Kurdish possibilities: the collapse of Ottoman Empire and the collapse of Iraq

Kurdistan is now in the turning point of its history. During the First World War, after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, Kurds could not use that historical opportunity to gain their rights. Now another country, Iraq, is breaking down and the Kurdish leaders use cleverly the situation for the benefit of the Kurds.

Many decisions which were made at the beginning of last century have turned out to be wrong. Nations have arranged better solutions with bitter wars or at other heavy cost. Do you remember countries like Soviet Union and Yugoslavia? They had their roots in times of the first world war. Also the present division of Kurdistan was made at the same time.

The problem of Kurds is their inability to make cooperation with each others. Because of this their enemies have been able to control Kurds with the policy of "divide and rule". This situation will continue as long time as the Kurds can not negotiate with each others about their common targets and the Kurdish benefits.

If the partition process of Iraq continues there will independent state Kurdistan. This is frightening scenario for Turkey which has twenty million Kurdish citizens. When they compare their own situation to the conditions of free Kurds, is there anything good they can say about their own country?

World is not the same any more as it was ninety years ago. Nations should learn from mistakes made by other nations. Kurds have suffered too much as there has been many wars. And also their enemies have suffered. Everyone would benefit about a political solution to this problem. Now it is time to use diplomacy instead of weapons. England and France, who won the First World War, must carry their responsibility in solving problems which are caused by their wrong decisions at that time.

A mediator is necessary in solving difficult armed conflicts and threats of them. There are international organizations capable of arranging peace negotiations. One of them is Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). It is active also outside Europe, for example in Afghanistan. Next year my country Finland will be the chairman of OSCE. Despite Finland is a small country with a population of five million people, it has lots of experience in peace negotiating activities and other diplomatic work under difficult conditions.

The second division of Kurdistan?

The European Commission made its 2007 progress report public through a press release on 6th November. The first Kurdish comments are very critical. It is not a surprise that the European Commission neglects the problems of the Kurds. Its attitude has been all the time during Turkey's EU membership negotiations to close the eyes from the Kurdish question.

This attitude is just a continuation of the Lausanne Treaty where many European countries participated. In this Treaty Kurdistan was divided by four countries. Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria (or the colonies which are nowadays independent countries) took each a piece of Kurdistan. England and France accepted this. Now they want to sharpen the division of Kurdistan by putting the boarder of EU in the middle of Kurdistan.

Kurds have been controlled by the principle of "divide and rule" for centuries. If the northern part of Kurdistan would be inside EU and other parts outside it, this would be one more method of foreign rule in Kurdistan. One new strategy to hinder the cooperation between the Kurds.

But this strategy does not work any more. At the end of last century Kurds in Turkey had great hopes for EU but in vain. After understanding the disappointment they looked for cooperation to the south instead of the west. Also cooperation with Kurds and South Kurdistan instead of EU. This has already benefited Kurds in both parts of Kurdistan.

If EU would pay attention to the Kurdish question and the Kurdish upraising EU would benefit also itself. European Union needs Turkey as its member. The population in EU countries is getting older and there is need for new labour. Turkey is an answer for Europe's needs, a reservoir of labour. EU will miss this possibility if Turkey's membership negotiations fail. And this will happen if Turkey becomes more unstable country.

The Kurdish question is the biggest problem in Turkey but EU refuses to see it. If there will be no peaceful solution to the Kurdish question, it is not only a question whether Turkey will be member in EU or not. But EU will have in its neighbourhood an unstable and dangerous country.

European mass media has started to write more and better articles about the Kurds. Still there is no understanding how complicated the situation is and how dangerous it would be even for EU countries if there will be a war between Turkey and South Kurdistan or a full scale civil war in Turkey.

European people seem to believe still that if Turkey's membership negotiations do not lead to a good direction the situation will remain as it is now. Let's hope they understand the situation before it is too late. The refusal of EU to see the Kurdish question is based on a false imagine that there would be time for ever to wait that Turkey voluntarily starts solving its problems.

Turkish embassy in Helsinki today (the 13th November 2007)

The red point behind the tree is Turkish flag. Turkish embassy is on the second floor of this building.

