Kurds are not Turks! They are simply Kurds

By Dr. M. Koohzad:

Kurds celebrate Newroz

Based on the western concept of ‘nation-state’ that is geographically challenged and politically confused: there is a Turkish Kurdistan, Iraqi Kurdistan, Iranian Kurdistan, and Syrian Kurdistan, but not a Kurdish Kurdistan!

Nearly two decades ago, a Turkish fascist-nationalist, Mr. Altermur Kilic, with a few big official political titles in front of his name, sent a brief letter to the Editor of ‘Foreign Affairs’, published by the American Council on Foreign Relations. His cited official titles – Chairman of the Turkish Supreme Council of Radio and Television and former Deputy Permanent Representative of Turkey to the United Nations – contained 21 English words.

Sadly, an editor who was perhaps unable to locate Kurdistan or Turkistan on a map published it. With only a total of 420 words, it is one of the most meaningless, illogical, silly, and inaccurate pieces of literature ever written about the relationships of the Turks and Kurds in Turkey. Absolutely nothing in this short correspondent makes sense.

According to Judge Judy, Ms. Judith Sheindlin, the world’s most famous judge, “If it does not make sense, it is not true.” Mr. Kilic’s statement is devoid of critical thinking and controlled by the state ideology. It is completely out of touch with reality. It was written for American consumption. It actually can be seen as a piece of Ankara’s pathetic propaganda against the world’s largest Kurdish population, a population that has been the target of Turkish tyranny and state terrorism for the longest time in history.

Let’s begin with the title. An amazingly foolish title, it was called: ‘Kurds are Turks Too’. This is perhaps one of the world’s most illogical titles. It is a fact that the Kurds simply are not Turks. Throughout history, the Kurds have proven that they are a nation apart. They are neither ‘Mountain Turks’ nor are they ‘Desert Arabs’ nor are they ‘Plateau Persians’. Today, with over 50 million in population, the Kurds in the Mideast have already outnumbered the Turks and Persians. They are the second largest ethnic group, only after the Arabs. Kurdistan literally means a ‘land for the Kurds’ and nobody else is allowed to claim it.

The new Turkish Republic established in 1923 under the leadership of Ataturk, a fascist-racist nationalist army general, denied the very basic existence of the Kurds. It was merely one year later in 1924 that Kurdish was officially banned in Turkey. Successive governments have systematically planned bloody and brutal treatment of the Kurds, including forced assimilations, deportations, gassing and genocide. Since the mid-1920s, there have been 29 bloody Kurdish uprisings in Turkey. According to Kieser (2011), by 1938 nearly 14,000 Kurds were massacred in the Province of Tunceli in and around the city of Dersim under direct order of then President Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Every type of WMD was utilized here. Many of the victims were non-combatants. Thousands of elderly, women and children were burned alive. Eyewitnesses now coming forward talk about children’s animal-like cries while dying on fire.

It seems Mr. Kilic wrote this letter in reaction to Fuller’s (1993) article published in the same journal in the same year. Fuller apparently recommended a Turkish-Kurdish federation and Mr. Kilic wrote about the problems associated with Fuller’s idea. Kilic pointed out that such a “federation might well turn against its creators” (p. 194). But, Fuller’s federation had two names, Turks and Kurds. The two would share the future responsibilities of this federation. The Turks alone would not be the creators-masters. Mr. Kilic forgot about the word federation. Without critical thinking, he believed that the Turks would be nice enough to ‘create’ a country for the Kurds.

Then, he wrote that a federation was not going to “put an end to Kurdish ambitions. Kurdish nationalists might very well next demand an outlet to the Mediterranean” (p. 194). He must have been thinking at least two steps ahead of the future Kurdish political leadership of an independent Kurdistan to be aware of their next demand without fulfilling the first one. Indeed, this is a very smart prediction. The Kurds will and ought to demand an outlet to the sea after obtaining full independence. Obviously, a creator that is neither blessing a federation nor an independent Kurdistan will not submit to a third demand.

Mr. Kilic accused Western authors of claiming or lying about Ankara’s denial of a Kurdish separate identity. He wrote, “Ataturk was well aware of the Kurds’ separate identity…” Exactly, because of this awareness, Ataturk decided to deny, forcefully assimilate, deport, and commit genocide against them. Secessionist or not, the entire major Kurdish uprisings occurred after 1924. In the history of Turkey there is no single evidence of any successful blending or the melting pot process to create “a single unified modern nation” (p.191).

