Vol. 79/No. 31 September 7, 2015
At the same time the Conservative Party government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper is taking political initiatives to build a voting base among Kurdish immigrants and win popular support for its military intervention in Iraq and Syria as part of the Washington-led military coalition against the reactionary Islamic State.
Since last October, Ottawa has had a combat mission of six CF-18 fighter jets, a refueling tanker aircraft, two surveillance planes and one airlift plane, involving an air crew of 600 in Iraq. Nearly 70 special operations troops are training Peshmerga military forces of the Kurdistan Regional Government in northern Iraq, which have been an effective fighting force against Islamic State.
The Canadian government “supports the fight for human rights everywhere. We identify with the Kurdish spirit,” Jason Kenney, minister of defense and minister of multiculturalism, told a crowd of about 1,000 people here at the 13th Annual Kurdish Peace and Culture Festival Aug. 15. The annual event is organized by the Toronto Kurdish Community Centre, which is rooted among Kurdish immigrants from Turkey, many of whom are construction workers. Labourers International Union of North America Local 183 was a sponsor of the festival.
Kenney spoke from a stage festooned with flags of the Kurdistan Workers Party of Turkey (PKK), the Kurdish People’s Protection Units of Syria (YPG), the Peshmerga and the Kurdistan Regional Government, as well as the image of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, who is serving a life sentence in Turkey. Ottawa considers the PKK a “terrorist” organization and by extension the YPG, which is allied with the PKK.
Kenney tried to link the role of the Peshmerga forces and the Canadian military in fighting “Daesh” — an Arabic name for Islamic State. He described last winter’s Kurdish victory in Kobani, Syria, as a turning point, but didn’t mention the leading role played by YPG in defeating IS. Elaborating on one of the central themes of the Conservative Party election campaign, he said Islamic State had radicalized 130 Canadians “so we have to fight Daesh here at home.”
Kenney’s speech drew some cheers, but mostly polite applause.
A much warmer reception was given to Feleknas Uca, a Yazidi Kurd who was elected to the Turkish parliament from the People’s Democratic Party (HDP) in June. She accused the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of using the bombing campaign and repression to push back electoral gains of the Kurds and set the stage for the ruling Justice and Development Party to regain in new elections majority rule.
‘Repression is increasing daily’
“It looks like the Turkish government is trying to get the country back on a war footing,” Uca said in an interview with the Militant Aug. 14. “Repression is increasing day by day, people detained and killed day by day.”She said she met with Kenney and asked Ottawa to put pressure on the Turkish government to come back to the peace talks table, provide international observers during the expected fall election and stop bombing Kurdish areas.
The Kurdish people “are going through a critical time,” Uca said. “It’s been almost 100 years since the Treaty of Lausanne, which divided the Kurdish people into four countries. The same concept is being repeated today. New lines are being drawn by today’s dominant powers.”
Uca said the Kurdish struggle is not just for the Kurds but for democratic rights of all citizens of Turkey. The government offensive is also aimed at the unions, with police entering union halls without warrant and arresting people, she said.
Ozgun Akkaya, a public affairs spokesperson for the Kurdish Community Centre who co-chaired the festival program, told the Militant that Kurds are not getting the military aid they need from governments and parties anywhere. “In Kobani we needed heavy anti-tank weapons against Islamic State. The U.S. would not give us these weapons” he said.
In his remarks at the festival, Akkaya noted that Aug. 15, 1984, marked the beginning of the armed struggle by the PKK for Kurds’ national rights. He said that since then Kurds in Turkey had won recognition as an “ethnicity” with the right to learn and speak their language and enjoy their music.
“There is still a long way to go,” he said. “The two-year cease-fire between the PKK and Turkish army dissolved two weeks ago following a series of airstrikes against PKK installations. The only party representing the Kurds, the HDP, is being attacked with bombs and propaganda. But we must keep going to ensure the freedom of all Kurdish people.”
Related articles:
‘Kurds enter world politics as fighters, not victims’
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