Canada ignores Turkey’s ongoing war on Kurdish nationalism

October 2, 2020

Foreward:

The following letter to the editor exemplifies the sort of commentary that is routinely rejected by corporate media “gatekeepers”. The publication of such information conflicts with the two main goals of the corporate media:increasing advertising revenue and protecting the so-called national interest. This phenomenon is common to every democratic state and depends on ingrained deference to power and voluntary self-censorship. To paraphrase George Orwell: There is no need to train dogs who display an eagerness to perform without command.

Canada Ignores Turkey’s Ongoing War on Kurdish Nationalism

Apparently, Canada may stop military exports to NATO member Turkey if an investigation determines that Canadian technology is facilitating human rights abuses. Perhaps Foreign Affairs Minister Champagne has forgotten the early 1990’s when Canada sold thousands of assault rifles and light machine guns to Turkey.

At that time Turkey had just begun its ongoing counter-insurgency campaign against Kurdish nationalists. In addition to the small arms, Canada had also planned to sell Turkey a number of CF5 fighter jets, a proven ground attack aircraft widely-used in Vietnam to drop napalm and cluster bombs. Public pressure forced the Canadian government to cancel that sale but has not dissuaded Canada from current deals like selling armored vehicles to Saudi Arabia.

Turkey’s Kurdish campaign features atrocities against both fighters and civilians, including arbitrary killings, torture and the widespread destruction of Kurdish villages. While significant, Kurdish guerilla violence was and is directed mainly at Turkish military and security forces.

This struggle continues as the Kurds remain committed to establishing a state including sections of Turkey, Iraq and Syria. While Canada has supported Kurdish fighters in Syria, the Trudeau government has little interest in Kurdish statehood.

Morgan Duchesney

Ottawa Canada