Israel Hasbara Committee
My
Friends, Dare To Think About What The Future
Could Be
By Gerald A. Honigman
I’ve watched the recent Turkish invasion of
Iraqi Kurdistan closely.
What I will now say I’ve largely said
before, but it’s now time to reassert what I
believe to be hard truths to two friends.
I cannot condemn Ankara’s decision to invade
Iraqi Kurdistan anymore than I could condemn
Israel’s decision to go after Arabs who
target Jews from Gaza, Judea and Samaria
(renamed only recently in history the “West
Bank”), and so forth. I’m glad to see that,
for whatever reasons, the Turks have now
withdrawn.
The PKK’s refuge in Iraqi Kurdistan was an
open invitation for a Turkish invasion. I’m
surprised it took so long in the coming. And
I wrote that in the Kurdish media itself
long ago.
Having said this, there’s another hard
series of truths...
Unlike the plight of one fifth of Turkey’s
population who are Kurds, Israel’s Arab
population (also one fifth of Israel) are
the freest Arabs anywhere in the Middle
East. Despite many of the latter composing a
real fifth column, (siding with fellow Arabs
who call for Israel’s total destruction),
Arab language, culture, political rights and
so forth flourish in the land of the Jews.
Perfection? No...but compared to the plight
of non-Arabs in so-called “Arab ”
lands--especially those whom the Arabs call
“their” kilab yahud (Jew dogs), the Jews who
are left (more Jews fled those lands to
Israel than Arabs who fled Israel)--Israeli
Arabs live in Paradise. Just ask black
African Sudanese in Darfur and southern
Sudan, for starters (and Copts, Kurds,
Assyrians, Amazigh/Berbers, and so forth).
I was pleased to hear that the Kurdish
Workers Party (PKK) recently invited Turkey
to hold talks to resolve differences, while
the President of Iraq's Kurdistan Region,
Masud Barzani, expressed readiness to
contribute to finding a peaceful solution to
the problem. This is not the first time
they’ve extended these invitations either.
In a statement, the PKK expressed a
readiness to seek a peaceful solution to the
issue of Kurds in Turkey through mediation
by the government of Iraq's Kurdish Region
and supported the KRG’s call for
establishing dialogue.
On his part, President Barzani expressed his
readiness to "actively participate" in
finding a peaceful solution to the PKK-Turkish
problem, which he hoped would "end violence
in the region and build better relations of
cooperation and consolidate security and
stability for our people."
On the surface, this might appear to just be
just wishful thinking. But U.S. Secretary of
Defense Robert Gates’ statement openly
addressing the need for Ankara to address
the real grievances of Turkish Kurds seems
to be a welcome new development. I don’t
recall an American official vocalizing this
as firmly prior to now.
Let’s step back again...
Over the past century in particular, after
the collapse of the Ottoman Turkish Empire
in the wake of World War I, the Kurds were
renamed Mountain Turks, had their language
and culture outlawed, etc. and so forth to
insure that the new, constricted Turkey
which arose with Mustafa Kemal--Ataturk--would
suffer no further geographical losses.
Understandable, but not a just solution to
the problem. After all, long before a Turk
or Arab was in that vicinity, Kurds long
lived there.
Turkey has been a valuable ally of America
and has resisted Islamic extremism better
than any other Muslim country. It also has
relatively good relations with
Israel...especially when its relations with
neighboring Syria take a dive.
So, as with my Kurdish friends, I truly wish
nothing but good for our Turkish friends as
well.
But, as I’ve written often before and will
repeat until it sinks in, friends should be
able to disagree and still remain friends.
When Israel goes after Hamas terror masters,
Ankara is quick to criticize and lecture
about the need to create the Arabs’ 22nd
state and second, not first, one in
“Palestine”--Jordan having surfaced on some
80% of the original April 25, 1920 territory
over the past century. Turkey knows full
well what the Arabs’ plans are for the
Jewish State, yet makes these demands
anyway. But talk about the need for justice
for 35 million truly stateless Kurds, and
Ankara goes ballistic.
Turkey is some forty times as large as
Israel geographically and eleven times
larger in population.
Despite this, Ankara sees nothing wrong,
after demanding the creation of the Arabs’
22nd state, with telling Kurds--who have
been massacred and subjugated in all the
lands where they have lived in the new
nationalist era--that they must remain
forever in that stateless condition because
of the potential threat independence in
Iraqi Kurdistan might have to Turkey. The
Turks fear the effect this will have on
their own large, adjacent--and suppressed--
Kurdish population.
