre, 27. “80 countries are fighting against Daesh [ISIS] and supporting the Peshmerga forces,” he said. “Israel is also approving the idea of Kurdish statehood.”

Moreover many Kurds are optimistic that the Syrian Kurds will also achieve a form of self-rule in northern Syria after the announcement of federalism for Rojava [Kurdish areas of Syria].

“It is the same in Rojava. What the Kurdish forces achieved in Rojava is a historical accomplishment for all Kurds, said Yousef. “Maybe in the future the Kurdistan territories in Iraq and Syria would be connected to each other.”

Reporting by: Wladimir van Wilgenburg

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: amidst, bloody war, celebrate, Kurds, newroz

Erdogan’s War Against Kurds in Southeast Turkey is ‘Part of Business Plan’

February 17, 2016 By administrator

1034883245Most construction companies in Turkey belong to Erdogan mafia gang,

Ankara has unleashed a devastating war against Kurds in the southeast Turkey to “urgently nationalize” the affected structures and implement the AKP-led project of Urban Change in Diyarbakir, Istanbul-based independent scholar Dr. Can Erimtan writes, dubbing the process as “disaster capitalism à la Turca.”

The Kurdish peace process launched by Recep Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) back in 2009 has been eventually brought to an end by Ankara, who now has unleashed an all-out war against its own population in southeastern Turkey.

“The Turkish-state-as-led-by-the-AKP has been waging all-out war against the PKK [Kurdistan Workers’ Party] ever since the June elections proved unable to produce the desired outcome. In fact, the hostilities began on 24-25 July 2015 when Turkey’s Armed Forces (TSK) undertook Operation Martyr Yalcın aimed at PKK and ISIS [Daesh] positions in northern Iraq (KRG) and northern Syria (Rojava),” Istanbul-based independent scholar Dr. Can Erimtan narrates in his article for New Eastern Outlook.

Citing Human Rights Watch’s December report, the scholar calls attention to the fact that since July 2015 Kurdish civilians including women, children and elderly residents have been killed in the course of the Erdogan government’s military operation in southeastern Turkey.

The severe military crackdown has led to the destruction of numerous buildings and monuments, including mosques and churches.

According to Erimtan, the ongoing operation is not a mere punitive action, but, apparently, part of Ankara’s business plan.

The crux of the matter is that since 2010 the AKP-led government has repeatedly made vain attempts to kick off the Urban Change program in Turkey’s southeast region. The project envisaged that 330 individual buildings would be demolished in the area of Sur in Diyarbakir.

“In view of the numerous protests against this apparently wanton and profit-driven destruction, these controlled demolitions were brought to a halt subsequently. But now that real estate is being destroyed in the course of the ongoing armed conflict, Turkey’s State Housing Agency Directorate (TOKİ) has come to the fore once more,” Erimtan elaborates.

Turkish pro-government media outlets have begun to bang the drum for the AKP-led program of Urban Change in Diyarbakir, claiming that the affected structures should be “urgently” nationalized and rebuilt.

There is something very fishy about the Turkish Ministry for Environment and Urban Planning’s report ‘Urban Change and Diyarbakir,’ issued in February 2015, when nothing hinted at any trouble, the scholar stresses.

“The report deals specifically with the area of Sur within the prefecture of Diyarbakir and proposes the realization of ‘a comprehensive change’ in favor of earlier ‘localized interventions’ or ‘narrow-scope implementations’ in order to accomplish feats of ‘conservation,’ ‘regeneration,’ and ‘renewal’ in the area,” Erimtan explains.

The lucrative project envisioned the construction of 8,000 new buildings and the conservation of 1,000 historical monuments.

What lies beneath Ankara’s punitive operation in southeastern Turkey? Apparently it is Erdogan‘s “disaster capitalism.”

Erimtan refers to Canadian author Naomi Klein’s book “The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism” (2007) that describes the controversial strategy invented by US economist Milton Friedman and then implemented by his followers all over the world.

“Only a crisis — actual or perceived — produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. That, I believe, is our basic function: to develop alternatives to existing policies, to keep them alive and available until the politically impossible becomes the politically inevitable,” Friedman wrote in the 1960s.

Klein’s book tells the story of the utter victory of neoliberalism and corporations which used natural and man-made disasters and wars to ruin a region’s economy and infrastructure in order to grab its assets and natural resources.

Remarkably, in 2015 independent Australian journalist Antony Loewenstein released his book “Disaster Capitalism: Making a Killing out of Catastrophe” that echoes Klein’s concept and confirms that disaster has become big business.

Erimtan believes that the Erdogan government is implementing its own version of disaster capitalism in Turkey. Instead of bolstering the country’s productivity and increasing its gross domestic savings, the AKP is pushing ahead with widespread privatization of Turkey’s state assets and enterprises.

The ongoing armed conflict is seen as an ideal business opportunity by Ankara: ignoring the people on the ground the Erdogan government is planning to carry out its lucrative building project in southeast Turkey. 

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: against, Erdogan's, Kurds, war

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