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Rouhani of Iran and Erdogan of Turkey
By Rebwar Rashed:
On the New Year’s Eve of 1977 Iran was “an island of stability in one of the more troubled areas of the world” according to President Carter while he spent the night at the Shah’s palace and toasted his success. The so-called Iranian Revolution was a reality less than two years later. The nightmare soon began as, on 4th November 1979, the servants of Ayatollah Khomeini took 52 American diplomats and other US citizens as hostages. That nightmare lasted for 444 days until they were released on 20th January 1981.
The first of Khomeini’s wars was against the Kurdish people because Kurds were the most organized and experienced people of Iran although they weren’t asking for more than some national and democratic rights. Still this was enough for Khomeini to wage an extermination war against Kurdish people. Extermination, destruction, persecution, displacement, deportation, imprisonment, harassment, discrimination, rape, imposed poverty and forced unemployment are just an Islamic Iran in a nutshell.
Over the last nearly 40 years this Islamic fascism has spent Iranian money in wars of intervention and exporting terrorism to Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Palestine, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other countries in the region. The peoples of Iran are living in poverty and misery and going through a painful epoch of trafficking, forced marriages, organized prostitution, child marriage, drugs, sexual diseases and much more.
Iran’s political process and situation reminds us of Turkey, like a mirror reflection. Erdogan’s Turkey is actually far worse than today’s Iran, since Erdogan possesses a much bigger propaganda machine, more sophisticated and modern weaponry belonging to NATO, a wider diplomatic range and many political tools which he uses in a blackmailing policy: for instance, the Syrian and other refugees, the NATO membership, the connections with the EU, the EU’s and USA’s so-called “Islam phobia”, etc.
The history of Turkey, exactly as Iran’s, is the history of interventions in neighboring countries, sectarian war, oppressing other non-Islamic religions, killing Kurdish people and denying their national, democratic and civic rights, committing atrocities and waging a campaign of state-terrorism.
Albeit Erdogan’s Turkey is far worse than any Turkey before it because Erdogan is combining the Muslim Brotherhood’s ideology with Turkish ultra-nationalism, dreaming of reviving the Ottoman Empire, taking over Kurdish lands, and parts of Arabic Syria and Arabic Iraq, while threatening Israel (vowing to “liberate” Jerusalem), Cyprus, some Greece Islands and so on. Erdogan is working hard to destroy Iraq’s and Syria’s economic structures in order to take them over economically. Erdogan is especially doing everything in his power, from fabricating lies to the most outrage methods, to conceal the Turkish Kurdish-issue in Turkey.
Erdogan has issues with almost everyone. Erdogan’s hatred for the US since 2002, with the start of denying the US the use of Incirlik base, the “Hood Event” of 2003 and hundreds of other incidents — for instance, taking US hostages, albeit not declared — are proofs that Erdogan is not only distancing Turkey from the USA, but also fighting American interests.
Erdogan plays tough and doesn’t spare any ammunition. He has whipped up the most fascistic elements of radical Islam, making long-termed strategic partnerships with Russia and Iran, alienating Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Kurdish people who fight ISIS and other terrorist Islamic groups. Erdogan is also using Syrian and other refugees as a political and economic tool and at the same time forcing on them all kinds of sexual and poverty suppression simply for making money: that includes cheap or free labor, recruiting them to the so-called “FSA” for a handful of money and using them for the business of sex-slaving and enforced prostitution.
Thus, Iran and Turkey deepen Syria’s civil war. Their aim is obviously not to make a contribution to a peaceful and democratic solution of the Syrian civil war, but rather to make the region unstable, hazardous and insecure so that even the indigenous people of the area, not just the US and the coalition army, will choose not to stay. Mr. Trump’s comments, on Thursday 29th March, that the US would be “coming out of Syria like very soon,” has encouraged Turkey to be more aggressive, especially after the invasion of Afrin and it has emboldened both Iran and Russia. So, Turkey and Iran, two evil Islamic fascists with no shame at all, are likely to bring the region, starting from Syria, Iraq and Kurdistan, to total collapse.
The US and the International Community should therefore also examine Turkey in relation to the latest chemical attack in Douma as Turkish proxies have been using chlorine or other poisonous substances against Kurdish civilians and Kurdish fighters in both Syria and Iraq. Turkey has used chemical and other poisonous substances against the PKK’s guerrilla solders many times before.
The US should be aware of the fact that an angry Turkey will not hesitate to harm the US army and other interests when it becomes a necessity. Therefore, throwing Turkey and Iran out of Syria first, before anything else, must be the number one priority for the US and the coalition.
The SDF and other democratic groups in Syria can easily push the Syrian regime towards a genuine change when Turkey and Iran are kept out of Syria. A good start is to enforce a no-fly zone over the Northern part of Syria, from the Iraqi border to the Mediterranean, and give the SDF the proper fire-power required for such a battle.
Removing the PKK from the terror list and bringing about a political solution to the Kurdish issue in Turkey are also important solving-keys. Erdogan must be leashed and stopped; otherwise he will harm the region beyond Kurdistan.
There are of course more alternatives, but they will likely give Turkey and Iran an upper hand for continued intervention, invasion and aggression.
This dirty game of Turkey’s and Iran’s evilness must be brought to an end.
Rebwar Rashed is Co-Chair of the Kurdistan National Congress – KNK