On the same page, he argued, “…millions of Kurds were totally assimilated without the use of force.” This is one of the biggest lies in the history of mankind. Hardly any Kurds were assimilated without force. According to the official data, second only to Iraq, the largest numbers of Kurds have been killed in Turkey. Ataturk himself took the responsibility for the Dersim massacre of 1938. Today, there is a one million so-called displaced Kurdish population in Turkey. These are the Kurds who lost their villages, homes, and farms due to Ankara’s resettlement projects.

Mr. Kilic has been saying that the Kurds in Turkey were “Turks Too” and they were already peacefully assimilated but they cannot have a separate identity or federalism because there are other ethnic groups living in Turkey and federalism has failed elsewhere. Then, why give excuses for not taking care of the Kurdish question if complete assimilation has already taken place?

It was after the downfall of Saddam, the biggest murderer of many innocent Kurds, that a Kurdish success story in Northern Iraq captured the imagination of the Kurds all over the world. The Kurdistan Regional Government, KRG, is a testimony of Kurdish potency, power, survival, and success. The Kurds will not accord with anything less than a full independence from all four occupying countries. These junior colonialists must leave the Kurds and Kurdistan alone. As an international colony, the case of Kurdistan has to change. If it does not, it would be counter to critical thinking, all of the scientific laws, and truth findings.

It is highly likely that Mr. Kilic has heard the name of a Turkish Professor of Sociology, Ismail Besikci. For doing research and discovering the truth about the Kurds, he is supposed to serve 100 years of jail time. He has written extensively on how ‘state ideology’ prevents critical thinking, scientific research and truth findings. Mr. Kilic’s writings lack that critical thinking, his vision obscured by blinders imposed on him by the state ideology. He is unable to face the truth or ‘reality’ of the Kurdish struggle. This is a part of a Turkish fiasco resulting in the Kurdish dynamic and reality of survival.

In 2003, Mr. Kilic wrote that he is “not like some of my [his] fellow countrymen who now seem eager to bow to American superpower and accept to eliminate our traditional, national ‘red lines’ of danger and accept the Kurdish ‘reality’.” Apparently, he is still not ready to face the truth. He saw an Iraqi federation dangerous to Turkish national interests. It is not easy for a brainwashed, fully blinded fascist person to see any aspects of ‘reality’. He now must be more confused by the developments in Syria where the Kurds are showing up again and another KRG is being formed.

Whether he likes to bow to reality or not, it is true that the Kurds have out-numbered the Turks. This is believed by many Turkish demographers and even the PM Erdogan has been informed that this will happen by 2038 (Ghosh 2012). We do not need to wait another 26 years. Kurdish demographic domination is already here. Finally, the Turks will be seen as a minority within their own nation. The constitution that declares Turkish as the only language of the country would be discredited and debunked. Consequently, ‘Kurdiyyah’ or Kurdistan must replace the country’s local name of ‘Turkiyyah’.

A more realistic scholar, Hiltermann (2012) reported that the Iraqi Kurds are ready for full independence. According to him, they have been enjoying peace and stability, a rather open society, and assurance “from some of the world’s largest oil companies.” Hiltermann believes that the time the Kurds “will break free from the rest of Iraq is nigh.” This prediction must be frightening to Mr. Kilic. If he is still alive, he may have a heart attack.

Sources:

Fuller, Graham E. “The Fate of The Kurds.” Foreign Affairs; Vol. 72 Issue 2, Spring 1993, pp. 108-121.

Ghosh, Palash R. “A Kurdish Majority In Turkey Within One Generation?” International Business Times, Sunday, May 6, 2012 1:32 PM EDT. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/ 337754/20120506/turkey-kurdish-demographics-pkk-birth-rate-womens.htm

Hiltermann, Joost R. “Revenge of the Kurds: Breaking Away From Baghdad.” Foreign Affairs, November/December 2012. http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/138359/joost-r-hiltermann/revenge-of-the-kurds

Kieser, Hans-Lukas. “Dersim Massacre, 1937-1938.” Online Encyclopedia of Mass Violence, published on Wednesday 27 July 2011, last modified 31 August 2011. http://www. massviolence.org/Article?id_article=558

Kilic, Altermur. “Kurds are Turks too.” Foreign Affairs, Vol. 72, No. 4, Sep./Oct. 1993, pp. 190-191.

Kilic, Altermur. “Hostile Ally?” groups.yahoo.com, July 14, 2003, 1:05 am.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kerkuk/message/2218

Also by the author: Koohzad, M. “Kurdistan Ignored Even by American Professional Geography Textbook Writers.” The International Journal of Kurdish Studies, Vol. 22, Nos. 1 & 2, 2008, pp. 173-192.

Photo – Bertil Videl