For centuries this has been the Turkish modus operandi. Since the middle ages when the central Asian invasion of their west began, a variety of Turkmens, Tatars, Mongols, Khazars, Seljuks, Kara Qoyunlu, Aq Qoyunlu, and the other lesser tribes have passed their techniques of conquering and governing to their inheritors, the Ottomans. Ya Vur Kurtul, Ya Ver Kurtul—either hit and be free, or pay and be free.
Throughout history, Turks have hit first without even asking questions later or talking, thus compounding the problem that prompted them to go to war in the first place. Turkish calculation indeed. They hit Armenians in genocide, thinking they would erase a whole nation from the face of the earth. Instead, they transformed a provincial nation into an urbanized, industrialized modern society akin to that of the West. They created a giant called the Armenian Diaspora with its highly educated and sophisticated communities which, like a pimple in their butt, hurts when they sit down and hurts when they stand up; it will never go away, until they pay. In this case the payment is not miniscule like opening the borders or exchanging ambassadors; it is colossal and requires them to make great concessions—land concessions—which is the ignorant Turk’s cancer and the fanatic Turkish government’s nightmare. They are cognizant of the fallacy of the Kars Treaty of 1921, and are scared of the legitimacy of the Sevres Treaty
of 1920, and the Wilsonian designs for Western Armenia. They know the payment is with that currency, not in peanuts.
I heard Suleyman Demirel, then the president of Turkey, on TRT ( Turkyenin Sesi Radiosu) radio begging the journalists “Allah Ashkina [for the love of God] do not raise the ‘Question of the minorities’ because it revitalizes the Sevres Treaty.” His concern, rather fear, is justified: That treaty deals with Armenian and Kurdish national rights and self rule, and shatters the state of Turkey into pieces.
I have seen posters and banners raised with the slogan “Sevres Olum, Lozan Hayat” (Sevres is Death, Lausanne is Life) alluding to the Lausanne Treaty, which Lord Curzon coined with Ismet Inonu, Kemal Ataturk’s deputy, replacing the Sevres Treaty. These are real issues! If they are not on the table now, they certainly will be in the not-so-distant future because it forms the nidus of the political game played in the political arena today. Sooner or later the cat will get out of the bag. Then the real struggle will begin, overtly.
Armenians are not Turkey’s only nemesis. There are 20 some million Kurds who inhabit southeastern Turkey who were so oppressed by the Turks, and the Turkish government, that they had no choice but to bear arms. History repeated itself: What the Turks did to the Kurds is almost a carbon copy of what the Turks and the Kurds had done to the Armenians. Ankara formed the Korujus (the Village Guards, the Kurdish version of the Hamidiya Alaylari who slaughtered us), paid them, and let them loose. My interlocutors of the Kurdish Parliament in Exile-Brussels, told me that the Korujus were formed of the same tribes that had formed the Hamidiya Alaylari. “Though they are Kurds, they are our enemies too,” they said.
They hit the Kurdish population so hard that the Kurds had no choice but to resist, then counterpunch. They might have learned from our fedayis. The circumstances led to forming the Kurdish Labor Party, the Party Karkarani Kurdustan (PKK), which launched guerilla warfare against the government of Turkey in 1984. Some 35,000 people have died, so far, and the armed skirmishes, though on a smaller scale, continue to date.
The government of Turkey has failed to tame the millions of Kurds who live partly on our land in Western Armenia, and partly on their own territory known as Northern Kurdistan (Iraqi Kurdistan being the southern part).
It is clear that the Turkish government’s classical, inherited Vur Kurtul (hit and be free) policy with the Kurds has failed, and now they are embarking on the Ver kurtul (pay and be free) path. To pursue the latter, Erdogan’s government has espoused a love fest with the Kurds, and will do whatever possible to bring the Kurdish bride into Turkey’s tent—a rather dishonest proposition.
Kurds and Turks do not mix. They have been at each other’s throat for centuries. The historic tripartite ethnic groups—the native Armenians, the native Kurds, and the invading Central Asian tribes—have always formed bilateral alliances with each other and against the third group. The most famous Armeno-Kurdish alliance was forged in 1845 by Prince Baderkhan who believed that the Armenians and the Kurds belonged to the same tribe, except one faction converted to Islam. He assembled a 40,000-men army of Armenians and Kurds, and fought a war against the Ottomans. The right wing of the front was led by the prince’s brother. They inflicted huge losses to the Turks who couldn’t kurtul by force, so they employed the Ver Kurtul option by bribing the prince’s brother. With the fall of the right wing of the advance, the entire expedition collapsed.
The complexity of the situation is obvious. If you don’t participate in the game, you stand no chance of winning. Are we capable of playing the game? Will we form alliances?
If there is Kurdish-Turkish rapprochement, then say goodbey to Western Armenia. More on this later.
