Legislating a-la-Turca

Ethnic Turks' Blind (Spot) Existence

As a means of survival ethnic Turks learn their state-manufactured poems well. They do so diligently since they became a country back in 1923. In relation to Cyprus they staunchly support all the myths surrounding the Turkish Cypriot minority. But they fail to realize how applicable what they say is to them. Perhaps they can understand better what they sound like this way:

• The Kurds have equal and inherent rights over the resources of the whole continental shelf of "Turkey".
• The two peoples of "Turkey" should jointly decide on how to use the offshore oil and gas resources. Ethnic Turks should respect that.
• All parties should place sincere efforts to achieve a settlement in the interest of the two peoples.
• "Turkey" needs a federal system that respects the fundamental EU principles and the bi-zonal and bi-communal nature of the federation.
• It is a case of creating a partnership between the co-owners of "Turkey", including the just sharing of resources.

Ps. These statements are made verbatum (save Kurd, Turk, & "Turkey") in an interview (22/4/2016, Natural Gas Europe) by Mithat Rende who served as "Turkey"’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative of "Turkey" to the OECD between 2013 and March 2016.

Zones, Hypocrisy and Cyprus

The Pendadaktylos Mountain in Keryneia, a "zone" with
millenniums of uninterrupted Christian and/or Greek history

The zones in Cyprus were the result of an illegal, unwarranted invasion. Cyprus never had zones in its history. Or if you prefer all zones in all of Cypriot history (which spans millenniums and did not start when Ottomans invaded in 1571) have been majority Christian and/or Greek or wholly Christian and/or Greek. Therefore federation is equivalent to accentuating 1960 injustice by superimposing magic zones which are majority owned by Christian refugees. This is why it will never be approved.

Furthermore, the precedent would be disastrous. What next? Muslims in Birmingham seeking their own zone? Kurds in Istanbul (a city 20 times the size of Cyprus)? I fail to see the logic behind rendering a monstrosity part of international law because of an unfortunate historical alliance between Kemalist fascism and the Anglo-Saxon world.

Makarios was right in 1963. A minority cannot demand privileges of the kind Turkish Cypriots demand. No European in their right mind would accept them for their minority. Neither will Cypriots.

Could Turkey implode? | WASHINGTON POST

Internal and external forces are tearing at the nation’ seams

By Shehab Al Makahleh - - Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Turkey, an erstwhile U.S. ally long hailed as a bastion of secular democracy in the Muslim world, could be spiraling toward all-out civil war and potential dissolution as conflicts between Turkish security forces and Kurds and other ethnic minorities continue to escalate. These conflicts have been exacerbated by the catastrophic war in neighboring Syria, which has created a refugee crisis in Turkey, expanded Turkey’s bloody campaign against Kurds into Iraq and Syria, and pushed Turkish officials into a convenient collusion with the Islamic State, or ISIS.

The lurch toward a more Islamist, autocratic posture by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has long worried regional and western observers, particularly his strong curbs on political speech and active political repression of the Kurds. That policy has taken a bloody turn with the repeated bombing of Syrian and Iraqi Kurds — both of whom have been anti-ISIS bulwarks — and, since July 2015, escalating crackdowns at home. The murder in November of Tahir Elci, a leading Kurdish human rights advocate and president of the Diyarbakir Bar Association in southeastern Turkey has dramatically increased tensions and violence inside Turkey and put the Kurdish issue — seemingly settled only a few years ago — back on the agenda. The killing, which Human Rights Watch called an “assassination,” demonstrated to the world how out of control the province has become.

Crime boss Peker threatens academics who made joint statement on Southeast | Today's Zaman

Sedat Peker is seen while addressing an anti-terror rally in the Black Sea
province of Rize in this file photo. (Photo: DHA)

January 13, 2016, Wednesday/ 13:19:42/ TODAY'S ZAMAN | CONSTANTINOPLE

Sedat Peker, a notorious figure who has been convicted on organized crime charges, has threatened academics who recently called for an end to violence in Turkey's Southeast, saying on Tuesday that their blood will be spilled.

