From pnmideast at igc.apc.org Fri Nov 1 21:45:53 1991 From: pnmideast at igc.apc.org (PeaceNet Middle East Team) Date: Fri, 01 Nov 1991 13:45:53 -0800 (PST) Subject: TURKISH ATTACKS SLOW TALKS Message-ID: From: Subject: TURKISH ATTACKS SLOW TALKS /* Written 7:54 am Nov 1, 1991 by newsdesk in cdp:ips.englibrary */ /* ---------- "TURKEY: ATTACKS IN IRAQ SLOW BUT DO" ---------- */ Copyright Inter Press Service 1991, all rights reserved. Permission to re- print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'. Area: Middle East Title: TURKEY: ATTACKS IN IRAQ SLOW BUT DO NOT STOP TALKS WITH KURDS istanbul, oct 29 (ips) -- tuesday's declaration of a end to turkish army cross border raids on kurdish guerrilla camps in iraq have further increased prospects of a turkish bid to split kurdish factions with promises of homes and aid. preliminary talks on turning over an uninhabited border buffer zone between turkey and iraq to the kurds came to a sudden end when turkish troops restarted their cross border attacks on guerrillas of the workers' party of kurdistan (pkk) in iraq. but before leaving the turkish capital ankara in protest at the raids, iraqi kurdistan democratic party (kdp) representative siamand banaa told journalists that the discussions were ''suspended'' -- but not at an end. calling for an end to all attacks on kurds in iraq, banaa maintained that the only answer was to turn over the border areas to kurds and call in turkish and international resources to create new towns for the kurdish peoples there. ''military methods are of no use in eliminating the pkk in iraq,'' said banaa. turkish and iraqi kurds, whose kurdistan homelands are split between the two countries, are equally split between a policy of cooperation with ankara and baghdad and the continuance of a long running guerrilla war of liberation. according to tuesday reports troops from the turkish hakkari mountain and commando brigade have started withdrawing from iraq, where they have been allowed to fairly freely stage several operations since the end of the gulf war. turkey claimed to have killed 100 pkk guerrillas, a claim denied by the pkk, who called the operation ''a total fiasco''. but the operation, which begun friday, had not stopped a meeting monday between the leader of the kdp's ally, jalal tablani of the (iraqi) kurdistan patriotic union (kpu) and sulyman demirel, leader of the turkish true path party (dyp). demirel is expected to become the next prime minister of turkey following sunday's national elections, and is reportedly considering an alliance with social democrats to form a coalition government. the social democrats are in turn allied with pro- kurdish turkish parties. he is expected to continue a process begun by president turgut ozal, who sought to use the iraqi kurds' ambitions for a safe haven in turkey as a force against the turkish pkk and their leader abdullah ocalan. (more/ips) turkey: attacks in iraq slow but do not stop talks with kurds(2-e) turkey: attacks in iraq (2) the proposal was first raised by talabani and kdp deputy leader nejirwan barzani in mid-september talks with ozal and suggests the development of new towns in the present border buffer zone. the kurds seek to develop farming and border trade with turkish and international aid. security would be guaranteed by the iraqi kurds' own ''peshmerga'' guerrillas, working with the turkish security forces -- against incursions from pkk forces in hiding in iraq. despite the prospects of fighting between iraqi and turkish kurds raised by the proposal, both the iraqi kpu and kdp have strongly criticised the attacks on the turkish pkk in iraq between friday and tuesday. barzani telegrammed the turkish government monday to condemn the ''unlimited hatred and prejudice'' demonstrated by ''certain units of the turkish army'' against the kurds. he accused the military of attempting to use their operations against the kurds as a ''trump card'' against the government's own policies. ''turkish army hostile atrocities... were a convenient way of retaliating against terrorist attacks in turkey. ''revenge attempts on innocent civilians should not be tolerated,'' he said. talabani, who has made a personal appeal to ocalan to give up the armed struggle, is keen to avoid the factionalism from descending into fighting. more practically, banaa noted: ''if the well equipped turkish army cannot cope with the pkk on its own territory, it is impossible for our peshmergas to completely overcome them either. ''the only way out is to habitate the border zone,'' he said. ''turkey must make its decision immediately.'' (end/ips/rp/nm/rj) From antennae at gn.apc.org Sat Nov 2 01:10:38 1991 From: antennae at gn.apc.org (antennae at gn.apc.org) Date: 02 Nov 1991 01:10:38 +0000 (GMT) Subject: KURDS LAUNCH NEW APPEAL Message-ID: A new appeal on behalf of the Kurdish Disaster Fund has been launched today with a full page advertisement