topic by
BAZHAR
6/12/2002 (10:07) |
|
Lest We Forget: The Kurdish Case
Over the past 8 decades, the Kurdish Case for Self-Determination has been in the arena with various stresses and strains applied to it by Kurds, their enemies and their friends. The Kurds have been talked about, used and abused but never consulted or listened to. The masses have had no voice apart from that which their leaders have allowed them, to safeguard their own interests and well-being. Many hundreds of thousands have been the victim of their own leaders and that of their enemies, always ready to cull their numbers and end their miserable lives. Thanks to a couple of fluke chances a glimpse is seen of the extent of their suffering at the hands of nations and governments purporting to be their brothers and friends, and at the hands of some of their own people.
Time after time those who incited them to rebel against their oppressors, promising them freedom and liberty, abandoned them, either to become servants of the enemy or to flee with their own skins to far away and comfortable places, living as ex-warlords or enjoying social security existence in Europe and other places. Some of these leaders had stashed away millions of dollars in western banks and have secured the rest of their lives at the expense of the poor, down-trodden, young men and women who sacrificed life and limb, thinking they did so for the salvation of their people and country.
In fact, it has always been these very leaders who have told their followers to change course in a one hundred and eighty degree reversal, once their own livelihood or freedom has become under threat. Shamelessly and without the slightest bit of conscience they have switched sides and allegiance to the very devils they had been gathering force to fight. Even when the true metal of some of these leaders has been exposed the momentum of the Kurdish drive to become free has been so powerful that the followers of those opportunistic and dogma-ridden leaders, have blindly and faithfully continued to worship them and sacrifice themselves for them.
For the Sake of History and the Eternal Right of Our People to Self-Determination and Statehood we State here the True Reasons for Demanding All Our National Rights:
Our Just demands:
1 The Kurds have been denied freedom not because ‘Brotherhood’ and ‘Peace’ are threatened by it. Most Nations have their own states and no one believes that to be the cause of instability or hatred. People are born free and do not accept being or becoming a tail of other peoples or the property of some state controlled by their very enemies.
2 Like the rest of the world, the Kurds want to control their own resources and have their own democratic representations where only Kurds decide the fate of Kurds. The Kurds have an ancient Homeland in which they have lived for thousands of years and want the Right to:
Develop their homeland without a Veto by an alien power.
Explore their history without an occupying power claiming it all for their own.
Have freedom of Travel from airports in Kurdistan, using Kurdish planes, like the Palestinians, and Individual, National, and International association, like the rest of the world. The Kurds are a nation who have always been free to move from one region to another. Their country is a Multi-weather-system one and they have always needed to move from one part to another in the different seasons. Now they are divided, they are either prevented from moving within their homeland or they have to cross minefields laid out by their oppressors. The nation has been divided by their oppressors and are unable to contact or visit each other or their families without their oppressors allowing it. They need four types of visa to move around within their homeland which the oppressors of their nation will not easily grant. This is a gross violation of human rights which the West is quite happy to turn a blind eye to.
Choose their own democratic system and vote for their own representatives.
Take part in cultural, economic, social and political forums, and have their voice in the UN and other Regional and International Organisations.
Practice the language, culture and religion of their choice. This too is controlled by their oppressors and is clearly another violation of their human rights.
Create and develop their civic culture and develop their town and cities without a Veto by alien rulers.
Develop and improve their socio-economic system which is to bring them out of the 18th and 19th Century to face the 21st Century like the rest of humanity.
Have their own communication systems of post, telephone and transportation systems, uncensored by Arabs, Persians or Turks, as well as all other standard forms of links with the outside world.
Be allowed a UN seat to put the national Kurdish case with regards to international events, treaties and agreements which may affect them or their homeland.
Enjoy international cooperation and development assistance and programmes just like the Arabs, Persians and Turks and other members of the International community without obstacles and/or vetoes by the oppressive occupiers.
Receive disaster relief help directly in situations of tragic incidents such as floods and earth-quakes without having to obtain the usually unforthcoming permission by the oppressors who in a great majority of cases may themselves be the cause and perpetrators of those tragedies, such as the Anfal and the Chemical Attack spree which the Iraqis unleashed upon them. In those situations not only did the Iraqis commit Genocide against us but they also refused to allow any relief to lessen the impact of their criminal and evil deeds.