Russia Urges Turkey to Solve Kurdish Issue by Political Means, Avoid Force | Sputnik

30.12.2015 - MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Turkish authorities should solve its disagreements with the Kurds by political means and avoid the use of force, Russia's Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.

"We are concerned by the escalation of violence in southeastern Turkey, caused by Turkish authorities' ongoing military operation in Kurdish provinces. Human rights groups report numerous civilian victims, including women and children," the ministry said in a statement.

"The solution to the Kurdish issue lies in the political arena. The use of force in internal conflicts only leads to new victims and an escalation of tensions with unpredictable consequences," the statement reads.

Turkish PM accuses pro-Kurdish party head of treason over Russia comments | Reuters

Note: Ahmet Davutoglu can dish it out in Cyprus but he obviously cannot take it.

CONSTANTINOPLE (Reuters), Thu Dec 24, 2015  - Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu accused the head of Turkey's pro-Kurdish opposition party of treason on Thursday for using a trip to Moscow to condemn Ankara's shooting down of a Russian warplane over Syria.

Non-Assimilated Kurds

"We Are Not Terrorists But Non-Assimilated Kurds" - North Kurdistan

Language Hypocrisy

Why is Turkish an official language in Cyprus but Kurdish not an official language in "Turkey"? Why are the EU and US silent?

Turks have always been a minority in Cyprus since they first appeared in the late 16th century, never founded a town and never constituted the majority in any Cypriot district, whereas Kurds are a separate people with their own lands, part of which constitute almost the entire east of "Turkey", historically known as north Kurdistan.

Both Turkish Cypriots and Kurds form circa 15-20% of their respective countries' populations.

Turkey's Oppression of Kurds - The 'Curfew' Tool

June 7 2015 election results - HDP creates history
by entering parliament for 1st time

The Turkish State and it's use of 'Curfews' as a tool to strangle the Kurds. Watch the 6 minute video here.

Today, the People of North Kurdistan (under Turkish Occupation) are paying the ultimate price for the record turnout and votes for the pro-Kurdish HDP in the 7th of June General Elections. The Turkish State is systematically conducting sieges, operations and imposing arbitrary curfews to dozens of Cities and Towns such as Mardin (HDP 73.22 % - 07/06/15) , Diyarbakir- Amed (HDP 77.3%) , Sirnak (HDP 83.89%), Van (HDP 73.79%) and Hakkari (HDP 83.89%) ahead of the 1st of November 're-elections.' Most Towns within these cities such as Cizre, Bismil, Nusaybin, Silvan and Sur had record turnouts for the HDP averaging 90% with the rest of the votes being cast by Military Personnel in the region. These towns are now the epicentre of conflict and massacres.

For Kurdish youth in Turkey, autonomy is no longer enough | The Christian Science Monitor

Youth in Diyarbakir, the Kurdish 'capital' in Turkey's southeast, have been celebrating triumphs on the battlefield and at the ballot box, even as a peace process with Turkey unravels.

By Dominique Soguel, Correspondent AUGUST 17, 2015

DIYARBAKIR, TURKEY — In her flowing dress, leather sandals, and sunglasses, Ozgur Yesha, whose name means “Live Free” in Turkish, looks a lot like an American hippie from the sixties.

The teenager doesn’t strike you as someone ready to rush off to battle. Still, her parents lose sleep over the idea that she might run off with the peshmerga, the Kurdish fighters rolling back Islamic State militants in northern Iraq.

Her ideological zeal exceeds that of her parents and is emblematic of a generational divide among Turkey’s Kurds that is crystallizing in a time of turmoil. In recent months, Kurds have celebrated victories over IS across the border in Syria and made unprecedented political gains in Turkish elections, only to see the unraveling of a three-year peace process between Turkey and the outlawed Kurdish Workers’ Party, or PKK.

Kurdish leader blasts Turkey’s president | Washington Post

By David Ignatius August 13 - Turkey’s political tensions were sharply evident Thursday, as the country’s leading Kurdish politician accused President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of “supporting ISIS” in the past. He said that Erdogan wants early elections as part of a strategy of “attacking the Kurdish movement” and reversing its recent political gains.

