I think the million plus Armenians murdered by the Turks; the Kurds now being murdered by the Turks and the thousands of Christians murdered in Timor would disagree with this statement.
I’ve had the incredibly interesting experience of being present at a PKK (Kurdistan Worker’s Party) rally in central Turkey (and quite a shock it was for me to find myself there, as I wandered into it by accident)! I’ve talked to many Turks and Kurds about this problem, and the situation seems to be like this.
Both sides acknowledge that education is a huge problem. Western Turkey is very modern and advanced. The further east you go, the futher back in time you go. I got as far east as central Turkey, in the Cappadocia / Konya area. For those of you who don’t know, Konya is considered the most Islamic and conservative city in all of Turkey, and it’s the home of the famous Whirling Dervishes. One thing that struck me about the mosque there was how similar it was to being in a medieval cathedral. They had relics of Muhammed (clippings from his beard, early Qu’rans, etc.), and people praying beside the tomb of Mevlana, the founder of the Dervishes. People never questioned my religion or my right to be there. Despite the presence of many veiled women, my mother and young female cousin never felt that anyone was anything but polite to them in their western dress. We would be invited into shops for tea, even with we had no intention of buying anything. It was still borderline western, but we still saw many people living traditionally, and even a large number of nomads camped outside of the town with their herds. Anyway, the problem is that Turkey feels as if it’s trying to build an ethinc identity that the Kurds are tearing apart because they are uneducated and clinging to old and superstitious beliefs. They fear the westernization that change will bring. They are suspicious of education. The Turks also fear that the Kurds could attempt a revolution that, if successful, could create a very impoverished Islamic state on its doorstep. This state could then be easily influenced by extremists from Syria, Chechnya, and others. It is also why Turkish/American relations have soured as of late. The Iraq war has awakened Turkey’s biggest fear… that the breakup of Iraq in a civil war could create an independent Kurdistan in its north that would act as a catalyst for eastern Turkey to break off. Mind you, some of this information is coming from Kurds themselves.
That being said, the Turks have a
horrible history in dealing with outside nations, but this is partially due to nationalism. One need only look at the relatively good relations that Turks have with the Jewish minority within their country. The Armenian genocide was appalling, but remember, it occurred before Ataturk, who completely reformed and secularized the nation. The Turks are hyper-paranoid about their borders, but look at their neighbors. When you have that many neighboring countries, and
Bulgaria is your best friend, of course there are major security concerns. Nevertheless, NONE of this justifies the very heavy hand with which Turkey deals with its Kurds. The slaughter of Kurds is appalling and there is a definite need for a better solution than what’s going on there today.
Thank you.