Kurdistan Bloggers Union

the idea of having a group blog called KBU was from Kurdo , now that Kurdo is in his Winter Sleep , KBU Blog is Admin-Less but we are doing our best to keep KBU alive , and hopefully soon we will do changes and upgrades to keep this sucessfull blog alive and make it better .

I noticed e-mails that been sent to us , some of you intorduced new friends of Kurds , to be added to the list , I really become exicted to see all those nice ppl ! but as I said our admin is in winter sleep and I am still waiting to get a reply from our sleeping admin , dear Kurdo!

so please dont think we dont read your e-mails and we dont pay attention to our friends !

now I would like to introduce some new kurdish blog , when I saw these new blogs , I felt a new wind blowng to kurdish blogs .

• Pearls of Iraq
• better Kurdistan and Iraq
  
• land of the sun : Kurdistan
• From Holland to Kurdistan (new template)
  

Here I would like to take the oppotunity to cheer for Bush's visitng Barzani as President of Kurdistan .
when I read in the news that President Bush used Kurdistan word [not "northern iraq" word as he used to do ] I didnt belive it !
I said "it is impossible . the word kurdistan is a forbiden word in Turkey and it would make Turkey to be mad with America

and as I had expected it happend !!! read this news :

the Charge d'Affaires for the US Embassy, Nancy McEldowney, was called to the Foreign Ministry, where Turkish Undersecretary Nabi Sensoy formally asked her to explain "whose president" Barzani was welcomed as at the White House.
Read More

as I saw Turkey that angrey I made sure that President Bush ultimately breaked the Taboo and used "Kurdistan" word .

cheeeeeers ! Kurdistan Kurdistan Kurdistan no "nothern iraq" word anymore.

I would like to tell you just after President Bush's using Kurdistan word, American Radios in Persian also used Kurdistan word and I hardly hear that Ugly word for my homeland [northern iraq] and many other medias broke the taboo of using Kurdistan word .
[may be thats the result of this Kurdish Google Bomb --> northern iraq It would be an honor for we bloggers to find out that Pr.Bush's words been effected by our blogs...]


....by the way I forgot to say , Happy Halloween to President Bush , to American Brave troops in Iraq and all those who care about Kurdistan .

“Since our village is a big village with 200 houses, a security station is established in it. It was the middle of June in 1993. Since it was very hot in the summer, my father and brothers were on the roof. Suddenly there was an explosion. At first we couldn’t understand what was happening. People were running forth and back. We were looking out from the window. Somebody on the street told us to go inside. The soldiers were shooting towards the village. We didn’t know where my father was. My mother heard that somebody yelling that my uncle was shot. I suppose my father must have gone to look for him. Till the morning we stayed under the bed. The shooting continued. In the morning the soldiers brought us all in the village yard. It was there that my mother saw my father’s corpse. They told us to leave the village. They burnt everything down and shouted we helped the terrorists. We heard later that some of the men in the village have buried the dead secretly after we were forced to leave. “

"This husband of mine who doesn’t speak anymore was arrested and tortured several times. I don’t know what the charges were. There is always something. Soon after his last arrest, the soldiers came to the village. They brought us all together in the village yard. They asked whether we would finally agree to become guards. We said no. So they burnt down all our houses and forced us to leave. We went from village to village, from one kinsmen’s house to the other. No one took us for more than a couple of days. We came here. Look at the barren walls, the barren rooms. There is nothing. We have nothing. We are nothing. And my husband can’t speak, nor work, nor go out. Possibly, because of torture. "

"We were farmers. We lived well and had hope. It was our home. But in 1995 due to terrorism they burnt down our villages. And believe me when I say it was for nothing that they did so. Even if you would put me in front of the President I will say the same thing. We weren’t guilty. Believe me. We weren’t guilty. Our village was near the center. We had never seen a terrorist. It was for nothing. Why? Because they want to make that region disappear. The soldiers came and burnt it down. Some soldiers were compassionate and let a few families take out something to wear. Some left without anything. Our cat remained in the house and was burnt as well. The state doesn’t do such things. But I am telling you. Believe me the state did this to us. We came here. We only suffered. My sons are high school graduates. But, when they say they are from the region, people close their doors on them. We are the citizens of Turkey. The state shouldn’t discriminate against us. What else can I tell to you? What other story can I possibly tell? My husband died of sorrow soon after we came here.
Well, I can tell you that I was happy in the village. We had everything. My sons went to school. We had money. We had green pastures and a beautiful land. Everything grew there. It was beautiful. I had friends and a good husband. I don’t know if you know how farming is done. But we had all the equipment to do it. Specifically, in the last years things had improved considerably. We had electricity and water. We didn’t hurt anyone. We lived peacefully. We had no reason to leave the village if it weren’t for the state. What they did has no reason. "