Dr. Henry Astarjian
Latest posts by Dr. Henry Astarjian (see all)
- Astarjian: A Quadruple Historic Bypass - February 2, 2015
- Astarjian: Hypocrisy or Ineptitude? - September 28, 2013
- Armeno-Kurdish Relations: Love Fest or Divorce Settlement Meetings? - August 19, 2012
Dear Mr. Astarjian:
You have made several spelling mistakes.
TRT = Turkiye Radyo Televizyon (not Turkyenin Sesi Radiosu)
Allah Askina (not Allah Ashkina)
Sevre Olum Lozana Hayat (not Sevres Olum, Lozan Hayat)
Korucu (not Korujus)
Hamidiye Alaylari (not Hamidiya Alaylari)
PKK: Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan (not Karkarani Kurdustan)
If you want to use Turkish words/sentences, please use correctly. If you are not familiar with Turkish language, please do not use it!
Thanks
Spelling corrections are always welcome. I wonder how many Turks know how to spell genocide.
He seems to be transliterating — hence why the “s” becoems a “sh,” etc.
To Paul,
I don´t think anyone could have said better.And yet my following is to dear Dr Astarjian!!!
Dear Henry,Please take upon yourself to conduct( you told me then, some dozen or so yeasrs ago)that you had contacted Kurdish Parliament people” in exile” to carry on the mission,which is much more important at this juncture ,than say “we must mobilize”…
even a one man crusade-in this case,yours-is tremendously important,especially so now that the great Tufrkey diplomacy is using the second version of their strategy/tactics you describe…
Time is of the utmost important factor NOW.I dare say you are the ex-officio Armenian spokesperson ,that the nation needs for real rapprochement with the Kurds in exile…
If you cannot do it personally, have a devout Armenian younger person do it,after some apprenticeship under your guidance. I do not think this or tht Armenian political party would excercise that option,which is crucial for us .In the past also ,it has always been-in many nations- mainly one person who actually conducts-leads a crusade of this nature.Nor does that mission behoove the fragmented Armenian political currents/parties,present stance.
May God give you force-energy to carry on…
Hama Haigagani SIRO,
gaytzag palandjian
To Paul:
We know how to spell genocide. I also wonder how many diaspora Armenians know how to spell terrorist organization “ASALA”.
Ali-Pasha?
the last adjective does not really suit you.Since you do not-cannot distinguish between blind terrorism,from that which in FRANCE was proved to be attributed to “freedom fighters” when latter took centre stage on the Int´l political scene,after Armenian Pleas for Justice had fallen on DEAF EARS…
They neverthless stopped it when REAL WAR broke out in NK (Gharebagh)Artsakh for us and joined the “jogads” there,(partisan groups formed) for a war foreced upon the people of said Province,Armenian for millenia!!!
No freedom fighters cannot be dubbed as “terrorists”.When your own “Ottoman turkish Militry Tribunals” condemned Tallat, Enver, Jamal and the rest of those criminals,there ought not to be further doubt or discussion in that respect.
No Mr. Ali, we know how to distinguish freedom fighters(avengers for Justice) from terrorists.
You would do better to do so too.
gaytz
This is addresssed to Dr.Astarjian,
Dear Henry,
Pan-Armenian.net, today has it that “Armenian-Kurdish relations undergo negative …
This is because great Turkey-as you and all know-has begun a courtship,rather softening up their stance with the Kurds..Their cunning-wily diplomacy never stops.Whereas, as it has reported Armenia in the ex-soviet union was where Kurds were treated very well.That attitutde continues even today in re-independt Armenia.
BUT WE NEED TO DO SAME FROM DIASPORA WITH THE KURDS IN EXILE,THOSE WHO KNOW WHO THE TURKS AND THEIR DIPLOMACY IS LIKE.DO PLEASE CONTACT THEM AGAIN.
If not possible by you personally -like I wrote before-have one of your trsuted friends-aids DO IT.
Hama Haigagani SIRO,
gaytzag
Congratulations Henry on the Protocols and on Kurds. Keep up the good work. Stephan
Let’s hope Turkish authorities or their surrogate minions don’t find Astarjian criminaly negligent of ‘insulting turkishness’ for mispelling turkish words…
To answer your question ali, the same number of Turks that know how to spell terrorist organization “ERGENEKON” – did I spell that right?
