Turkish Deputy PM Suggests Kurdish Education Not Necessary

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc has said on CNN Türk that Kurdish could only be taught as an elective course. Not as part of primary education to university. According to Arinc, Kurdish language would not be sufficient as a language of education and education should be in Turkish which is, according to Arınç, “a language of civilization." The DIHA news agency reports that he also said that Kurds do not want education in their mother tongue. Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Ağrı MP Halil Aksoy emphasized in the parliament that there were hundreds of years old works of literature in Kurdish, including "Mem û Zîn" by Ehmedê Xanî republished by the Ministry of Culture and works of internationally known writer Mehmet Uzun. He also pointed out to the Kurdology department in Mardin Artuklu University and Kurdish being taught on schools and universities in the Federal Kurdistan region of Iraq. Yeni Safak columnist Kursat Bumin wonders if Arinc is backtracking on his earlier promises of cultural reforms for Kurds. "When we've heard [Deputy Prime Minister Bulent] Arinc's words [that Kurdish is not a language of civilization], unavoidably a negative state of mind falls upon us. In such a state of mind, is it easy not to tell or think whether we start everything from the very beginning?" In December 2011, Arinc said in the Turkish parliament, that “Those who say they are Kurds – we will give them at least as much education, language, culture and identity rights as we all have in this country.”

Hardline Iranian newspaper agrees with Rice on Iraq

Hard-line Iranian newspaper Jomhuri-ye Eslami, considered a mouthpiece of Supreme Leader 'Ali Khamenei, recently attacked the Saudi king and Saudi Arabia in its article "Its Saudi Arabia's turn". According to the conservative Iranian newspaper, "the Iraqi people's independence in choosing their leaders and their power of self-determination is the reason that has encouraged the people of other Arab countries towards uprising and revolution..." (Jomhuri-ye Eslami, 30 Jan).

Although, off course, the newspaper does not refer to the U.S. role in bringing elections to Iraq, the claim is echoed by Condoleezza Rice and Dick Cheney, who claim the events in Iraq led to the Arab spring and credited the Bush administration for this.

Within a span of two years the U.S. led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan toppled two of Iran's most dangerous regional enemies, immediately extending the regime's reach and influence. Iranian government media and Khamenei now claim the Arab spring leads to an Islamic awakening that will challenge Western interests. Although the spring indeed weakens 'US allies', it also weakens Iran's main ally Bashar al-Assad in Syria.

End of PJAK-Iran ceasefire?

The first deputy commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps [IRGC],Brigadier General Hoseyn Salami has said a recent clash between the Corps and the PJAK [Party of Free Life in Kurdistan, Iranian offshoot of Kurdistan Workers Party] was a minor one reports Fars News Agency. During operations by the IRGC against PJAK, IRGC member Farhad Mahdi was killed near city of Baneh in Kordestan province, in addition to 4 PJAK members allegedly killed. Iran and PJAK agreed to a ceasefire in September 2011. It remains to be seen if the ceasefire holds. Iranian government media often claims that Turkey cannot defeat the PKK without help from others [Iran]. But for the moment, Turkish-Iranian military cooperation against PJAK/PKK ended. I described the history of this cooperation here.