As we all know, the fear is well founded,
and I understand it.
But if a Turkey which dwarfs Israel in size
and population has reason to fear this, then
what is Israel to say?
Again, one fifth of Israel is Arab...like
the fifth of Turkey which is Kurd. Yet the
Jews are told by virtually all--including
Turks--that they must allow yet another Arab
state, dedicated to their very destruction,
to be set up in their backyard.
Keep in mind that whatever its flaws may be,
the PKK does not seek Turkey’s destruction.
The calls for independence by some largely
are sired by real, unaddressed
grievances--as Secretary Gates acknowledged.
Despite the potential for problems, justice
does not demand that Kurds remain forever
politically powerless in the nationalist
age. A miniscule Israel faces worse problems
regarding such things but is expected to
allow for the creation of yet another
rejectionist Arab state.
So, what’s to be done?
Once again repeating what I’ve written
earlier, there is no doubt that the Kurds
must do what the Arabs refuse to do...
Iraqi Kurdistan must show Ankara that an
independent or highly autonomous Iraqi
federal Kurdish region will not be a threat.
Had it done so earlier, a Turkish
invasion--even with Ankara eying Kurdish
oil--would not have occurred or at least
wouldn’t have been justified.
As President Barzani (whose late father will
forever be a hero of mine) has stated above,
there must be serious discussions with the
PKK about what the greater good for
Kurdistan will require. This means Kurdish
leaders must get their own acts together as
well...beyond protecting their own virtual
fiefdoms--be they Talabani, Barzani, or
whomever. If need be, they must use military
force to subdue their own extremists.
Hopefully, it will not come to this. And
nothing will be expected in this regard if
the Turks don’t show that they will be
willing to grant Iraqi Kurds the same right
to have in one of which they expect Israel
to allow Arabs to have almost two dozen of.
Ankara must also seriously address the
rights of Turkish Kurds as well instead of
collaborating with both Syria and Iran in
suppression of their respective Kurdish
populations.
There is room for coexistence and
cooperation if both peoples can get beyond
their fears. A brighter future awaits them.
Besides problems with the PKK, there are
already real benefits materializing for
Turks in Iraqi Kurdistan.
Both have a history of opposing Islamic
extremism, though some are to be counted
amongst both populations.
Kurds from Turkey, Syria, Iran, and
elsewhere wanting to live in an independent
Kurdish state can have in Iraqi Kurdistan
what Jews have in a reborn Israel.
Like formerly truly stateless Jews, Kurds
have suffered greatly because of this
political powerlessness.
Again, renaming Arabs “Palestinians” (most
of whom came from elsewhere) does not change
the fact that Arabs have almost two dozen
states--conquered from mostly non-Arab
peoples. If there is a rough analogy to the
Jews, it is the Kurds, not the Arabs. The
Turks especially must also understand this
since, besides Turkey, there are also a half
dozen other Turkish states.
Both Turks and Kurds must examine each
other’s needs and fears.
The future can be a promising one for both
peoples.
While Arabs of different stripes blow each
other apart, Turks and Kurds have mostly
shown that they want no part of this sort of
thing. Positive nationalism is better than
negative nationalism.
Think of the possibilities which can arise
if both peoples can get themselves to grant
each other the humanity and respect both
deserve.
Turkish Kurds must understand that the realm
of the Turks will not see itself
geographically split again. But this does
not mean that Kurds should continue to be
suppressed in Turkey. To insure Turkey’s
integrity, the Turks have demanded
Turkification of all who live there. This
needs to be changed drastically. Imagine the
outcry if Israel was doing this sort of
thing to Arabs.
Ironically, Kurdish autonomy or independence
in Iraqi Kurdistan has the potential to ease
these very problems...under the right
conditions.
Having the potential to live in a
Kurdish-ruled area will give Kurds
everywhere less grievance and reason to
resort to violence.
Will there be risks and problems?
Of course. There is much that will be needed
to be worked out. And all thirty or forty
million Kurds will not fit into Iraqi
Kurdistan.
But reasonable people can come up with
reasonable solutions.
It’s time for both peoples to look ahead for
a better future for both of their
children...something Arabs who use their
kids as human shields and who send them on
suicide missions in pursuit of their own
one-sided version of justice have proven
incapable of doing.
Source: Article submitted by the author,
an IHC Featured Writer
Edited by IHC staff, www.infoisrael.net
Published 5 March 2008
Israel Hasbara Committee - http://www.infoisrael.net
You can find this article online at
www.infoisrael.net/cgi-local/text.pl?source=4/b/iv/050320081&lang=