"You know village life. Its not like you have everything. But it is definitely better than this. The snow in winter. The green in spring. It is your home. Your homeland. What can be better than your homeland? You have your own home made beds. Home made food. Real vegetables and fruit. The water is for free. Beautiful mountains. We lost everything. We could take nothing when they burnt down the villages. Everything was destructed. The houses, the animals. It has been four or five years. I still wake up thinking I am there. Then I remember. I am in this place. "


These testimonies extracted from the paper of Nazan Üstündag, from the Department of sociology in Bogaziçi University, Istanbul, on the displaced Kurds in Turkey. If we consider that millions of people have lived the same thing, if we include children who borned later in this inheritage of violence and suffering, how will Turkey manage, economically, socially, clinically its post-war time ? Armenians or Assyro-Chaldeans who survived to the genocide mostly fled the country, so it had not to assimilate their trauma. But these millions of devastated Kurds are mostly in Turkey. So in Western cities, urban dwellers begin to realize that something is rotten in Atatürk's realm, especially when the State refuse to see facts. And it will last and could become worse. How many times, how many generations will be necessary to restore such dammages ? All the consequences on economy, criminality, mental and physical health are not near to improve without any policy toward refugees.

A Kurdish Peshmerga soldier kisses the coffin of a Kurdish person killed during former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's rule at a ceremony in Hewler's airport, South Kurdistan, October 17, 2005.

A car bomb exploded on Tuesday in the Kurdish city of Sulaimani and a hospital official said at least nine people had been killed. Police and witnesses said the blast was caused by a car bomb which exploded near the headquarters of the peshmerga forces.

Sulaimani, in Kurdistan has been one of the most peaceful and tranquil spots in Kurdistan. It’s rarely troubled by the violence that has racked Iraq. It has been the focus of considerable business investment. Earlier this year Arbil (Hewler) in Kurdistan was shocked by a bomb attack on a police recruiting centre. In this attack 45 people have been killed and 150 wounded.

There were three suicide attacks. The first two attacked the convoy of Mala Bakhtiyar, a high official of the PUK. The third blast was directed against the Ministry of Peshmarga in Suleimani reported the Kurdish radio Nawa (Source: TheKurdistani).

The blast in Sulemani came on a day when the final result of Iraq's constitutional referendum are expected to be announced. All the indications are that the constitution, which enshrines Kurdistan's broad autonomy, will be passed. Sunni Arab insurgents fighting the Shi'ite- and Kurdish-led government in Baghdad opposed the charter.

Kurds have also been attacked by Sunni Arab supporters of ousted President Saddam Hussein, who went on trial in Baghdad last week. Among the accusations he faces are genocide against Kurds and the gassing of Kurdish civilians in 1988 at Halabja, 80 km (50 miles) from Sulaimani.

Sulaimani is the base of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), headed by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani. The PUK is one of the biggest Kurdish parties.

Attacks against Kurdish people in North Kurdistan

According to the Kurdish news agency Dozame.org there were also bomb attacks against the Kurdish people of Yuksekova.

”A series of bomb blasts in the city of Yuksekova in northern Kurdistan (southeastern Turkey) have provoked locals who believes that the bombings have been carried out by one or several clandestine groups close to the Turkish army and government.”

---------------

I express my sympathy and condolence to the victims and families of these terrible disasters. The Kurdish people have been opppressed, murdered, raped, destroyed and assimilated. I hope one day the Kurdish people of Kurdistan can live in peace and prosperity.

I also want to sent my condoleances to the victims of the recent Baghdad blast. According to the Boston.com 11 people got killed after a dramatic blast.

Recently some Arabs justified the role of Saddam in the genocide against the Kurdish people of Halabja. I also remember that in the past one Turkish person was very happy about the attack against the Kurdish police recruiting centre.

