Kurds riot in southeastern Turkey

[LiviaOlivia]

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/4863B29B-41F5-4DE9-8C5F-A60B9392E6E2.htm

Kurds riot in southeastern Turkey
Thursday 30 March 2006 1:46 AM GMT

Kurdish rioters have clashed with police in southeastern Turkey in a second day of violence that has left at least three people dead and 250 injured.

The fighting on Wednesday was the worst street fighting in the region in a decade and began after the funerals of four Kurdish fighters who were killed in fighting with Turkish soldiers.

The provincial governor said that between 2500 and 3000 Kurds rioted in Diyarbakir, the largest city in the overwhelmingly Kurdish region, damaging government offices, private businesses and banks.

~snip~

The fight for autonomy, which began in 1984, has killed more than 37,000 people. The Kurdistan Workers party is considered a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

~snip~

[Roland99]

1. "Violence to the left of me, violence to the right, here I am...

stuck in the middle with you."

[bemildred]

2. I'm sure Ankara is pleased as punch about this.

Weren't a couple of our dimwit Senators just there lecturing them about how Turkey needs to support us on Iran?

[cliss]

3. Yes, I read about that recently.

There were some senators who are out Pimping the Policy on Iran.

Turkey, however, probably has other things on its mind. Any kind of uprising by the Kurds is hugely upsetting to them.

This is Turkey's worst nightmare. There are millions of Kurds in Turkey, and they are all longing to be united with their Kurdish brothers in Iraq. In addition, they want to be united with massive oil deposits, right under the sand in Tikrit.

Now the U.S. has the jitters.

[LiviaOlivia]

4. Don't forget their Kurdish cousins in NW Iran

eom

[bemildred]

5. Yep, exactly, and Syria. nt

[Jack_DeLeon]

6. I hope the Kurds get thier own country...

Part of me thinks it would actually be for the best if they did form thier own independent nation even if it was at the expense of neighboring countries.

[LiviaOlivia]

8. How do you D-I-V-O-R-C-E ?

I agree.

[alcibiades_mystery]

7. We should send Haloogian to take a snapshot

:rofl:

[Warren Stupidity]

9. If Turkey cracks down again

and the Kurdish militias use Iraqi-Kurdistan as a sanctuary regional conflict could be a reality.

Here is hypocrisy at its worst:

"The fight for autonomy, which began in 1984, has killed more than 37,000 people. The Kurdistan Workers party is considered a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and the European Union."

By placing the second sentence next to the first the impression is created that the Kurdistan Workers party is responsible for those 37,000 deaths. The reality is that Turkey is itself responsible for most of those deaths (the PKK does not get off here though, they have committed crimes as well.) Saddam Hussein is on trial for his life in Baghdad, in part for his slaughter of Iraqi Kurds, but for some reason the exact same actions taken by our good friend Turkey are not considered criminal. The term 'terrorist' has lost all meaning.

Here is what Human Rights Watch has to say:
http://hrw.org/backgrounder/eca/turkey/turkey_violations.htm

[LiviaOlivia]

10. I provided the link to the complete article.

on edit: eom

[Warren Stupidity]

11. The paragraph I quoted was designed to mislead.

I am a bit mystified by your attack on me. Did I attack you personally in some way? If so it was unintentional and I apologize.

"You are completely wrong " about anything specifically? Or just in general?

"Plus the article is not anti-Kurd in my mind."

I pointed out exactly how it was anti-Kurd and intended to mislead in the paragraph I quoted. This one:

"The fight for autonomy, which began in 1984, has killed more than 37,000 people. The Kurdistan Workers party is considered a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and the European Union."

That is an example of argument by non sequitor, most famously used by the Bush Cabal, which insisted on repeatedly placing references to al Qaeda and 9-11 adjacent to references to Saddam Hussein, without making any explicit connecting statements. It is dishonest journalism.

[LiviaOlivia]

12. I beg your pardon.

I see your point. I have edited my previous post.

[Warren Stupidity]

13. No problem

It seemed like we were on the same side of this so I was like mystified.