January 23, 2004
Setting Fire to the River
Today I read the following story:
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Turkey promises to compensate Kurds after years of terror
Below where I live are friends of ours who run a cafe, they are 'Kurdish'. Tonight we had a group dinner with them, traditional Kurdish dish of raw meat with bulgar wheat and lots of chili - and we talked and sang traditional Kurdish songs (and drank lots of raki, an anise liquor). Everyone there belongs to or is somehow affected by resistance groups in Turkey who fight against the dictatorship.
One older couple has lost two children, both killed fighting against the military dictatorship. Being there and listening to songs about 15th century Anatolian revolutionaries fighting against the Ottoman Empire, and knowing that those songs still resonate today among todays kurds who have faced appalling persecution from Turkey was a shocking, poetic and profoundly challenging moment.
The article above suggests that the Turkish Government will pay compensation to Kurds who were affected by a government barbarity that resulted in up to 1 million victims. No one will face justice for torture and murder, disappearance and state sanctioned violence. They want to pay some money and hope that is the end of it - so they can become an EU member. This is disgusting and outrageous. Where is the US, with their superior morality helping the persecuted all over the world? Why does Saddam Hussein's abhorrent crimes against the Kurds (which US and European governments rubber stamped until it suited them to use it as a moral bludgeon for their gain), weigh heavier than Turkey's systematic and devastating torturous campaign.
Posted by Ian at January 23, 2004 12:24 AM
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