Full text of Woodrow Wilson's 14 Points Speech January 8, 1918. Note point XII in which addressed the Kurdish question
Treaty of Lausanne main points
Summary of KDPI press conference on their goals for an autonomous Kurdistan within Iran, March 2, 1979
After thirty years of clandestine activity, the KDPI went public with the eight point system they hoped to institute with the Iranian government:
(MacDonald 242)
Ayatollah Khomeini's views on Kurds and other ethnic minorities statement issued in December 1979
"Sometimes the word minorities is used to refer to people such as the Kurds, Lurs, Turks, Persians, Baluchis, and such.. These people should not be called minorities, because the term assumes that there is no difference between these brothers. In Islam, such a difference has no place at all. There is no difference between Muslims who speak different languages, for instance, the Arabs and Persians. It is very probable that such problems have been created by those who do not wish Muslim countries to be united...They create the issues of nationalism, of Pan-Iranism, Pan-Turkism, and other such isms, which are contrary to Islamic doctrines. Their plan is to destroy Islam and the Islamic philosophy."
(MacDonald 245)
Announcement of Agreement between PUK and KDP in Washington D.C. September 18,1998
SPEAKERS: MADELEINE ALBRIGHT, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE
JALAL TALABANI, PATRIOTIC UNION OF KURDISTAN (PUK)
MASSOUD BARZANI, KURDISTAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY (KDP)
ALBRIGHT: I am very pleased to welcome to the State Department today two leaders of the Iraqi Kurdish people: Mr. Barzani of the Kurdish Democratic Party, and Mr. Talabani of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. As they will indicate shortly, their joint meetings here this week have opened a new and hopeful chapter in their efforts to work together on behalf of their people. Our sessions here follow six months of working-level talks between the two parties in northern Iraq and recent consultations by each in Ankara and London.
We welcome today's step forward. The United States has deep concern for the safety, security and economic well being of the Iraqi Kurds -- Shi'as, Sunnis, and others -- who have been subject to brutal attacks by the regime in Baghdad, including the Anfal attacks in 1988 and the military campaigns in 1991. With others in the international community we have sought to protect Iraqis from the repression of Saddam Hussein and to address their humanitarian concerns. At the Security Council in New York we have reminded our colleagues that the purpose of Council Resolutions, particularly Resolution 688, is not restricted to Iraqi weapons programs, but extends as well to the safety and protection of the Iraqi populations in both the north and the south. All this is fully consistent with our commitment to the territorial integrity and sovereign unity of Iraq.
The renewed spirit of reconciliation between Mr. Barzani and Mr. Talabani, exemplified by their joint meeting and joint statement today, will make it easier for the United States and others to help their people. They have set a timetable for resolving their differences fully consistent with the principles laid down in the 1996 Ankara Accords. We encourage them and will help where we can to see that this agenda is met. Without unity, the road ahead will remain very difficult. With unity, there is every reason for the Iraqi Kurds to look forward with hope.
As we meet, Iraq is threatening once again to end all cooperation with UN weapons inspectors, this time in response to a Council decision to suspend periodic reviews of Iraqi compliance with UN Resolutions which responded in turn to Iraq's totally unacceptable decision in August to halt cooperation with UNSCOM disarmament work. It is vital that the Security Council respond in a firm and principled way to Iraq's provocative and self-defeating acts. The Council cannot allow Iraq to gain by starting yet another cycle of defiance and threats. Its credibility and effectiveness are on the line. It, the Security Council, must insist that Iraq comply with all relevant Council Resolutions.
The United States will decide how and when to respond to Baghdad's actions based on the threat they pose to Iraq's neighbors, to regional security, to vital U.S. interests, and to the Iraqi people, including those in the north. We have not taken any option off the table. If Iraq tries to break out of its strategic box, our response will be strong and sure. But we will act on our own timetable, not Saddam Hussein's.
The United States looks forward to the day when Iraq can rejoin the family of nations as a responsible and law-abiding member. To those Iraqis inside and outside the country who want to build a democratic future for their nation, I say: the United States is on your side.
