ANONYMOUS "EXPERTS" AND THE PKK

"Propaganda is to a democracy what the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state."
~ Noam Chomsky.

The Economist came out with a couple of articles about Kurds last week. Of particular interest are the many mistakes in the one about the PKK gerîlas.

Maybe the anonymous "experts" at The Economist are just too lazy to do their homework or maybe it serves the interests of their readers to spread joint Turkish-American propaganda. How else could anyone take seriously the statement that "attempts to find the culprits" of the Semdinli bombing "have come to nought"? The culprits were apprehended by the local population moments after the bombing and the contents of the vehicle the state's bombers used were seized (said vehicle, by the way, having been registered to JIT). Everyone, except the anonymous "experts" at The Economist, knows that the Semdinli bombing was a Deep State false flag operation, but to really discuss the incident would lead in directions inimical to joint TC/US/EU interests. Such a discussion would, in fact, lead to a discussion of the Deep State.

A more striking indication of the propagandistic nature of The Economist's article is a reference to Turkish families "who have lost family members to PKK bullets since the rebellion started in 1984." This is a variation of the Shit-Just-Happens line, the one which says that "40,000 people died in the war in the Southeast," yes, the same one that always fails to mention that those 40,000--a questionable, "official" figure--were Kurds murdered by the US-backed Turkish army. Propaganda such as this never brings up the TC's long-standing, never-changing policy of genocide against the Kurdish people, a policy that has been in effect since the founding of the Turkish state in 1923.

"Experts" never mention the quarter of a million Kurds exterminated by the Ankara regime between 1925 and 1928. They never mention the Resettlement Law of the 1930s which made ethnic cleansing the official state policy. They never mention the wholesale slaughter of Kurds well into 1930 after Xoybûn's resistance. They never mention Article 1 of Law No. 1850 which permitted an open hunting season on Kurds from June to December, 1930. They never mention the slaughter of Dersim. Just so, these "experts" never mention the atrocities perpetrated by the Ankara regime in the wake of the US-backed 1980 coup, nor the destruction of Kurdish villages in the 1990s, with accompanying forced displacement of Kurdish civilians (i.e. ethnic cleansing), nor the impunity enjoyed by Turkish security forces as they raped, tortured and murdered the Kurdish population under the occupation of the second-largest NATO army. Nor is there a mention of Erdogan's statement during the Amed Serhildan that every Kurd, including women and children, would be fair game for security forces.

Obviously, the Geneva Conventions do not apply to the subhuman Kurds under the brutality of Turkish occupation.

The anonymous "experts" at The Economist attempt to dismiss PKK as "not prospering," while only one sentence previously admitting that PKK "could easily add to the 5,000-plus guerrillas it has." Apparently, "success" is measured by the "experts" as being able to move gerîlas between the Western-created colonial borders that divide Kurdistan. This measure of "success" is a red herring; if PKK gerîlas cannot move where they choose, why are Turkey and Iran, with US support, cooperating with each other against gerîlas operating in both Turkish- and Iranian-occupied Kurdistan? Why does the Ankara regime continually cry to Washington and Baghdad that PKK is operating out of "Northern Iraq," which by implication means that gerîlas are able to freely cross borders?

It is also a red herring to say that Karayilan "laments" that Syria and Iran are transferring PKK "militants" to the Ankara regime, or that PKK can no longer "successfully manipulate rivalries between Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria." It is the enemy states that have manipulated rivalries among Kurds and have handed over Kurds to each other for two decades under the pretext that they are PKK "militants." It suffices to be a Kurd in order to be considered a PKK "militant."

More dismissal of PKK is attempted through the sudden revelation by The Economist's "experts" that PKK "has dropped its demand for an independent country," yet that demand was dropped years ago. Along with this revelation comes another: PKK only wants a few cultural freedoms, the end of solitary confinement for Serok Apo, and an amnesty. The "experts" failed to notice the six steps proposed for a political solution by the PKK at the end of August, 2006. The "experts" failed to notice that such steps are in conformity with EU accession criteria, and they contain more than simply asking for a few cultural rights. On the other hand, the "experts" believe that "[t]hree months have elapsed since" Karayilan announced a ceasefire. Check the calendar: October 1 was not three months ago.

Our "experts" don't even know who wanted this ceasefire, suggesting that perhaps "it may have been Iraq's Kurdish leaders who persuaded the PKK to announce a ceasefire." Wrong. After an extremely successful summer campaign that resulted in a regular arrival of body bags to the doorsteps of Turkish homes, after Turks began to criticize and challenge Erdogan openly about the war in The Southeast; in other words, after ordinary Turks had learned to cry in vain, did the US and its client state run to the Başûrî leadership to intercede with PKK for a ceasefire. It was the US, Turkey, and Hewlêr that begged for relief from the "[g]uerrillas without a proper war."

As for claims that PKK "will unravel, as it nearly did in 2003, before defectors were assassinated or silenced," there is no mention of the fact that the CIA visited Qendil several times in 2003, prior to any alleged unravelling. Neither is there any mention of the fact that "defectors" were assassinated or silenced by JITEM operating in South Kurdistan. The murder of Kani Yilmaz in Silêmanî could not have been accomplished without the knowledge of the PUK, and in spite of PWD's claims to the contrary, the hard evidence of that murder has never been made available. Such is always the case.

Certainly no one can secure the mountains of Kurdistan as the PKK has. The US will not even attempt it, because then it will not be engaged in an easy "proper" war. The "Iraqi" Kurds will not want to become bogged down in the mountains fighting against PKK with their Turkish partners, as they have in the past; they have more pressing concerns at the moment including securing the border with Arab Iraq and the issue of Kerkuk. If the situation in Kerkuk comes to a head, the Başûrî may need the help of experienced fighters such as the PKK gerîlas, and PKK maintains a standing offer of assistance to the Başûrî with regard to Kerkuk.

That leaves the Turks and Iranians to come to the mountains to die in a "proper war," just as they were doing before the Ankara regime begged for a ceasefire . . . and no amount of propaganda from The Economist's "experts" can hide that reality.