VOA: Turkey's adventure into Ku

[root at newsdesk.aps.nl]

From: newsdesk at newsdesk.aps.nl (Newsdesk Amsterdam)
Subject: Re: VOA: Turkey's adventure into Kurdish Iraq
Reply-To: root at newsdesk.aps.nl

------ Forwarded from : Haldun Haznedar <haldun at avalanche.micro.ti.com> --------

date=03/23/95
byline= Andrew N. Guthrie

intro:   Several US newspapers are reacting with outrage against
         their own government's seeming complacency in the face
         of Turkey's military invasion of northern Iraq to
         destroy Turkish Kurd guerrilla bases. The guerrillas
         have long waged cross-border raids against the Turkish
         military as part of their campaign for a separate
         Kurdish state. We get a sampling now from
         ________________ in today's US opinion roundup.

text:    Almost every editorial so far on the subject has
         criticized the Clinton administration for, on the one
         hand, protecting Iraqi Kurds from attacks by Saddam
         Hussein's warplanes and ground troops, while not
         opposing the invasion by Nato-ally Turkey to attack
         Kurdish guerrilla bases.

         Some papers do suggest that outrageous acts by
         guerrillas of the Kurdish Workers' Party -- or PKK --
         in Turkey give some justification for the action, but
         most consider it too strong a response. Other dailies
         also note the growing instability in Turkey as it
         struggles against a newly-invigorated Islamic
         fundamentalism as a partial excuse for Ankara to finally
         rid itself of Kurdish guerrilla attacks on the Turkish
         military.

         We begin our sampling in California, with "The San Jose
         Mercury News."

voice:   "[opt] Ever since the end of the Persian Gulf War, the
         Kurds thought Uncle Sam was on their side. But it turns
         out it's not your friends, but your enemies who count.
         [end opt] This week Turkey raided Kurdish villages in
         northern Iraq, an area guarded by US warplanes, while
         the US military stood by.  ..... It appears that the
         victims were civilian Kurds, many refugees who had fled
         persecution in Turkey. The United States, which needs
         Turkey as an ally in Nato and against Saddam Hussein,
         mouthed a platitude about eradicating terrorism.  .....
         The raids are the latest chapter in Turkey's appallingly
         vicious war against the Kurds. ... To be sure, members
         of the PKK are no angels. They have been responsible
         for deliberate and arbitrary killings.  .... Even if the
         raids missed their intended targets, at least they bared
         [revealed] US motivations in the region. the US runs
         'operation provide comfort' in northern Iraq  not  to
         protect the Kurds. Rename it instead 'operation in your
         face, Saddam,' and forget the charade. [i.e., it is run
         only to challenge the authority of, or irritate, the
         Iraqi leader, and not to truly protect the Kurds.]"

text:    Across the continent, in Boston, "The Christian Science
         Monitor" is also upset, though in more restrained
         language:

voice:   "[opt] Having spent eight billion dollars last year on a
         war against Kurds in southeast Turkey, the Turkish
         military is attempting to stamp out the Kurds once and
         for all -- by attacking rebel bases in Iraq.  [end opt]
         Kurdish rebels hoping to form a separatist 'Kurdistan'
         state through violence are a problem. But a Turkish
         government that refuses to acknowledge the level and
         degree of repression it has practiced against the Kurds
         for years is a problem.  ..... the White House response
         to this latest brutal attack is to say that it is
         'understanding.'  [opt] ..... These statements seem
         inadequate. Moscow attacks Chechens and the United
         states 'understands.'  Israel bombs and kills civilians
         in southern Lebanon and the US seems to approve. Now
         this. [end opt] to say, as the White House essentially
         did, to keep the killing down seems cheap."

text:    In Maine, "The Portland Press Herald" headlines today's
         editorial: "How long will world look away as Turks kill
         Kurds?" and notes:

voice:   "The killing is being done with US weapons, but we
         ignore it. The bloodbath being waged against the
         Kurdish resistance in northern Iraq by Turkish forces
         .... is bad enough. The outrage is heightened, however,
         by the milkquetoast [timid, weak] response from the US
         government so far.  [opt] ..... Turkey is among the
         world's leading human rights violators, with a long,
         horrid record of persecution of the Kurds.  .......
         Already, the invading Turks have violated assurances
         they would be attacking only 'terrorists' of the
         Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). on Wednesday, they
         attacked villages housing members of the Kurdistan
         Democratic Party, which opposes the PKK and supposedly
         works with the Turkish government against the group.
         [end opt]  ..... How long will the world look away? The
         longer it does, the greater will be the shame."

text:    The influential "New York Times" is also upset, as much
         by the victims of the attack as by the principle of the
         assault:

voice:   "...Sending troops across another nation's border is a
         violation of international law that deserves harsh
         condemnation. The world would become even more
         dangerous if countries with strong armies and border
         frustrations felt free to take the law into their own
         hands. France, which currently leads the European
         Union, a group Turkey desperately wants to join, has
         rightly condemned this invasion. The United States
         should have condemned it too. Instead, Washington,
         along with Moscow, has expressed understanding for the
         Turkish attack.  [opt].....The Turkish government has
         been promising that its operations in Iraq will be
         quickly completed. But now it says the fighting could
         last a month. [end opt]  ..... It is not too late for
         America to take a more principled stand."

text:    In Baltimore, "The Sun" says if the Turkish forces were
         strictly limiting their invasion to attacking guerrillas
         and their camps, it would be more easy to understand US
         support.

voice:   "The United States has forgiven Turkey much because it
         was a Nato bulwark against the Soviet Union. Now it is
         a bulwark against anti-western extremism posing as
         Islamic fundamentalism.  .... it competes with Iran for
         influence in former Soviet republics of Central Asia.
         It has the most resilient democracy of the Islamic
         world, despite periods of military rule.  [opt] But
         Turkey is also the target of Iran-style extremism. Its
         democracy has given the Welfare Party control of Ankara
         and Istanbul with a goal of overturning the secularism
         imposed by the nation's great revolutionary, Kemal
         Ataturk...  [end opt] So it is easy to sympathize with
         President Clinton's acceptance of the invasion.  ....
         (however) More tolerance of Kurdish publishing, Kurdish
         broadcasting, Kurdish education and Kurdish political
         identity in Turkey would make Ankara's military campaign
         easier to justify."

text:    And lastly, these thoughts from "The Washington Post."

voice:   "Whether it [the invasion] will succeed is open to
         question. They [the Turkish military] are operating in
         very rough country, which favors the guerrillas, and the
         military buildup that preceded the invasion apparently
         gave the Kurds plenty of warning. ..... Turks live at a
         great historical crossroads, and the army's strike
         against Kurdish separatism is part of the process in
         which they are deciding whether to turn eastward or
         westward."

text:    That concludes this look at some of the comment in the
         US press on the latest Turkish attack against Kurdish
         guerrilla bases in Iraq.


23-Mar-95 1:02 pm EST (1802 utc)

Source: Voice of America

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