in The Guardian newspaper. Text of the advertisement forms the following message. From kurds at gn.apc.org Sat Nov 2 01:28:29 1991 From: kurds at gn.apc.org (kurds at gn.apc.org) Date: 02 Nov 1991 01:28:29 +0000 (GMT) Subject: Text of Kurdish appeal in The Guar Message-ID: The following is the text of the appeal which appeared as a full page advertisement in today's Guardian newspaper. --------------------------------------------------------------------- DEAR MR ARCHER, KURDISH CHILDREN ARE STILL DYING. In Kurdistan you're a hero. Little children who cannot speak any English know the syllables of your name. Young and old, all know of your personal efforts to draw the world's attention to the plight of the Kurdish people. According to figures published by the Red Cross, your Simple Truth Appeal raised some 57 million around the world to help the Kurds. Mr Archer, our people are puzzled. So much money and yet, for nearly a million Kurds still stranded in the mountains, or camped in the ruins of their family homes, not nearly enough help has reached them. Why not? They don't understand and neither do we. Mr Archer, 57 million is a lot of money. It was enough to have solved our people's problems. We know that you - and the British Red Cross - have acted honourably and impeccably throughout. You must be as concerned as we are that the Kurdish refugees have seen hardly any of the huge sums of money raised in the West in their name. It must horrify you as much as us that people who faced ice, hunger and illness in the Kurdish mountains last winter, now face them again this winter. MANY REFUGEES HAVE RECEIVED NO HELP. As many as one million refugees are still in the mountains on either side of the Iran-Iraq border. Once the snow starts, within two weeks of your reading this, their food will run out. There are not enough shelters. A team of journalists which returned from Kurdistan last month reported that 'everyone was worried that the UN High Commissioner for Refugees' promised shelters had not arrived'. In the Qala Diza region, the people have no clean water. They are drinking water contaminated with sewage and are falling ill. For the sick, little help by way of healthy food or medicine is available. There is widespread malnutrition. Children are still dying of dysentery and other diseases. 600,000 people are living in rubble and ruins. More than five million mines litter the hillsides and valleys. People trying to collect house-building materials, and children foraging for firewood, have had hands and feet blown off. Some amputees have literally to drag themselves across the mountains to the nearest hospital. DID SADDAM GET ANY OF THE MONEY? These people desperately need help now. If there is any of the Simple Truth money left, it should go immediately to Kurdistan. How can we tell if there's any left? We know who most of the money was given to, but we don't know how, or even if, it has been spent. Less than 5 million of the 13 million raised in Britain was spent on fast, direct action through UK agencies. 2.4 million was sent to Red Cross Headquarters in Geneva, which has not yet accounted for it in detail. We know that Red Cross policy is to work through national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies. So, was money given to the Red Crescent organisations of Turkey, Iran and Iraq? If so how much and how was it spent? How can we be sure that the Iraqi Red Crescent could protect its funds from Saddam Hussein's government? Forgive us for asking these questions, but they are perfectly fair. The people who gave so generously have a right to know what happened to their money. And surely the Kurdish people have the right to the money that was raised in their name. DOES THE UN HAVE ANY MONEY LEFT? Of the 57 million raised or promised worldwide, a total of 37.5 million (including 6 million from Britain) went to the UN. Of this, the vast majority went into the general UN fund for humanitarian aid in the region, not just Kurdistan. What has happened to this money? Mr Archer, you are reported as saying that the Red Cross has accounted for every penny it received, but that the UN is answerable to governments. But you have the power to ring up Prime Ministers, Presidents and Secretary Generals. You have a better chance of finding out than we do. In 1988, at the height of Saddam Hussein's chemical massacres of our people, a Kurdish leader wrote to the UN Security Council begging them to pass a resolution calling for a halt to the genocide. Not only did he get no reply, they never even acknowledged receipt of his letter. TRAGEDY IS TWO WEEKS AWAY. Mr Archer, the UN like all bureaucracies, is slow to act. But the people in the mountains will feel the rain turn to snow this month. Temperatures will drop to 15 degrees below freezing. The UN's 'Memorandum of Understanding' with Saddam Hussein, which grants them permission to work in Iraqi