By Jolly Green

One of
the world's nastiest collection of brutally barbaric peoples came to
an end in 1922. The Ottoman Empire, empire created by Turkish tribes
in Anatolia (Asia Minor) that grew to be one of the most powerful
states in the world during the 15th and 16th centuries. The Ottoman
period spanned more than 600 years and came to an end only in 1922
when it was replaced by the Turkish Republic and various successor
states in southeastern Europe and the Middle East.

The word
Ottoman is a historical Anglicization of the name of Osman I, the
founder of the Empire, and the ruling House of Osman, also known as
the Ottoman dynasty. Osman's name, in turn, was the Turkish form of
the Arabic name ʿUthmān (عثمان
‎).

The
Ottoman Empire during World War 1 was a German Allie and supporter.
They had declared war on both Britain and Russia. The World War 1
Allies Armistice of 31 October 1918 ended the fighting between the
defeated Ottoman Empire and the Allies but did not bring stability or
peace to the region. The British were in control of Syria, Palestine,
and Mesopotamia (Iraq), and British, French, and Greek forces stood
ready to march across the Bulgarian border and occupy Ottoman Thrace
and Constantinople.

End of
the massacring butchers of the Ottoman Empire. Between the fighting
on multiple fronts, the deaths from massacre and starvation, and the
almost complete dislocation of economic life across swaths of
Anatolia and the Arab provinces, the war that ended Ottoman rule also
destroyed many of the institutions that had sustained it.

The End
of the Ottoman Empire. All of the region's modern nations were born
from the collapse of the empire, orchestrated by the superpowers of
the day, France, and Great Britain. Today's political, religious, and
ethnic challenges in Bosnia, Kosovo, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Israel,
Palestine, and Iraq are born out of this.

To
understand the hatred of the Turks for the Kurds, one must see that
it is an ingrained hatred. Turkey, the Ottoman Empire, began killing
Armenians, many of whom were Kurds, as long ago as the 1400s. Over
the centuries the Ottomans/Turks slaughtered millions of them, so
much so as can now be defined as a tradition of hatred and murder, a
tradition of genocide, ethnic cleansing, massacre, and extermination.

The
Ottoman Empire stood as a defeated entity, one of the good things
that came out of the victory over the German evil empire builder.

Until
1908, the Ottoman had been responsible for up to 90% of slavery in
Europe and the Middle East for 600 years, raping and plundering
mainly Middle European and East European countries. Capturing and
selling the white slaves to those in the Middle East and Africa who
wanted predominantly white slaves. Many millions of sad people
succumbed to the evil of Ottoman slavery. Some may consider those
very acts as a form of massacre considering the death numbers
averaging 50%, death by castration, infections, and bleeding to
death. The male slaves were not just castrated; their penis was cut
away as well. The Turkish predecessors, the Ottoman were evil
butchers, today’s Turks are little better; after all, they are the
same people, the same breed. They are gunning down civilians in
Syria.

I am
going back to the end of World 1 and the defeat and surrender of the
Ottoman Empire. With regards to the Treaty of Sevres, a Peace Treaty
concluded on 10th of August 1920 after World War I at Sevres, France,
between the Ottoman Empire (Turkey), on the one hand, and the Allies
on the other. The treaty, which liquidated the Ottoman Empire and
virtually abolished Turkish sovereignty, followed in the main the
decisions reached at San Remo. America wisely considered the Kurdish
question. US President Woodrow Wilson and the Allied Nations
supported the idea of an independent state for Kurds within the new
Turkish State, after the fall of the Ottoman Empire. The Kurds were
granted a small self-ruled homeland by the Treaty of Sevres, which
divided up the Ottoman Empire, signed on August 10th 1920. However,
when the later replacement, the treaty of Lausanne, which redrew the
borders of Turkey, was signed in 1923, this small homeland ceased to
exist. The Kurds had been robbed of their homeland and thus began the
long history of today’s bad Turkish-Kurdish relations. From day
one of the treaty the Turks began a plan to rid the nation of the
Kurds.

The
Turks were forced in Asia to renounce sovereignty over Mesopotamia
(Iraq) and Palestine (including Trans - Jordan), which became British
mandates; Syria (including Lebanon), which became a French mandate;
and the kingdom of Hejaz. Turkey retained Anatolia but was to grant
autonomy to Kurdistan. Armenia became a separate republic under
international guarantees, and Smyrna (modern Izmir) and its environs
were placed under Greek administration, pending a plebiscite to
determine its permanent status.