Iraqi Government Will Possible Arrest More Sunni Leaders

Scores of bodyguards of Sunnis leaders, like those of Al-Mashhadani, Al-Zawba'i of the Islamist Tawafuq party, were also arrested according to the newspaper Al-Alam. It is possible that more court cases will follow. The Maliki govt now says it will investigate Rafie al-Issawi, finance minister and senior member of Iraqiya List, for allegedly supporting militant groups in Falluja city. His bodyguards were also arrested. Earlier before Brig-Gen Adil Dahham, Interior Ministry spokesman, said on the Al-Iraqiyah channel that more legal procedures will follow against other terrorist groups. "A number of Vice-President Tariq al-Hashimi's bodyguards were arrested by virtue of judicial arrest warrants. Now, we will show you the confessions of this group of terrorists, Moreover, I promise you that we will also show the confessions of the remaining groups as soon as the necessary legal procedures taken by the Iraqi judiciary have been taken." He ended the conference by saying, "Brothers and sisters, I want to reiterate that we will show other confessions for the remaining terrorist groups once the necessary legal procedures have been completed." Some analysts suggests that Maliki is consolidating his power after the U.S. withdrawal, while members of his State of Law alliance deny this. Maliki was increasingly challenged by the demands of some Sunni-dominated provinces to form federal regions that would be more independent from Baghdad. While Sunni Arabs were in the past in favour of a strong unitary Iraqi government, some of them now do not like the idea to be governed by a Shiite-dominated government in Baghdad. Especially in Anbar, Mosul and Diyala. The governor and law makers of Diyala were driven out of Diyala to Kurdistan and KRG-controlled Xanaqin by alleged Shiite militias supported by Baghdad. As Qubad Talabani said, the son of the Iraqi president, 'fun & games' are just beginning.

Sunni Hizbullah Celebrates Shia Muharrem

Every year, just as the Shia ceremonies of Muharram reach their peak on the tenth day of Ashura, the suicide attacks by Sunni extremists begin. But the Kurdish Hizbullah which was founded in the 1980s in Turkey and is still inspired by the Iranian revolution celebrated it in Kurdish-dominated Diyarbakir. Normally militant Sunni Islamist movements do not love Shia practices, and even try to disrupt or kill Shia mourners, but it depends where the inspiration (or in the case of Hamas, money and military training) comes from. Its something which goes unnoticed mostly in the media. Strangely, other Sunni movements that were supported by Iran, or inspired by Iran, did not adopt any Shia rituals or practices.

Where is Fehman Hüseyin?

Zaman reported on 22 November that Syrian national Fehman Huseyin (code name Dr. Bahoz Erdal) has gathered 750 PKK insurgents in Hakkari to spend the winter and to launch operations as the spring begins to revenge Turkish military campaigns which killed PKK insurgents.

Two days later the same newspaper reports that Dr. Bahoz Erdal is possible the commander of a new PKK camp in Syria.

In the past there were the same issues of suspicious media reports about the location of Murat Karayilan and Cemil Bayik in 2008. There was speculation that Karayilan was caught and then released by Iran.

This shows that reporting by the Turkish media on the location of PKK-leaders should be taken with a grain of salt. According to a Dutch journalist it was reported that Karayilan was ‘caught’ 26 times since 1997.

Kurdish Hizbullah Movement Challenges Headscarf Ban in Turkey

Mehmet Göktaş of the Kurdizh Hizbullah movement spoke on a rally on 23 October in Diyarbakir. The rally was a protest against the ban of head-scarves in the Turkish education system. The meeting was set up by the pro-Hizbullah NGO Mustazaf Der. Göktaş called on Muslim Kurds not to sent their children to schools. More can be read here. CNN Türk has a good article about the Islamic Kurdish movement here. Reuters also reported about the movement here and the PKK allowed the Kurdish islamist group to participate in the Democratic Society Congress, despite the past. Despite the fact, that some pro-PKK circles suggest the AKP-government is trying to use the group to create splits among Kurds. And therefore released some of their members (of which some ended up in Holland). According to Gareth Jenkins, and my information, the group is now competing both with the Gülen movement, and the PKK. I doubt that the group can be controlled by the state, since it's both Islamic (inspired by the Islamic revolution in Iran), but also Kurdish nationalist. While the AKP-party is more Turkish, and a result of the old Ottoman Islam (or Turkish state islam).

Video

Jenkins About Hizbullah, Gülen, PKK, AKP and Turkey

Full interview quotes from the Istanbul-based analyst Gareth Jenkins. It includes some interesting quotes on the Gülen movement, AKP, the Kurdish Hizbullah, and the PKK. Sadly, I couldn't use all the information for the article. I interviewed him for my latest article about Fethullah Gülen's speeches about the Kurds, and PKK.