Kurdistan, has only a few more weeks to run. After it expires on December 31st, nobody knows what will happen. In any case, the UN is specifically prohibited from doing long-term construction work. Of course, this is precisely the sort of work that is most needed. THE KURDS' OWN CAMPAIGN IS THE WAY TO HELP. But there is still a way to help the Kurds. Mr Archer, for long, painful weeks before you went on TV to announce the Simple Truth Appeal, we at the Kurdish Cultural Centre had been struggling - alone it seemed - to raise funds. When the disaster struck in March this year we had no money. It had all been sent in February to help Kurdish children in refugee camps in Turkey - victims of the same chemical bombings that the UN Security Council ignored. We had to borrow 5,000 to pay for the first Kurdish Disaster Fund appeal advertisement. But thanks to the generous support of the public, we raised nearly 500,000. It's not much, compared to The Simple Truth's 57 million, but maybe you'd like to know how we spent the money. WE ACHIEVED THINGS OTHERS COULD NOT. The Kurdish Disaster Fund was launched on April 4th. Within three weeks, we sent 60,000 of urgently needed relief supplies - including water purification equipment, blankets, clothing and emergency shelters - to Tabriz in Iran. A week later we flew out another 40,000 of supplies. Two days later we began a three month project with 14 British doctors and paramedics on the Turkish border. We spent 20,000 on this project which included establishing a small emergency field hospital. On 16th May, we drove 3 lorryloads of the most-needed medical supplies, infant food, sleeping bags and blankets to Kurdistan via Turkey. Cost 30,000. Meanwhile we sent a team of Kurdish doctors and paramedics to the mountains of the Iran-Iraq border. They set up a relief committee and recruited helpers from amongst the local people. The bulk of the remaining money was channelled out via this committee as they requested it to buy food and medicines. By now, our people have delivered an amazing 1,250 tonnes of urgently needed food - rice, flour and oil - to the people who were suffering most. Other relief agencies were astonished that we could do this, as they have had difficulties moving supplies across the border from Iran. We have also given money to help build six schools in Halabja, the town that was almost wiped out by an Iraqi chemical attack in 1988. To rebuild Qala Diza Hospital and buy medicines. To buy medicines for Penjwin Hospital. To help mine victims in Suleimaniya Hospital. To buy doors and windows so that local people could rebuild their villages. To help Kurdish widows from Zakho to Suleimaniya. All of our accounts are open to public scrutiny at any time. SEND YOUR MONEY WHERE IT WILL DO MOST GOOD. Mr Archer, we appeal to you - and to all generous minded people - to support our continuing efforts. We know the mountains, the people, the language. We have no bureaucracy, no red tape to slow us down. Even as you read this our relief workers, both Kurdish and British, are on the ground helping the refugees and sending back regular reports. No-one knows better what is needed. The people camped in the mountains and in the ruins of their houses are our sisters and brothers, our mothers and fathers, our children. We will move heaven and earth to save them. The Kurdish people still urgently need the help of their true friends around the world. By making a donation to the Kurdish Disaster Fund you can make sure your money goes directly to where it will do most good. To Kurdistan. For the Kurds. ===========HOW TO DONATE TO THE KURDISH DISASTER FUND========== Credit card donations may be sent via GreenNet. Please e-mail GN:KURDS or GN:ANTENNAE with the following information: 1) Your name and address (as held by the credit card company) 2) Type of credit card (eg VISA, MasterCard) 3) Expiry date 4) Amount you wish to donate - please specify currency (eg US$, Canadian $, UK sterling etc) You can also send donations direct to: Kurdish Disaster Fund Kurdish Cultural Centre 14 Stannary Street London SE11 4AA You can telephone credit card donations to the KCC on: +44 (0)71 735 0918 Please also state whether you would like to be registered as an associate member of the Kurdish Cultural Centre. If you do, please add 15 or equivalent in other currencies to your donation. Thank you. ==================================================================== From pnmideast at igc.org Sat Nov 2 18:05:39 1991 From: pnmideast at igc.org (pnmideast at igc.org) Date: Sat, 02 Nov 1991 10:05:39 -0800 (PST) Subject: Kurdish issue and the PKK I. Message-ID: From: Subject: Kurdish issue and the PKK I. The writer is a Turk and a regular contributor to soc.culture.turkish. ================================================================== /* Written 8:59 pm Oct 31, 1991 by barlas in cdp:soc.culture.tu */ /* ---------- "Kurdish issue and the PKK I." ---------- */ I have lately been reading postings regarding Kurdish issue from racist and sexist jokes to ill-presented reality of the region. I was glad that Mr. Azizoglu came out and summarized the Kurdish experience in Turkey. I would like to make some comments on the issue in conjunction with the earlier postings. 