“The diplomacy following the Gulf War is played out just like a "game of billiards." The U.S. strikes Iraq with the billiard cue; Iraq hits the Kurdish ball, and the Kurdish ball hits the Cyprus ball... Turkey finds itself pushed into great isolation against the Kurdish-Armenian-Greek-European-American squeeze.”

(Cumhuriyet, March 16, 1991, Billiards...)

“On one side, there's the Turkish-Islamic synthesis, on the other, the Kurdish-Islamic synthesis... It's the fashion of our current day. In 1925, wasn't the uprising led by Sheikh Sait staged with political aims veiled in religious appearances?... Kurdish nationalists are approaching Islamists, and Islamists are approaching Kurdish nationalists yet again.”

(Cumhuriyet, March 15, 1991, Kurdish-Islamic Synthesis...)

““"Religion should also be used for anti-imperialist purposes..."

But what about imperialism?... Isn't there American imperialism?  Wasn’t American imperialism pitting people against each other in the Middle East? Did the U.S. decide to keep the Kurds out of this conflict? The Kurdish issue is not solved by tearing pieces from the country's (Turkey’s) territory, not by fuelling religious and sectarian divisions through armed conflicts, not by CIA-made Kurdish nationalism, but instead it is resolved with "respect for human rights” everywhere from Edirne to Ardahan, Ağrı to İzmir, Diyarbakır to Antalya.”

(Cumhuriyet, April 1, 1991, Chauvinism and Militarism...)

“By ignoring the Kurds, imposing bans upon bans on this issue, it is understood that the problems are not solved and will not be solved. It will also be understood that the Kurdish issue will not be resolved with U.S. support and that U.S.-made Kurdish chauvinism will create new problems in the region.”

(Cumhuriyet, March 10, 1991, Kurdish Chauvinism...)

“The U.S. gave the green light to the Kurds for their uprisings... And when Saddam launched a military operation against the Kurds, the Kurdish rebels were left alone. National liberation wars are not waged by relying on imperialist states, their intelligence agencies, and their policies.”

(Cumhuriyet, April 5, 1991, Bush's Game...)

-Uğur Mumcu