These kinds of persons would probably think in the same way about the recent disgraceful attacks against the Kurdish people. I hope the majority of the Arabic, Turkish, Kurdish and people all over the world condemn these attacks and express their sympathy to the Kurdistani and Iraqi people. It's unbelievable that some Arabs and also Turks justify attacks against the Kurdish people.

I am going to comment on someone else's blog today...

Truth Teller from A Family from Mosul has been posting recently some articles about the validity of Saddam ordering the bombing of Halapja. News stories blaming the Iranian government for the gassing of Kurds is nothing new, but they seem to resurface over and over. Truth Teller has posted two stories in the past few days, here and here, and of course my favorite entitled No Proof Saddam Gassed the Kurds. Rather than paraphrases each post, please read what he wrote (which is mostly articles written by other people) and let me know what you think.

I am of the opinion that visiting the subject of "who exactly gassed Halapja" is a stupid idea, because trying to lay the blame in other places doesn't matter. 5,000+ people died in a matter of days....and if it really wasn't Saddam that ordered it, he sure didn't care that much about it anyway. I have seen no offical statements from Saddam saying that it wasn't his fault (and if you have access to such things I would LOVE to see them!)...he wasn't using the Kurds as political/moral reasonings of why Iran is bad...why? Saddam saw the Kurdish people as a nuisance, as a people who didn't have a right to live anyway, so why should he care? Regardless of who is to blame for the Halapja massacre the Saddam regime did nothing to stop it and therefore for not protecting his people he should be blamed, furthermore if Saddam did order it, he is responsible. In the end nothing changes, Saddam Hussein is still responsible for the deaths in Halapja!

So calming down....why is Truth Teller bringing this all up anyway? He says that

no one can break the ancient bond that tie the Kurds and Arab as brothers in a unified country called Iraq.

If such a bond does exist, you would think that he cared a little more, than posting articles that almost support Saddam.

Either way, I am going to put trust in the new legal system of Iraq...the truth should come out there.

"Talabani's vote might be cancelled The previous day, President Talabani's voting at the referendum five minutes before the official opening time of the voting day became the reason for discussions. While some politicians in Iraq complained about this and asked the Election High Committe to discard this vote, EHC will explain its decision today"

On a Kurdish mountain the Turkish national slogan is written by probably soldiers. It says ‘Ne mutlu Türküm diyene’, meaning ‘How happy is he who can say ‘I am a Turk’. Kurds have to look to this everyday. (Source google maps)

Delal made a good summary of the recent saddening news about the Kurdish question in Turkey here. Recently a Kurdish politician of the Dehap got sentenced for six months imprisonment and a fine of YTL 1,640 for beginning a speech at a local party convention by saying "good-day" in Kurdish.

He was charged with using a language other than Turkish for public political purposes in violation of the Political Parties Law.

This is the beloved Turkish democracy.

The Sanliurfa deputy leader Resit Yardimci was very surprised: "I believe this is a very unfortunate decision for Turkey. It is especially regrettable when one considers the start of Turkey's European Union membership negotiations and its aim to protect human rights," he said.

Recently I was reading a new book. It described how in the past the Kurdish Muslim Mehmhet Pamak reminded Islamist listeners of the double dose of oppression that Kurds have experienced at the hands of the "democratic" Turkish Republic's rulers. He said Kurds have been discriminated against for being both Muslim and Kurdish. He illustrated this difference in a parable, in the expectation (like I did in this article: The Turkish politics of the republic of Kurdistan that fiction cuts as deep as analysis.

"If there were a Kurdish Republic.
If the regime ruling the country named it Kurdey,
If Turkish were forbidden and if Turks were made to read, write and talk Kurdish (if education in Kurdish were compulsory),
If all the mountains in Turkish regions were decorated with the slogan "What happiness to those who say I am a Kurd',
If every morning in every school Turkish children were forced to shout, 'I am a true Kurd.. Let me exist as a gift to Kurdish existence',
If Turks who wanted their legitimate rights were made to eat filth and were subjected to every kind of torture.
If there were no modesty, honour, security of life or property in the Turkish areas,
If Turkish clubs and social organizations were banned, but Kurdish fraternities were encouraged to flourish and become centres for producing administrators and ideologues of the state,
If 'Kurdish nationalism' were guaranteed by the Constitution and idolized as unchangeable, unchallengeable principle of social life,
If everyone were forced to be a Kurd and the Kurdish president went on TV and announced to the whole nation, while looking into the eyes of Turks, that Kurdey was only for those who say 'I am a Kurd',
And worse - if Kurdish Muslims didn't perceive the level of trauma experienced by Turks but said, 'What difference does it make? We've all been oppressed you haven't suffered anything special.'