In
Europe, Turkey ceded parts of Eastern Thrace and certain Aegean
islands to Greece, and the Dodecanese and Rhodes to Italy, retaining
only Constantinople (modern Istanbul) and its environs, including the
Zone of the Straits (Dardanelles and Bosphorus), which was
neutralized and internationalized. The Allies further obtained
virtual control over the Turkish economy with capitulation rights.

The
Treaty of Sevres was accepted by the Turkish government of Sultan
Mehmed Vahdettin VI at Istanbul but was rejected by the rival
nationalist government of Kemal Atatürk at Ankara. Atatürk's had a
separate treaty with the USSR, and his subsequent victories against
the Greeks during the War of Independence forced the Allies to
negotiate a new treaty in 1923 (Treaty of Lausanne).

The
Treaty of Lausanne was a peace treaty negotiated during the Lausanne
Conference of 1922–23 and signed in the Palais de Rumine, Lausanne,
Switzerland, on 24 July 1923. It officially settled the conflict that
had originally existed between the Ottoman Empire and the Allied
French Republic, British Empire, Kingdom of Italy, Empire of Japan,
Kingdom of Greece, and the Kingdom of Romania since the onset of
World War I. The original text of the treaty is in French. It was the
result of a second attempt at peace after the failed Treaty of
Sèvres, which was signed by all previous parties, except the Kingdom
of Greece, but later rejected by the Turkish national movement who
fought against the previous terms and significant loss of territory.
The National Movement opposed defining a Kurdish homeland. The Treaty
of Lausanne ended the conflict and defined the borders of the modern
Turkish Republic. In the treaty, Turkey gave up all claims to the
remainder of the Ottoman Empire, and in return, the Allies recognized
Turkish sovereignty within its new borders.

Among
the reasons, because the new treaty excluded the Kurdish State, in
the United States, the treaty was opposed by several groups,
including the Committee Opposed to the Lausanne Treaty (COLT), and on
January 18, 1927, the United States Senate refused to ratify the
treaty by a vote of 50-34, six votes short of the two-thirds required
by the Constitution.

The
Treaty of Lausanne on the part of the Turks promised to respect and
protect all existing religions, and minorities in the new state
boundaries of Turkey. Those minorities included a fairly large
Armenian population and the Turkish Kurdish Nation; the religions
included Judaism and Christianity.

In
1937–38, the Turks killed [massacred] approximately 10,000-15,000
Alevis and Kurds Ref:
Bruinessen, Martin van (1994). "Genocide in Kurdistan? The
Suppression of the Dersim Rebellion in Turkey (1937-38) and the
Chemical War Against the Iraqi Kurds (1988)" (PDF). In
Andreopoulos, George J (ed.). Genocide: Conceptual and Historical
Dimensions. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. pp.
141–170.

Ref:
David McDowall, A modern history of the Kurds, I.B.Tauris, Mayıs
2004, s.209

Ref:
"Alevi-CHP rift continues to grow after Öymen remarks."
Today's Zaman. 24 November 2009.

and
thousands went into exile. A key component of the Turkification
process was the policy of massive population resettlement. Referring
to the main policy document in this context, the 1934 law on
resettlement, a policy targeting the region of Dersim as one of its
first test cases, with disastrous consequences for the local
population.

Ref:
Andreopoulos, George J. Genocide. p. 11

During
the 1970s, the separatist movement coalesced into the Kurdish–Turkish
conflict. From 1984 to 1999, the Turkish military was embroiled in a
conflict with the PKK. The village guard system was set up and armed
by the Turkish state around 1984 to combat the PKK. The militia
comprises local Kurds, and it has around 58,000 members. Some of the
village guards are fiercely loyal to the Turkish state, leading to
infighting among Kurdish militants.

The
countryside in the southeast was depopulated, with Kurdish civilians
moving to local defensible centers such as Diyarbakır, Van, and
Şırnak, as well as to the cities of western Turkey and even to
Western Europe. The causes of the depopulation included the Turkish
state's military operations against the Kurdish population.

An
estimated 3,000 Kurdish villages in Turkey were virtually wiped from
the map by the Turkish government, representing the displacement of
more than 378,000 people.

"Evacuations
were unlawful and violent. Turkish Security forces would surround a
village using helicopters, armored vehicles, troops, and village
guards, and burn stored produce, agricultural equipment, crops,
orchards, forests, and livestock. They set fire to houses, often
giving the inhabitants no opportunity to retrieve their possessions.
During such operations, security forces frequently abused and
humiliated villagers, stole their property and cash, and ill-treated
or tortured them before herding them onto the roads and away from
their former homes. The operations were marked by scores of
“disappearances” and extrajudicial executions. By the mid-1990s,
more than 3,000 villages had been wiped from the map, and, according
to official figures, 378,335 Kurdish villagers had been displaced and
left homeless."

