The Turkish and Kurds at War again?
The age old conflict reignites, is it our fault or old enemies duking it out again?
In the ceasefire between these warring groups we can look back upon the damage and destruction this war has caused.
On the border on Turkey and Syria there is a deafening silencw. As troops prepare for the worst, people make their prayers to their god and write what may be their last letter home. This is the reality of the war between the Kurdish forces and the Turkish Armed Forces. The Kurds are outnumbered and out gunned by the semi modern military of the Turks.
Included in the ceasefire agreement between the Turkish military and Kurdish forces is a deadline for Kurdish Forces to withdraw from the border. If they fail to meet this deadline, they will be overrun and killed.
Both sides are in the wrong for this current war, neither can claim to be a victim . Both have instigated conflict with each other in the past. This is just another war in the long line of Kurdish uprisings, and this is also another example of the Turks attacking their smaller neighbors for no reason at all.
When we reflect on history we see a pattern dating back to the rise of civilization. The Middle East has been in a state of war for thousands of years. Are we really surprised that they are again, especially the against the Turks who have invaded the Middle East more than once over the past 1000 years? One major note of conflict is that the Kurds are a split between Muslim and Christian faith, and are more in line with the times than the Turks.
Garrett Neenan, a Junior at Lafayette High School who is interested in world affairs, had this take on the war: ” I don’t think that either side is truly at fault, and nor can we make a decision on this until we are more informed on what is happening.” He continued, “It’s not our fight and duty to protect the Kurds , and its good we are pulling men out of the Middle East. It’s been a long time and its time we left.” He concluded his remarks with a question many of us ask ourselves: “Why are they still fighting each other?”
Chris Konstantinou, another senior at Lafayette, had a much different take on this. When questioned on who was to blame he opined, “Definitely the Turks. They have been a warring nation for many years, and refuse to take responsibility for the many genocides and war crimes they have committed.” He went on to say, “This war is fueled by religion and not logic. They should be kicked out of NATO, they don’t learn from their mistakes, never have done good for anyone but themselves, and view the world like it still was in the Middle Ages.” He concluded with the thought, “It’s a smart choice we are pulling out of the Middle East , and Turkey must be reprimanded for what they are doing and how they are acting.”
Many are also blaming president Trump for this, people from both Democrats and Republicans. But the question is, is he truly responsible in some way?
No. This is not a result of a political move. This is serious stuff. Given how long we have been stuck in the Middle East, it’s time we let them solve their own problems. We should pull our troops out and bring them home. In doing that very thing our president is in the right and is moreover very smart for trying to get us out of that sand pit after 28 years of brutal fighting.
The fact that we are abandoning our Kurdish allies is clearly a concern. We have always known the Kurds were a means to an end to fight terrorist organizations such as ISIS, Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Compared to our long-standing alliance with Turkey, who has been with us since the 1940’s when NATO was first created, our cooperation with the Kurds is short lived. We should have no qualms about pulling out of the Middle East but we still should care because of the high probability of civilian causalities. However, ultimately that is not America’s problem. The most important thing currently is that we keep the peace between the Turks and Kurds for the sake of both our allies as well as our own sense of honor and international integrity. If we don’t, we can expect a new rise of ISIS, and no nation on Earth can afford that.
