Posted on 03/03/2003 8:14:19 AM PST by Destro
03 Mar 2003 10:28
Thousands of Iraqi Kurds march against Turkey
By Sebastian Alison
ARBIL, Iraq, March 3 (Reuters) - Thousands of Iraqi Kurds took to the streets on Monday to protest against Turkish plans for military intervention in Kurdish-administered northern Iraq, but police said the demonstration passed off peacefully.
"Anti-Turkish feeling is very high," traffic policeman Rajab Ali Kakel told Reuters at the march in Arbil, where several Turkish flags were burnt. "There's never been a protest of this size here," he added.
Kakel and his colleagues put the number of marchers at up to half a million, although this could not be independently verified and other estimates put the figure below 100,000.
Turkey plans to send an unspecified number of troops across its border into the free Kurdish area of northern Iraq during any U.S.-led invasion to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
But U.S. plans have been thrown into confusion by the refusal of Ankara's parliament to allow U.S. troops into Turkey.
Turkey has a large Kurdish minority of its own and has a deep-seated fear of Kurds seeking an independent homeland.
Although Turkish officials say they plan only to protect Kurdistan's Turkmen minority and prevent a flood of refugees entering Turkey, the Iraqi Kurds see a threat to their nascent democracy and freedoms.
The three largely Kurdish Iraqi provinces of Arbil, Sulaymaniyah and Dohuk have been out of the reach of Saddam's government since the end of the Gulf War in 1991, under the protection of a U.S.- and British-patrolled no-fly-zone.
"For a long time we suffered too much for this freedom," said Aram Khalid, an artist on the march. "Now the Turks are going to intervene and we don't like it."
Marchers held up banners in Kurdish, Arabic and English. "Kurdistan - cemetery of the Turkish army," read one. "USA has an obligation to protect the Kurd," read another, although the U.S. says it wants Turkey to join an anti-Saddam coalition and that it would have a role in Iraq.
The march, on a mild spring morning, was good natured and peaceful, but passions ran deep.
"For many years we've lived in peace and we don't want to live under the control of another country," said Karwan, a sculptor.
Affaf, a woman in her twenties marching the four km (2-1/2 mile) route with a friend, expressed the mood of many when she said: "We are angry, but in a peaceful way."
The Turks Cyprus lie applied to Kurdistan. The truth is that Turmen want nothing to do with Turkey the same way the Dutch want nothing to do with Germany.
Iraqi Turcoman minority urges Turkey to keep out
KURDISH WAR: Turks versus Turks to Help the Kurds
As the G.I.JOE's are fond of saying; "Now you know, and knowing is half the battle".
The US has provided the planet with most of the very few examples where a protectorate (or even fully-owned territory) is given up freely without a fight... and in the Middle East, it's almost considered unconscionable to do so without bloodshed.
Just to be on the safe side, teach your grandkids Spanish.
Most here would reply, "because it was wrong to do so there, and Clinton was a [long stream of expletives deleted] for ordering it."
I'm not well-versed enough in the history of the region in general, or in our conflict there in particular, but it doesn't seem like we should be in the business of redrawing the maps for others. I'm all for ousting mass murderers, and preventing equally horrible replacements, but let the survivors make their own way into the future... even if it means they have to shed blood over the issue.
Can you imagine what our history would have been if a coalition force had defeated King George in 1775, and then told us what our new nation would or would not become... and then prevented us from fighting it out with the newly-placed authoritarians?
It'll take longer to topple Saddam's regime without being able to stage large from Turkey, but the Iraqi Kurds'll be safer. Less chance of the military misunderstanding that I've been dreading between Iraqi Kurds and Turkish troops exploding into a seperate war.
The reaction of their stock market may make them change their minds. The first vote was extremely close. Another one would probably pass as the businessmen give the politicians their two cents.
It ostensibly appears that Turkey is "pull[ing] a Francois on us." However, you may wish to read a thread (including the in-depth comments--not too many--only 62) posted to glean a a broader perspective of the benefits/consequences of jumping too quickly to a conclusion about Turkey's alliance with us--as well as the background of the Kurds, and what other possible agenda their leaders may have. We've been deluged with information that compels us to feel a genuinely deserved compassion for what the Kurds suffered under Saddam. But, without ignoring their suffering, we also perhaps need to take a very close look at the agenda of the Kurdish leaders (and their not-so-distant previous alliances), and ask if, in the long-run, it will be in reality a remarkable improvement in the lives of Iraqi citizens. I'm still learning (and hope always to be so), and perhaps most particularly how critical it is to ensure that we have a firm grasp on both sides of a story (especially if we're looking at only a couple of media articles).
By the way, is anyone else perplexed about how our administration can casually toss $15B of US money to African nations to combat their AIDS epidemic, and simultaneously balk at the Turks' request for the same amount--to subsidize their direct contribution to aiding America in the war on terrorism (specifically in ousting Saddam), while their own economy is in the straits? Have I missed the part where there was an African nation offering up similar assistance--or any demonstration of good-will towards the USA?
Hey, a_Turk and Beck, just letting you know that your time and effort was not all in vain ;-)
Even if they do pass the measure this go around, we should tell them that they had their chance and we're no longer interested. I don't think we should "owe" anyone anything.
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