The Kurds
The Kurds are a scattered, tribal people who live in the plateaus and mountains where Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Turkey overlap. They make up a significant minority of the population of these Middle Eastern states. They are mainly Sunni Muslim, but have a language and culture of their own, quite different from the Arabs, Persians, and Turks.
In the early 20th century, a Kurdish nationalist movement came into being and gained major concessions in a treaty made in the early 1920’s which included provisions for the creation of a Kurdish state. However, shortly following this treaty was the end of the Turkish monarchy, and the new government of Turkey agreed with Iraq and Iran not to recognize an independent Kurdish state. Denied a state of their own, Kurds have remained a persecuted minority in the Middle East because of the agreement between the three countries and the lack of many nations to recognize them as a distinct ethnicity. They are continually denied religious and cultural rights.
Human rights groups have criticized the Turkish government for its treatment of the Kurdish people that live within its borders. Also, Kurds have been the targets for oppressive regimes, mainly in Iraq and Iran. In Iraq, Kurds have been at war since 1974, and in 1988, Iraqi soldiers killed thousands of Kurds in a poison-gas attack on a populated village. In Iran, Kurdish people supported the overthrow of the Shah in 1979, only to be faced with more persecution under the Shi-ite Muslim rule that came into power.
Many factors are involved with the reason why the Kurdish people do not have a state. Because their original territory spreads over four countries, these nations do not wish to give up their land for an ethnic group they do not even recognize. Also, valuable oil and water sources (headwaters of the Tigris and Euphrates) are found in Kurdistan, giving Turkey and Iraq good reason to hold on to the precious land.
How does one region have a prolonged battle for authority, and conflict with the opposing force for eternity? After the Ottoman Empire sided the Central Powers during World War I, they didn’t foresee that they would lose their empire based off of this decision. European countries that won the war came in and partitioned the Middle Eastern region. Soon after the Sykes-Picot Agreement was established, and the Arabs felt betrayed because they weren't granted their deserved independence. The new borders set caused continuous conflict because of the artificial blending of different ethnic and religious groups. International conflicts have contributed to regional conflict in Southwest Asia by forming borders without regards to the different ethnic and religious groups, creation of the state Israel in 1948, and the U.S. being involved in the matters of the Middle
Most of the people killed were Iranian, however, some Kurdish people were also killed. Iraq started using chemical weapons from the beginning of the war though they started excessively using them near the end of the war, even on their own people.
To purify the Ottoman Empire, the Turks decided to try and erase the Armenian race. The Turks used the war to cover up the mass killings of Armenians and it worked for a little because everybody was worrying about the war. However, the Turks called it a civil war and not a genocide, but there are many things proving otherwise. The treatment of the Armenians is a genocide, despite Turkish claims, because the genocide process was evident, the government was involved, and it was done on a large scale.
Deliberate killings, human bombs, dozens of vicious groups, and a growing sense of insecurity trouble Iraq (Tirman). Cluster bombs and landmines’ have caused many deaths to innocent civilians. People forced from their homes in fear of their lives and their family’s lives. When some refugees tried to go home, they were killed.
Cries ring out in the dead of night from the black people of the southern states in Tennessee, as mysterious figures in white robes with hoods ride on their horses. To most they were thought of as the Confederate soldier’s ghosts riding and terrorizing the blacks. People wanted to know who these mysterious riders are and why they are terrorizing the black people of the south. Since they were wearing all white robes they could not tell their identity leading to more confusion. They became known as the Invisible Empire due to the fact that there were hundreds of them but nobody knew who they really were. Later in the Invisible Empires history we find out that these mysterious ghost riders are a part of the Ku Klux Klan. The Ku Klux Klan was an organization meant to preserve the southern way of life. They use forms of intimidation to scare the black people such as riding through the night on horses. It was first started as something for ex-confederate soldiers to do since they were not fighting the war anymore but soon these small threats and intimidation turned into a violent hate group. Through the Ku Klux Klan’s history we see its practices and beliefs evolve from a fun, social organization to a worldwide feared hate group.
Conflict between Kurds and Turkish Forces "I would not wish on anyone what I went through that day." This is
Conflict has also been a significant part of Iraqi history since the Akkadian wars of 2340 BC. The rise of the Babylonian dynasty in 1700 BC gave way to the Assyrian dynasty in 1340 BC. The Assyrians were eventually overthrown in the seventh century BC by the Persian Empire of Alexander the Great. (2) The Arabs conquered the region in the early expansion of Islam in the eighth century AD, followed by the Mongol invasion in 1258. The last of the great dynasties to rule th...
