Kurds
After World War I England and France occupied large territories in the Middle East which had once belonged to the Ottoman Empire (now Turkey - one of the countries which had lost World War I).
England and France were only concerned about extracting (getting) oil and so they created a number of countries just by drawing lines across a map. They created Iraq, Transjordan, Palestine, Syria and Lebanon.
It did not matter to either England or France who was living in which parts of the Middle East, they just needed to draw lines through the map to divide this large area up into countries that England and France would control. So a number of countries that had never existed before were created by England and France by two guys who drew lines around a map to divide the area up between them.
If you don't believe me, here's proof: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-25299553
So the Kurdish people, unfortunately, had lines drawn through the area where they were living. This one ethnic group was, therefore, separated and forced to live in four different countries.
For about 100 years now, the Kurds have been seeking to get their own homeland. Turkey, a country in which many Kurds live, does not like this idea. Nor does Iraq. It seems that the land which rightfully belongs to the Kurds also has lots of oil on it. Iraq, for instance, does not want to lose this oil to the Kurds.
The United States has been very sympathetic to the Kurdish people. Indeed, the Kurds have been very helpful to the United States in its war on terror. As you can read from the following article, Turkey has begun to attack Kurds who had helped the United States to fight against ISIS. So far the United States has not done anything to help the Kurds. The person who wrote the following article recommends that the US government begin to help the Kurds.
The article:
Vocabulary to help you understand the article:
to abandon someone/some group/some thing: to leave it helpless, to just walk away.
mercies - this is an ironic or sarcastic term here. Turkey is clearly not interested in being merciful or kind to the Kurds. To be merciful or to show mercy means not to harm someone when you feel like harming them. Turkey has no desire to show mercy and that's why "mercies" is in quotation marks.
a tyrant - a dictator, someone who is not part of a democratic system, a leader who has too much power. So this writer is calling the leader of Turkey a tyrant.
an ally - a friend.
a quarter century - 25 years. 1/4 of 100 years.
man-for-man, woman-for-woman - meaning that if you compare the average Kurdish man or woman to anyone else from any other ethnic group or country which has fought against ISIS, the Kurds are better or superior.
Kurdish boots on the ground - Kurdish soldiers on the ground, fighters (soldiers wear boots so instead of him saying "Kurdish soldiers on the ground..." he says "Kurdish boots on the ground...")
sweeping - wide, thorough, complete
caliphate - the type of government ISIS created
to crush something - to step on something in order to destroy it
wriggling - if you step on a snake, it will wriggle and try to bite you, it will twist around wildly
snapping - trying to bite (the author is comparing ISIS to a trapped snake)
we're turning our backs on them - we are turning away or abandoning them
NATO - the North Atlantic Treaty Organization...a group of European countries plus the USA. It was created during the Cold War to protect Europe from Soviet Russia. Turkey and the USA are supposed to be allies in NATO, but Turkey's leader has been turning against the USA for some time now.
gone rogue - to have become uncontrollable; if someone is a rogue, he is highly independent to the point where he can't be trusted, because he will always pursue his own needs.
Islamist strongman - a dictator or tyrant who believes in the Islamic religion
odious - hateful
President is in quotation marks like this "President" because the writer believes that Erdogan is NOT really a president, but instead is a dictator.
to be captive - to be prisoners
a census - when a population is officially counted
butchered en masse - violently killed in large numbers
scapegoated - blamed for things they didn't do
unnervingly familiar - so familiar to the bad way that Israel has been treated (according to this author) that one should be unnerved or upset.
letting the Kurds down at Versailles - The Treaty of Versailles was the agreement that ended World War I. According to that treaty England and France were allowed to divide Kurdish territory up and place it into 4 different countries. So America did not try to help the Kurds at that point - the USA let them down (disappointed them).
acquiesced - to agree without wanting to agree
in the wake of Desert Storm - following Desert Storm, the war in the early 1990s against Saddam Hussein of Iraq.
a succession of - a number of
combating - fighting
on the verge of - close to
a slaughter - a violent and often mass killing
an underdog - someone who does not have a lot of power but who is good
a rabid dog - a dog with a disease that makes it a ferocious (aggressive) killer
he has gutted democracy - he has removed the essence or reality of democracy from his government
false charges - he has accused people of fake crimes and thrown them in jail
suppressed - pushed down, held down
rigged the courts - if you rig something you change it so that justice does not occur, what you want to happen will occur. So people do not get justice in the Turkish court system any more.
to back someone - to support someone
Islamic hardliners - these are very extreme followers of the religion of Islam, very conservative
reignited - restarted; to ignite something is to start something on fire
inertia - this means that when something comes to a stop, or is in a resting state, it is hard to move it again
strategic interests - strategy or plans as to how the US will carry out its foreign policy
restricted use of an airbase - the USA seems to need an airbase in Turkey and Erdogan seems to be threatening to refuse to allow the US Air Force to use it if the USA does not support Erdogan's policies. So the USA seems to be afraid to offend or upset Erdogan for fear of losing this airbase.
Turkey uses the airbase as leverage - leverage is the ability to move a heavy object using a long stick and something you can place the stick on top of - you then push down on one end of the stick while the other end moves the object. If something is being used as leverage, it is being used to force someone to do something he doesn't want to do.
call Erdogan's bluff - if you are bluffing, you are pretending to do something you really aren't going to do. So the writer is basically saying we should defend the Kurds and see whether Erdogan will actually try to force Americans out of the air bases. The writer does not seem to think Erdogan will, but if he does, it doesn't matter, the USA will just lose two air bases.
liberated by the Kurds - freed by the Kurds through fighting
a bogus claim - a fake claim, a lie
the alphabet game - the writer is joking about all of the organizations represented by all the different three-letter combinations
indistinguishable - cannot be differentiated from, cannot be told apart from, to look the same as
a domestic resistance group - a group within Turkey that resisted the government and demanded a homeland for the Kurds
political accommodation - this Kurdish group that functioned within Turkey gave up violence in order to work within the Turkish political system.
oppressed - held down, not allowed their rights
solidarity - a feeling of brotherhood, when individuals feel they belong in a group and are willing to work together with others toward a goal
the YPG is the same as the PKK - the writer is trying to make a joke saying that just because names sound similar it does not mean that things or organizations are similar.
to cling to - to hold on to too tightly
to draw a red line - to tell Erdogan that he cannot continue to do things which are clearly wrong; to draw a red line is like drawing a line on the ground and telling someone that he cannot walk past this line with punishment.
the terrorist sits in his president's chair in Ankara - Ankara is the capitol of Turkey, so the writer is saying that Erdogan is the real terrorist in this situation.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.