We – All Of Us – Are NOT The Same

A Turkish book that’s currently being handed out for free in Diyarbakir is both inflammatory and racist. Ten thousand editions of a book, called ‘We – All Of Us – Are The Same’, written by the Turkish Nationalistic Institution, YURT-SAV, are being distributed, free-of-charge, in the city of Amed (the Kurdish city of Diyarbakir in southeastern Turkey).

The controversial book denies the existence of the Kurdish people and calls the Kurdish language “a primitive language with no culture”. Among the contents of the book are racist provocative statements like:

* The word ‘Kurd’ is a word used by Anatolians to identify coarse mountain-people that come down to the cities to sell dairy products.

* The Kurdish history is dark. Not one single source in social sciences (history, archaeology, anthropology, geography, ethnography and philology) indicates, in any way, the existence of a ‘Kurdish history’.

* The primitive language of Kurmanji is not a language of culture and is only spoken on local ‘agreement’.

* The issue is nothing more than the ‘Kurdification’ of Turkmen societies in East and Southeast Anatolia, and amounts to nothing more than a cultural assimilation. ‘Turkishness’ is in no way a reference system that recognizes the superiority of an origin or a race, and can never be. If somebody says, “I’m a Turk” it doesn’t mean that they are denying their ethnic identity or their origin. But to say, “I’m from Turkey” instead of “I’m a Turk” is to deny a sociological truth and give in to ignorance.

The provocations by the YURT-SAV are expected to increase the tension in the Kurdish capital of Amed (Diyarbakir). The Turkish Nationalistic Institution, YURT-SAV, calls itself an alternative “Human Rights Association” and is run by relatives to Turkish soldiers, killed in clashes with the PKK.

YURT-SAV has started controversies before in Amed: During the Human Rights Week, December 2004, by NGO’s in Amed, the YURT-SAV showed a movie called “Terror”, produced by the institution. The movie was shown to students and had explicit war scenes from places such as Iraq, Palestine, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Jerusalem, Chechnya, and many other places in the Middle East, where soldiers had attacked and killed civilians. But not one single reference was made to the violence in Kurdistan by the Turkish army. Instead, they showed pictures of civilians allegedly killed by the PKK.

The Turkish government are trying to campaign anti-Kurdish and anti-PKK books in northern Kurdistan. Among the books given out for free by the Turkish government are “APO” by the informer Semdin Sakik, “How To Be A Women In The PKK” by Necat Buldan and “Apo’s Verses” by Selim Curukkaya. All these writers are complaining of low sales in Kurdistan and are accusing the PKK of being behind it.

Author – Rizgar Farqin.

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