Posted on 03/22/2017 5:23:29 PM PDT by Texas Fossil
Georg Restle
Prominent German journalist, Georg Restle, on a programme aired on German state TV ARD compared imprisoned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan and Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan asking, “Who is the real terrorist?”
Commenting on a recent Kurdish demonstration in the German city Frankfurt on the Tagesthemen (topic of the day) programme Restle said:
“The Turkish president [Erdogan] and his cronies are really angry that tens of thousands of Kurds living in Germany of which some carried posters of Abdullah Ocalan protested peacefully for their rights. The Federal German state is accusing these people of “supporting a terrorist organisation.”
“One must ask this question”, Restle continued, “who is the real terrorist? The PKK leader [Ocalan] who has been serving an 18-year prison sentence in Turkey in the toughest conditions, or the Turkish president who has imprisoned tens of thousands of opposition activists and HDP [Peoples’ Democracy Party] MPs who are struggling for Kurdish rights?
“Who is the real terrorist?” Restle went on, “a man [Ocalan] that declared a ceasefire and announced that the PKK would be disbanded, or a president [Erdogan] who has waged a deadly war in Kurdish neighbourhoods with a complete disregard for civilian loss of life?”
The German journalist continues his rant by referring to the UN’s report on clashes in cities in eastern Turkey. “According to the report, 350,000 people have been forcefully displaced by the Turkish army, their houses systematically destroyed. Thousands were killed, women were tortured and raped.”
“Now who is the real terrorist here?” Restle asks again, “of course none of us can say that the PKK is a completely peaceful organisation. They have blood on their hands too. However, this is no longer just a fight against the PKK, this is a fight against the whole opposition.”
“Teachers, politicians, journalists it makes no difference, all of them have been arrested just like Deniz Yucel accused of terrorism. The only crime of these people is standing up against the regression of democracy in Turkey. For this reason, the Federal German government must not allow for the Turkish government to dictate to us who is a terrorist and who is not. Otherwise we will just be supporters of people trying to establish a dictatorial regime through bloodshed,” Restle concluded.
It is clear what Erdogan the Islamist, thinks. And his actions follow all of the jihadist group's paths.
If Erdogan wins the Referendum and gains his expanded "super powers', what are the consequences for Turkey?
What are the consequences for those on Turkey's borders?
Turkey Ping
Who is the Terrorist?
I actually helped the Turks capture Abdullah Ocalan. Of course this was when the Kemalist’s CDP still ran Turkey, Israel was one of their best allies, women couldn’t wear head scarfs in the universities, and the Justice and Development Party (AKP) was banned. Seemed like a good idea at the time.
The Kurdish people had more local autonomy under the Ottoman Empire, but the Turks, needing for their own nationalist aims in a fallen empire, found it cause to declare “Turkey” for the Turks and all others within as subject “minorities” to the Turkish majority. It has worked much as Islam and declarations for Islamism has worked in Pakistan, as the identity call and cause for separation from the rest of what had been greater India. And in Pakistan, as in Turkey, “minorities” have seen reductions in local power and autonomy as the rulers tried to bend the country to the new, state declared identity.
But in the case of the Kurds, they were in the Anatolia and Mesopotamia region since ancient Greek and Roman times, long BEFORE the arrival of the Turks from central Asia.
I’m not in love with Leftist (huge understatement)
Syrian Kurds are communalists, not communists.
Some other places probably are. They have a hard left following.
It is a fact that the PKK did train the YPG and YPJ in order to survive.
The YPG from N Syria steeped into the breech when the Ezidi’s were being massacred by ISIS and fled to Shingal mountain. They were not able to totally get it done and 800 PKK came to their aid. I was told there were 180 PKK killed in that incident.
I’ve heard excuses for the Iraq Peshmerga in this incident, I don’t believe those excuses are true.
I will say no more about that.
Erdogan has had no recent provocation to justify what he has done to Kurds in Turkey. NONE.
I read about the capture of Ocalan. It was quite an involved trap that was set.
I personally (opinions are like something else, everyone has one) don’t think PKK is nearly as evil as most nations believe. I have never met one. I do know people who have.
I believe that should not interfere with the outcome in Syria.
I believe that the US has enough clout to mend those fences if Erdogan is chained within Turkey. Leaves Iraq and stays away.
I still have a lot of hope that an understanding of common purpose in Syria between the US and Russia is not only constructive but is a place to build a better relationship.
Do I trust Putin? No. Do I think he is capable of dealing honestly? It would depend on the circumstance.
There is something about Erdogan that has always raised the hair on the back of my neck. I think he is the one the entire world needs to be weary of.
Yes, with Ezidi roots.
I have always read, and still read, that the “roots” are the other way around. The larger body, the Kurds is where the Ezidi are a branch thereof, not the root thereof.
Numbers alone will not tell you which is origin of another. DNA will.
Ezidi has been through 73 previous massacres committed against Ezidis in the last 1400 years.
My Syrian Kurd friends tell me that all Kurds descend from Ezidi.
I do know they have over time adopted some elements of other religions.
It is confused with Zoroastrianism by outsiders.
They frown on intermarriage outside the group.
The PKK sure like their Red Flags.
Anyway, this is all going to come to a head in the next six months.
Thanks. And, as with the Jews, over time “original groups”, particularly with a history of frequent pogroms against them, often adopt endogamy - the social restriction against marrying outside the group. So, it does make sense, what you say, about the Ezidi being the “root” and “the Kurds” the branch - even though the Kurds are now many more in number.
What has always intrigued me about the Kurds and the Ezidi is when we take the history back to as far as ancient people knew them as distinct group(s), they (a) are not much further removed in time from Abraham as are those we later identify as Jews, and (b) they occupied areas of Mesopotamia not distant from the area from which Abraham began the trek (from Hurran in what we now call Iraq) that eventually led his descendants to Israel. And here we are today with that area still the center of so much that is challenging the world.
Roots of the Jewish vs Arab conflict are deep.
Branches at Abraham.
Perspective from that point is polarized.
One side to modern transition, the other side always focused on the perceived crimes of the past.
This should be forward focused. Some “get it” others never will and will die very unhappy, consumed by hate and prejudice.
Conversion to Judaism was always possible to an Arab, though it is a more difficult path than marriage, but as this link shows,intermarriage and the non-Jewish spouse adopting Judaism was not unusual in ancient times:
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/shavuot/.premium-1.595543
“According to the Talmud (e.g. Yevamot 46b), conversion, the rabbis surmised from what they read in the Book of Ruth, involved three stages: circumcision (in males), immersion in a mikveh ritual bath, and sacrificing at the Temple. Some rabbis added the injunction to “know the law” (Yevamot 47a).
It is still possible for any non-Jew to go through the study process today for conversion, though it sometimes takes a special Rabbi who nearly mystically thinks it was intended for you all along, to accept you into that study.
Then we have this:
There is always hope.
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