The fact that we live abroad does not mean we don't understand issues like nationalism, terrorism or discrimination. Each country had to, has to or will have to deal with them. Now it's Turkey's turn.

Janissary, do you think we all want to see Turkey give its land to Kurds so that then can set up a free country? Do you think we find terrorists attacks something good? Of course NOT. I can speak for each Westerner here that we condemn terrorism. And, speaking for myself, I find it unfair to divide Turkey.

No country should be forced to give away part of it because its minorities would like to live separately. It's a pity though, that such a thing happened just recently when part of Serbia was stolen by Albanians. Now, how can Turkey be against giving part of their land to Kurdistan if they recognised Kosovo? It is illogical. I think accepting Kosovo, Turkey did a lot of harm to itself, it showed that minorities can change borderlines of a country and thus gave way for Kurds.

Being against dividing Turkey doesn't mean that I think Kurds are not discriminated. There were numerous examples here in this site and they are not fiction. Even our government advises not to show being pro-Kurdish going to Turkey.

Janissary, you know what we say in south east Turkey? Those who live in the west are ignorant and have no idea what it is like to be afraid on a daily basis because of the massive amount of soldiers stationed on every second street corner, and of the corrupt police. What it feels like not to be able to trust those who are supposed to keep us safe, not being able to turn to them for help. We have seen countless times that they think people are animals just because they are kurds, their hateful looks, their clubs and guns which they are quick to use on any given occation.
And the authorities then try to cover it up so the rest of Turkey won't see in, so they can twist the truth. I wanted to post a video here, the only thing it shows is about 10 police officers beating a woman for wearing kurdish clothes on newroz, but it has been banned in Turkey, I can't access it. What's the point of giving examples anyway, it's easy for you to deny them.
It's us who are afraid when we go to sleep at night and think if we will wake up to see another day. I have never done a criminal thing in my life but the police make me question if I am anyway. They make us feel unsafe.

According to Washington Times PKK is directly linked with the murders of 40 thousand people which is 13 times more than the number of lives lost to terrorism in the incidents on 9/11.

In the near past, Turkey offered a political solution by way of declaring amnesty to terrorists on condition they promise to give up their arms. The same article written by Bruce Fein states that 80% of all the heroin illegaly marketed in France is smuggled into the country by the PKK.

There is actually nothing to get surprized about this. We remember Ms. Mitterand who declared herself the guardian angel of Kurds and aided at legalizing the presence of terrorists in her country. When they found out that militants would actually want to use their country as a base for illegal drug trafficking among many other mafia type crimes, they began complaining of them.

Those 40 thousand people who lost their lives were the policemen, soldiers, teachers and doctors working in the region. I have spoken to hundreds of them in the last 20 years. They kept saying: "These Kurds treat us as friends in the daytime and fire bullets at us at night."

My own aunt told me they took cover under a couch when the terrorists opened fire in the general direction of their house on several occasions. Their windows would be broken and there were bullet holes everywhere on their walls with small kids petrified in the middle of these appalling incidents. She told me such attacks became a routine part of their lives and that several times, they survived those attacks by narrow escapes. My uncle-in-law lost his life when he was fighting PKK terrorists. He was asking the terrorists to surrender on the megaphoe when he was shot in the forehead.

We still have people among us who claim that Turks oppress Kurds. Just youtube to find out what American police does to stop smugglers infiltrating into their soil. If the people in Azade's town are all victims, who are killing all those 40 thousand people for God's sake. Who is sheltering them? Who is secretly supporting them? Only a kid would believe that all these are happening without the involvement of large groups of Kurds. There are on the other hand peaceful Kurds as well. As a matter of fact, we should single out those and refer separately to Kurds as an ethnic group. We really wanted to do this many times in the past. All those amnesties did not produce results. This opportunistic group would like to see Turkey become a second Iraq. We will not allow this. This is not nationalism, this is patriotism.

When September 11th incidents took place an enermous wave of nationalism spreaded all accross America. Everyone including myself condemned the terrorists then. Where is the difference now? Which Kurds killed all those people? what was the reason? Turkish government initiated the largest investment of its own history in GAP which is a multibillion dollar project. The purpose was to turn barren land in the region into arable agricultural area in order to improve the local economy. For many years, Eastern provinces have been given the status of primary investment area where tax immunities and incentives are offered for potential investors. All these have been done to offset the geographical disadvantage caused by the fact that East Turkey is essentially rugged highland terrain with altitudes ranging from 1200-2200 meters-a situating making economic investment in these regions too difficult because of transportation considerations. This is an economic reality which is not easy to deal with for a country with limited resources. Add to that the fact that on several occasions the existing investments are being destroyed by the PKK -a fact which discourages people thinking of investing in the region. Today, certain roads in the region are mined by the terrorist organization. The perpetrators always have food, shelter, weapons and money to be able to perform these terrorists acts.


The PKK has a political extension called DTP. DTP leaders call Turkish military stop bombing PKK camps. They refer to Abdullah Ocalan as their President. DTP Vice President has recently made a statement in which he said, they do not consider the PKK as a terrorist organization...

Azade;
What do you expect from us should we say thank you to Apo for terrorizing our country and costing the lives of 40 thousan people?

Should we grant autonomy to Kurds? Some of them even had claims that this autonomy must be extended to Western provinces where Kurds live in great numbers.

What political solution do you suggest? Or are you looking forward to an economical solution. Should we empty all our pockets and send all our money to East. Did you know that this country suffers from a huge budget deficit for years? Did you know that the government cannot collect money on the services they bring to the region. Tremendous amounts of energy is being stolen in East Turkey, oil and drug smuggling is rampant in the region. There are certainly people benefiting from the chaotic situation there. What do you expect from the government under the circumstances.

Do you think we are very happy with the attitude of the police. We observe that it is getting better gradually. Do we revolt against our country when we are subjected to brutality. We stay here and fight against it. We know that the exact same thing is happening elsewhere in the world too.

Vineyards... you have a point, definitely, but you only see one side of the story. What does America and its policy have to do with this? Does that make Turkish oppression and violent assimilation policies any more acceptable? :-S
You are talking about Turkish lives lost to terrorism, Azade mentioned the fear that they live with every day. Maybe THAT would explain why are turn to violence? Yes, Turkish lives lost because of terrorism is unacceptable, but Kurdish lives are equally important.