Help the Kurds in Iraq? Of course!
But then again, in Germany the Kurdistan Workers' Party is forbidden by law! Why is that actually?
A commentary by Hannes Heine.
Before the very last backbencher in the German Bundestag starts calling for weapons for Kurdistan, just a moment of reflection: No other power has countered the clerical-fascist mass murderers of the "Islamic State" as much as the Kurds. At last not the Kurdish clans in Iraq have played the decisive role, but fighters of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, the PKK, who rushed to the scene from Turkey. If weapons should go to the Kurds, no one can seriously ask to withhold them from the PKK.
But that's exactly what the German federal government would have to do - because in Germany the PKK is banned. In 1993, the Kohl government domestically used the anti-immigrant sentiments, making the NATO partner Turkey a gift when they banned the PKK. Since then, the guerilla has been negotiating with Turkey about enduring peace. In Syria, PKK militants have opposed against both President Assad and the Islamists. In Iran, PKK supporters have fought the mullahs and now even helped prevent massacres in Iraq. Even if the PKK may have a Stalinist past, it is almost the only player in the region promoting women's and minority rights. Should the PKK gain influence, it will – like many Northern Irish IRA fighters – keep arguing for more autonomy pursuing a social democratic course. The ban on PKK is wrong.