1) Someone mentioned about rich Kurds having nice houses in Istanbul etc. I am sure there are privileged Kurds just as there are well of African- Americans in this country, example whole group of Black Republicans! However this by no means tells me that African-Americans are equally well treated. During Thomas' hearings we have been told Blacks as a family support one of their sons to go high up! Clarence Thomas reminds me of Turkish president Ozal who goes to Kurdish region and says that Kurds are not opppressed and are given the same opportunities, he is a Kurd himself! When we talk about African-Americans we are not merely talking about a group of privileged ones, not about those who are with their ethics of convenience in the service of power, not those who put their privileges ahead of social conscience. We are talking about masses of African-Americans! In this regard we should be talking about masses of Kurds in Turkey not about Mafia "baba"s. 2) Ismail Besikci was not convicted and put behind the bars because he was advocating Marxism and/or Leninism! He was punished because he was advocating human rights and democracy in Turkey. Turkish sociologist Ismail Besikci, the country's foremost aouthority on Kurds, was born in Corum in 1939. He recounts meeting Kurds for the first time as a student at Ankara university's Faculty of Political Science. Later he spent time in Turkey's eastern provinces as a student and during his military service. Out of these extended stays came his doctoral dissertation on the region's social structure. Published as a book in 1968, it remains the best study of its kind. His publications eventually cost him his post at Ataturk University in Erzurum. The first of a series of prison terms connected with his studies on the country's Kurds came after the 1971 military intervention. Released in 1974, he was not accepted into Ankara University and continued his scholarly activities independently. A series of three books published on Kurdish and Turkish history and sociology led to further imprisonment in 1979-1981. His letter to the president of the Swiss Writer's Union led to his rearrest just two months after his release, charged with discrediting Turkey's image abroad. Further prosecutions ensued from his own defense statements, and he remained jailed until May 25, 1987! Besikci's studies of Kurds inevitably led him to consider questions of ideology, and his latest works have focused on epistemological questions. Turkey only now appears to be taking tentative steps come to terms with its Kurdish population, having long denied their very existence. Official ideology presents this ethnic group as a Turkic people and Kurdish as a dialect of Turkish. To Besikci this falsified history can distort the totality of scientific inquiry in Turkey, and impede the strengthening of the democratic process. The following excerpts from an article written by Ismail Besikci in October 1087 provide his indictment of the Turkish state's effort to deny Kurdsish reality: " It has been asserted in Turkey that Kurds are really Turks, and that a Kurdish nation or a Kurdish language do not exist. This view is propogated by all the means at the disposal of the state, from the universities to the repressive apparatus. Any opposition to this view is considered subversive and is immediately punished. Official ideology thus presents itself as the greatest obstacle to scientific inquiry. This, of course, is not confined to Turkey. Official ideology stands as an obstacle to scientific inquiry in countries like Iran, South Africa, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Chile and Eastern Bloc countries as well as others. Official ideology imposes itself on reality. Court decisions "prove" that Kurds do not exist and Kurds are imprisoned for laying claim to reality. ............ Social phenomena are composed of a series of interrelated processes. By denying the scholars the ability to study a portion of this complex reality, official ideology leads to a false and distorted study. Looking at the 1920s, we observe that many political movements such as those among Turks, Kurds, Arabs and Armenians within the Ottoman Empire. There is also, among others, the influence of British and French imperialism as well as the impact of the Soviet revolution. If there is a prohibition on raising the Kurdish question, it is not possible to understand 1920s correctly. A ban on studying a specific social phenomenon might suit a researcher's purposes but the study would not be an objective scientific product. The official view in Turkey is that the