I wonder what Turks, especially Muslim Turks, would feel?

(Pamak 1996 translated by Christohoper Houstan in "Islam, Kurds and the Turkish Nation State)


The slogan 'Dunya Turk Olsun (DTO)' had on July 3 been sprayed on Kurdish homes all over Bursa. 'DTO' means "Let the World be Turkish" in Turkish.

The real version of the story is the world turned upside down. And a big part of this story still continues everyday in the current republic of Turkey.
Now I have to admit.. there were some changes, but the chauvinist, nationalist and anti-democratic attitude still exists. Still the Kurds have to face assimilation everyday in Turkish language schools, while they are Turkish. Everyday they have to look to the words "I am proud to be a Turk" in Diyarbakir.. Everyday they have to here that their Kurdish nation is Turkish..
Everyday they are reminded that they are delivered to the mercy of the Turkish government and Turkish people..

When does this attitude change? When do the Kurds get their legitimate rights like Kurdish language on public schools?
I doubt Turkey will change their attitude versus Kurds. Because they will never accept the full Kurdish rights.. even if they have to give up their dream to join the European Union.

By Vladimir

Lately there have been a lot of news items that I have been wanting to comment on, but time has not permitted. Mostly these particular items just make me want to beat my head against the wall repeatedly.

Item #1:
Turkey's Kurdish Language schools closing.
When the schools opened it was like a dream come true, and now that dream is fading away....and we should be outraged. The Turkish government would like to say that there is no demand to learn the language, which is untrue. If you only allow the language to be taught privately and not in public schools it is obvious that class enrollment will be low. The target population for learning the formal language is also the lowest socio-economic class in Turkey. If Turkey really wanted the EU to truly consider them for membership, implimenting language revitalization programs in the Southeast would be a huge mark in their favor. Also, if language programs were implimented, even if it was something like TSL classes (Turkish as a Second Language) the education system in the region would improve....but that will not happen. The republic of Turkey has set up the Kurdish regions of the Southeast to fail.

Item #2:
The EU finally announced that formal negotiations with Turkey were going to begin. Honestly I thought that they were negotiating anyway, but it all comes down to sematics, doesn't it? Of course, now that this topic is being revisited all of those little things that they need to fix are coming back into the limelight....torture..anti-terror laws...fun things like that. Now, I will cede that Turkey made efforts to change/improve the human rights situation...but it was only accomplished on paper, and things definitely have not changed. The following KBU articles both deal with the current human rights issues: European mission unearths torture claims in Turkey and KHRP:OSCE urged to examine Kurdish-Turkish relations.
For the Kurds of Turkey, these items are not new but just an everyday reality. For other people where the human rights situation in Turkey is brand new news I would like to offer the following comment: "Duh! Pay attention won't you!" And there is further "happy news" (please note the sarcasm) that the Turks are looking to Strengthen their Anti-Terror Laws, it isn't bad enough that they can already jail you for thinking thoughts against the state but they are going to make the penalties even stronger than before. But then again, ALL of the persecution that the Turkish government has committed against the Kurdish people they have managed to make perfectly legal in their law code. Ethics and morality in law aren't related anyway were they?

Item #3:
Of course Turkey's paranoia of critism does not only apply to the Kurds but to anyone talking about the Armenians as well. Instead of using the ultra-popular Orhan Pamuk to good use as a progressive Turkish face, they are threatening to imprison him for publically acknowledging the Armenian Genocide. Doubtless his book sales will skyrocket if he is imprisoned, but Turkey's international support rating will plummett. And journalist Hrant Dink is also being threatened with imprisionment for addressing the same issue on the Armenians, he is being cited as Insulting Turkishness. Which is a crime that many many people are guilty of.

Item #4:
The Kurdish paranoia is spreading again across the border to Syria. Again they are jailing Kurds for trying to separate from Syria. Of course, being a Kurd means that you want to separate from Syria there anyway...well if you are the Syrian government, that is what it means. Maybe Syria read about the wonderful things that the Iraqi Kurds have managed to achieve in terms of governmental stabilty and got a little scared.