FREE ESSAY ON KURDISH ISSUE

KURDISH ISSUE

KURDISH ISSUE
1- FACT BASED ISSUES
Since the end of World War I, Kurdistan has been administered by five sovereign states,
with the largest portions of the land being respectively in Turkey (43%), Iran (31%),
Iraq (18%), Syria (6%) and the former Soviet Union (2%). 
The PKK's origins can be traced back to 1974, when Ocalan, in Ankara, led a small group
of radicals out of Revolutionary Youth (DEV-GENC). The Kurdistan Workers Party, Partiya
Karkeren Kurdistan (PKK) was established in 1978. Ocalan, the leader of the organization
took refuge in Syria, after 1980, following the efficient struggle against such
organizations by the Turkish Security Forces. 
In the annual report of the U.S. State Department published in April 1993 under the title
of Patterns of Global Terrorism the PKK is described as a Marxist Leninist terrorist
group composed of Turkish Kurds seeking to setup a Marxist state in Southeastern Turkey
The PKK is recognized and classified as a terrorist organization by all Western countries
including the European Parliament and the Council of Europe. France and Germany,
recently, banned the activities of this terror group and other West European governments,
are closely monitoring the situation. 
PKK's Subordinate Military Committee established under the name of Liberation Units of
Kurdistan (Hazen Rizgariya Kurdistan-HRK) was dissolved and replaced by Kurdistan Peoples
Liberation Army (Arteshen Rizgariya Gelli Kurdistan-ARGK) after the Third Congress of the
PKK held in Damascus-Syria in October 1986. 
The external center of the PKK operates through the National Liberation Front of
Kurdistan (Eniya Rizgariya Netewa Kurdistan-ERNK) which was established on March 21,
1985. The ERNK started to operate after 1989 when the European countries opened their
doors and allowed it to flourish in their territories. 
The United States Department of State Bureau of International Narcotic Matters, has
published a report in 1992, called International Narcotics Control Strategy. This report
stipulates that the European drug cartel is controlled by PKK members.
NUMBER OF DEATHS
YEAR Terrorist Civilian Soldier Police Village Guard
1984 11 20 24 - -
1985 100 82 67 - -
1986 64 74 40 3 -
1987 107 237 49 3 10
1988 103 81 36 6 7
1989 165 136 111 8 34
1990 350 178 92 11 56
1991 356 170 213 20 41
1992 1055 761 444 144 167
1993 1699 1218 487 28 156
1994 4114 1082 794 43 265
1995 2292 1085 450 47 87
(First 6months) 
TOTAL 10416 5124 2087 313 813 
RESOURCE: http://www.mfa.gov.tr/grupa/ac/acf/acf1/pkk.htm
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF APPROXIMATE
KURDISH POPULATION 
YEAR 1990
Region Population (in thousands) proportion to total
Do?u 2230,29 41,96
Guneydo?u 2365,04 64,98
Ege 296,99 3,98
Karadeniz 37,88 0,5
?? Anadolu 579,38 5,53
Marmara 810,13 6,09
Akdeniz 726,55 8,95
Total 7046,25 12,6
RESOURCE: S.MUTLU,"The Population of Turkey by Ethnic Groups and 
Provinces", New Perspectives on Turkey, 12 (Spring 1995), p.49
2- VALUE BASED ISSUES
The Republic of Turkey openly states that:
1. The territorial integrity and sovereignty of Turkey is beyond discussion. PKK is an
organization, whose ideology is based on Marxism-Leninism, seeks to establish an
independent Kurdish state encompassing Turkey's southeastern provinces. The Anatolian
people have a common past. They have lived together for ten centuries thus creating a
Turkish identity. The term Turkish refers to being a Turkish citizen. It does not reflect
any ethnicity. The Anatolian people as a whole struggled for the independence of Turkey
and everybody has contributed immensely in building this state. Turkey is forced to its
legitimate self-defense for its territorial integrity and the protection of its people.
2. In the Republic of Turkey, which relies upon the rule of law, everyone has the freedom
to pursue his or her rights through legal means. The constitution of the Republic of
Turkey treats individuals on equal footing before the law irrespective of their language,
race, color, sex, political opinion, conviction, religion and creed. The terrorist acts
of PKK in a country where all legal and democratic means for the prevalence of justice is
open for all, cannot be justified. It is the legitimate right of any country facing
terrorism to root it out with all legal means available to it. Turkish citizens,
irrespective of their ethnic origins, are free to form or to support a political party
that expresses their political views and all Turkish citizens. Moreover regardless of
ethnic background, have the right to participate actively in Turkey's multi-party system.
All citizens are free to organize and to join political pressure groups, including human
rights organizations. 
3. Turkish citizens of Kurdish ethnic origin live throughout the country and are not
found exclusively in Southeastern Anatolia. It is estimated that two thirds of Turkish
citizens of Kurdish origin live in the larger cities and towns outside the Southeast.
They participate in all walks of social, economic and political life on equal grounds
with other Turkish citizens. 
On the other side it is claimed by PKK that:
1. PKK is a revolutionary socialist national liberation movement formed in the 1970s
which later developed into a party formation whose agenda was set against the background
of a global wave of revolutionary struggles, influenced by the successful national
liberation movements of Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
2. In order to gain the right of self-determination for Kurdish people who are
linguistically, culturally and racially distinct from the rest of the Turkish population,
PKK resists in all arenas and by all means against the genocide that the Turkish fascism,
the striking power of imperialism is committing in Kurdistan. PKK resists against the
threat it constitutes to humanity. Turkey is involved in the activities of the
destruction and depopulation of thousands of Kurdish villages, massacre of tens of
thousands, the torture of hundreds and thousands, the expulsion of millions of our people
and the unceasing violation of human rights.
3- INTEREST BASED ISSUES
The Kurds remained one of the few ethnic groups in the world with indigenous
representatives in three world geopolitical blocs: the Arab World (in Iraq and Syria),
NATO (in Turkey), the South Asian-Central Asian bloc (in Iran and Turkmenistan), and
until recently the Soviet bloc (in the Caucasus, now Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia). As
a matter fact, until the end of the Cold War, Kurds along with the Germans were the only
people in the world with their home territories used as a front line of fire by both NATO
and the Warsaw Pact forces. 
Turkish authorities agree that The Southeastern part of Turkey is faced with economic
problems. The Turkish state has inaugurated major programs to ameliorate the living
standards of the people living in the area. Among such development projects, the
Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP) is the most important one. This project, which is
disrupted by PKK terrorism, aims at changing the whole the social and economic fabric of
the region and Turkey doesn't want to put GAP at stake with all the risks of running a
costly war against the guerrilla warfare.
Water and petroleum constitutes the main clash of the two parties' interests. The region
that is claimed to be the Kurdish state is the gateway to the North Iroquoian petroleum.
Many critical issues such as the construction of Baku-Ceyhan pipe line, water issue
concerning the F?rat and Dicle Rivers, and the transfer of petroleum from Caspian occupy
the policy agenda of the same region. 
The region, consisting of the boundaries between Middle East, Russia and Caucasian, has
an incredible geopolitical significance for Turkey in order to provide national security
for her people. Keeping the absolute control of this territory which is situated in one
of the most vulnerable areas in the world, is the only way for the Republic of Turkey to
formulate a unitary state system, which respects the human rights, pluralist democracy
and a secular establishment.