I don't think that there is any doubt that the Gulen Movement is supporting the KCK case. As with Ergenekon and Balyoz, it is difficult to prove the involvement of Gulenists in the judiciary but there is no doubt that the Gulenist media is supporting the case (e.g. publishing lies about Professor Ersanli to try to justify her detention). The subtext to the KCK investigation is the battle for hearts and minds in southeast Turkey. The Gulenists NGOs are now very active in the region and thus competing with NGOs sympathetic to the Kurdish nationalist movement (and also NGOs close to Hizbullah). The KCK is a real PKK organization, of course. But the KCK investigation is being used to imprison as many Kurdish nationalists as possible (some of whom at least actually hate the PKK). In the process, it is severely weakening organizations and structures (NGOs, BDP etc) which are rivals to the Gulen movement in southeast Turkey. The same method can be seen in the April 2009 raids in the Ergenekon case when police hit CYDD and Baba Beni Okula Gonder; which just happened to be the main secular organizations competing with the Gulenists to provide scholarships to students. Both Ergenekon and the KCK investigation are being used to try to eliminate the Gulen Movement's rivals.

It will be interesting to see what happens with Hizbullah, which is immensely powerful (though not yet violent again) in southeast Turkey. Apart from competing with the Gulenists for hearts and minds, Hizbullah is also trying to stake a claim to the legacy of Said Nursi, Gulen's spiritual
mentor. Hizbullah publications now portray him (accurately) as a being a Kurdish radical Islamist and thus (probably not quite so accurately) as a forerunner of their own movement. But the Gulenists are frightened of Hizbullah. So they may hesitate to go after them.

Having said that, the Gulenists may have bitten off more than they can chew with the KCK. The investigation is used by the PKK to whip up anti-Gulenist sentiment. There has been a lot recently in the PKK propaganda outlets about the Gulen Movement, particularly since a recent reshuffle in the judiciary/police saw several suspected Gulen sympathizers transferred to the southeast. Although
a lot of those arrested in the KCK investigation are not PKK, some are; and their arrest disrupts the PKK's ability to organize (NGO activity, recruitment etc). So, in addition to alienating the former leftists amongst the so-called "liberal intellectuals" -- who once supported the Gulen
Movement but have begun to split from it as leftists have been arrested and charged with membership of the KCK -- the KCK investigation may mean that the PKK starts directly targeting the Gulen Movement.

On the AKP and concessions on Kurdish language: it is possible. I think the AKP is willing to make some concessions. The problem is that they won't be enough. The Kurds' current demands (e.g. "democratic autonomy") are impossible for any Turkish government to grant under the current
circumstances. Both sides have to compromise. But they are so far apart that the few language concessions the AKP is prepared to make won't be enough to bring them together.

A Renewed Arab Political Boycott in Kirkuk

Kirkuk's Arab Political Council threatened with demonstrations, sit-ins and boycotts last summer, if their demands were not implemented after Ramadan. After Ramadan there were however no protests, sit-ins, but they did decide to launch a boycott. Kirkuk's Arab nationalist politicians declared they decided to boycott the Kirkuk Provincial Council to protest the bad security situation, and the alleged targeting of Arabs in Kirkuk. The security situation is deteriorating and there are discussions between the different ethnic political factions how to deal with security. The Arab nationalists in Kirkuk called for military intervention from Baghdad, while the Kurdish nationalist parties prefer the local security forces over the army. The Turkmen nationalists on the other hand decided to form their own 'Turkmen militia', which resulted in Arab politicians claiming they would form their own defense committees to defend Arabs. In other developments, there were tensions between Kirkuk's Arab politicians and Iraqiyya. Last Sunday Iraqiyya List leader Iyad Allawi visited Kurdish leaders in Erbil. This resulted in protests of Kirkuk's Arab politicians who suggested there was a deal. Kirkuk's Arab politicians supported the Iraqiyya list during the 2010 elections, but there are tensions between them and the Iraqiyya list. They fear the Iraqiyya leadership could sign a deal with the Kurds. But the Iraqiyya list is weak and divided. Recently there were claims the Iraqi parliament speaker Osama Nujayfi had an argument with Iraqiyya list leader Iyad Allawi.

Al Jazeera Debate About Turkey and Kurds