Are you aware that the northern Iraqi Kurds (the PKK) are Leftist Marxists?

Question

Founding Philosophy: The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) is a leftist Kurdish nationalist organization. The PKK was founded in 1974 by a group of Turkish students of ethnic Kurdish descent who were active in communist circles within Turkey. The group, led by Abdullah Ocalan, operated informally until 1978, when it formalized its agenda. Influenced heavily by Maoist doctrine, the PKK's goal was to incite a revolution that would free the Kurdish people and establish an independent Kurdish state. When it was founded, the group was violently opposed to the Turkish government, believing that a Kurdish state could only be established if the oppressive and colonialist Turkish government was defeated.

http://www.tkb.org/Group.jsp?groupID=63

Now you are :o)

Answer 1

i was....  i'm guessing the first 'reply' to your Q knows about as much about the pkk  as he does the meaning of the word 'answer'

Answer 2

Good for them. More leftists needed in this world

Answer 3

You are correct in that the Kurdish leadership is primarily Marxist. But the movement predates the founding of the PKK actually.

While Kurds have historically agitated for a separate nation, no such monster has ever existed, but briefly. The first organized separatist movement began under Bolshevik auspices in the Azerbaijan province of Persia (now Iran). I was intended to divide and weaken the central authority of Reza Khan (Shah Reza Pahlevi) as well as the Turkish Republic under the leadership of Kemal Attaturk and the British protectorate of East Mesopotamia (now Iraq). The movements in Turkey and Messopotamia never took hold and Reza Khan crushed the Persian rebellion soundly.

The next Soviet attempt came in 1946 under the auspices of the Soviet sponsored Tudeh (Masses) Party of Iran. Again it was combined with the Azerbaijan separatist movement which Stalin was using to achieve his own objectives of gaining control of Iran’s northern oil resources to compete with the British owned, Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. Once again, the movement failed. But the Kurdish rebellion lead by Pishevari (a Tudeh member) continued and spread to Iraq, Turkey and Syria. It has since remained a thorn in the sides of those nations since that time and a major factor in regional instability.

Answer 4

I salute your attention to detail and recitation of fact.

Answer 5

You could make the same argument that the leader of Iran is an ultraconservative...both arguments are dumb, as they are nutjobs that are in no way similar to the politicians in America.