Sarah Glynn
On 15 August the Kurdish Freedom Movement marked forty years of armed struggle. Besê Hozat, co-president of the Kurdistan Communities Union, which includes the PKK, explains that the significance of 15 August concerns more than the “military struggle” of “legitimate defence”. “From our point of view,” she writes, “the August 15th breakthrough is a move toward enlightenment in Kurdistan and the Middle East. With the August 15th breakthrough, a great revolution of mentality took place in Kurdistan, a great people’s revolution took place, and a women’s revolution took place. The disbelief, frustration, pessimism, and hopelessness created by the enemy in Kurdistan society were destroyed. Kurdish society woke up again and became aware of itself. This affected Middle Eastern society, and today, it is leading the democratic revolution.”
When Mahsum Korkmaz, known as Agit, led that first attack on a gendarmerie station in Eruh, Siirt, the PKK could never have envisaged that forty years later the struggle would still be going on. But the Turkish state would have been even more surprised if they had known that their army – the second biggest in NATO – would fail to defeat the guerrillas over four decades; that the Kurdish Freedom Movement would establish an autonomous administration in northern Syria; and that the PKK’s philosophy would inspire people across the world. They could not have imagined that despite forty years of oppression and even the capture and imprisonment of the PKK’s leader, Abdullah Öcalan, the achievements of that autonomous administration would become a source of hope, and that an international campaign would demand Öcalan’s release.
The right of resistance
No one makes the decision to seek freedom through an armed struggle if they could achieve that freedom through political means. Turkey demonstrated repeatedly that they would countenance no peaceful route. In taking up arms, the PKK was asserting a right of resistance to oppression that has been recognised since long before the era of the modern nation state. The right of resistance – when necessary, violent resistance – is not only accepted ethically but is recognised in modern international law, which allows war between non-state actors in situations such as the fight against fascism and the fight against colonialism. Kurdistan is not officially a colony, but is a de facto colony of four different states. Turkey treats its Kurdish subjects as a colonised people, attempting to deny them their own culture and identity.
Turkey has used the leverage afforded by their strategic geography to persuade the United States and Europe to classify the PKK as terrorists and criminalise their every action. When this designation was put to the test in a Belgian court, the top judges ruled against it. But the terrorism claim continues to be made because those countries do not want to antagonise Turkey, and they have no qualms about sacrificing anti-capitalist revolutionaries. The terrorism label makes it harder for the PKK to find support, but it can’t change the ethical and legal validation of their struggle.
Continued oppression
Despite all the PKK has achieved, and the crippling economic and social cost of perpetual war, the Turkish Government seems set on attempting to crush Kurdish aspirations. Every week brings news of further authoritarian restrictions within Turkey, and further attacks against the PKK and the broader Kurdish movement outwith Turkey’s borders. This week is no exception.
At the time when the PKK began their armed struggle, all use of the Kurdish language was prohibited. The situation improved a bit, especially in the early years of Erdoğan’s presidency, but, since 2015 and Erdoğan’s alliance with the far-right nationalists of the National Movement Party (MHP), things have been getting worse again. This week, we learnt that political prisoners in Şırnak (Şirnex) T-Type Closed Prison have been banned from using Kurdish in their phone calls. They have also been forbidden from hugging visitors, and their lawyers have not been allowed to bring essential pens and documents.
Meanwhile, there have been two separate reports of workers fired for speaking in Kurdish. Twelve young men from Nusaybin working as taxi drivers for a tourist hotel in Bodrum were told they could not speak Kurdish nor play “ethnic music” in their cars. They report that their employer would not even let them speak Kurdish outside working hours, and that when they left in protest, they were not given the wages they were due.
Two Kurdish workers were fired, and others left their jobs, at a restaurant in Istanbul airport that similarly forbade speaking in Kurdish and playing Kurdish music. Again, the sacked workers were not given their outstanding wages.
In a situation where the state forbids the use of Kurdish for education and all official business, even referring to it as an “unknown language”, and regards all Kurds as potential terrorists, it is not surprising that employers display both prejudice against Kurds and fear of Kurdish speech they can’t understand.
Yesterday saw the first hearing in the case against three women and two girls who were videoed dancing at a wedding to a song that mentioned Kurdish guerrillas – as many popular Kurdish songs do. This is the first of several cases against Kurds performing Kurdish dances or govend. Human Rights Watch comment, “The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that singing popular folk songs or poems, shouting generic slogans, including at public gatherings, or referencing the 40-year insurgency of the armed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) against the Turkish military, is protected speech. The content of the songs and slogans from the wedding parties and elsewhere neither incites violence nor creates an imminent danger to individuals that could warrant criminal charges. Turning Kurdish wedding parties into crime scenes by arresting and prosecuting guests and musicians is only the latest example of how for decades the Turkish authorities have perverted the criminal justice system to target legitimate activities and political expression by Kurds.”
