Turkey vs Kurds: A Lost Revolution

While the War Against Trump continues unabated, another War would seem to be raising the bar in it’s militaristic martial law style of genocide. This one is promoted by Turkey’s Erdogan and is aimed at obliterating the Kurds from Turkey, Syria, Iraq and anywhere Erdogan has a sword.   So, who are the Kurds? Who supports them? Who denies them?

It’s complicated. Like Syria’s Assad, the US has a history of fighting the Kurds, aligning with the Kurds, and ignoring the Kurds.   Dating back to the fall of the Ottoman Empire after WWl, various land masses confiscated from the Ottomans were apportioned and became independent states, including ‘Kurdistan’. However, in 1925 the Treaty was renegotiated between Turkey and the European allies and the Turkish borders extended to disclude any Kurdish land.

Placed under Martial Law, in the 1970’s the Kurds organized the PKK Party under the ideology of Marx in an effort to reclaim their sovereignty. The US supported the guerrilla PKK, utilizing them to aid in an attempt to overthrow the Iraqi Ba’ath Party.   Then oil became the new gold and everything changed. The Kurds needed to be ousted from the oil rich land, the US abandoned them, and Iran and Iraq joined forces to eliminate them.  The US and Europe huddled out of the mess.

It is estimated that there are approximately 12 million Palestinians living across the globe, including roughly 5 million in The State of Palestine. By contrast, there are over 45 million Kurds who have systematically been forced to abandon their homes, their statehood, and their status as citizens in virtually all Middle Eastern countries.  Yet their plight is rarely discussed.  Instead, the media tends to highlight the ‘Christian Kurds’.

Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria have the largest Kurd populations. While most Kurds follow Islam, there are smaller factions that support Shia, Yarsan, Yazidi, Zoroastrianism and Christianity, of which their numbers are estimated to be 25,000 total. That’s 25,000 out of a population of 45 million, .05%.

In 1990, the US again tapped the support of Kurds in their offensive against Iraq’s Saddam Hussein.   And then again the US tapped the help of the Kurds in fighting ISIS in Syria.   We use them when it serves a purpose, but in the end, we cannot become involved in a war wherein Turkey, Iran, Syria, Iraq and all the rebels therein would be our target to stand beside our Kurdish allies.   The US is not alone in this standoff.   Despite an overwhelming 800,000 Kurdish population in Germany, there seems to be little to no response by them to intervene in the assault leveled on the Kurds by Turkey. Like the UN, which models the Wizard of Oz, their power is smoke and noise from a megaphone.

In and out – of favor.

Why are the US and Europe ignoring the genocide despite claiming to embrace the Kurds?

It is complicated.

Part of the reason lies in the fact that it is Turkey and Erdogan at the front of the assault. Erdogan made a deal with Merkel to quell the flow of refugees to Germany – for a price.   That contract could be ripped to shreds should the EU interfere in Turkey’s aggressions. The result would be a free fall of refugees and a complete degradation of the entire EU. The bluff is not without a hand of Aces.

The other part is that there is no solution:   Like the Palestinians, the Kurds have no place to go. The Arab nations don’t want them for they are simply another threat to their sovereignty of wealth, ie: land and oil.   As such the Kurd’s solution is to fight for a corner, a speck of land, and hope that their own brothers will ultimately abide by the Sharia doctrine of sharing…  Hundreds of years have passed.

A young Turkish man offered me this piece of wisdom when I asked, “So, who are the good guys and who are the bad?”:

The good guys include the US, Russia, China, Japan, Turkey, Germany, France, Canada and Australia.

The bad guys include the US, Russia, China, Japan, Turkey, Germany, France, Canada and Australia…