The British Prime Minister, Theresa May gave a 100 million pound deal to Erdogan but only a few somewhat “stern” words about human rights in Turkey. Nothing was said about the Turkish invasion of Afrin, as the Prime Minister was keen on selling arms rather than being wary of how the arms will be used internally and externally.
No reference was made to Erdogan’s military ambitions beyond the fact that he wants to “rid Manbij of terrorists, as it was promised to us, and our battles will continue until no terrorist is left reaching our border with Iraq.”
Here is where the American idiomatic expression “give someone an inch, and they will ask for a mile.” In other words, human rights abuses were neither a serious ethical concern nor how the arms may be used against citizens of the autocratic country or its neighbors.
The Turkish president with his new arsenal plans to extend his political and military designs in Syria and Iraq to diminish and destroy Kurdish influence and power. For those who harbor any illusions in Southern Kurdistan, they can recall Erdogan’s animosity and demeaning remarks towards the Kurdish referendum and its leading figures. Based on what we have seen, these weapons will enable him to “liquidate” the Kurds.
The British government through its acquiescence has given its consent and legitimacy to such a design; that is why the prime minister only symbolically mentioned human rights in internal politics and nothing about the external benefits her arms deal has for Erdogan.
The truth of the matter is what has made Erdogan more determined in his military ambition, is that the phlegmatic and pusillanimous attitudes of Western leaders are oblivious to the Turkish violations of international and humanitarian laws in waging an unprovoked and brutal war against Kurds and other minorities in Syria.
Erdogan is indiscriminately using British and Western weaponry against non-combatants and Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG and YPJ) and Syrian Democratic Front (SDF) fighters who for the past five years have been in the forefront of fighting against the Islamic State in Syria, a role that once was repeatedly applauded by British officials including the Foreign Secretary, Mr. Boris Johnson.
Kurds like all other Syrians have paid a high price being caught in another unjust war that has caused great calamities. Many civilians and freedom fighters from different parts of the world including Britain have been killed and injured during the daring anti-ISIS war to create relative peace and security in Western Syria‘s “Rojava”.
The Prime Minister’s arms deal decision is made at a time that Turkey is, as reported by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, committing heinous war crimes in the region, with a deadly combined force of Turkish military and Jihadists “to crush” any promise of democracy in Syria for which all Syrians rose before their aspirations were turned into a nightmare by proxy wars that countries like Turkey imposed on their country.
The only place in the country that lived in relative peace is now under Turkish military incursion and as a result, many people including scores of children have been killed and injured and thousands of civilians have been trapped. The invasion is threatening to trigger another humanitarian catastrophe in Afrin with a population of over one million inhabitants, one-third of who are refugees.
Weapons the British government has decided to sell to Turkey in the midst of this military aggression is nothing but an endorsement of internal repression and the external military offensive. The British government’s statement of concern or is far from being an adequate warning to a despot that is bent on destroying any semblance of democracy anywhere in the world under the pretext of terrorism.
What is disquieting is that instead of imposing an arms embargo on Turkey for its breach of fundamental human rights and international law, the British government has awarded Erdogan with the prize of 100 million pound fighter jet deal to seek his religious-political objective of subjugating the Kurds who are struggling for their very right to national existence in the region through military violence.
One can only hope that the British government will reconsider its sale of arms to the Turkish government with a view of its grave implications for human rights in Turkey and the military threat it is posing to Kurds. Thanks to Theresa May, a new military threat is hanging over our heads.
Amir Sharifi is President of the Kurdish American Education Society-Los Angeles.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rudaw.
