[Marxism] Fwd: After repelling ISIL, PKK fighters are the new heroes of Kurdistan | Al Jazeera America

[Louis Proyect]

In the past, the PKK did not count many Iraqi Kurds among its members,
nor was the separatist group a critical player in Kurdistan?s internal
affairs. But since ISIL fighters swept through northern Iraq this
summer, that has changed. Increasingly, Iraqi Kurds are embracing the
PKK fighters as heroes, lauding them for recapturing the northern Iraqi
town of Makhmour and its surrounding villages and for rescuing thousands
of members of the Yazidi ethnic group who were trapped in nearby Sinjar.

Halkawt Sami, an Iraqi Kurdish carpenter, has come to fulfill what he
says is a national duty to welcome his ?comrade? home. In August, as
ISIL threatened to overtake Erbil, Sami enlisted to fight the extremist
group. Like Kawa, he signed up for the PKK, not the peshmerga.

?It was the PKK that came down from the mountains to protect us,? he
says, referring to the fighters? descent from their camp in the Qandil
Mountains, along the Iran-Iraq border. Sami says he was among at least
100 new recruits from Erbil who received basic training at the PKK camp.

full:
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/10/17/pkk-s-rise-in-iraqikurdistan.html

[Andrew Pollack]

note especially this:
"Turkey profited a lot from the KRG; they are a big business partner,? says
Thomas Schmidinger, a lecturer at the University of Vienna and secretary
general of the Austrian Association for Kurdish Studies. ?The KRG is a
semicolony of Turkey?s post-Ottoman sphere of influence.?
and this:
"Ilke, of the PKK-affiliated, Turkey-based Peace and Democratic Party
(BDP), says KDP policies have exacerbated the gap between rich and poor.
?We didn?t come here to establish companies and oil,? he says. ?If we can
participate in elections, we will win.?

On Mon, Oct 20, 2014 at 8:24 AM, Louis Proyect via Marxism <

******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ********************
#1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
#2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived.
#3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern.
*****************************************************************
In the past, the PKK did not count many Iraqi Kurds among its members, nor
was the separatist group a critical player in Kurdistan?s internal affairs.
But since ISIL fighters swept through northern Iraq this summer, that has
changed. Increasingly, Iraqi Kurds are embracing the PKK fighters as
heroes, lauding them for recapturing the northern Iraqi town of Makhmour
and its surrounding villages and for rescuing thousands of members of the
Yazidi ethnic group who were trapped in nearby Sinjar.
Halkawt Sami, an Iraqi Kurdish carpenter, has come to fulfill what he says
is a national duty to welcome his ?comrade? home. In August, as ISIL
threatened to overtake Erbil, Sami enlisted to fight the extremist group.
Like Kawa, he signed up for the PKK, not the peshmerga.
?It was the PKK that came down from the mountains to protect us,? he says,
referring to the fighters? descent from their camp in the Qandil Mountains,
along the Iran-Iraq border. Sami says he was among at least 100 new
recruits from Erbil who received basic training at the PKK camp.
full: http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/10/17/pkk-s-
rise-in-iraqikurdistan.html
_________________________________________________________
Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm
Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/
options/marxism/acpollack2%40gmail.com