The Ku Klux Klan, was an extremist group that formed during the 1800’s. They used torture to gain power, especially in the South. They were a group of white men that shared the same political views and goals. They formed between December of 1865, and the Summer of 1866 in Pulaski Tennessee. Their original idea was to be a brotherhood, but that quickly changed. The Klan did not realize their potential at first, but they realized they could have as much power as they wanted if they worked for it, and thats what they did. They met in secret to plot their heart breaking attacks on African Americans, Republicans and many others. Finally, in the 1870’s laws were passed to limit their deadly actions. In 1869 they had earned notoriety and nationwide
The Ku Klux Klan At the end of the American civil war in 1866 the Ku Klux Klan formed. It is a white supremacist group that uses violence and intimidation to reassert white domination in the United States. The Klan's attacks have been aimed at African Americans, Jews, Catholics, immigrant and other minority groups.
The Armenian Genocide Started in Ottomans Empire. Which really shocked people because they have lived in peace for 3,000 years. After the peace was disrupted the rulers created restrictions against the Armenians Christians like unequal and unjust laws forcing them to pay higher taxes, have fewer political rights, and legal rights. Many Armenian men were forced into labor camps which had a highest death rate. They built roads and were almost like a human pack. Those who did not die in the labor area were most likely shot. When the orders were given to exterminate the Armenians it was in a coded telegram then, round ups began in April of 1915. The Turkish rounded up different types of people from their homes and were jailed, tortured, hanged or shot. Another torture method was a large number of people arrested where they were tied together and taken to outskirts of their town where they were shot and killed by the death squads or Turkish soldiers (United Human Rights Council).
The Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan, better known as the KKK, was started in Tennessee in 1866. The people who believed in "White Pride" came together against the advancement of African Americans, Jews, and other minorities. The KKK members were very violent and used harsh actions to get their point across, but their actions were supported by their strong belief in their religion and the culture in which they were brought up in. The Klan did as it believed, they did what they thought was right and for their time period they were just acting in the way their culture brought them up to act.
Encyclopedia of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity: "Armenians in Ottoman Turkey and the Armenian Genocide. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2005. (Accessed March 20, 2014).
The Ku Klux Klan A cult is a type of religious organization that stands apart from the
The Armenians are an ancient people whose home has been in the southern Caucasus since the 7th century BC. Mongol, Persian, Russian and Ottoman (Turkish) empires have fought on and over this region for many centuries."Armenian Genocide."Armenian Genocide. Web. 15 Apr. 2014. . At the end of the 19th century, Turkey and Russia were recovering from a war with each other. In the west, 2.5m Christian Armenians were governed by the Turks; eastern Armenia was in Russian hands. A surge in Armenian nationalism gave the Armenian leaders confidence to demand political reforms."Armenian Genocide."Armenian Genocide. Web. 15 Apr. 2014. . This was unwelcome to both Ottoman and Russian powers, afraid of armed partisan resistance or even the revival of interstate war. They began to repress Armenians even more harshly."Armenian Genocide."Armenian Genocide. Web. 15 Apr. 2014. . In some Turkish Armenian provinces large-scale massacres were carried out from 1894 ...
Studying the factors that went into the Armenian genocide not only gives us an understanding of a historical moment but also provides us with the knowledge for finding out if the mass murders actually occurred. Did the Armenian genocide really happen? Or is it all just a myth? The history that comes with the Armenian genocide is a victim of historical distortion, state-sponsored falsification, and deep divisions between the Armenians and the Turkish people (Mustafa 1). In 1915, it was said that leaders of the Turkish government set in motion a plan to expel and massacre Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire. However, the Turkish government does not acknowledge these events, in fact it is still illegal in Turkey to discuss what happened to the Armenians (History.com Staff 1). The elimination of the Armenians was the model of modern genocide, the act in which a certain state adopts a scheme geared to the destruction of a group of its own citizens (Gust 1). In order to understand why the Turks continue the denial of being involved in the criminal act that was eliminating the Armenian people, we must first consider both the Armenian people and the Turkish peoples’ thoughts and knowledge of the events that took place, and only then, after extensive analysis of the evidence recovered, then we can come to a conclusion as to what really happened all those years ago.