Normally I try to find a reoccurring theme for my weeklies, however this week turned out to be a bit of a Kurdish hodge-podge.

Sami from Iraqi Thoughts writes some ranting tidbits about Saddam, Al Zarqawi and his new outlook for the future:

I think that I am chaning in the sense I used to believe that everything was going to be solved not knowing how lazy people can be. I wish to write this to the people who still read this,, I am back and better than before, im excited and to be honest I have a lot of projects on the go, including a possible return to kurdistan somewhere in the not too distant future with an eye on a high job since I am related after all to some of the ‘agents and spies’ that call themself the Iraqi government.

the-kurdistani posted an article that he had tried to get published in his school paper but wasn't accepted, in it he details a political debate that he had with a fellow student who was Turkish (while I disagree with his use of the “Hitler card” in his analysis- my comments on this were once a subject of serious debate on the Kurdish forums- I feel that reading his viewpoints on it are quite informative):

While listening to him, I was preparing some questions to ask him, this way I would see his approach to democracy and human rights clearly. Then I asked, “What do you think of Hitler’s atrocities against humanity, but the Jews in particular?”, “well, that is a totally different topic.” he replied. I made my statement clearer by “well but he was trying to get rid of the Jews, and the ones who he thought were inferior to Great Aryan Race (blonde, tall, and blue-eyed ones, though he was not like that himself), including Gypsies, Homosexuals and even the Polish. His aim was to create a great empire that would “last a thousand years” as he said to is followers. Do you see that he tried to create a cultural unity, too, by destroying and killing anything, or anybody that was different from the form he wanted it to be? So, is that not almost the same thing with what you have just said about “cultural unity”?” he did not have a concrete answer for this, and I asked another question, “what if the people, with all minorities including the Kurds, Arabs, Assyrians, and many others say that we don’t want to be Turkified? What if they say, ok we are citizens of the Republic of Turkey but we are what we are with our identity, it could be the Kurds or any other minority, what are you going to do in that case?” He thought for some time, but did not answer.

You may or may not remember some of the fine work that Save Roj TV has done in the past, they have been continuing their coverage of their saga to stay operating in face of opposition from the Turkish government. The newest escalation is that Kurdish mayors have not only been questioned by the authorities for talking to RojTV, but some of them have been indicted on charges of aiding Kurdish rebels.

Rasti has written an excellent commentary in response to Ralph Peter's latest article in the Armed Forces Journal advocating the re-drawing of borders in the Middle East along blood/ethnic/tribal lines. Peter blamed the current unrest in the region to ‘bad borders’- while Rasti has lots of more cogent words, I just have to post my favorite section for you:

Hell, yes, every Kurd would rush to join an independent Kurdistan, if they could. Independent Greater Kurdistan is the Holy Grail of Kurdish life, meaning self-rule, right to life, mother-language education, and not having to carry around an AK-47 any more. It means having the opportunity to solve your own problems without the constant, violent meddling of the neighbors.

Notice what Ralph says about the world's democracies and media ignoring the Kurdish issue, something he characterizes as “a human-rights sin of omission.” It is this fact that makes me question the whole idea of what these democracies stand for and what good they really are. Do these democracies really believe in democracy, or do they only believe in democracy for themselves? Do they believe in democracies for others but discount the possibility for the Middle East in general and Kurds in particular?

Rasti also writes in response to a new book entitled “The PKK, Kurds, and the EU” by Onder Aytac and Emre Uslu. Her comment:”How selective memory can be when you spend most of your time barking at the moon.”

And to end on a lighter note, both Roj Bash and Hiwa Hopes have written about the mysterious appearance of Kurdish flags at the World Cup.
Have a great week!