The new Radio Free Iraq is preparing to broadcast directly to the Iraqi people. We are gathering information regarding the atrocities committed by Saddam Hussein to help the Iraqi exile community in its campaign to bring him to justice. And, as today's meeting reflects, we are intensifying our efforts to help Iraqis whether Arab or Kurd, Shi'ite or Sunni to develop a deeper sense of common purpose and a more effective strategy for achieving their future in a democratic and pluralist Iraq.
Obviously, these measures are no panacea. It would not be responsible to raise false hopes or expectations. But neither can we turn our backs on the Iraqi people who have for too long been denied the freedom, security and chance for prosperity they deserve. There can be no more Anfals, no more campaigns to eradicate whole populations of innocent men, women and children.
I welcome Mr. Talabani and Mr. Barzani and congratulate them for the courageous steps they are taking; and on behalf of the United States, I look forward to working with them further to promote the humanitarian condition, human rights and safety of their people.
BARZANI (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): First, I would like to thank
Secretary Albright and the Government of the United States of
America for their interest in the concerns and issues of our people
and for fostering our reconciliation and for hosting us here.We
have accomplished something important in the last few days. With
God's help, we must implement what we have agreed to, and we must
implement those things carefully and accurately. The basis for
that will be the good intentions and the support of our friends.
Our people are looking forward to the results of these talks. What we have accomplished will ensure a prosperous future for our people. Here I would like to affirm our concern and interest for the unity of Iraq. What we have done is not against the interests of any country in the region, but what we have done is to solve the existing problems.
Once again, thank you very much, Madam Secretary.
TALABANI: It is a historic day. We closed a sad chapter of
the history of the Kurdish people, who suffered too much in their
history. It is a new day, and I hope that it will be a day that
we both, Mr. Barzani and myself, and our two parties, the PUK
and KDP, will do their best to implement this historic accord
which we have achieved with the support of our American friends,
especially Secretary Albright, whom we are very much grateful
to her to her personal contribution, to her personal encouragement
and advice to us, and to our friends. Among them I want to mention
the important role of our friend David Welch, who took the risk
of visiting us in Iraqi Kurdistan and preparing for this meeting
here, and of course for all other friends here in the State Department,
in the White House, and everywhere, who supported us in achieving
this historic and important achievement.
Our people are looking forward to having a united, democratic, federative Iraq. It is an opportunity for us to assure that we are not a separatist force; we are for strengthening the national unity of Iraq. We are not working with any states in the area. On the contrary, (INAUDIBLE) will have to have peace and stability in the area which help all neighbors of Iraq.
We are for better relations with the United States of America. The Kurdish people will never forget that the United States of America and the Secretary of State, friends from the State Department and from other Departments that helped us reach this important accord. We will remain as a Kurdish faithful nation grateful to them. I hope it will help to strengthen relations between American people and Iraqi people, Kurdish people included.
Again, I express my appreciation and gratitude to Madam Albright and to other friends in the State Department. Thank you very much.
Lexis Nexus News service (Copyright 1998 Federal Document Clearing House, Inc. FDCH Political Transcripts)
Speech made by Yasar Kaya, President of the Kurdistan Parliament in Exile
The Kurds Of Turkey And Their Prospects
March 21, 1998
[Editor's note: The Badlisy Center for Kurdish Studies held its Second International Conference on March 20-21, 1998, in Princeton, New Jersey, USA. The theme of the conference was "The Regional Dimensions of Kurdish Identity: Prospects for the 21st Century". The President of Kurdistan Parliament in Exile in Brussels was invited to speak. Due to his recent surgery, he could not attend the conference but did send in the following statement.]
Apart from a few pundits, not many people in the world
are aware of the war that is unfolding in Kurdistan. Nor are they
aware of the geopolitical importance of the land of the Kurds.
In the heart of the Middle East, Kurdistan is the gateway to the
Caucasus, to Iran, to the Arab world and also to Anatolia. It
is a land of precious natural resources, both above and below
the
earth.
Divided into two parts in 1639 between the Iranian and Ottoman
empires, the land of the Kurds was divided again in 1923,
this time among the emerging nations of the new Middle East, Turkey,
Iran, Iraq and Syria. This state of affairs continues to
this day. Today, constituting some forty million people residing
in their historical lands, the Kurds are subjected to the rule
of
others and do not enjoy any of the constitutional guarantees that
peoples all over the world take for granted. This state of
affairs is now being rejected by the Kurds. I wish to focus on
a few of the most pertinent aspects of this new status of the
Kurds.
