Turkey must be stopped

Three things we should do now to stop Turkey’s genocidal campaign against the Kurds

Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Turkey is hellbent on the destruction of the Kurds. Unless the world acts now, he will succeed.

Under cover of allegations against Israel spun up by Erdogan and his Islamist allies funded by Qatar, Turkey has expanded its years-long campaign against the Kurds and is amassing troops for a final solution to the threat of hard-won Kurdish autonomy in what was formerly known as Northeastern Syria.

Even in light of the century of Kurdish oppression executed by the Turkish State, the coming campaign promises to be unprecedented. Unfortunately, you wouldn’t know it by reading the majority of the same Western media busy parroting claims made by Hamas no matter how ludicrous. So here is a quick summary to get you up to speed on the breathtaking violence inflicted by Turkey against the Kurds in recent memory alone:

• While the British and French were busy carving up the Ottoman Empire, the former Turkish masters of the Empire struck back. Seeking to keep as much of the former empire as possible, the Turks engaged in the systematic process of cleansing or subjugating ethnic minorities living in the territory they would rule. The Armenians are the best known victims. The Kurds came next. Some call it genocide, but the Turkish called it business as usual.
• In the century since Turkey was founded as a modern state, its Kurdish citizens were forcibly assimilated and culturally outlawed. The Kurdish language was outlawed, even though 18% of Turkey remains Kurdish. Many fled over the border to avoid such repression and find refuge – precarious as it was – in remote areas in what were then Syria and Iraq.
• Yet the Kurds are not simply victims. They fought back and continue to fight back. Groups such as the PKK carried out targeted operations against Turkish targets, which the Turkish government called terrorist attacks. To be fair, it is true that civilians were at times harmed, despite a general focus on the state apparatus of repression brought to bear by the Turks against the Kurds.
• Importantly, the Kurds also fought back against other groups that sought to harm them – namely the Islamist forces known as ISIS and ISIL. It is widely understood that the campaign against the Caliphate would not have succeeded without the Kurds and their egalitarian military forces.
• Even while the Kurds – whose ancient lands span the imperially-defined borders of Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran – fought and beat back ISIS, Turkey would not let them rest. Just recently they’ve bombed Kurdish forces, cut off water to one million people, destroyed towns and villages leading to hundreds of thousands of displaced refugees. All without even a single tweet from the prolific António Guterres.

Things are getting worse. The Islamist forces backed by Turkey whose well-timed advance led to the implosion of the al-Assad tyranny over the territory formerly known as Syria have now set their sights on the Kurds. Turkey – who only yesterday was yelling at Israel for establishing a buffer along its border with Syria – is amassing for a full-scale invasion of Kurdish towns and villages.

An actual, historically comparable, true-to-the-definition genocide is about to unfold. And we must act.

Here are three things we should do, immediately, to forestall that fate:

1. Raise awareness. There are literally no words worth investing to defend Israel at the moment from the general onslaught funded by Qatar, Iran, and their allies, that are worth more than raising one’s voice for the Kurds. Every Jewish and Israel-loving activist out there should do what they can to raise awareness of Turkey’s genocidal history and current intent. We should be open about our motivations: Zionism is predicated on the value of self-determination, and we are not the only non-Arab peoples in the Middle East who have been targeted for extinction by the forces of Islamic Imperialism. As the Sage Hillel taught us, once we’ve defended ourselves, if we are only for ourselves, what are we good for?
2. Take Turkey to the floor: We who have connections across international institutions need to pressure our allies to take Turkey to the floor of every forum that counts: the US Congress, the EU Parliament, NATO’s Military Committee, and yes, the United Nations and the UN Security Council. Israel should work with its allies to call for an emergency session to apply international pressure on Turkey. And seek an arms embargo on Turkey so long as it threatens the Kurds.
3. Take Turkey to court: Israel and its allies should immediately file a case with the International Court of Justice. Despite what many in Israel currently think about the Court, it is the right forum. Crimes like these are literally why the ICJ was conceived. Erdogan’s Turkey has provided ample evidence of its intent, and its cross-border attacks have shown what Turkey can do when it sets upon bloodying those who would stand against its ambitions.

There are surely other things we can do – if you have ideas, please write them in the comments. Whatever you choose to do, do it now. Timing is of the essence. We must stop the current Turkish advance, and then pivot to supporting the Kurds as they build a future for their people out of the failure of the imperially defined states of Syria and Iraq.

And if the plight of the Kurds – an ancient people who long lived in peace with the Jews – is not enough to motivate you, do it for Israel. Because Erdogan has made no effort to hide his true intention: to rebuild the Empire, and expunge the dhimmi State of Israel from its midst.