REFUSING THE PROPER REMEDY

"There's a remedy for everything except death."
~ Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra.

How many times did the Ankara regime invade South Kurdistan in the 1990's?

Don't feel badly if you don't know because it's easy to lose track after so many invasions, but a guy who served as one of India's ambassadors to Turkey did the numbers:

During 1983-98 when PKK terrorism was rampant [actually, that was when Turkish terrorism was rampant, and that's why it was called the "Dirty War"--Mizgîn], the Turkish military conducted cross-border operations inside Iraq about 36 times. Some operations were of a large scale, involving air force and heavy armor. In 1997, troops at corps strength of up to 50,000 crossed the border and went 200 kilometers into Iraqi territory.

But circumstances were different then. Saddam Hussein connived in the muzzling of Kurdish irredentist nationalism. The US was Turkey's staunch North Atlantic Treaty Organization ally. Iraqi Kurdish leaders, who depended on handouts from Ankara, collaborated. And Iraq wasn't the cynosure of attention in world politics - let alone Kurdistan's remote mountains.

Now, circumstances have changed. There is no effective government in Baghdad. Kurdish nationalism is boiling. Iraqi Kurdish leaders oppose any crackdown on their fellow Kurds belonging to the PKK. A de facto Kurdish government is functioning in northern Iraq. The leadership of Massoud Barzani has powerful backers in the US and Israel. Most important, US priorities are vastly different from the Cold War era, or the 1990s.

Turkey refused to cooperate with the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. The strain persists, in spite of appearances. Meanwhile, the Kurdish militia [pêşmerge, not "militia"--Mizgîn] has proved to be a valuable ally of the US. Kurdistan has since become the staging ground for US and Israeli intelligence's covert operations against Iran. It is a strategic asset in the event of any US military strike against Iran.

From this biased source, we learn that the Ankara regime invaded South Kurdistan 36 times during the 1990s, with the hope of ridding itself of Kurds who fight back when repressed.

How many times was the regime successful? Zero. Zip. Zilch. Never.

Given the change in political conditions on the ground, how successful will the Ankara regime be this time? My Magic 8 Ball reads: "Not."

Why? Well, contrary to the impression given by the ambassador from India, the problem is not, nor has ever been, a military problem; therefore military solutions will not work. Just as a disease must be cured by the proper application of medication or by the proper surgical procedure, so the proper solution must be applied to the situation of Kurds under Turkish occupation and, in this case, a political solution is the only one that will work. It is the proper medication, the proper surgical procedure, the proper response to the Kurdish situation.

The proper remedy was offered last August.

Of course, the Paşas and their friends, have their own agenda, and that's why they have rejected the proper remedy. This fact proves that the Kurdish people are not the ones who are sick.

Bianet has more on the infamous 7-Points issued by the Turkish general staff late last Friday night, and the analysis indicates that the Turkish version was more alarming than the English version which was published by Hürriyet and noted earlier on Rastî. Here's what Bianet reports:

According to [political analyst Kenan] Kalyon, the army now sees not only the PKK but a "united Kurdish area" as a threat, with the government of Iraqi Kurdistan as a focal point.

He also commented on the end of the PKK ceasefire, saying that the army was never held to account for not ending its operations during the ceasefire period.

(Note: There has been no formal end to the ceasefire. HPG continues to abide by the rules of the ceasefire.)

Kalyon calls for open resistance against the Paşas' orders by "everyone in their right mind." But the institutionalized racism that is enforced by the Paşas is the same racism that is the foundation of the modern Turkish state. That racism is the disease and it is the factor by which we see the demonization of the victims as "terrorists," while the real terrorists present themselves as the victims of "terrorism." Meanwhile, the rest of the world, too stupid to know the difference and too used to being spoon-fed their pre-digested media pablum, acquiesce to the lies.

The struggle continues.