by Haydar Isik I    

April 17, 2005
Translated from the German Language. wm.warda

I am an Alevi Kurd! Where we lived there were no mosques. In my childhood I admired the ruins of the Armenian churches in the area. Though their walls had crumbled the domes supported by the columns still stood. The marvelous pictures painted on them could still be seen. My birth city was called "Kizilkilise" or 'Red Church' in the Kurdish language . [it probably had a Syriac or Armenian name before] But later like other Kurdish names the Kizilkilise was changed to 'Nazimiye' by the Turkish government.

My childhood was affected by two important historical events. One was the Dersim massacre of the Kurds in 1937/38 , when 70,000 of them were killed by the Turkish army which still is very fresh and sorrowful in my mind. The other was the Armenian Genocide, of 1915-16 by the Turks which exterminated one and half million Armenians and a half million Assyrians. During the winter months I often heard about the sorrowful fate of our Armenian neighbors and it made me cry.

To achieve racial supremacy in Anatolia, the Turkish regime wiped out first the Armenians and Assyrians and then the Kurds. General Kazim Karabekir, who had participated in the killing of the Armenians and Assyrians once had said: "le yandan zo zo lari, doenuence de lo lo larin isini bitirecegiz." 'We will exterminate the Armenians with an invasion to the east, on our way back we will do the same with the Kurds.'

It was always the strategy of the Turks to kill or drive out the country first the Christian Armenians, Assyrians, and Greeks to turn the country into an islamic nation, then to carry out similar genocide and ethnocide against the Kurds. To accomplish this Turkish rulers promoted hatred and incited one people against the other.. The Kurdish feudal chieftains became instrumental in carrying out these Turkish policies.

The Turkish regime used sunni tribes in Northern Kurdistan who lived side by side with the Armenians and Assyrians in Mesopotamia to implement its policies. The Aschirets (tribe) which lived in Van, Urfa, Agri; Mus and Bingöl were known as Hasenen, Cibran, Zirkan, Sipkan, Zilan, Milan etc.. These Aschirets were a minority of the Kurds. The Aleviti Kurds, the yezidis and the rest of the sunni Kurds provided no assistance to the Turks.

A minority of Kurds was used to kill Christians to prove their loyalty to Turkey and Islam. Today's Kurds see the massacre of the Armenians [and Assyrians] as a shame on Kurds. I am ashamed that Kurds were involved in killing their neighbors in such barbarous manners.

In the shadow of the 1ST world war, during the rule of Pascha Enver Talat and Cemal, Turks organized the Christian pogrom in Anatolia and Mesopotamia with the approval and knowledge of Germany. It was the first genocide in human history that was carefully planned and carried out. However one needs to see the other side of the coin also. The rag-tag brigades, recruited by Turkey out of 36 Kurdish tribes, which were used to massacre the Christian were also incited against the Alevi and the yezidie (moslem) Kurds.

The regiments were formed exclusively out of the sunni tribes in Northern kurdistan which means, the young Turkish regime (Ittihat Terakki) intentions were to incite one section of the Kurds against the other according to the principle of "divide and conquer". Consequently animosities between Sunni and Alevi Kurds continues to this day.

The Hamidiyeh regiments was also used against the Kurds to undermine the Kurdish aspirations for independence. Their Attacks against the Armenians, Assyrians or Kurds remain a blemish in the history of the Kurds. Nothing holds back the Kurdish descent bandits who attacked Armenian villages yesterday and killed countless people from killing their own. One has to ask is it just for anyone to kill other human beings because someone orders them to do so?

Yes, the story of the humanity is full of such events. About 50 years ago the German fascism massacred the Jews in industrial fashion. They believed that their victims deserved to die! Hitler has been quoted as having said that the Kemali Turks were masters of the Armenian and Assyrian Genocide. "The world watched as the Kamalist Turks massacred the Armenians. Who will object if I massacre the Jews?"
This is why the two largest Genocide  of the twentieth century happened.  

Now Turkey is using Kurds to fight their compatriots. Like the Hamidiyeh brigades of the past which Killed 100.000 of their own people, Kurdish gangs have been equipped to fight against the Kurdish liberation movement, which fights for liberty and well-being being of the Kurds living in the mountains.

The same mentality which massacred the Armenians and the Assyrians yesterday , is responsible for the killing of the Kurds today. The Kurds in Dersim provided protection for their Armenian neighbors despite pressure from the Turks, however such kindness cost them dearly when Turks massacred them in 1937/38 partly for that reason.

Turkey is a country of various people, Turks, Kurds, Armenians, Assyrians and other minorities. Although Turkey has signed almost all the international treaties including: The 'General Declaration of the Human Rights', the 'European Convention of Human Rights', the 'CSCE treaty' , which promises Equal Rights, Self-determination, and rights of minorities to teach their mother tongue, Turkey has denied such liberties to its none Turk citizens, yet it wants to join the European union.

The Armenians were exterminated by the policy of Turkey in Anatolia. We, the Kurds would like to live peacefully together with our neighbors, Armenians, Assyrians and Turks in a country, where the sound of the church-bells and the call of the Muezzin can be heard side by side. We are not any more the Kurds who were used as tool by Turkey to exterminate their Christian neighbors. We are ashamed and would like to make amend and do well.

www.haydar-isik.com