In June
2010, several locations in Iraqi Kurdistan were attacked by the
Turkish Air Force. The air attack was reported four days later in a
news article released immediately after the attack. The tense
condition had continued on the border since 2007, with both sides
responding to each other's every offensive move.

Following
Turkey's electoral board decision to bar prominent Kurdish candidates
who had allegedly outstanding warrants or were part of ongoing
investigations for PKK-links from standing in upcoming elections,
violent Kurdish protests erupted on April 19, 2011, resulting in at
least one casualty.

On the
eve of the 2012 year (28 December), the prime minister of Turkey,
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said that the government was conducting
negotiations with jailed rebel leader Öcalan. On 21 March 2013,
after months of negotiations with the Turkish Government, Abdullah
Ocalan's letter to people was read both in Turkish and Kurdish during
the Nowruz celebrations in Diyarbakır. The letter called a
cease-fire that included disarmament and withdrawal from Turkish soil
and calling an end to armed struggle. The PKK announced that they
would obey, stating that the year 2013 is the year of the solution
either through war or through peace. On 25 April 2013, the PKK
announced that it would be withdrawing all its forces within Turkey
to Northern Iraq.

On 6 and
7 October 2014, riots erupted in various cities in Turkey for
protesting the Siege of Kobani. Protesters were subjected to tear gas
and water cannons; people were killed in protests. Following the July
2015 crisis (after ISIL's 2015 Suruç bombing attack on Kurdish
activists), Turkey bombed alleged PKK bases in Iraq, following the
PKK's unilateral decision to end the cease-fire (after many months of
increasing tensions) and its suspected killing of two policeman in
the town of Ceylanpınar (which the group denied carrying out.
Violence soon spread throughout the country. Turkish Mobs destroyed
many Kurdish businesses. The headquarters and branches of the
pro-Kurdish rights Peoples' Democratic Party were also attacked.
There are reports of civilians being killed in several Kurdish
populated towns and villages. The Council of Europe raised their
concerns over the attacks on civilians and the blockade of Cizre.

By 2017,
measures taken to curtail efforts to promote Kurdish culture within
Turkey had included changing street names that honored Kurdish
figures, removing statues of Kurdish heroes, and closing down
television channels broadcasting in the Kurdish language.

The
Turkish government categorized Kurds as "Mountain Turks"
until 1991, and the Turkish government officially banned the words
"Kurds," "Kurdistan," or "Kurdish."

Ref:
Baser, Bahar (2015). Diasporas and Homeland Conflicts: A Comparative
Perspective. Ashgate Publishing. p. 63. ISBN 978-1472425621.

Following
the military coup of 1980, the Kurdish languages were officially
prohibited in public and private life.

Ref:
Toumani, Meline. Minority Rules, New York Times, 17 February 2008

People
who spoke, published, or sang in Kurdish were arrested and
imprisoned.

Ref:
Aslan, Senem (2014). Nation Building in Turkey and Morocco. Cambridge
University Press. p. 134. ISBN 978-1107054608.

In
Turkey, it is illegal to use Kurdish as a language of instruction in
both public and private schools. Ref:
"COMMISSION
OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES"
(PDF).

Perhaps
because of their treatment over the centuries, the Kurds have
rebelled against their treatment and Turkish rule. Since the 1980s,
Kurdish movements have included both peaceful political activities
for basic civil rights for Kurds in Turkey as well as armed rebellion
and guerrilla warfare, including military attacks aimed mainly at
Turkish military bases, demanding first a separate Kurdish state and
later self-determination for the Kurds. Ref:
"Kurdistan-Turkey." GlobalSecurity.org. 22 March 2007.

[In an
attempt to starve the Kurds out] during the Kurdish–Turkish
conflict, food embargoes were placed on Kurdish villages and towns.

Ref:
Olson, Robert (1996). The Kurdish Nationalist Movement in the 1990s:
Its Impact on Turkey and the Middle East. Lexington, Ky.: University
Press of Kentucky. p. 16. ISBN 0813108969.

Kurds
are forcibly expelled from their villages by Turkish security forces.

Ref:
Gunes, Cengiz (2013). The Kurdish National Movement in Turkey: From
Protest to Resistance. Routledge. p. 130. ISBN 978-1136587986.

Villages
were reportedly set on fire or destroyed.

Ref:
Ibrahim, Ferhad (2000). The Kurdish Conflict in Turkey: Obstacles and
Chances for Peace and Democracy. Münster: New York, N.Y.: Lit; St.
Martin's press. p. 182. ISBN 3825847446.