For years, the natives of upper Mesopotamia, the Kurds, have
continued to live in the same area and historically have taken
part in the progress of civilization, which owes some of its earliest
beginnings to this region. The Kurds have intermingled
with neighboring peoples, the Persians, the Arabs, the Assyrians
and the Turks. They have also shared common rituals with their
neighbors, such as Zoroastrianism and the various sects of Islam.
Such a richness remains a part of our strength in the region today.
And some would argue that this very fact accounts for our persevering
to this day.
This inherent diversity of Kurdistan has found its true expression
in the formation of the Kurdistan Parliament in Exile.
In contrast to that, when a few Kurdish parliamentarians asserted
their true identity in the Turkish Parliament, they were
sentenced to 15 years in prison. Leyla Zana, the recipient of
the Sakharov Freedom Award, is one of those parliamentarians.
Hatip Dicle, the president of the Democracy Party, and Kurdish
parliamentarians Selim Sadak and Orhan Dogan languish in jail
as well.
Looking at the early history of Turkey reveals that the country
was founded with the galvanized efforts of both Turkish
and Kurdish liberation forces. After the Treaty of Lausanne, the
Kurds were robbed of their gains, and with the consent of the
Allied powers they were subjected to the rule of others. As can
be expected, the Kurdish response was not late in coming and in
Palo in 1926, in Agri in 1930, and again in Dersim in 1938, the
Kurds took up arms to undo their subject status.
The Turks vowed to undo the Kurds and their tactics amounted
to genocide. Kurds of both sexes and all ages were brutally
killed, their were leaders hanged and their families were driven
into exile. This policy has been the rule throughout the 75 years
of history of the Turkish Republic, but it has not extinguished
the desire on the part of the Kurds to assert their rights.
In Turkey, there is a direct correlation between the desire
on the part of the Kurds to ask for their rights and the policy
of the Turkish government to increase its heavy-handed tactics
to suppress the Kurds. If the desire on the part of living organisms
to grow is natural, the same is true for peoples to perpetuate
their heritage and culture for successive generations. And yet
in the Turkey, where a majority of the Kurds live, it is part
of the law of the land that the Kurds do not speak their own language,
do not practice their traditions and must forcefully accept the
"superior" culture of the Turks. Ours, I might add,
is the only people in the world whose language is constitutionally
banned.
Such an unnatural course of action has led to the intensification
of state sanctioned violence against the Kurds on
the part of Turkish government officials. To this day, one would
look in vain for evidence of the Turkish government's desire to
accommodate the Kurds. The reality of the Kurds and their land,
Kurdistan, remains a taboo subject. Those who would dare to defy
the law and write about the subject are either eliminated or imprisoned
or driven into exile. 109 professors remain in Turkish jails for
daring to write on the Kurdish issue. 74 journalists share the
same place with these professors for the same reasons.
If Kurds decide to assemble and form an organization to address
some of their concerns, the organization is immediately
threatened with closure. It does not matter if the organization
is cultural in nature or has as its aim to teach folk dances.
They are subject to bans as are the Kurdish political parties
that have struggled for years now to have a voice in the
country's politics. This state of affairs has lead to the birth
of organizations that have taken up arms, and the Kurdistan
Workers Party (PKK) is one such an organization.
The birth of the PKK has to be seen as the struggle by a
people to fight for their self-preservation. Those who would like
to label the struggle of the Kurds as "terrorist" are
in agreement with those who wish not to find a solution to the
Kurdish Question. Lest it be forgotten, it was the Kurdish side,
the PKK, which declared a unilateral cease-fire in 1993 and
abided by its rules for 83 days - but to no avail. The Turkish
government continued to pound Kurdish villages with bombs and
to this day refuses to engage the Kurds in a dialogue. The Kurds
and their property have become the spoils of war and the targets
of Turkish troops both from the air and on the ground.
