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Sunday, December 13, 2009

Increase in repression of Kurds leads to street fighting


After commenting on Catalonia and Greece (I did not mention Greek financial troubles though, but it is the next "Dubai" or "Iceland" quite obviously), and in what seems to be the aggravation of the existing class and ethnic conflicts in Europe, it's indeed obliged to mention also the difficult situation that Kurds under Turkish occupation are going through again.


Never mind that sectors of the PKK have actively expressed their will for a peaceful solution, even turning themselves to Turkish authorities as a sign of such a determination. Turkey is a hyper-nationalist country with a weak identity that only seems to be able to exist as opposition to some "enemy", preferably weak and within its borders, just like its Western counterpart: Spain.

It seems that instead of looking for a solution, the Turkish Republic is again attacking its own citizens, just because they reject to be forced into the uniform corset of Turkishness. They have banned a major Kurdish party, the Democratic Society Party (DTP).

It is the 10th major Kurdish party to be banned by the Constitutional Court, what strongly suggests that it is the high tribunal and the restrictive constitution the ones that needs to be banned instead.

The announcement has caused the 21 MPs of this formation to abandon all parliamentary activity without renouncing to their seats. It has also caused major protests and clashes in North Kurdistan.

Kurds make up between 20% and 25% of the population of the Turkish Republic but their language and culture have been essentially forbidden, though with some shy tolerance measures in the last decades, mostly makeup to show up at Brussels. Kurds demand recognition of their culture and identity and the eshtabilishment of a Kurdish autonomous regions where they are majority. Historically Turkey, based on an extreme version of the French Jacobine model of nation-state, instead has rejected any compromise with the minorities, causing the genocide of Armenians and the ethnic cleansing of Greeks. The approach to Kurds, mostly Sunni Muslims like Turks, were to call them "mountain Turks" and get their language and identity banned. This "solution" did not last for long and eventually Kurds took up arms against the invader state.

The conflict looks far from being solved because that won't happen while the Turkish state keeps its arrogant imperialist attitude.

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