Should Turkey Raid Northern Iraq?

Should Turkey raid Northern Iraq? For my money, yes.

Turkey is not perfect, or innocent, but the PKK is a terrorist organization, plain and simple. On top of everything they are Marxists. That means the only thing they offer is death to innocent Turkish civilians and tyranny to the Kurds.

Turkey should neutralize the PKK regardless of the validity or legitimacy of Kurdish separatism. Turkey's case is far stronger than America's reason for invading Iraq and it is definitely stronger than Israel's rationale for wrecking Beirut and killing hundreds of civilians en masse.

But what about non-PKK separatists? What about the legitimacy of the Kurdish separatists' cause itself? That is a more complex question. However, the Kurdish areas of Turkey were historically included in Turkey, and not just because of the Ottoman Empire, they were part of Turkiye as region within the Ottoman Empire. Furthermore the Turks and Kurds lived in peace and brotherhood for centuries without issues. It was the Arabs that sided with the British and back-stabbed the Caliphate, not the Kurds. In fact the Kurds took part in the war of independence of Turkey and when Turkey became secular they asked for the Islamic state back; they were involved in Turkey.

It does seem that the Kurds should continue to live peacefully in Turkey then, though there are other factors to consider.

Firstly, after Ataturk's Turkey was established, Islam as a unifying force was dispensed with and the state became Turkish nationalist. This aggravated the Kurds as they were not ethnic Turks. Another issue was that the national language, Turkish, was promoted at the expense of the Kurdish language and identity. This further aggravated the Kurds and drove them to a mixture of Marxism and nationalism.

While these factors do not legitimize the Kurdish separatists, I do believe that Turkey must give greater cultural and linguistic respect to its Kurds and highlight their contributions to Turkey as well as their history with Turkey.

Finally, Turkey must adopt a modern form of secularism (as opposed to the French form) that does not suppress religion and the Muslim identity of Turkey. Turkey must allow practicing Muslims to get affordable government university educations and allow government officials the right to practice their faith freely. Women must be free to dress according to orthodox Islamic rules while attending university if they are orthodox Muslims.

Turkey will find unity in honouring its Ottoman and Islamic heritage and accepting Kurdish ethnicity as equal to Turkish-speakers' ethnicity and culture.

Lastly, let me say that this does not mean that Turkey should not have a single national language. It needs a lingua-franca, and that language (Turkish) needs to be universally understood and taught and acceptable in Turkey. But at the same time other languages should also be respected and used and taught freely.