Kurds And The Perplexed World
The recent cold-blooded assault by Turkish forces against Kurds in Syria sparked off the dispute between Kurds and Turkey again. The strike against Kurds is not new but neither common at the moment when weapons are influx in an inflated amount into the market following the Russia-Ukraine war. As the supply of weapons has increased in the market since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, few demagogues are taking advantage of the situation by silencing their rivals. Well, considering the greed of Turkey, they are doing worst after what its so-called ally Pakistan is doing in Balochistan. Being already in the line of exploiting the Kurds and their resources, Turkey is again setting the grounds for a full fledge Kurd genocide.
On July 20, 2022, Turkey attacked Tal Rifaat and Manbij city of Kurds in the Northern Syrian region resulting in many civilian deaths. The latest strike by Turkey was aimed to push back Kurdish forces from their territory as Turkey sensed the apprehension that the separatist movement of Kurdistan can jeopardize the narcissistic establishment of Turkey. In the years 2018 and 2019 Turkey launched Operation Olive Branch and Operation Peace Spring against Syria vouchsafed Turkey openly executing Kurds.
Iran’s supreme leader Khamenei condemns Turkey’s latest attack on Kurds in the northern Syrian region and even warned the country about creating a catastrophe. However, Iran itself has been accused of persecuting Kurds for a long period. The year 2004 is known for waging of an incessant conflict between Iran and Kurds. Surprisingly in 2004, Iran along with the support of Turkish forces bombarded the Kordestan and Kermanshah provinces of Kurdish regions in Iran trigging the deaths of more than 3000 Kurdish activists. Not limited to attacking Kurds in Syria and Iran, Turkish forces were also involved in killing Kurds in Iraqi Kurdistan. In a contemporary averment, Iraq accused Turkey of attacking civilians near its Kurdish region. But here also irony played its game while exposing Iraq’s earlier and ongoing battle with Kurds after Iran.
Nevertheless, the autonomy of Kurdistan was already recognized by Iraq in 1970 but the true character of the government was revealed as Saddam Hussein took whole administration control of Iraq with absolute power. The Iraqi-Kurdish civil war that perplexed the world started with economic beleaguerment by the Iraq government imposed in the Iraqi Kurdistan region in 1991. This economic blockade and gratuitous embargos by the Iraq government pushed the region of Iraqi Kurdistan under the hub of the black market. In the Iraq-Kurdish civil war, Iran was accused of switching sides by considering its rapacity for fighting the Iraq cartel in the initial years and later supporting Kurdish fighters. Syria on the other side has the same record for switching sides while contemplating its political interests but in the end, no one cared about the Kurds. Besides this, Kurds are always been the victim of the terror attacks by the terrorist organization ISIS famously known for its brutality and callous nature. During the infamous battle of Rojava, ISIS mercilessly killed Kurds at the mass level as Kurds were involved in military operations against this terrorist group. In the Rojava conflict, Kurdish fighters were supported by the United States of America but later abandoned by them which kick-started Kurdish battle with Turkey and giving them no time to heal the wounds given by ISIS.
Now, on June 29, 2022, PKK (Kurdistan Worker’s Party) accused the United States and NATO of giving green light to Turkey to continue the Kurdish genocide. In an official statement issued by PKK, they said “The fact that the achievements, the values, the freedom and the struggle of the Kurdish people are being turned into a bargaining chip for NATO enlargement is a declaration of enmity against the Kurdish people. The agreement reached in Madrid between Finland, Sweden and Turkey on the policy set by the Turkish government shows the hypocrisy of a system that calls itself a ‘Western democracy’.” They further added that “The true face of this system has thus been shown once again. The support for the Kurds decided by the Swedish Social Democrats at their party congress has been undermined and it has become clear that anything can be negotiated for the sake of their profits. This is also an injustice against their members and society in Sweden.”
The perpetual battle of Kurds against their adversaries has taught us about the complex political nature of so-called strong states who will change their support considering their interests first and not the assistance the one who needs.
