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Turkey's strong support for a Palestinian state is a hypocritical irony that may come back to haunt it in the distant future.
On one hand it's responsible for the seedlings that grew into modern-day Israel and on the other it's doing all it can to repress the national aspirations of its own large Kurdish minority, while rooting for the creation of a Palestinian state.
Largely forgotten amidst all the international hype surrounding the Israel-Palestinian conflict is the ongoing persecution of one of the world's largest stateless minorities. Upwards of 30 million Kurds live largely segregated in Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria where they have undergone periods of persecution...some brought on by their uprisings of national liberation.
Even though the Kurds have Persian origins, their biggest community is in Turkey where a current 36-year insurgency has claimed the lives of 40,000 Kurds. Each of the nations where Kurds live have had their turns in repressing these people. Iraq's Saddam Hussein even attempted mass murder by poison gas.
Turkey's answer is something Israel doesn't attempt with its Arab population...forced assimilation through military conscription, with the result of Kurds in the Turkish Army being forced to fight their brother Kurds in the uprising.
Yet, it seems logical if and when a Palestinian state becomes a reality, the birth of an independent Kurdistan will be next on the Middle East agenda. The irony here is Turkey was the governing power that sold land in Palestine to Zionist Jews before WW1.
Unlike the Palestinians, who are Arabs mainly from surrounding Arab lands, the Kurds are a distinct non Semitic ethnic group. They existed as mountain dwelling nomads for hundreds of years in a cross border region called Kurdistan. One of the greatest Muslim warrior leaders Sultan Saladin was a Kurd.
After the Ottoman Empire was dissolved, Britain agreed to the possibility of a Kurdish nation being declared. However, this idea was rejected in 1923 by Turkish leader Kemal Ataturk, who put down the first modern day Kurdish uprisings. Since then the Kurds have remained one of the world's largest stateless ethnic groups.
The Kurds have one main thing against them...No oil. If they could control the flow of oil the odds of their gaining statehood would shorten. But wait! Don't the Kurds now control the oil-rich region of Iraq? And doesn't Turkey seek closer ties with the West? Euro-pressure may build on Turkey if and when things start popping.
As I said, if there ever is a Palestinian state, look for the Kurds to impress the world with their need for a national homeland, through increased military action coupled with political lobbying.
Yet, Turkey will dig in its heals and become even more repressive. One only has to recall the WW1 Armenian genocide by Turkey of up to 1.5 million people to know the Turks don't play by the western rule book.
Follow Dan Ehrlich on Twitter: www.twitter.com/danew13
Kurdish people - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Who Are The Kurds? - Washington Post
Kurds | World news | The Guardian
Kurds in Turkey Rended by War That Haunts Country - NYTimes.com
Do you really think that one day even if the Kurds have their freedom that they will support Israel? It was a Kurd called Saladin who conquered Jeruzalem from the Crusaders and it will be again a Kurd who conquer it this time from the zionists.
We have been staunch allies to Israel and have asked little in return yet when we do ask for them to ease tensions with their neighboring Arab neighbors they refuse to cooperate and we back off. We never deny them the billions we give them. They have become extremely wealthy in all areas of commerce in America and their lobbyists are the strongest dealing with politicians.
I am neither pro nor con Palestine. I look beyond terroism toward the people who struggle daily to exist in a war torn area. Women, children, seniors and men who have never picked up a gun or aided or abetted a terrorist. The Kurds also deserve a homeland after years of tyranny.
It is not up to Israel whether or not Palestine becomes an indepenent state. Instead of fighting over a parcel of land, the boundaries will be set and I believe, if Israel complies, much of the violence will level off.
That massacre took place nearly one hundred years ago. Using it as a predictor of Turkey's actions in future is as unhelpful and misdirecting as looking at British behavior in India over the same period, where a great many native people were deliberately starved, as a predictor of its reaction to future events.
A great many people have died under the auspices of the 'western rule book' all over the world, a hundred years ago, seventy years ago, eight years ago-- and no rules were broken. Perhaps we ought to retire the conceit.