These are rights, given by God and agreed upon by the International Community. The west is always boasting about its civilized and moral values which are a superset of the above. Yet, they close their eyes when it comes to the Kurds.
The Kurdish nation is not asking for favours or begging for handouts. Their country has all the necessary resources for the complete maintenance of the nation. We are not asking the Turks, Arabs or Persian for money, funds or anything else. Simply that we too are human beings and if they are truly our brothers as they claim all the time then the influence of that brotherhood should be used to help us be as free as they are and not to keep us in chains as they have been desperately trying to do.
The case for Kurdish independence is, therefore, clear and just. It is nothing to be ashamed of, apologise for or bargain with. It should not change and be watered down from its already liquid version stated above. It should not be upto anyone to turn it into an internal opposition, a political principle or some defunct outdated Stalinist doctrine one day and a Torani, uniform-Turkish Turkey with ‘brotherhood’ (applied to the Kurds alone) and other such hallucinatory ideas the next. Any Kurd, fooled and duped by such panaceas and utopian ideas should immediately ask those advocating the abandonment of the case stated above, the following:
If you wish us to be part of your Republics of Brotherhood and Democracy, why do the Arabs of Palestine need to become a state, by separating from Egypt and Jordan (nevermind their racial brothers the Israelis)? Why does not Turkey and Cyprus become one? Why not the Persian speaking brothers of the Persians give up their independence for a pan-Persian brotherhood? Why indeed did the British American, Australian and New-Zealanders separate and enjoy brotherhood as well as freedom and independence? There are dozens of such examples which immediately show the false claim of brotherhood and democracy to be a red herring and a blatant attempt to fool the Kurds.
WHAT OUR CASE IS NOT ABOUT
Our struggle to become free can not and should not be coloured with the ideas of fascism, separatism, or hatred. We do not hate anyone. Indeed hatred arises from oppression, cruelty and Genocide. Allowing the Kurds their own state will most certainly reduce hatred and strengthen brotherhood and friendship. A nation not having any say in its future or the running of its normal and basic life and livelihood can never entertain ideas of fascism. That abhorrent idea is much more a characteristics of those who reject and fight the freedom of nations and not the oppressed nations themselves.
It is not about turning the clock back on progress. Some suggest that the 21st Century is about love, peace and democracy and an independent Kurdistan would be against those principles. This is the cruelest way to keep the evil system of colonialism and support of oppression by nations against others. Freedom, democracy and justice is about choice. The Kurds have not been allowed to enjoy any of those and just when others have been or are being released from their chains, we are told it is too late for you. It is like queuing for days to buy a loaf of bread, seeing others are given the right to jump the queue and shortcut the process and when it is finally your turn, be refused the right to buy because suddenly the town mayor decides that it is time everyone bought cakes or some other luxurious food. This claim, the Kurds should realise, is another red herring.
It is not about Opposition to the Central Authority, its economic and social policies or its foreign or national policies. Even if the central Government were a bunch of angels as far as the dominant nation is concerned and provided for the welfare and well-being of some and did not commit the kind of Genocide and murder and other atrocities against our nation, we believe that we have a right to be in complete control of our future and destiny to achieve the kind of life and society we have stated, in our just case above. We are not against Arab, Persian or Turkish national aspirations (provided they are legal and just). We are not against the economic system of the ruling governments. We are not against the way they conduct policy, the economic system or anything else which their peoples are happy with. That is a matter which is totally up to them. We simply want our own state so that we too can practice the freedoms other nations have long taken for granted.
It is not about causing economic or social upheaval. In fact it is quite the opposite. So far, the consequences of keeping the Kurds in their present state of slavery has meant:
Many wars in the region
Animosity over oil
Animosity over Water which, if it were in the hands of the Kurds (the rightful owners) no one would be deprived of.
The retardation of a large area the size of France, with scenery and beauty, unmatched anywhere in the world. Instead of development and an economic boom from which the whole region could benefit, we have minefields, death and destruction, poisoning of the environment and a constant smell of gun powder and conflict. When you realise that this has been the work of ‘brothers’ then you also realise the falsehood of that claim.
|
|