Kemalist movement led the first anti-imperialist and anti-colonialist national liberation struggle, lighting the way for all oppressed nations. This ideological position, however, is refuted by the fact that the states formed in the region collaborated with French and British imperilasim in dividing and subjugating the Kurds. Why do Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria have their separate Kurdistan today? There is only one way to avoid this distortion: to reject the ban imposed by state ideology and declare it incompatible with a scientific approach. To believe in and follow scientific methods, to insist on facts, all of this could be interpreted as a belief system and ideology itself. But these beliefs and attitudes provide the basis for human rights and democracy. ............................." Translated by Lale Yalcin, printed in Middle East Report July-August 1988. 3) Somebody asked why no Kurd in the net comes out and condemns PKK attacks! Does it mean that they support PKK? People for their own reason may choose to keep silent, whatever this reason is. Be it fear, support, uninterest, not having enough time to get into useless discussions with people who speak a completely different language! I have read Turks calling PKK a terrorist organization, I wander what Kurds think about it. PLO was and still is called a terrorist organization by a lot of non-Palestinians. PLO has been called freedom fighters by Palestinians and by those who support their cause. As far as I know PKK attacks consist mainly of hit-and-run actions against military personnel and against Kurdish civilians considered "traitors" or "collaborators." And this issue has provided the Turkish aouthorities with a welcome rationale for the violations of human rights. Just to remind you that Israel invaded southern Lebanon claiming it was chasing PLO and it still holds that piece of land. It has been proven that attacks Israel claimed done by PLO was actually done by Mossad to create an excuse to invade southern Lebanon and give a message to its neighbours that Israel is the power there. I do not know what is going on in Turkish authorities minds', but if I speculate Turkey is trying to establish its sub-imperialist role in the region. And Kurdish issue is very suitable for this matter. I do not think PKK's tactic is correct but at same time I would like think about the reason why young people instead of falling in love are taking arms. Why are they doing it? Are they crazy? Are they adventurers? Do they enjoy the smell of blood? Why are they holding arms instead of their lovers? PKK is now engaged in a guerrilla war against the Turkish state and the various classes of collaboraters, liquidationists, social-chauvinists and other opponents of its revolution. Some information on PKK: " PKK was formally founded towards the end of 1978, but its core group had already been together for five years. They had met as members of a student union in Ankara that then incorporated many different left tendencies. Impatient with more experienced Kurdish activists who urged moderation and emphasized basic political education, they were looking for direct action. Members of this central group (among whom were several Turks) went to Kurdistan to find a field for revolutionary activities. >From the beginning, Abdullah Ocalan was the obvious leader of the group. After the short form of his first name, Apo (which also meant "uncle"), members of this group came to be called Apocu, "follower of Apo". When various Kurdish organizations were established in the following years, the Apocus declined to join any of them. They had already decided that they themselves were going to be the liberators of Kurdistan. They even signed some of their pamphlets as "National Liberation Army." The Apocu's political ideas were laid down in the party's 1978 program, which remains unchanged. Kurdistan is seen as a "classic colony", divided among four colonizing states that keep it in a state of semifeudal backwardness. Feudal landowners and a sort of comprador bourgeoisie collaborate with the colonizers, betraying their national identity. Parliamentary representation and education are two other processes by which Kurdistan is integrated into the colonizing state, its national identity destroyed and its subjugation perpetuated. The revolution will have to be national and democratic, the national aspect predominating. "Feudal" landlords, being exploiters and collaborators, are among the chief enemies: the program says their lands will be expropriated except those belonging to "patriotic" landlords. PKK was the only organization whose members were drawn almost exclusively from the lowest social classes - the uprooted, half-educated village and small-town youth who knew what it felt like to be oppressed, and who wanted action, not ideological sophistication. In several of the districts where the PKK had previously