Bombing the villagers
The actions of Turkey in northern Iraq will not
solve the 'Kurdish problem' and should be roundly
condemned by the US and EU
Kerim Yildiz
January 23, 2008
Guardian
The bombardments
and air raids carried out since mid-October, and
most recently on January 11 by the Turkish air
force, are only the most recent in a series of
coordinated attacks on civilian populations in
northern Iraq by both Turkey and Iran since last
August.
Turkey's claims of "self defence" only thinly veil
what is a coordinated strategy for the
destabilisation of the Kurdistan Regional Government
(KRG), the only part of Iraq to have enjoyed a
degree of stability since the 2003 invasion. Indeed,
just last summer Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan stated publicly that it made no strategic
sense to cross the border in search of the PKK,
since the majority are based within Turkey's
borders.
Turkey, Syria and Iran have a shared animosity
towards Kurdish autonomy and have been engaged in a
concerted policy to undermine the KRG since its
establishment in the 1990s. This is not simply a
behind-the-scenes arrangement; as recently as a few
months ago the Turkish military's chief of staff,
General Büyükanit, branded development of the KRG
as the biggest threat to Turkey's future security,
while Syria was the only state to vocally support
Turkey's authorisation of incursions into northern
Iraq in October 2007.
Even before Turkey's authorisation of incursions,
Iran was shelling Kurdish villages on the Iraqi side
of its border throughout August and September.
Central to the actions of these states is the
yet-undecided status of Kirkuk. Were the oil-rich
city to come under Kurdish jurisdiction, the KRG
would become a more powerful regional example of the
merits of Kurdish autonomy, in stark contrast to the
current situation of Kurds in Turkey, Iran and
Syria.
During fact-finding missions by the Kurdish Human
Rights Project (KHRP) to the border regions in
November 2007 and January 2008 I witnessed
first-hand the effects of Turkish artillery
bombardment and air strikes. In the Dohuk region,
near the Turkish border, the bombardments have
caused serious disruption for local people,
including displacement and the destruction of
property, livestock, arable land and woodland. The
psychological effects of such bombardments,
particularly on children, are enduring and extremely
worrying.
In the Rania region of the KRG's Sulemanya governate,
an area not far from the Iranian border which also
suffered Iranian shelling in August 2007, KHRP
witnessed the aftermath of the recent Turkish air
raids: the destruction of mosques, schools,
hospitals and farmland, along with the killing and
injuring of villagers. More than 50 civilian
villages were affected in the opening bombing raid
of 16 December alone.
While the effect on "terrorist bases" has been
negligible, these raids have destroyed the crops and
homes of hundreds of rural civilians, and with them,
their independence and self-sufficiency. Civilians
are clearly being targeted in what should be
condemned as an act of aggression and a violation of
international law.
By adopting the discourse of the "war on terror" in
its violation of Iraqi sovereignty, its targeting of
civilians and its endangerment of the KRG's
stability, Turkey has garnered tacit US approval of
such actions and only muted criticism from the
European Union. This is particularly shocking when
Turkey's actions in the region have been carried out
with the full cooperation and support of two "rogue"
states that have been condemned by the EU and the US
for contributing to instability elsewhere in Iraq
and in the region as a whole.
The United States' long association and familiarity
with Turkey through Nato should make it fully aware
that military action will not bring a solution to
the "Kurdish question" in Turkey or Iraq. This,
indeed, was acknowledged by George Bush during
Turkish president Abdullah Gül's visit to
Washington on January 8.
If the US and EU are serious about promoting peace,
stability and democracy in the region, they should
be very concerned at the current state of affairs.
Turkey - a Nato member and EU applicant - is
behaving like a "rogue" state, to use US
terminology. To allow Turkey to use the anti-terror
pretext for such aggression, and to give tacit
approval to it, is extremely damaging to the US and
EU and leaves them in a very difficult position when
needing to deal with the actions of other less
friendly "rogue" states.
The actions of Turkey in northern Iraq, and indeed
the actions of Iran and Syria, should be roundly
condemned by the international community and
particularly by the US and EU who both have an
enormous interest in maintaining the KRG as an
example of stability in the region. Turkey should be
encouraged to change its attitude to the KRG, to see
Kurdish autonomy not as a threat to its integrity
but rather as a lawful example of how its own
"Kurdish problem" could be solved.
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