Loghman H. Amedi,
Yesterday an earthquake hit the Kurdish city of Wan (Van) and its surrounding region. Hundreds of Kurds have died and thousands are injured or homeless. Kurdish civilians are reporting that the Turkish government have not responded to the needs of the affected people in the region and the Turkish government have also rejected emergency relief by several countries.
The Kurdish mayor of Amed (Diyarbakir) gave an interview to the Swedish News Agency TT, in which he said that the Turkish government is not doing enough because the victims are Kurds.
All this is happening at the same time as Turkey has mobilized thousands of troops to fight the PKK in Iraqi Kurdistan. Turkey has the time, recourses and will to wage war but not to sufficiently help the civilian Kurdish population of Wan. The Turkish Health Minister Recep Akdağ even said that “all was good in eastern [Kurdish] province…”
Putting all this aside, something that have disgusted and angered the Kurdish public opinion in all parts of Kurdistan is statements made by Turkish hosts of TV-programs and ordinary Turks on social medias like Facebook regarding the Kurdish people affected by the earthquake.
One female host of the Turkish news channel Haper Turk said something in the line of; “Today Turkey was shaken by another sad news … all of Turkey … despite that it [the news] came from the east [Kurdish regions], from Van, we were all deeply shaken by this news …”
This was followed by another female host of Turkish a-TV saying something like; “Throw rocks, we do [she is referring to Kurds], and strike in the mountains like we were out on a bird hunt when it suits us. But when something happens we are calling for the police and Mehmetcik [Turkish soldiers]. We should have some balance here. On hard days you [Kurds] are calling on them but then you are chasing them away as if you were hunting birds in the mountains. I am meaning that one should put them [Kurds] in their place.”
Ordinary Turks on social mediums like Facebook don’t use the same poetic language, instead they write things like; “I hope that all the bastards of Van dies so that we can get rid of these damn Kurds.”
And of course, one Turkish write takes the opportunity to lecture everyone on how not to report on the earthquake and at the same time write a couple of words on Gaddafis death.
The lack of empathy towards Kurds is nothing new or uncommon amongst Turks, neither is the different views regarding Kurds mentioned above, but what is tragic is that some believe that Turkey has made huge transformations in its relationship with the Kurds and that it is the Kurds who do not want peace. Unfortunately the views expressed by ordinary Turks on Facebook and hosts of TV-programs regarding the Kurdish people, who are going through this tragic event, is vastly more common than uncommon.
http://www.mesop.de/2011/10/25/the-earthquake-in-wan-and-shameful-turkish-behaviour/