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KURDS.
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History of worl's largest, stateless ethnic group. Turkish/Kurdish problems (discrimination, violence, ethnic strife).... More...
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Paper Abstract:
History of worl's largest, stateless ethnic group. Turkish/Kurdish problems (discrimination, violence, ethnic strife).

Paper Introduction:
With 25 million members, the Kurds are the largest ethnic group in the world without their own state. The Kurds have lived for thousands of years in a geographic area that is now part of Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria, and the former Soviet Union, sharing a similar language, religion and culture with these ethnic and national groups (Omestad, Kaplan, & Lovgren, 1999). Today, the 15 million or more Kurds living in Turkey constitute about 25 percent of that country's population; more significantly, however, the Kurds in Turkey, Iran and Iraq, have constituted a source of internal tension and have been a target for genocidal hostilities. For Turkey, the presence of a substantial population of Kurds with nationalist and separatist aspirations has fostered domestic dissent and international criticism. After World War I, Kurds in Turkey and elsewhere in the

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Not only does the fate of the Kurds dependupon a resolution to the problem; Turkey's own aspirations regardingmembership in the EU and an expanded presence in trade and otherorganizations is also at issue. As Kim (1998) reported, Turkey has asked herNATO allies to expel and extradite PKK rebels to Turkey for trial -requeststhat have been ignored. Until 1991, Kurdish music, language, dress, associations andnewspapers were banned in Turkey. New Internationalist, 216,24 - 26. Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, 19 (1),85 - 1 4. It is this sense ofvictimization and exclusion, he argues, which has led groups like the PKKto turn to violence as a means of forcing Turkey to address their demandsfor better treatment, greater empowerment, and improved economic andpolitical opportunities. Argun (1999), for example, hasargued that Turkey's Kurdish question has multiple dimensions (includingdomestic and international), and speaks to the issue of what constitute"nationality." It is his view that Kurds, as a minority within a majority-ruled nation-state and culture, have been victims of social, cultural,economic and political discrimination for decades. Monthly Review: An Independent Socialist Magazine, 51 (2), 2 -28. World opinion is not favorable to Turkey atthe present time, but the Kurds must also recognize that continued orescalated violence will not serve their cause well. (1999). The Kurds have lived for thousands ofyears in a geographic area that is now part of Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria,and the former Soviet Union, sharing a similar language, religion andculture with these ethnic and national groups (Omestad, Kaplan, &Lovgren, 1999). It's the Kurd's turn for world recognition.Christian Science Monitor, 91 (1 ), 11. For Turkey, the presence of a substantialpopulation of Kurds with nationalist and separatist aspirations hasfostered domestic dissent and international criticism. Some analysts have called for positioning the issue in the context ofuniversal human and citizenship rights. Turkish human rights minister Hikmet Sami Turk stated in Novemberof 1998 that negotiation on Kurdish cultural rights is totally unacceptablebecause it might further lead Kurds to demand independence from Turkey andan autonomous state (Malik, 1998). (1999). NATO's ethnic cleansing: The Kurdish question inTurkey. Kim, L. After World War I, Kurds in Turkey and elsewhere in the region hopedto create a homeland from the disintegrated Ottoman Empire; however, thebirth of the Turkish Republic in 1923 and the rule of Mustafa Kemal("Ataturk") imposed a single identity on the multicultural population ofTurkmans, Armenians, Assyrians, Kurds and others (Omestad, et al, 1999a).These groups were forcibly assimilated and everyone became a Turk, thoughfor 25 years there were dozens of Kurdish uprisings. (1999).Universal citizenship rights and Turkey's Kurdishquestion. After the Gulf War, Kurdish printing waslegalized, but in the intervening years several Kurdish newspaper officeshave been bombed and closed, while Kurdish journalists, political leaders,and activists have been executed or murdered (McKiernan, 1999).Communication between the PKK and the Turkish government is suspended, andit is on the world stage that the issue is now being played out. References Argun, B.E. Turkey's war on the Kurds. Bulletinof the Atomic Scientists, 55 (2), 26 - 38. Efforts by the Turkish government to reform and modernize many of itspolicies with respect to the Kurds have largely failed to achieve desiredresults. For the United States, coming to terms with the dichotomybetween the "good Kurds" in Iraq and the "bad Kurds" in Turkey is also anecessity (McKiernan, 1999). It is possible