|
Trending Topics
|
Source: http://www.aei.org/article/104106
Erdogan's Temper Tantrum Should Benefit Kurds
(Kurdistan Tribune-American Enterprise Institute) Michael Rubin - Last month, a Turkish air raid killed seven Kurdish civilians in Iraqi Kurdistan. Surely, the Turks - by Erdogan's own definition - used disproportionate force against the unarmed Kurds - several of whom were children or infants. By Turkey's own rules, the Turkish air force pilots, their commanding officers, and Erdogan himself should be defendants in a war crimes trial. At the very least, the Iraqi Kurdish government should demand Turkey pay compensation for the Kurds killed by Turkish warplanes. Turkey justifies its actions in Iraq because it considers the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to be a terrorist group, a definition the State Department shares. But, if it is willing to supply and support Hamas - a group that engages in far bloodier actions than the PKK - then Turkey has no moral or legal basis to continue its crusade against the PKK. The writer is a resident scholar at AEI.