Breaking the policy paradigm

La Verdad
    By Terra Lawson-Remer

Once again, America is disguising its economic agenda as a defense of human rights. Although the world is full of injustice, the U.S. government persecutes some perpetrators while it funnels tax dollars to others.

Turkish commandos in ski masks finally succeeded in capturing Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), in Nairobi, Kenya, on Mon., Feb.15. Although the U.S. government initially denied involvement, a senior official later admitted that the U.S. "tried to figure out where [Ocalan] was, where he was going, and how we might bring him to justice." Ocalan is now being held in isolation.

The U.S. and Turkey consider Ocalan a terrorist. In pursuit of autonomy for the Kurdish people, he has led a violent campaign against Turkey over the last 15 years: so far, 37,000 people have died in the process. The White House tried to use Ocalan's status as a dangerous nationalist to justify the use of our intelligence and diplomatic might—but there's more to this issue than Ocalan's terrorism.

Turkey, like neighboring Iraq, has a large Kurdish minority that regularly suffers discrimination and persecution at the hands of the Turkish government. Kurdish resistance, in the form of Ocalan's PKK, has created a low-intensity war in the southeast, with fighting between guerrillas and the government spilling over into violence against civilians. The U.S. State Department admits that "the [Turkish] government has long denied its Kurdish population basic cultural and linguistic rights. The government forcibly displaced large numbers of noncombatants, tortured civilians, and abridged freedom of expression." Democracy is not a reality for Turkish Kurds. So why hasn't the U.S. stepped in to defend the oppressed?

Instead, the U.S. delivered Ocalan to Turkey, where he can't possibly receive a fair trial. The Turkish judicial system has violated international human rights standards in the past; the State Department reports that "extrajudicial killings, including deaths in detention, in safe house raids, and `mystery killings,' continued to occur with disturbing frequency. Torture remained widespread." Ocalan will stand trial in the State Security Courts, a three-member tribunal which must contain a member of the military—the group responsible for waging the war against the PKK. In addition, he was denied legal counsel for 10 days and now is only allowed to meet with his lawyer for short periods. One of Ocalan's attorneys has already been arrested. Another resigned because he fears for his life. In other words, a terrorist has been delivered into the hands of terrorists so that he may "receive justice." Something is clearly wrong here.

Meanwhile, U.S. efforts to bomb Iraq into submission continue. U.S. bomber planes depart from Turkey and require permission to use Turkish territory as a military base of operations. Since the Gulf War, Arab opinion and world opinion has steadily turned against air strikes. France refuses to support U.S. actions against Iraq, and the latest round of air strikes were conducted without United Nations approval. Turkey, a secular Arab state, is increasingly reluctant to aid the U.S. in an unpopular war against a fellow Arab state, especially when nobody else seems to support U.S. actions either.

So, here's the paradigm. The U.S. claims the right to bomb Iraq and enforce a no-fly zone "in defense of the Kurdish people," whom Saddam is supposedly repressing. These bombing missions are flown out of air bases in Turkey. Turkey allows these air strikes in order to foster better relations with the U.S., but as Arab sentiment sours on American anti-Iraq activities, Turkey increasingly feels like a lackey of the U.S. and a pariah in the Arab world. Turkey has a substantial population of Kurds who are systematically disempowered, politically persecuted, and denied basic rights. Some of these Kurds, led by Ocalan, have resorted to terrorism and armed insurrection against Turkey, demanding liberty, autonomy, and democracy. The U.S., in an effort to insure that Turkey continues to allow U.S. planes to depart for Iraqi bombing missions, helped Turkey capture Ocalan. In short, the U.S. guaranteed an unjust trial in order to continue bombing the Iraqi people. Clearly, the dropping of bombs is based on something other than principle.

Why does the U.S. defend the Kurds in Iraq and aid their oppressors in Turkey? The answer is simple: America's economic priorities drive its foreign policy. Iraq has vast oil reserves and the military might to obtain others—remember the 1990 invasion of Kuwait. The Iraqi threat is economic: the U.S. fears Iraq's potential ability to manipulate the price of world oil. Rhetoric in support of Kurdish rights is merely a convenient cover for our economic program. But the Iraqi threat will remain as long as Iraq refuses to bow to American desires. Turkey is an aided ally because it has accepted U.S. hegemony, while Iraq has not.

It is clear that a terrorist like Ocalan must be brought to justice. But the U.S. must peel back the screen of freedom and democracy behind which our economic agenda hides and ask itself some critical questions. What were the real reasons for the packaged delivery of Ocalan to Turkey? And will his trial really result in justice?

Recent Herald Columns by this Columnist:
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• Doing the drug thing in Latin America, 2/19/99
• Presenting the Brita news filter, 2/5/99
• Lift the Cuban embargo, 1/22/99

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