MIM Notes 85, February 1994.

Kurdish struggle advances; 
imperialists respond with repression

by MC206
Recent advances toward the liberation of the Kurdish people in Turkey-
controlled Kurdistan have provoked domestic counter-offensives and 
foreign repression. The Turkish government has placed more troops in 
Kurdistan and is preparing a "war of annihilation" against the Worker's 
Party of Kurdistan (PKK).(1)

On Nov. 26 the German government banned 35 organizations affiliated with 
the PKK (the PKK itself does not exist in Germany). Twenty-nine of the 
35 organizations banned were Kurdish cultural centers. German police 
immediately raided Kurdish clubs, businesses, and apartments, 
confiscating the organizations' assets. According to Chancellor Kohl the 
organizations were banned "because they use violent means to reach their 
goal."(2)

Germany and Amerika support fascism

Germany doesn't complain about the violence of the Turkish state against 
the Kurds. In the last three years the Turkish armed forces have 
destroyed more than 850 Kurdish villages, attacked Kurdish civilians 
inside northern Iraqi borders, and ignored a cease fire which the PKK 
honored.(1,3) 

The Kurdistan National Liberation front (ERNK) has called Germany "enemy 
number two"Ñthe Turkish state being "enemy number one"Ñbecause of the 
economic and military support it gives Turkey.(2) Germany is Turkey's 
largest trading partner, accounting for 15% of Turkey's exports and 18% 
of its imports. German tourists alone account for almost 1% of Turkey's 
GDP.(4)

In 1988 Germany gave Turkey $45 million in military aid.(5) The Amerikan 
government spent about $500 million in military aid to Turkey each year 
from 1988 to 1991. That's on top of Turkey's own military budget of $2-
3.5 billion per year. 

Turkey has one of the highest military spending rates of the countries 
in NATO, despite being one of the poorest.(4,5) NATO likes to think of 
the Turkish armed forces as "buffers" (read: cannon fodder). Germany has 
even entertained plans to pay the Turkish state for giving the German 
military its own Turkish brigade.(5)

Turkey occupies an important strategic position close to both the Middle 
East and the ex-Soviet Union. During the "Cold War," the United States 
stationed nuclear weapons in Turkey and based much of its intelligence 
services there. There are listening posts near the center of Turkey-
occupied Kurdistan, for example.(5) Now these military facilities are 
used to enforce the "new world order" in the Middle East. 

Both Germany and the United States used eastern Turkey as an airbase 
during the Gulf War. Neither said or did anything when Turkey stepped up 
its war against the Kurds following the Gulf warÑeven though the United 
States was cynically protecting Kurds in Iraq-controlled Kurdistan 
against Iraqi repression with "Operation Provide Comfort."

Turkish fascism and militarism have been alternately encouraged and 
overlooked by these imperialist powers seeking to protect their 
interests.

Counter-revolutionary espionage

The Turkish government enthusiastically greeted the recent ban of 
Kurdish organizations in Germany. Turkish president Tansu Ciller said 
she was pleased that Turkey had finally convinced the international 
community that the PKK was an organization with "terrorist 
characteristics."(2)

One of the more immediate reasons given for the ban was a spree of 
firebombings across Germany attributed to PKK sympathizers. A 
representative of the PKK expressed suspicions that these bombings were 
performed by agent provocateurs. 

Turkish consulates are also known to contain large stockpiles of 
weapons.(3) The German government has not seen it fit to ban this 
counter-revolutionary espionage, however.

PKK confidence

The latest offensive of the People's Liberation Army of Kurdistan 
(ARGK), launched in June after a unilateral cease fire, has been very 
successful. There are many areas where the power of the Turkish state 
has been restricted to isolated and fortified barracksÑand these 
barracks are the targets of continued ARGK attacks. 

Turkish President Ciller has increased the Turkish military strength in 
Kurdistan by 50,000 to 200,000 troops.(1) This number does not include 
the 30,000 member state-financed Kurdish militia.(6) The PKK has 
approximately 10,000 guerrillas in the area.(1)

The PKK and ARGK have begun to move from their traditional strongholds 
in the countryside into the cities. In Diyarbakir, the largest city in 
Turkish-controlled Kurdistan, "Turkish sovereignty vanishes with the 
sun." 

Under pressure from the PKK, leading Turkish parties have closed their 
offices in Kurdistan. State-owned businesses, such as the Turkish 
airlines, can only operate under the protection of the police.(1) The 
PKK has banned the Turkish bourgeois press in the area, as it had been 
echoing the Turkish state's propaganda.

The PKK has also had a hand in deciding which construction projects can 
be completed in Kurdistan. In late 1992, the ARGK halted the 
construction of an asphalt road which would have increased the mobility 
of government troops. Guerrillas told the Kurdish workers to stay in 
their trailer while trucks and other items were being firebombed. When 
asked whether the guerrillas conducted propaganda among the workers 
during this attack, one worker said, "No, it isn't necessary." The 
workers already knew why the PKK would target the road.(6)

These victories, along with the election of a Kurdish national assembly 
and steps towards the formation of a national front unifying the PKK and 
other national forces, led PKK representative Kani Yilmaz to say, "From 
now on, the national liberation movement in Kurdistan will go from 
victory to victory." "If they [Kohl's Government] insist on cracking 
down on the Kurdish people and its organizations, they will lose a lot 
and our people will resist all the more and become more determined."(3)

Notes: 
1. Der Spiegel #49, 1993, pp. 170-174. 
2. Sueddeutsche Zeitung 11/27/93. 
3. Kurdistan Report #15, 1993. 
4. World Economic Data, Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 1991, pp. 206-207.
5. Turkey Newsletter 3/89. 
6. Aliza Marcus, Turkey's Kurds after the Gulf War: A Report from the 
Southeast, in: Gerard Chaliand, ed., A People Without a Country: The 
Kurds & Kurdistan, London: Zed Books Ltd., 1993, pp. 238-246.