active, it had alienated the majority of the local population because of its uncompromising attitudes and its almost religious belief in violence as a means of salvation. A few areas excepted, the PKK could not count much support from the local population when the military stepped in and started making mass arrests. It is impossible to estimate the degree of popular support the PKK enjoys now in its present guerilla offensive. Many former opponents seem to have become more sympathetic because it is the only organization that actively resists the Turkish military. But the increased presence of military and police units all over Kurdistan and the severe reprisals taken against suspected supporters of the guerilla movement make it unlikely that the PKK will get much active popular support or even food and shelter. At the same time, they could hardly carry out so many actions deep inside Turkey without at least some measure of voluntary popular support. Long series of reports in the Turkish press on brutalities committed by the PKK against innocent civilians(based on "confessions" of captured activists and a shrewd mixture of fact and fiction) seem partly aimed at undermining popular sympathies for the guerilla fighters." Excerpted from Middle East Report, July-August 1988 issue written by Martin van Bruinessen. I will continue providing some more information on the issue from the same journal as soon as I have some free time. Suna Barlas From aldopacific at gn.apc.org Sun Nov 17 14:32:50 1991 From: aldopacific at gn.apc.org (aldopacific at gn.apc.org) Date: 17 Nov 1991 14:32:50 +0000 (GMT) Subject: Iona Interfaith Communique Message-ID: --HDR1.0-- 48 TX; IONA INTERFAITH CONSULTATION COMMUNIQUE (The following statement was agreed following a Jewish - Islam - Christian consultation on Iona, to consider the theme of "costly reconciliation" following the Gulf War. The consultation was hosted by the Iona Community, at Iona Abbey, 14th - 18th October 1991. The communique was published in The Scotsman, the Scottish newspaper of record.) In an effort to mitigate the bitterness of the Gulf War, and arising out of a continuing concern for the suffering of the peoples of the Middle East, a group of Jews, Christians and Muslims gathered together at Iona Abbey over the past week. In a spirit of reflection, repentance and reconciliation, we recognised that each of our faiths affirmed the sanctity of human life and the common humanity of all people; from this, we believe that war should be avoided by all who worship God. We acknowledged that we do have fundamental differences of faith, which should be recognised with understanding and respect for one another. We all believe in the same compassionate God. We trace the origin of our beliefs to the faith of Abraham. While our paths diverge from there in some important respects, we share a common commitment to love, justice, charity, mercy, piety and peace. In the past we have failed one another. We have overlooked profound similarities in our faiths. Too often the differences have clouded our vision. On occasions this has prevented affirmation of our common humanity, thereby contributing to local and international conflict. Accordingly, we urge all who share our common commitment to join in dialogue between the faiths at many levels in public and personal life. We call on all believers to pray and work for the development of personal friendships, the working out of common problems in our communities, the celebration of shared insights of faith, and to remember that we are all children of the one God. RaC2 border=2 RaC4 pgdepth=58 RaC8 curline=28 RaC9 curpos=38 RaC10 windline=13 RaC24 limitright=65 From pnmideast at igc.apc.org Tue Nov 19 03:57:19 1991 From: pnmideast at igc.apc.org (PeaceNet Middle East Team) Date: Mon, 18 Nov 1991 19:57:19 -0800 (PST) Subject: Turkish Weekly Blames the Genocide Message-ID: From: Subject: Turkish Weekly Blames the Genocide /* Written 10:14 pm Nov 17, 1991 by dbd at urartu.SDPA.org in cdp:soc.culture.tu */ /* ---------- "Turkish Weekly Blames the Genocide " ---------- */ The following is an English translation from a July 1991 issue of _Aktuel_, a newly published Turkish weekly. I personally protest this _Aktuel_ article for it is a cheep attempt at channeling blame for the Turkish governmental-organized genocide of the Armenian people on to the Kurds of Turkey. Obviously, this is an attempt to cause problems between Armenians and Kurds. - - - The Real Murderers of Armenians Were Kurds - - - Before the WWI, predominantly Armenians lived on those territories which were the homeland of the Armenians and which today are within the boundaries of the Turkish Republic. Later, when the Armenian numbers dwindled due to massacres and deportations, Turks too began moving into especially western and northern areas, while Kurds beginning to form a majority there. This situation caused Kurds to