Officially sanctioned prejudice also shapes the reception of the football team from the city regarded as the Kurdish capital, Amed – or Diyarbakir. Beinsports, which has the broadcasting rights for Turkey’s First League matches, listed all other teams alongside their emblems, but Amedspor had a blank space where their emblem should be. Amedspor’s players and supporters have faced unrestrained violence, and last week, in their first match after their promotion to the First League, the team was greeted with a sea of grey wolf signs from the stands. The Grey Wolves are the far-right paramilitary youth group attached to the MHP, which has been responsible for deadly violence against Kurds and leftists, and their hand sign has been compared to the Nazi salute.
Turkey’s growing authoritarianism is recognised in the official travel advice from the German Foreign Office, which warns, “Due to the broad definition of terrorism in Turkey, which the European Court of Human Rights considers to be contrary to the rule of law, mere statements, sharing, commenting or ‘liking’ posts on social media, which in Germany are covered by the fundamental right to freedom of expression, can be sufficient for criminal prosecution.” Sadly, this recognition of Turkish oppression does not prevent the German government from cracking down on Kurdish political activities in Europe.
Turkish lawlessness is not restricted to interactions with the Kurds. Yesterday, the Turkish Parliament held an extraordinary session to debate the Constitutional Court ruling that Can Atalay be released from prison and allowed to take up the parliamentary seat he was elected to last May. When an MP from Atalay’s Turkish Workers’ Party (TİP) criticised the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), he was physically assaulted by AKP MPs. A DEM Party MP who tried to stop the assault was left with a cut above her eyebrow, and MPs were seen wiping blood from the chamber floor.
Turkey’s invasion of Iraq
The PKK’s bases are now in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. They have had a presence there since the 1980s, before the region gained its autonomous status, and withdrawal of PKK guerrillas into Iraq was part of the aborted 2013-15 peace negotiations. Turkey has always carried out cross-border attacks against the PKK, and the latest series of operations, begun at the end of 2017, have been especially intense.
Although these are portrayed as simply targeting the PKK, Turkey has made it clear that they intend to establish and maintain control over the entire border region. Their extensive network of (now 74) military bases and linking roads are there to stay. As in their occupations in Syria, and their effective colonial control of North Kurdistan or southeast Turkey, they have driven away the local population and destroyed the natural environment.
The impact on the people of the region has been recorded by the NGO Community Peacemaker Teams (CPT), who have just published a report analysing all attacks by Turkey and by Iran since the establishment of the autonomous Kurdistan Region in 1991. Turkish attacks were responsible for 344 civilian deaths and 358 civilians injured, of which 105 deaths and 169 injured date from the recent operations. The main cause of death is now drone strikes, but nine people have been killed and nine injured by suspected chemical weapons. 170 villages have been emptied, and 602 more are under threat. CPT write, “The analysis of the data collected for the report reveals a grave concern over the Turkish Armed Forces’ pattern of intentionally targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure, as well as their negligence in military operations that impact civilians, civilian life, and populated areas… Numerous verified incidents indicate that Turkish drones, while following PKK combatants and visible in the sky, waited to target PKK vehicles and/or combatants until they were adjacent to or in close proximity to civilians. Drone strikes have also targeted civilians and vehicles in areas where there has been no PKK presence.” They note that Turkish forces have also set fire to farmland and forest to destroy agriculture and tourism, and that, in one area, Turkish telecommunications have suppressed telecommunications from Kurdistan. Livelihoods have been destroyed and traditional customs disrupted.
CPT calculates that “Turkish Armed Forces have secured around 86% of the border region,” but the PKK is holding firm in their tunnels cut deep into the mountains, and claim that Turkish soldiers are suffering both serious casualties and, resulting, loss of moral.
This degree of Turkish control has been made possible by the active support of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), which dominates the Kurdistan Regional Government and has tied its fortunes to the Turkish state. KDP peshmerga build roads and bases for the occupying Turkish army and supply them with intelligence.
In previous years, the Iraqi government protested Turkish invasion of Iraqi territory, but were powerless to do anything about it. However, recently they have been bullied and wooed by Turkey to join them in their attack on the PKK. In March, Iraq announced that they were banning the PKK, though they have not (yet) defined it as a terrorist organisation.
While millions of Kurds commemorated the launch of the PKK’s armed struggle, the defence ministers of Turkey and Iraq were signing a joint “memorandum of understanding on military, security and counter-terrorism cooperation”, following two days of talks in Ankara. The Iraqi delegation included the Deputy Prime Minister, the Foreign Minister (who is a member of the KDP), the Defence Minister, the Interior Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government, and the chief of Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces – independent militia recognised by the Iraqi government. The last is significant because many of the PMF militias have links to Iran and would be expected to resist growing Turkish influence. They may be mollified by plans to turn the controversial Turkish military base in Bashiqa – which has been the target of PMF rockets – into an Iraqi-run training centre; but there are also plans for a Joint Turkish-Iraqi Security Coordination Centre in Baghdad. As the different regional powers make their self-interested tactical alliances, the isolation of the PKK is further reinforced.
