US Govt backs Turkey's War on Kurds

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From: nyxfer at panix.com (N.Y. Transfer)
Subject: US Govt backs Turkey's War on Kurds


Via The NY Transfer News Service ~ All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
 
         U.S. GOVERNMENT BACKS TURKEY'S MASSACRE OF KURDS
 
                           By Ali Azad
 
(Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint granted if
source is cited.)
 
The Turkish government, armed to the teeth by the Pentagon to the
tune of $1 billion each year, has opened a total military
onslaught against the 15 million Kurds who live in the
southeastern part of Turkey.
 
The Kurdish people celebrate the beginning of spring as a new
year, Newroz.  This holiday is very significant for the Kurds. It
is a symbol of their national identity.
 
This year, the Turkish government turned the Newroz celebrations
into a bloodbath, opening fire on crowds demonstrating in Kurdish
cities.
 
Reports from Turkey indicate that despite the repression, the
Kurdish resistance struggle for democratic rights and
self-determination in Turkey is ever more strong and defiant.
Since 1984 the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) has led an armed
struggle inside Turkey for the liberation of Kurdistan.
 
In the past few years mass support for the PKK-led guerrilla
struggle has grown tremendously. This year International Women's
Day demonstrations turned into shows of support for the PKK.
 
Newroz celebrations became mass demonstrations for Kurdish
independence. Crowds raised banners of the PKK and of the National
Liberation Front of Kurdistan.  And the Turkish government troops
opened fire.
 
Then on March 28, the Kurdish masses stayed inside their homes and
covered their windows with black cloth to protest the Newroz
massacres.
 
 
Washington backs Turkish military 100 percent
 
The U.S. military intensified its presence in this very sensitive
region in Turkey during and after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
Today the Pentagon runs 17 military bases there. Pentagon cohorts
in southeastern Turkey directly orchestrated the Newroz massacre
of Kurds.
 
Since Newroz the Turkish occupation army's fascist thugs have
killed hundreds of innocent people. They have occupied scores of
towns and destroyed many homes in Turkish Kurdistan, including
Sirnak, Cizre, Nusaybin, Mardin and Batman.
 
In a recent interview, Turkish Prime Minister Suleyman Demirel,
who just a few weeks ago visited his masters in Washington, said,
"If the press supports us for three days we will save this issue."
 
The Bush administration has given complete backing to the Turkish
government's repression in Kurdistan. In a news conference on
March 25 State Department spokesperson Margaret Tutwiler said,
"Turkey has our support 100 percent."
 
This very strong backing has emboldened the fascist ruling group
in Ankara to continue the carnage in Kurdistan.
 
The media, both in the U.S. and inside Turkey, have blocked out
news of the massacre of the Kurds. This is an effort to isolate
the Kurdish struggle. News reports here have all presented the
Ankara government's position favorably. In Turkey, except for
progressive and working-class newspapers, the media have totally
ignored the carnage in Kurdistan.
 
 
Demonstrations support Kurds
 
In Germany, on the other hand, massive opposition forced the
government to stop shipping arms to the Turkish government. In
several cities pro-liberation Kurds attacked Turkish banks and
offices, destroying everything quickly before the German police
could respond.
 
In the U.S., anti-war coalitions have called demonstrations for
April 2 in New York, Washington and San Francisco. In a leaflet,
the National Coalition to Stop U.S. Intervention in the Middle
East demands an immediate end to U.S.  support for the Turkish
government and a cut-off of military aid. It also demands the U.S.
military withdraw from Turkey and the Turkish military end its
military occupation of Kurdistan.
 
The U.S. government--either under Democratic or Republican
administrations--has never been a friend of the Kurdish people's
struggle for self-determination. As early as 1946, the U.S. army
helped Washington's puppet government in Iran topple the first
expression of Kurdish self-rule, the democratically elected
government of the Republic of Mahabad. The Iranian puppets
drenched Mahabad in blood and hanged its leader, Qazi Mohammed.
 
Pentagon support for the fascist government in Turkey is not in
the interests of the working class and oppressed in the U.S.
Rather, the Kurdish people's struggle for democratic and human
rights has much in common with the struggle of the U.S. workers
and oppressed against racism, sexism, lesbian/gay oppression,
unemployment and massive poverty--all of which Wall Street, the
Pentagon and the White House bring.
 
This article is based in part on reports from Germany and from the
newspaper Yeni Ulke in Turkey.
 
                               ###
 
This article originally appeared in Workers World newspaper. A
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