There has been reports of riots between Kurdish and Turkish demonstrators in various European cities. In Helsinki the demonstration was peaceful. There are almost no Turkish immigrants in Finland, only some Turkish men who have married a Finnish lady and assimilated to the Finnish society. The Kurdish community is active and makes good cooperation with police who are always ready to make the necessary traffic arrangements when it is time to use the freedom of expression by arranging a demonstration.

Yes we do have snow in Helsinki, today is the first day it came. The weather was also horribly windy which can not be seen from these pictures. It was fun for the kids who used their time by making snowballs in the park in front of the Turkish embassy.

Most of the Kurdish men work in pizza restaurants in Helsinki. As it was still lunch time during this demonstration they sent their wives and children to the demonstration.

Greetings from a marginal country

The internationally recognised image of Turkey is one of touristic indulgences, whirling dervishes and successful secularism. Within this idealised representation the status of the Kurds is lost. This is not only the case in the international version but also extends to the representation of Kurds in Turkey. In modern Turkey, Kurdish civil society is developing rapidly. Kurds are becoming increasing politically aware and organized in order to solve their problems of recognition. Yet the Kurdish voice is silenced, sometimes brutally.

The eerie silence of the Kurdish voice extends also to Europe. Social activism is described as terrorism. The old adage of one man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist fits appropriately in the case of the Kurds in Turkey.

Despite the mass symbolic gagging of the Kurdish voice news trickles through. The atrocities against Kurds in the Southeast of Turkey received limited coverage. This is in part related to the difficulties in getting news out of the country. No news agency has a permanent correspondent in Turkey in a location further east than Ankara. They are instead reliant on Turkish mass media for their news. This poses a serious threat to objectivity as the Turkish media is heavily censored by the authorities. Official censorship impacts profoundly on the representation of Kurds in the international community.

The public opinion and sympathy usually lies with the victims of armed conflicts. But in the case of the Kurds in Turkey it is the opposite with the international community siding with the Turkish state. Due partly to the lack of the Kurdish voice and flows of information from Kurdish areas but more significantly to the fact that Turkey has forced itself into a powerful lobbying position within the discourse of the War on Terror and counts among its friends America and the United Kingdom.

FINLAND, A SUPERPOWER IN DIPLOMACY

I have followed the situation of the Kurds for more than ten years. I have seen the huge problems but also the national awakening and rapid development of the liberation movement. Kurdish associations both in Kurdistan and in Europe are flexible and adopt all the time new methods when it is question about organising the Kurds. But these abilities disappear strangely when they should make contacts with European organisations.

I hope my readers understand that my critique is not intended to add to the negative representation of the Kurds, but instead it is intended to aid understanding of the problem. I have become very frustrated many times as I have felt the problems could be solved when working with other methods and other attitudes.

I am from Finland. Finland is located between East and West, it is a neighbour country of the former Soviet Union and present Russia with more than one thousand kilometres of land boarder. Since it became independent 1917 the main principle of Finnish foreign policy has been to balance with this neighbour. Finland is a small country in the amount of population (five million people) but a super power in diplomacy. Surviving with our big neighbour has taught Finnish diplomats to be very skilful. It is not a coincidence that in EU the commissioner for enlargement is from Finland. Finnish people are specialists in difficult diplomacy.

Olli Rehn is just one example. Other ones are Martti Ahtisaari, Harri Holkeri, Elisabeth Rehn, Helena Ranta and late Matti Wuori. Green MP Pekka Haavisto is one of the very few people who developed and maintained a personal relationship with the leaders of all parties in the Darfour crisis.

KURDI-KURDI -DIPLOMACY IS NOT ENOUGH

When looking at Finland from the Kurdish perspective there is one thing which makes it different to other Western European countries. The Turkish lobby is very weak in Finland. There are no Turkish immigrants except some Turkish men who have met a Finnish lady in Antalya beach and followed her to Finland.

But there are thousands of Kurdish refugees in my country, and compared to other European countries, the Kurdish plight receives sympathy from the general public. Finland and Kurdistan shared certain historical similarities. Finland was part of Russia until the First World War and during the period of 1939-1944 we had two wars against Soviet Union. We know what is to fight against an enormous enemy!

When campaigning for a political solution for the Kurdish question, what conclusions these facts bring to your mind: a country which is super power in diplomacy having sympathy for the Kurds, with no Turkish lobby?