First of all i’m gonna start saying i’m kurdish. And if you want kurds to be an alley you should stop referring PKK as a guerilla group.So many of the 35000 are the kurds who died over the last 27 years.And so many families had to leave their homes and villages because of the so called freedom fighters.They were forcing to take one man from every family in villages when i was so little then my family left there luckily.Turks did wrong by not supporting the area on purpose until the 80s but PKK is a flat out terrorist organization that did most harm to my people more than anybody.Even the leader of the PKK is now all about peace.PKK is used by USA against Saddam and just a year ago USA acknowledged them as a terrorist group.(now that Saddam is gone PKK is no use for USA).And Ergenekon is just a made up by the government to weaken the army so the AKP and religious groups can do everything they want.I know how most Armenians think about the Turkish army and the Kemalist group but you cannot be more wrong.They are the voice of reason in Turkey.If it weren’t for them we would be like Afghanistan or Iran by now.We are threatened by fanatic religious groups that are led by a rich dude called Fetullah Gülen. he has religious brain washing schools everywhere.And the Turkish army tries to finish this guy and also CHP (party that M.Kemal formed) is trying to take out schools of him.But this guy is uber rich and almost untouchable.Almost every police department is full of his men that are brainwashed extreme religious guys.And Ergenekon what they call is actually consists of very bright newspaper writers and professors and some CHP party supporters who want this Fethullah guys end and so they put those CHP supporting writers and professors in jail without any proof of crime.AKP the former party in charge is also very religious although not as dangerous as Fethullah Gülen but still makes me fear.And also USA is supporting AKP kinda makes me think this will bite them in the ass just like when they put Saddam in charge of Iraq
To Kurdish_guy.
You sound more like Turkish nationalist/islamic fundamentalist, and if you really claim to be what you are you remind of “jouhoush” of Iraq. For your information, jouhoush of Iraq were Kurdish militias hired by Saddam to fight against KDP and PUK peshmargas who annihilated jouhoush nicely, indeed.
i’m not a Turkish nationalist(i’m kurdish but that doesn’t define who i am which is a human being)
i’m not a islamic fundamentalist. i don’t believe in religon and when it comes to god i’m agnostic.What i told before you may not agree or even deny but for the last 10-15 years that’s what’s happening in Turkey.And i’m not a jouhoush either.Stop labeling people just because they tell you something you may not like to hear it’s just as bad as racism.
Henry, I don’t understand why we are so mired in regaining Western Armenian lands? How many Armenians live on these lands? 10, 20 or 500 to be fair to you? Come on, let us all be realistic and fight for “realistic goals.” It is like American Indian, who, mind you, count about 500,000 people in the USA, asking for their ancestral lands that stretched from the East to the West coast of the USA. Our ancestral lands, unfortunately, are inhabited by 20 million strong Turks and Kurds. Now, all emotions aside, what are your realistic chances gaining back these lands back for Armenia? 0.1%? 0.9%? or plain and simple a giant beautifully rounded and colored zero?
Instead of talking about subjects that will never materialize, why not we devote all our resources for the recognition of the Genocide by world powers, including Turkey? Our unrealistic expectations are proof of our immature and simplistic approach to world politics. Yeah, of course I would like to see the grand houses that my great grand father Sarkis Sinan lived(in Istanbul) before being dragged out of his house and butchered. Of course my friend Vartan wants to get his 200 or so hectars of land in and around Van…but realistically, these kind of expectations are immature to say the least.
We lost these lands for good, due to treachery and Genocide. We might have a slim chance of regaining them, if one day, Armenias population grows 100 fold, and we acquire a standing army of 3 millions, equipped with 500 nuclear warheads, and an airforce which is second to none. Looking at the emigration “out” of Armenia, our dreams have become wishful thinking(s) for some misinformed hot heads.
No wonder Turkey has the upper hand when it comes to politics. For the last 600-700 years, they had to deal with the East and the West, and they walked a fine line balancing the two. Just look how they control 20 million strong Kurds in Turkey. I will not go into details about their “carrot and stick” approach towards the Kurds. I very much doubt that Kurds have the means or the will to challenge Turkish authorities, and they will forever be part of Turkey, whether they like it or not.
And here we are, 18 plus years after independance, playing amateurish political chess with a professional.
Come on guys, dreams stay what they are, dreams. Whereas the recognition of the Genocide will materialize very very soon.
In answer to Mike Sinan whom answered Dr. Astarjian, I was flabagasted to hear that we should give up our western lands inside Turkey. The Sevres Treaty is still a valid treaty of which the Allies betrayed us after WWI. Although there are millions of Kurds living on Armenian Territory, they eventually will get their independence inside Turkey & Nothern Iraq. When Turkey recognizes the Armenian Genocide she will have to make those land teratories in the Sevres Treaty back to Armenia as well as reparations, just as Germany today is still make reparations to the Jews. As far as the millions of Kurds & Turks living on our historic territories they will all be relocated just as those Azeri’s were relocated in Artsakh. Armenians must look positive & not look backwards. We must be strong, united, and work together just like the Jews. Never give up and help our Armenian Republic back off on those protocols.
The Sèvres treaty was never sent to Ottoman Parliament for ratification (NOT valid).
Turkey will never ever recognize the “genocide”. You can continue your dream.