A WAR BY ANY OTHER NAME

"My life is simple, my food is plain, and my quarters are uncluttered. In all things, I have sought clarity. I face the troubles and problems of life and death willingly. Virtue, integrity and courage are my priorities. I can be approached, but never pushed; befriended but never coerced; killed but never shamed."
Yi Sun Shin.

Bianet has an article by some kind of peacenik in which the wildly popular mayor of Kurdistan's capital city, Osman Baydemir, is criticized for saying that the Ankara regime has declared war on Amed.

Peace junkies are worse than useless and the one writing the article is no different. There is a huge disconnect in the minds of these peace-at-all-costs types because they never seem to remember the little details that cause a people to rebel in the first place. Here we see that the author is perturbed by Baydemir's embrace of war "discourse," but what other workd would accurately describe the Ankara regime's stance toward the Kurdish people, except the word "war?" And Baydemir's adoption of the "war" metaphor is called "unfortunate" and discredits his dedication to his people and his city.

Now let's think real hard for a moment: Who was it that declared war on Amed and the Kurdish people? The time was March 2006. The person was PM Erdoğan. Erdoğan's statement was:

“The events are under control... Security forces will intervene with every possible means indiscriminately, including against women and children.”

This is the same guy who gets his dander up whenever Turkey's ally, Israel, does the same to Palestinians. He's just like his mentor, Fethullah Gülen, in this and I can just picture him bawling his eyes out on cue, just like old Hodjaefendi always manages to do.

Except, naturally, when it comes to Turkish murder of Kurds, in which case they are more than eager to give the order to fire.

After the Amed Serhildan, every attempt by Baydemir and other DTP politicians to talk to the PM were refused. Erdoğan's Islamist party, the AKP, were joined by its opposition, the CHP, in placing their boot firmly on the neck of Kurdistan. The Islamists and the Kemalists can't agree on anything unless it's genocide of the Kurdish people.

And now it's Osman Baydemir who's accused, in so many words, of being a warmonger. Isn't that damned typical?

Osman Baydemir has stood by his people in the most difficult times and he's proven he's not the type to turn tail and run, even in the face of some mealy-mouthed peace-freak journalist who feigns so much concern for this seemingly strange turn in Baydemir's language. But what is it that Baydemir said?

"Only yesterday and today you are trying to declare war on Diyarbakir. I say it clearly, we are here for dialogue, for collaboration. But if you do not join, and if you declare war on Diyarbakir, then I say clearly that the Diyarbakir people, me and my friends, will never run away from a declared war. If you declare war, we are here, the Diyarbakir people are here, the mayors are here. We have been with our people through good and bad times and we will continue to do so."

Bijît, heval! Keep it up! You are absolutely correct.

But our peace-loving author seems to labor under the delusion that war against the Kurdish people is a thing of the past:


In his speeches Baydemir has frequently referred to peace. In an area where in the past only militarist projects were supported, he should be staying away from language which emphasises war.


At this moment in the very same region only militarist projects are being supported. There is an OHAL in Sêrt, Culemêrg, and Şirnex. Chemical weapons continue to be used against the freedom fighters of the PKK and the bodies of şehîds are not returned to their families in order to hide the evidence of chemical weapons on the bodies. The Turkish military, NATO's second largest army, conducts joint military operations with Iran and bombs Kurdish civilians right out of their villages in South Kurdistan. Whole villages in North Kurdistan are denied medical treatment so that babies end up as the victims of murder as a result, and the villagers themselves are slowly starved because the Turkish military refuses to allow food shipments.

In addition to those who joined the ranks of HPG's şehîds in the last couple of weeks, ten Turkish soldiers gave their lives at the end of last week for the stupidity of the Ankara regime's genocidal Kurdish policy, along with a JITEM informer.

If OHAL, the denial of medical treatment, forced starvation, the use of chemical weapons, and continued military operations--including those with the Teheran regime--are not war, then what in the hell should we call this?

Hevallo has more on the same subject and he wants to start a discussion about PKK as freedom fighters, which is exactly what they are.

Context. It's all about context.