Well, I have explained these facts during last ten years for many Kurdish activists. Their reaction has always been the same: Finland is marginal country which is not important for the Kurdish movement because the Kurdish community in Finland is small, only some thousand people.

Until now I have not met even one Kurd who would understand the special character of Finland's history. Or who would be at least interested in it, not even among the ones who have lived a long time in Finland. It is difficult to make cooperation with someone if you are interested only about yourself and do not want to know your partner.

It has surprised me that many Kurds know the battle of Raatteentie of January 1940 where 17 500 Soviet soldiers died (compared to the fallen 900 Finnish soldiers). Kurds respect how Finns won the battle by using methods which would nowadays be described as guerrilla warfare. But they do not know the meaning of this single battle in the whole war - not even to speak about the reflects of the war to the present foreign policy in Finland.

TIME TO LEARN NEW SKILS

The reasons behind the problems in Kurdish diplomacy are clear. For decades it has been forbidden for them for them to study their own culture and history. When there are finally some possibilities for that - at least in the Diaspora community - it is understandable that people spent all their time in doing it. But it would be so much easier to learn from others' mistakes instead of experiencing same mistakes by oneself and learning by this rocky road!
Also there is huge lack of activists. 30 000 PKK guerrillas have died in the war. There are thousands Kurdish politicians in Turkish prisons, and thousands others have been forced to escape to Europe where they face other problems. There is huge amount of Kurds who have mental or physical problems caused by torture, deportation, political violence on their family members etc. I do not even try to estimate their numbers. Each story of the victims - the fallen guerrillas, the disappeared, the injured, the prisoners, the refugees - is a human tragedy.
But these atrocities have also the practical consequence that there is lack of huge amount of people who could have developed the Kurdish movement if the conditions would have been different. The target of the Turkish state was to destroy the Kurdish movement when it targeted individual members of it. Also the problems of the Kurdish diplomacy is a result of this.
Despite all these problems, the only way to solve the Kurdish question is that Kurds learn to make international cooperation. We, the foreign friends of Kurds, can assist in this. But Kurdish diplomacy can be done only by the Kurds themselves.

Trials in Turkey this week

I friend sent this information from Turkey, thanks! I forward it to Sahmaran's readers.

As more than 100 people have been on trial under TPC article 301 since 1 June 2005, 22 people have been on trial during July-September 2007 period. Among them the late chief editor of AGOS weekly Hrant Dink who was assasinated, and Nobel winner Orhan Pamuk, and many other journalist, writer and academic.

This week's '301' victims are journalist Hacı Boğatekin, publisher Ahmet Önal and writer Murat Çoskun. Boğatekin is charged over his article published in "Fırat Gerger" newspaper, Önal and Coşkun are charged over the book "Language of Suffering".

"Freedom of Expression" Trials of this week:

Accused : Haci Bogatekin
Court and Date of Hearing : Gerger Criminal Court of First Instance, 06 November 2007 at 10:00 am
Introduction : Journalist Boğatekin is charged with ¨openly insulting the state¨ over and anonymous article published ¨Gerger Fırat Newspaper¨. The article wrote ¨State made a mistake. Where and When?. Yesterday in the East and South East, and then in İstanbul. In Maraş and Sivas. Today in Trabzon, Mersin and the south east.

Accused : Muzaffer Erdogdu on behalf of Pencere Publishers, Ahmet Guner, Taner Akcam
Court and Date of Hearing : Ankara 6th Legal Court of First Instance, 08 November 2007 at 09:35 am
Introduction : Republic People Party (CHP) MP Şükrü Elekdağ opened a case over the book “Treatment of Armenians in Ottoman Empire, 95-96” against the publisher Muzaffer Erdogdu, the translator Ahmet Guner and the historian Taner Akçam whose article was published in the book. Elekdağ claimed 20.000 Turkish Liras of compensation.

Accused : Ahmet Onal, Murat Coskun
Court and Date of Hearing : Beyoglu 2nd. Criminal Court of First İnstance, 08 November 2007 at 10:15 am
Introduction : Writer Murat Coskun and owner of Peri publishing house Ahmet Onal stand trial for Murat Coskun´s book ¨The language of suffering: Woman¨