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Bonni Network
Friday, December 6 1996; Page A30 The Washington Post
From an article by Mary Ann Smothers Bruni in the fall edition of the National Peace Corps Association's Worldview magazine:
The harsh history of the Kurds is recorded in the names the women give to some of their children. A baby born in prison may be named Diel, which means prisoner. Babies born high in the Zagros Mountains are often given the name Awara, meaning refugee, to show that the family was then in hiding. Children who were born during Iraq's chemical bombardments answer to the name of Kimewe, which means chemical.These women reflect the strength of their culture, a stateless nation of 26 million people who live high in the Zagros Mountains. Although a part of larger empires, Kurds developed over the centuries as a distinct culture, and continue to speak their own language. When the Ottoman Empire collapsed following World War I, the Kurds were the only major ethnic group denied an independent state, making them the largest nation without a country. Geographically divided between several newly formed nation-states, the Kurds were condemned to be a minority, second-class citizens of fiercely nationalistic states whose political leaders have ordered the destruction of their villages, and left residents the victims of murder, pillage, rape and chemical attacks.
In this tragedy of Kurdish history, women have justly earned a reputation for enduring all fates. For example, a determined 76-year-old woman led a large group of women on a 50-mile march from Suleymaniye to Erbil three years ago to demand that the peshmerga -- literally named those who face death -- of the Kurdish political parties stop fighting among each other.
UN says 28 Iraqi Kurds killed near Turkish border 06:56 Dec 06, 1996 EST
GENEVA, Dec 6 (Reuter) - Reports of a massacre of 28 Iraqi Kurds near the Turkish and Iranian borders in October emerged on Friday, and the United Nations UNHCR refugee agency said it had asked Turkey for explanation.UNHCR spokeswoman Christiane Berthiaume told a briefing the Kurds were killed by an unidentified paramilitary group between Iran's and Turkey's borders on northern Iraq on October 14.
The victims were from a group of 30 fleeing violence in northern Iraq and trying to enter Turkey. Only two survived the attack, Berthiaume said.
``UNHCR has demanded explanation from the government of Turkey, which promised an investigation. We're waiting for the outcome,'' she said.
The border area is the scene of a guerrilla war between Turkish troops and Turkish Kurd rebels fighting for independence and operating from bases in northern Iraq. More than 21,000 people have been killed in the 12-year-old conflict.
Three dead in Kurd militia blood feud in Turkey 06:27 Dec 06, 1996 EST
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, Dec 6 (Reuter) - Three people were killed on Friday in a gun battle between rival groups of anti-guerrilla militiamen on the streets of this southeastern Turkish city, police said.Four others were wounded in the clash, caused by a blood feud between two families, the Kesers and Karabuluts, serving as state-paid village guards against Kurdish rebels.
Police said the guards fired automatic weapons at each other. One of the dead was a civilian passer-by.
The role of the 70,000 mainly Kurdish village guards who fight Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrillas in the southeast has been questioned recently after media allegations that many of them are involved in common crime.
The head of the region's main pro-state militia is at the centre of a security scandal that has shaken the government.
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Turkey hindered by own landmines on Syrian border 07:52 Dec 06, 1996 EST
ANKARA, Dec 6 (Reuter) - Turkey's efforts to prevent Kurdish rebels and smugglers infiltrating from Syria are being badly hindered because the military does not have a map of its own minefields on the border, a commission of parliamentarians said.``It is not known exactly where the mines have been sown because a minefield chart cannot be found,'' the commission said in a report on border protection.
The report, to be debated in parliament in coming weeks, was seen by Reuters on Friday. ``Officials say the minefields present an obstacle to the security forces,'' it said.
It said Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrillas sometimes know the layout of mined areas along the border better than the security forces.
``Terrorists and smugglers have dug up the mines, defused them and opened up wide paths in some areas. They can come in and out easily as the minefields are not an obstacle,'' it said.
An armed forces spokesman was not available for comment.
Turkey says Syria sponsors the PKK, fighting for Kurdish self-rule in southeast Turkey. Damascus denies aiding the rebels.
The PKK also crosses into Turkey from bases in the mountains of northern
Iraq. More than 21,000 people have died in the 12-year-old conflict.