kurds

Thiago Oppermann topp8564 at mail.usyd.edu.au
Sat Feb 23 19:46:54 PST 2002


Michael Pugliesi wrote:


> Hakki and Thiago, any help winnowing this down, plz! From the Danny
> Schecter Media Channel website. http://www.mediachannel.org/
> Michael Pugliese
>
> Your query - Find "Kurds" in in anything published in any language - matched
> three googleplex articles...

I am afraid that my understanding of the situation derives from the usual material that circulates around the net; my main reason for writing is that I really need to get a different perspective on this.

In debates here in Australia you hear everything from the wacky line that the Kurdistan is Cuba and Ocalan the next Fidel through to the liberal/EU line that Turkey has to tone it down and give the Kurds some breathing space. Hakki's post struck me as interesting as it falls outside the spectrum of opinions we hear over here.

It seems to me, at least from speaking to Kurdish emigres, that people are highly sceptical of the PKK's capacity to build a good state, but they also find Turkish rule unlivable. My impression was that there was substantial support for some sort of 'national' and largely secular project, coupled with a degree of resentment as to the (other) Kurdish factions.

I agree with Hakki on the extremely dubious foundations of the Iraqi kurdistan experiment; it seems to me to be another illustration of aid, and in particular food aid, wrecking an agricultural economy. Nevertheless, the relative lack of violence and the toning down of factionalism _seem_ encouraging, but who knows? The whole thing is shrouded in so many layers of propaganda.

As for Hakki's point about drug money, this is certainly a problem, as are diamonds and Coltan in Africa, and in a roundabout way the analogy could be made to kidnappings in Colombia. Nevertheless, there has to be some way genuine armed struggles to make money; I guess the problem is to then resist the temptation to make money through armed struggle...



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