Police Fire On Kurds In Fifth Day Of Syria Riots

The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 3-18-2004 | Robin Gedye

[blam]

Police fire on Kurds in fifth day of Syria riots

By Robin Gedye, Foreign Affairs Writer
(Filed: 18/03/2004)

Thousands of Kurds fought pitched battles with paramilitary police across northern Syria yesterday as rioting, in which at least 30 people have died, worsened for the fifth day in a row.

Tanks were reported on the streets of Kameshli, on the Turkish border, where security forces responded with force after rioting broke out last Friday.

The trouble began at a football match at which Kurdish fans waved posters of President George W Bush while being taunted by Syrian supporters with pictures of Saddam Hussein.

Syrian troops opened fire during a number of demonstrations by ethnic Kurds yesterday, killing at least seven people in the northern cities of Afrin and Aleppo, according to the Turkish state-run news agency.

It said police opened fire after seeking to prevent demonstrations marking the anniversary of Saddam's 1988 chemical weapons attack on Halabja, in the Kurdish region of Iraq, in which 5,000 people died.

A spokesman for the Kurdish Human Rights Project in London said Turkish tanks had been deployed on the border with Syria to prevent Kurds in Turkey crossing over in support.

Witnesses reported that hundreds of Kurds had been arrested over the past five days of mounting troubles although Syria has refused to comment other than to reject any suggestion of inter-ethnic incidents.

Kurds comprise almost two million of Syria's 17 million population although about 200,000 of them are not recognised as citizens of the country as a punishment for seeking to establish an autonomous homeland.

Syria and Turkey watched the fall of Saddam with concern, fearing that it would unleash renewed determination among ethnic Kurds, who were brutally suppressed during the Iraqi tyrant's rule, for an autonomous region.

In an attempt to contain the mounting violence, Syria imposed curfews in a number of border towns yesterday. Among them was Ceylanpinar, where five people were killed and 39 injured in earlier fighting.

Kurds demonstrated in London, Berlin and Paris, protesting that the situation would deteriorate unless there was outside intervention.

[scan58]

Interesting. Do we consider the Kurds our allies?

[blam]

"Interesting. Do we consider the Kurds our allies?"

We do the Kurds in Northern Iraq. I'm not sure about the Syrian Kurds. (I would guess , yes)

[swmopatriot]

"The trouble began at a football match at which Kurdish fans waved posters of President George W Bush..."

Boy, these guys have some real courage. I pray that their struggle for freedom against the Syrians is succesful and I wish we were doing something more to help them. It would also be nice if the mainstream media stopped their Bush-bashing to cover this story, but it won't happen.

I had posted the Voice of America account of this story earlier here, but it didn't have as much content as this article: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1100021/posts

[HarryCaul]

Well, there's at least one CIA guy in need of a raise.

There's a lot going on in the middle east this week, but the media isn't giving it all the attention it deserves.

[Getsmart64]

Hmmm...interesting...let the imagination run wild....the Turks didn't want us in the ME because they feared the Kurds....is the Bush WH promoting this in the background via the CIA???....are we going to arm the Syrian Kurds??....looks like Bush's policy of changing the face of the ME is starting to work???...enquiring minds wait to see....

[blam]

"is the Bush WH promoting this in the background via the CIA???"

Probably. (Via the Kurds in Iraq?)

[El Gato]

Interesting. Do we consider the Kurds our allies? Well, there are Kurds and then their are Kurds. One faction is communist and like most communist organizations pretty bloodthirsty. They go up against the Turks, who are our allies, or were until they wouldn't let us use bases in Turkey for Operation Iraqi Freedom.

[Getsmart64]

Probably. (Via the Kurds in Iraq?)


I've read in the past how all of the Kurds are united in recreating a Kurdistan...irregardless of what borders they currently reside in....I think the Bush WH is relying on a moderate islamic Kurd uprising to help settle the ME problem...

[nuconvert]

pong

[blam]

"I think the Bush WH is relying on a moderate islamic Kurd uprising to help settle the ME problem..."

The reward could be their own country, huh? (A part of: Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran = Kurdistan)

[El Gato]

their are Kurds <= there are Kurds. sorry about that.

[blam]

VOA: 12 Kurds Killed In More Clashes With Syrian Police

[Getsmart64]

The reward could be their own country, huh? (A part of: Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran = Kurdistan)


Country?...autonomous region???....I'm no scholar of the ME...but....it's a double edged sword....do we hope they cradle to the ideals of freedom??..regardless of the communist faction???.....and in doing that...create a more stable ME??..after all...there is oil in Kurdistan...is that what they are fighting for and still be friendly to the US if it pans out that way??...such is the burden of American Foreign Policy....

[Dallas59]

"The trouble began at a football match at which Kurdish fans waved posters of President George W Bush while being taunted by Syrian supporters with pictures of Saddam Hussein..." I'm sorry, but I'm snickering over this.....

[zarf]

The CIA is probably stirring the pot in Iran as well.

[Fledermaus]

Syria is run by the same worthless Ba'athist that ran Iraq. Between the uproar in Syria and Iran, the U.S. better not pull a Bay of Pigs if these people need our support.

Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people are protesting in every major city in Iran and Syria against their tyrannical governments. They are burning the homes of the mullahs in Iran and blowing up the Ba'athist buildings in Syria.

More reasons to re-elect Bush!

[piasa]

The trouble began at a football match at which Kurdish fans waved posters of President George W Bush while being taunted by Syrian supporters with pictures of Saddam Hussein.

Syrian soccer game gets freeped...