Selahattin Demirtas, the leader of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, or HDP, made the charges in an hour-long telephone interview from Diyarbakir, in southeastern Turkey. He lived up to his reputation as an outspoken opponent of Erdogan and champion of Kurdish rights. His comments framed some of the big issues in the parliamentary campaign that is likely this fall.

Kurds Vow to Push Erdogan Back, in Parliament or on the Streets | Bloomberg

by Selcan Hacaoglu | May 27, 2015 - The stage is set for a showdown between Turkey’s most powerful man and a political party that’s never won a seat in parliament.

The all-or-nothing structure of Turkey’s elections system means Kurds are kingmakers in the election on June 7. Either they enter parliament with 10 percent of the national vote and gain about 50 seats, or they fall short, ceding those seats to the ruling AK Party, which is seeking to expand the power of its founder and former boss, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the nation’s unquestioned leader of 12 years.

“Kurds in the New Turkey: The future of the Peace Process” by Frederike Geerdink (26 min.)

Published on Feb 11, 2015 - “Kurds in the New Turkey: The future of the Peace Process” by Frederike Geerdink (26 min.)

Cultural Genocide by Turkey against Kurds

Source: The Making of Modern Turkey: Nation and State in Eastern Anatolia, 1913-1950 By Ugur Ümit Üngör

Turkey's Kurdish Peace Process Becomes Political Hot Potato | VoA

Antifon: The solution to a great many problems Turkish policies maintain, including Cypriots' "Turkey" problem, goes through Amed.

Article starts here: March 20, 2015 4:59 PM | Dorian Jones - Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned Kurdish rebel leader, is expected to release a letter to mark the Kurdish New Year, called Newroz, outlining further steps in the peace process with the Turkish government. In the past few days, though, Turkey's president and the leader of the legal Kurdish movement have been exchanging angry barbs, fueling concerns about the peace process.

Roundup: Turkey's peace process with Kurds gets complicated: analysts | Xinhua News Agency

February 10, 2015 6:15pm - ANKARA, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- Turkey's settlement process launched at the end of 2012 to solve the country's longtime Kurdish problem became complicated with the upcoming
elections and a new draft security bill submitted to the Parliament, analysts said.

"There are four months left until Turkish parliamentary elections, and one baffling issue is what the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) is up to," political observer Yavuz Baydar said.

He was referring to the HDP's decision to enter the elections as a political party as opposed to its usual practice of running with independent candidates and defeating 10 percent of the national threshold required for a political party to gain seats in the Parliament.

The Cost of Keeping "Turkey" in One Piece

If Turks wish to keep their country in one piece, then they must speedily get used to the idea that Kurds will eventually have NO LESS POLITICAL and CULTURAL RIGHTS inside the NEW TURKEY than their successive governments have been demanding on behalf of the Turkish Cypriot minority community in Cyprus.

United Turkey-North Kurdistan Republic

The Comprehensive Settlement of Turkey's Turks-Kurds problem

The plan was first presented on 11 November 2010, and revised on 10 December 2012, and again on 26 February 2014. The final version of the plan will be presented by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, to the Parties on  March 2016, in Bürgenstock, Switzerland.

Turkey Subjugates the Kurds because it Shares Isis' Ideological Bed by Uzay Bulut | Int'l Business Times

Turkey Subjugates the Kurds because it Shares Isis' Ideological Bed, Turkey's Isis Policy: Subjugation of Kurds, By Uzay Bulut in Ankara, October 10, 2014

When Turkey's Justice and Development Party (AKP) government came to power in 2002, it defined itself not as an Islamic party but as a conservative democratic party, stating that Turkey's ascension bid to the European Union would be its strategic target.

Hence, the West thought that despite its Islamist roots, the AKP government was not going to pursue an overt Islamist agenda and thus was content with the new government of Turkey - until the ties of its "ally" with the jihadist groups in the Middle East recently came to light.