Throughout
the 1990s and early 2000s, political parties that represented Kurdish
interests were banned.

Ref:
Baser, Bahar (2015). Diasporas and Homeland Conflicts: A Comparative
Perspective. Ashgate Publishing. p. 63. ISBN 978-1472425621.

2013, a
ceasefire effectively ended the Kurdish/Turkish violence until June
2015, when hostilities renewed between the PKK and the Turkish
government over Turkey's involvement in the Syrian Civil War.
Violence was widely reported against ordinary Kurdish citizens, and
mobs attacked the headquarters and branches of the pro-Kurdish rights
Peoples' Democratic Party.

Ref:
'Lynching Campaign' Targets Kurds in Turkey, HDP Offices Attacked".
Armenian Weekly. 9 September 2015.

The
Turks, like their Ottoman predecessors, are aggressive people who
have broken the terms of the Treaty of Lausanne by attacking and
occupying part of the sovereign nation of Cyprus. They have broken
the treaty terms by instead of extending the hand of friendship and
protection to the Kurds, have attempted to destroy and drive them
from the country. Since the election of President Recep Tayyip
Erdoğan the Jews have been driven out of the country by violence and
anti-Semitism.

Ethnic
Cleansing of Jews in Turkey, how a Population Dropped to Two.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4937/turkey-ethnic-cleansing-jews

The
Christians who were about 300,000 when the state of Turkey was
created has since dropped to about 2000 by 2014. Religious
persecution has dramatically increased under the current rule of
President Erdoğan.

The
Turkish ethnic hatred of the Kurds is inter-ethnic hatred, racial
hatred, converted to ethnic tensions. The Turkish leader President
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan uses the feelings and acts of prejudice and
hostility towards the Kurds as an ethnic group in various degrees to
take the Turkish people's eye off the dreadful job he is doing as
president. The Turkish economy has been in a state of gradual
collapse for years. Media persuasion in Turkey plays a role in the
dissemination of ethnic hatred. Media presence spreads underlying
false news Erdogan generated messages that negatively portrays the
Kurdish ethnic groups to the eye of the public. For example, Erdogan
fully uses media exposure to influence the views of the viewers
towards certain propaganda.

According
to the CIA Factbook, Kurds formed approximately 18% of the population
in Turkey (approximately 14 million) in 2008. One Western source
estimates that up to 25% of the Turkish population is Kurdish
(approximately 18-19 million people). Kurdish sources claim there are
as many as 20 or 25 million Kurds in Turkey. Sep 13, 2019.

Since
the 1970s, the European Court of Human Rights has condemned Turkey
for the thousands of human rights abuses. The judgments are related
to executions of Kurdish civilians, torturing, forced displacements,
destroyed villages, arbitrary arrests, murdered and disappeared
Kurdish journalists.

The
latest judgments are from 2014. The European Commission Against
Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) reports that (as of April 2010): "The
public use by officials of the Kurdish language lays them open to
prosecution, and public defense by individuals of Kurdish or minority
interests also frequently leads to prosecutions under the Criminal
Code." From the 1994 briefing at the International Human Rights
Law Group: "the problem in Turkey is the Constitution is against
the Kurds, and the apartheid constitution is very similar to it."

In 1998
Leyla Zana received a jail sentence, which prompted one member of the
U.S. House of Representative, Elizabeth Furse, to accuse Turkey of
being a racist state and continuing to deny the Kurds a voice in the
state". Abbas Manafy from New Mexico Highlands University
claims, "The Kurdish deprivation of their own culture, language,
and tradition is incompatible with democratic norms. It reflects an
apartheid system that victimizes minorities like Armenians, Kurds,
and Alevis."

Unfortunately,
President Donald Trump recently abandoned the Kurds in Syria; in
doing so, it has a knock-on effect against the Turkish-Kurds. Because
the two people are linked, and it has allowed President ER to lend
his hand to the massacre of the Syrian Turks, later perhaps the
Turkish-Kurds.

The
massacre is already happening in Syria, as the world looks on in the
hope of not losing Turkey as a prospective European Union member, and
the hope that Turkey will remain a member of NATO.

Can
anyone think of any real reason that Turkey should not be brought to
heel by cutting them off from the part of the world of decency and
even invading them and putting Erdogan on trial at the Hague for War
Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity?

Well, it
would seem that it will never happen because Erdogan and Turkey have
the full permission of the US and Russia to massacre all the Kurds
they can find.

Oct 11,
2019, · Putin’s Russia and Trumps United States have used their
veto power at the United Nations Security Council to vote down a
European statement against Turkey's invasion of Northern Syria.

Jolly Green

END

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