http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2846513.stm

Turkey recently banned a political party called Hadep because of its ties to another party they banned some time ago called the PKK. The PKK is a political union of Kurds which want to secede from Turkey and reestablish Kurdistan, so much as is possible within Turkey's borders. They've used military action to aid that quest. These are, of course, Turkish versions of the Iraqi Kurds, who also have attempted to overthrow areas of Iraq under their control. Historical Kurdistan was very large, so Iran and some other neighboring countries have to deal with these issues. The Kurds are a recent fascination of mine. What can be done when there is a group of people who insist they are a nation and that they want to restore their country, where there's already a country? This is kind of similar in some ways to the Israeli-Palestinian statehood conflict. I think I've abandoned judgement in that case, and don't really have much of an opinion in this one. It really does explain a lot of atrocities on either side though, in both conflicts. Nations matter a lot to people, and countries are an important way to express a nation. People attach a lot of significance to historical roots. Kurds keep temporarily taking over parts of Iraq, and Iraq strikes back, asassinating, tear gassing, and bringing in the tanks to keep order. Both are struggling for the same thing, and there's really nothing that can save them from the conflict.

One thing that does bother me is when people just listen to the propoganda that BushJr spits out about how the Kurds are universal victims. Not all Kurds identify in that way with a Kurdish nation. Most (from what polls I've seen from Turkey) do. They choose their identity, they choose this struggle. Not that there isn't a big price to be paid, but people can often choose to just walk away from these kinds of struggles if they decide that they're not important to them.

Back to work..