demand rights on the historically Armenian lands. The flood of the Kurds, which is called the Kurdish plague by the Armenians had in fact started at earlier times. Particularly in the second half of the 19th century, the number of Kurds kept increasing and they started to dominate those provinces. The Armenian-Kurdish relations in those regions were truly the relations of slaves and masters. Armenian historians Sasouni and Zarzeki [sic] state that Armenians worked, Kurds demanded booty and taxes with the excuse of protecting them. Although the Ottoman State oversaw the stability of the area to a certain degree, at the end Armenians were serving two masters: first the State then the area feudal lords. In those days, the Kurdish feudality demanded higher taxes from the Armenians than the State did. The relationship was openly one of serfdom. Obtained by gold, Armenian serfs were bought and sold by Kurds like sheep. When an Armenian girl got married, she had to give half of her dowry to the local feudal lord. The Kurds who were nomads would secure their yearly expenses from Armenians within 3-4 months and this now completely annoyed the Armenians. Moreover, these Kurdish "guests" not satisfied with the offerings would seize the stocks Armenians were keeping for themselves, steal their money and rape their women. It would happen that Kurds liked the grounds of their hosts, appropriated and settled on them. That moment on, the host would start working as a slave for them. In this period one event greatly influenced the Armeno-Kurdish relations: the reforms instituted in favor of the Armenians at the advent of the Tanzimat. The Kurds revolted against the reforms and increased their pressure on the Armenians. Armenians were powerless to do anything but petitions to the Sultan through their church. So they did, but none of the petitions, numbering more than 500 resulted in anything. Only a few Kurds were arrested. Their revenge was soon exalted from the Armenians. In 1878, in Berlin, there convened a conference which was attended by Austria and Germany. At the conference the duty to protect Armenians was trusted to the Turks. It was such that the Turks were at war then on two fronts and could not fulfill this duty completely. The famous Armenian historian Hovaness Lepsius [?] writes the Hamidiye regiments made up of selected from Bitlis, Diyarbakir and Erzurum Kurds by [Sultan] Abdulhamid [the second], played the greatest role in the 1894-1986 Armenian massacres. According to Lepsius, at that time approximately 300,000 Armenians were killed by Kurds. Armenians thought they had received new legal and cultural rights through the 1908 Ottoman Constitution. That encouraged them so much that many who had emigrated returned home. After the Constitution, Armenians attempted to take back their lands snatched by the Kurds. Even an accord was was signed between the Dashnakstutiun and Ittihadists. However, all these efforts were in vain. Armenians could not take important steps in the endeavor of repossessing of their lands. It was in these circumstances that the country entered WWI. Between March 1915 to 1916, approximately 1.5 million Armenians, especially in Sasun, Van and Chatak regions, were killed cruelly by Kurdish tribes. Although the West denies it, sedentary non-nomad Kurds also participated in these massacres. When the Russians started pulling away from Van in 1915, the Kurds also wiped out those Armenians fighting in the Russian Army. In reaction, a group of Armenian volunteers occupied forty Kurdish villages, confiscating their belongings, and exiling them. Kurds pointed out this incident as a Kurdish massacre by Armenians in collaboration with Russians. After the 1917 Russian revolution, Armenians tried to establish an independent state on a small piece of land remaining under their control. But the security of this state was dependent on the Kurds and every effort to reach an agreement with Kurds ended with failure. In contrast, however, the Kurdish leaders preferred to collaborate with the Turkish government against this new state. At that period, all the Kurds living on the territory of the newly created Turkish Republic gave the impression that they stood by Turks. Having created guerrilla bands, they sabotaged and organized resistance against the Armenian militia. But Kurds demonstrated their true enemity when Kazim Karabekir Pasa, commander of the Turkish Army, attacked the newly created Armenian State. The Kurds wholly united with the Turkish Army and the Armenians could not resist against their aggression. They had to abandon 33,000 sq. km. of land, shrinking into their current borders. - - - end - - - -- David Davidian ...think!urartu!dbd | "We want to return to our homes, we S.D.P.A. Center for Regional Studies | don't want Kurdistan to be an Armenia" P.O. Box 2761 | - Iraqi Kurdish leader Jelal Talabani Cambridge, MA 02238 | April 24, 1991.