By Arian Mufid:
It is under Erdogan’s rule that Turkey is at risk of MSCI downgrade to ‘frontier’ market status, despite ranking as the world’s 20th largest economy, due to the devaluation of the lira and overall bad economic situation. This means that the MSCI index is registering increasingly large outflows of capital and Turkey has been reclassified as a frontier market, like Vietnam and Morocco, because of Erdogan’s wrong economic and political policies. The Turkish military junta has turned Turkey into the most aggressive country in the Middle East. Turkey’s intervention and hand in Syria, Libya and Iraq are obvious to all political observers and one of the most frightening aspects of what will happen if this isn’t stopped. Turkey’s dictators exploit the suppressed populace and high unemployment rate for military expansion outside of Turkey. Turkey’s current rulers do not want to solve the Kurdish issue in the north of Kurdistan peacefully. The Kurds in the north of Kurdistan have been fighting the Turkish military junta since the civil war broke out in 1984, and thousands of people died in the ongoing conflict. The Turkish military apparatus is obsessed with Kurds anywhere in this world. The latest aggression in the south of Kurdistan proves that the Turkish state does not want to see a stabilised region in the south of Kurdistan. We have all seen how they invaded Efren in Rojava in Syria. The Turkish military junta has intensified their military operation for the last few weeks in the south of Kurdistan. News coming through our local correspondents in the area indicates there are high casualties on both sides, and local people have joined the PKK forces to stop the Turkish aggression. The Turkish military has crossed the border into a depth of 10 kilometres inside KRG territory. We all know there is no coherent state of Iraq and, basically, militias and groups that are proxies of Iran are running that country. There was no strong protest against this latest Turkish invasion by the Iraqi state, and none from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) either. Amidst rumours that the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) have been helping Turkish aggression in the area, the KRG needs to step up and contact Turkish leaders immediately, tell them that what they are doing is not acceptable and demand the withdrawal of Turkish forces. The KRG leadership, which is mainly in the hands of the Barzani family, should not sit watching as towns and cities of Kurdistan are bombarded by Turkish military forces: instead, we need strong protestation and action. Toppling the PKK militarily, even it were possible, wouldn’t transform the north of Kurdistan. The Turkish military cannot achieve their main objective of genocide against the Kurds in the north and other parts of Kurdistan. The Turkish military can never eradicate the hopes and aspiration of millions of Kurds for peace and independence. They have locked up almost every voice of peace in Turkey, including Selahattin Demirtas, renowned former co-leader of the People’s Democratic Party (HDP), and the European Union should pressure Turkey to release him. This time the practical ambition of Turkey’s military is not only to defeat the PKK but it also comprises a plan of expansion and intervention outside Turkey looking for cheap oil and gas to support their straitened nation in Turkey. What Turkey is doing is not politics, it is hysteria; we are all too familiar with it. Turkey is heading for its next coup and the authority‘s best option is to keep the military busy with futile wars outside Turkey. Turkey’s military junta and their failed president are taking advantage of the slow movement of world politics due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Finally, I would like to see a new course from Turkey, focusing on policies that, first, declare a ceasefire in the North, West and South parts of Kurdistan and justly resolve the historic problem of the Kurds of the north of Kurdistan. Second, Turkey must release all HDP prisoners, who have been unjustly jailed. The world must wake up to this Turkish regime’s ambition in the area and ensure that its fate is like Saddam’s after he started with aggression in Iran and then the 1990 Kuwait invasion.