The number of Kurdish villages that have been destroyed by
the Turkish armed forces has now reached some 3,200. The whole
region is administered by a "super" governor and his
secret special teams that are a law unto themselves. The region
is under an occupation force. Unknown assailants continue to murder
at will and some 4,000 activists have met with violent ends at
the hands of these "representatives" of the state. In
other words, one cannot speak of the rule of law in the lands
of the Kurds.
For three terms, I was elected president of Democracy Party
(DEP), the third Kurdish party in the recent history of Turkey
with hopes to be a democratic voice for the Kurds. One of our
duly elected parliamentarians, Mehmet Sincar, a member of the
party, was murdered in broad daylight. Other Kurds were targeted
just as he was. In the last eight years alone, 184 active members
of Kurdish parties have been killed. This is the price we are
paying to have our voices heard in Turkey.
We have only one request for all of the sacrifices we are
enduring: We want a democracy that does not accept the condition
of forbidden-ness. We want a democracy that is on par with those
that manifest themselves in Western countries. The troubles of
democracy in Turkey can be traced to the absence of the rights
of the Kurds. Without a solution to the Kurdish Question, one
cannot speak of democracy in Turkey. As is well known, all of
the state constitutions in Turkey have been written by generals.
The latest Turkish Constitution, the product of a Turkish military
coup, is no exception.
With the demise of "real existing" socialism in
the Soviet Union, the United States became the de facto leader
of the world. And America today continues to view the Kurdish
Question as merely a human rights issue. This is unfortunate.
The Kurdish
Question is a national, regional and international issue. Militarily,
it will not be resolved. It can only be resolved politically.
Without a peaceful solution to this question, there cannot be
peace in the region. In the United States today, there exists
a body of scholars who know well the nature of the Kurdish Question.
For the United States to consign its Kurdish policy to the tender
mercies of the government of Turkey is wrong and dangerous. Turkey
is waging its dirty war on the Kurds with the support of weapons
supplied by the United States. This very policy is the source
of instability in the region.
Those who view the Kurdish Question as an ethnic minority
issue, as a problem of backwardness, as a question of economic
immobility or a residue of feudalism are belittling the question.
It is a national question and must be viewed as such. It crosses
the borders of the established countries in the region and will
require their participation in its eventual resolution. The Kurdish
Question can only have a lasting solution when its divisions are
addressed in its totality.
In addition to the ongoing war in northern Kurdistan, southern
Kurdistan has been invaded time and again by Turkish forces, and
the very fabric of the federal Kurdish state is threatened to
be entrusted to the care of Saddam Hussein. This time, Turkey
has taken it upon itself to do this favor for the butcher of Baghdad.
In the meantime, the United States government needs to examine
its policies relative to the war of genocide that the government
of Turkey is waging against the Kurds. Most of the arms Turkey
uses in its dirty war originate from America. National interest
cannot be an excuse to bless the war which Turkey continues to
wage against the Kurds.
Let the record show that we don't favor war and have always
expressed our desire for peace and a political solution to the
Kurdish Question. We respect the territorial integrity of Turkey,
if it accommodates the equality of the Kurds with those of its
Turkish citizens. We are ready to opt for peace and talk with
Turkish representatives to reconstitute the country and form a
true federation which reflects the reality of the peoples who
make up the country.
The authorities in Turkey must come to their senses and forgo
their option of a military solution to this question. The
fruits of such a change in policy will be the true democracy,
peace and stability that Turkey needs and the Kurds can offer.
We ask the nations of the world to side with us to put an end
to the policies of the Turkish government that amount to a war
of
genocide.
The Kurdish national movement embodies the diversity that
is characteristic of the Kurdish people. It is not the prisoner
of
an uncompromising ideology. It is contemporary and is advancing
the welfare of the Kurdish people day by day. As it stands, the
Kurds have been forced to respond to the oppressive policies of
their adversaries by means of a defensive war. But more important
than this war is the awakening that is taking place among the
Kurds. Some have called this a Kurdish cultural renaissance. I
share their sentiments.
Our struggle to have equality in our lives for our offspring
continues. The road to that state of affairs points to a new federal
composition. We have seen the light and we hope our adversaries
will see it too. Thank you.
Yasar Kaya
President
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