thatsome kind of negotiated settlement could be obtained if the Turkishgovernment was willing to come to the bargaining table -- a solution thatit has resisted thus far. Austria, Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands and Russia haveeach hosted sessions of the "Kurdish Parliament in Exile,' demonstratingsupport for the rebels and sending a message to Turkey that she hasscorned. With 25 million members, the Kurds are the largest ethnic group inthe world without their own state. (1999). At the same time, Argun (1999) notes, thegovernment of Turkey has been legitimately concerned with growing Kurdishviolence and the Marxist orientation of the PKK and its leaders. The joy of theTurks, the fury of the Kurds. The PKK has been responsiblefor more terrorist acts than any other group in the world for this period,assassinating hundreds of political figures, bombing Turkish and Iraqischools and hospitals, kidnapping foreigners, and slaying hundreds ofvillagers. million.To date, says Esim (1999), Turkey's government has been supported by herNATO allies and the United States (a major supporter of the Turkish stateand government, which has also armed Turkey for several decades). Graham-Brown, S. Both Turkey and Iran perceive the addition of dissidentKurds to an already politicized indigenous Kurdish population aspotentially volatile. Turkey has had to cope with terrorist activities initiated by the PKKfor more than a decade (Omestad, et al, 1999). McKiernan, K. This isparticularly important in light of Turkey's bid to become a full member ofthe European Union (EU), which Turkey sees as vital to its long-rangeeconomic growth and development. (1999) Uncertain future. Esim (1999) describes theTurkish government's efforts to end the Kurdish uprising and rebellion ashaving involved the evacuation of over 4, Kurdish villages since 1992and the resulting impoverishment of literally thousands of Kurds.Estimates of the number of people displaced range from 2.5 to 5. Malik (1998) reported that many Europeans, influenced perhaps byevents in the Balkans, have become increasingly concerned about the TurkishKurdish question. Turkey, in response, has banned the Kurdish language exceptunder carefully controlled circumstances, forcibly evacuated Kurdishvillagers and resettled them, and left thousands of Kurds homeless(Omestad, et al, 1999). Omestad, T., Kaplan, D.E., and Lovgren, S. Iraqi Kurds havescattered to Iran or Turkey, where their reception and welcome has beenchilly at best. How the case of a Kurdish rebel divided NATO allies.Christian Science Monitor, 91 (3), 7. For Turkey, resolution of the problem without the kind of ethniccleansing and civil war that has taken place elsewhere in the Balkans is avital necessity. B.E. Esim, S. For members of NATO, the Kurdish situation hascreated enormous difficulties. ForTurkey, the PKK seems to be demanding the creation of a separate Kurdishhomeland that exists and functions independently of Turkish control; suchdemands are seldom accepted by a nation that is essentially being asked toreduce its territory. All were crushed, butantagonisms between Kurds and Turks continued; a Marxist-led group, theKurdistan Workers Party or PKK, began an armed struggle against thegovernment in 1984 that has continued to the present (McKiernan, 1999). (1998). Malik, M. Today, the 15 million or more Kurds living in Turkeyconstitute about 25 percent of that country's population; moresignificantly, however, the Kurds in Turkey, Iran and Iraq, haveconstituted a source of internal tension and have been a target forgenocidal hostilities. Since the Gulf War, Iraqi Kurds have had a semi-autonomous existence; however, the Turkish PKK has made its own presencefelt in Iraq since the 1991 Gulf War, leading to tensions between Turkeyand Iraq (Graham-Brown, 1999). Esim (1999) considers the case of Turkey's Kurds to be similar tothat of the Kosovar Albanians in that both groups are a despised ethnicminority that has been targeted for oppressive, discriminatory, and evenviolent treatment by a majority government. News & World Report, 126 (8), 4 .----------------------- 7 U.S. Further, Turkey came close to war with Syria in1998 over the presence of government-tolerated Kurdish rebel training campsin Syria (Kim, 1998). However,as the violence continues and the Kurds begin to make a case for theirsituation in the world press, NATO and, to a lesser degree, the UnitedStates, are both being forced to rethink their positions. In Turkey, the power and influence ofthe military has been perceived as shaping government action on the Kurdishquestion, which it positions alongside fundamentalist Islam as the majorinternal threats to national security. (1998). Graham-Brown (1999) has commented that in Iraq, government efforts toput an end to Kurdish nationalistic or separatist movements have resultedin thousands of deaths and the creation of a large population of Kurdishrefugees -- many of whom, after Iraqi attacks in 1987/1988 and the Gulf Warof 1991, have relocate to either Iran or Turkey.

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