Kirkuk
Turkey attempts to spread their influence and control through other local groups besides the KDP, notably the Turkmen of Kirkuk, where they tried, unsuccessfully, to influence the choice of governor. Kirkuk politics has long been dominated by ethnic competition, and control has long been disputed between the Kurds and the Iraqi government. With the development of the oil industry in the 1930s, many Kurds and Arabs came to the predominantly Turkman city, so that the 1957 census found that 38% of the population spoke Turkish, 33% Kurdish and 23% Arabic, while the Kirkuk Governorate was predominantly Kurdish. Ba’athist rule, from 1968 to 2003, imposed large scale Arabisation, but after the Iraq War many Kurds returned. Control over Kirkuk has been contested by the Barzani family and their KDP for decades. Iraq’s 2005 constitution called for a referendum on Kirkuk’s future, but this never happened.
Iraq’s regional elections were held last December, with parties largely divided along ethnic lines. The two main Kurdish parties are the KDP and the rival Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), which is critical of the KDP’s links with Turkey. Voters in Kirkuk elected five representatives from the PUK, two from the KDP, two members of the Turkmen Front, one Christian, and six Arabs from three different parties; and up until last weekend no consensus could be reached on who would have the governorship. The main concern of the KDP, backed by Turkey, has been to keep out the PUK. They hoped to set up a majority alliance with the Turkmen Front and some of the Arabs, but at the last minute an agreement was made in Baghdad between the PUK, the Christian, and three Arab members. At a meeting boycotted by the other parties, they elected a PUK governor and an Arab head of the provincial council. This prompted local Turkmen to march in protest through Kirkuk making Grey Wolf hand signals while the new head of the council was expelled from his party. The PUK has promised to run the city for all groups, but this won’t be easy.
The KDP lost out badly in those last local elections, and are concerned about losing power in the elections for the Kurdistan Regional Government, due to be held in October, which they have managed to delay for two years. Like their mentors in Turkey, they maintain control through suppression of opposition voices, especially journalists. This week, the KDP sent their security forces to prevent the family and friends of murdered journalist, Wedat Hisên, from commemorating the eighth anniversary of his death at his grave. His sister was hit with a Kalashnikov, and a journalist was injured and detained. No one has ever been charged with the murder.
Turkish attacks on Syria
In Syria, the very success of the Kurdish Freedom Movement in establishing a democratic autonomous administration has made this a target for Turkish attacks. Eight years ago on Thursday, Kurdish forces liberated Manbij from ISIS, and it is now part of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. On Monday, it was reported that in the previous week Turkey had targeted the region with 170 shells in three days.
Afrîn was occupied by Turkey in 2018, but the Kurds haven’t given up hope of expelling the occupiers. This week, the Afrîn Liberation Forces claimed to have killed 20 Turkish mercenaries and wounded 17 more, with the loss of two of their own fighters.
The role of Damascus
Turkey is not the only country that wants the Autonomous Administration to fail. Attacks by the Syrian Government and Iran-backed militias continued into the beginning of this week. On Monday, the Administration’s Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) retaliated with an attack on Government positions to the west of the Euphrates, killing 20 pro-government fighters. They described this as “a clear warning to the Syrian regime and its affiliated forces. Should they continue their aggression against our people and territory, we will exercise our right to self-defence against all regime attacks, which are a reprisal for our people’s steadfast opposition to the regime’s policies and atrocities throughout Syria.”
Damascus tried to portray the Autonomous Administration as the instigator of the clashes, while the Autonomous Administration called for dialogue, and demonstrated the support of many local tribal leaders.
The SDF also responded to the attacks by blockading the small government-controlled areas in Hesekê and Qamishlo. After Russian mediation, these blockades have been lifted, but it is unclear what else has been agreed.
Turkey has tried to persuade President Assad that they have a common enemy in the Kurds and the Autonomous Administration. Assad wants to end the region’s autonomy, but he has made clear yet again that any Syrian reconciliation with Turkey is dependent on Turkish withdrawal from the parts of Syria they are occupying. The Syrian government has demanded a timetable for Turkish withdrawal as a condition for agreeing to further reconciliation talks.
America
Damascus also wants to see the Americans leave North and East Syria, and the Americans are also a target of Iranian-backed groups. A week ago on Friday, a drone hit a US base causing minor injuries, and on Tuesday, shells hit the vicinity of the US coalition’s base near Deir ez-Zor’s Conoco oil field, causing the coalition to launch a shell in return. For now, though, America is sending a further 230 troops to Syria and Iraq. America has a tactical alliance with the Kurds in Syria for the fight against ISIS, but no country other than Turkey has done more than the US to undermine the PKK. They even have multi-million-dollar bounties on three PKK leaders.
Sarah Glynn is a writer and activist – check her website and follow her on Twitter
