The following is an archived copy of a message sent to a Discussion List run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
Views expressed in this archived message are those of the author, not of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
[Main archive index/search] [List information] [Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq Homepage]
The Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights have found Turkey responsible for carrying out the following against the Kurds "burning villages, inhuman and degrading treatment, and appalling failures to investigate allegations of ill-treatment at the hands of thesercurity force" The history of Tukeys war against the Kurds is too extensive document here suffice to say in 1993 -94 alone 3200 Kurds were killled and 3500 villages destroyed. Between 1990 - 94 one million kurds fled from the countryside to Diyarbakir.
Are the US protecting the Kurds from Turkey? No, in fact the opposite. Turkey enjoys massive US diplomatic and military support. Much of their weaponry used directly against the Kurds is US made. Helicopter gunships, fighter aircraft and such like. While US planes leave bases in Turkey to protect the 'no-fly' zones, US made aircraft fly out of Turkey to bomb Kurdish villages. Turkey recently kidnapped (with probable US/Israeli help) Abdullah Ocalan the leader of the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) who has led an armed defense against Turkey since the mid eighties. As recently as last year, US President Bill Clinton was in Greece (dodging 5000 protesters) urging the Europe to make Turkey a member of the EU. They are already a member of NATO.
At the end of the 'Gulf War' when tens of thousands of iraqi people
in the north and south rose up
against the regime and the Kurdish people took control of a large section
of northen Iraq, Hussein
was given the 'green light' by the US to ruthlessly crush the rebellions.
So much for the "need to
protect the Kurds".
Finally, the suffering, Kurds experienced under the Iraqi regime for many years, were all made while Iraq continued to receive military, diplomatic and finacial support. As always 'human rights' only become of interest when they can be used as a pretext or more literally a 'moral cover' for an immoral action driven by self interest.
M