Turkish Winter Over Kurdistan

At the time of the Iraq war when Bush II unleashed a war of shock and awe over Saddam Hussein’s country extensively in search of weapons of mass destruction, the northern territory of the Kurds, now an autonomous area called Kurdistan, was the one place that Americans were able to walk in relative peace.

The Iraq invasion, regarded as the biggest blunder in U.S. foreign policy history, caused ripples and waves of disaster, discontent, and disorder throughout the Middle East and essentially established a Shia state, one welcomed by the Shia neighbor Iran. The Kurds took advantage of the disaster and consolidated their hold on power in the north. Kurds who lived in other areas like Syria and Turkey sought to emulate their Iraqi kinsmen by trying to set up equally autonomous regions in Syria’s northeast and Turkey’s east. But Turkey, a fiercely nationalistic country, has rejected such a move out of hand. They have outlawed Kurdish language usage and arrested people for wearing distinctive Kurdish dress. And they’ve labeled Kurds, especially members and supporters of the Kurdish Workers’ Party, terrorists.

Now the Trump regime, by ordering us troops out of Syria, have left them in the lurch to face Turkish fury for daring to seek Kurdish freedom and autonomy. For holding hands with the U.S. devil, they face Turkish air and army power and possibly a massacre.

Empires don’t have friends or not really allies. They have usages. They have servants. They played with the Kurds until they didn’t need them anymore. The Kurds are now facing a disaster, and they are alone in the world.

From imprisoned nation, this is Mumia Abu-Jamal.

These commentaries are recorded by Noelle Hanrahan of Prison Radio.