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Stop The Genocide
Of The Kurdish People

Last Sunday's "60 Minutes" broadcast focused
on Turkey's genocidal campaign against its Kur-
dish population, an ethnic minority of predom-
inantly rural people who have maintained their
own language and culture for more than four mil-
•ennia. Since 1984, the Turkish army — with
$320 million in military loans this year alone
from the United States — has fought a bloody
war against a small band of Kurdish guerrillas
who dream of establishing an autonomous Kur-
dish state in southeastern Turkey.
The Kurds, who also live in Iran, Iraq and Syr-
ia, number around 20 million and have the dis-
tinction of being the world's largest ethnic group
without a country of their own.
In its conflict with the Kurds, Turkey — which
follows Israel and Egypt among the largest re-
cipients of American economic and military as-
sistance — reportedly has kidnapped, tortured
and killed countless civilians, while evacuating
or destroying hundreds of villages. Kurds say
Turkish soldiers frequently give them the ulti-
matum of either taking up arms against the guer-
rillas or being
forced out of their homes. The vast majority
choose not to fight their brethren. Turkey and
its neighbors now struggle with a refugee prob-
lem of more than 2 million Kurds.
Over the past three years, international hu-
man-rights groups have received more than 4,000
official complaints from Kurds of Turkish mili-
tary torture.
Turkish government officials attribute their
murderous tactics to a serious terrorist threat
posed by Kurdish guerrillas, known as the PKK.
But Rep. John E. Porter, R-Ill., calls Turkey's
measures against the Kurds nothing short of
"state terrorism."
American-made military equipment appears
to be contributing to the Turkish campaign. Over
the past decade, the United States has allocat-
ed nearly $7 billion worth of military hardware
to Turkey.

Last spring, a State Department report
conceded that U.S.-made equipment was
being used in human-rights violations against
Kurds.
Ironically, while offering significant assistance
to Turkey's military machine and contributing
to the repressive efforts of its NATO ally, the
United States for the past four years has pro-
vided protection and humanitarian support for
Kurds living across the border in northern Iraq
under Saddam Hussein's brutal regime. Opera-
tion Provide Comfort, which was an outgrowth
of the Gulf War, annually costs American tax-
payers $130 million.
Once again, Americans are confronted with
the reality that our government is employing a
poorly conceived and nonsensical foreign policy
that contributes to the misery of innocent peo-
ple around the world.
As Jews, the Turkish campaign against the
Kurds presents a moral dilemma. For the past
4112 decades, Turkey has maintained good re-
lations with Israel, even at the risk of alienating
and inspiring the wrath of its fellow Muslim coun-
tries. And with the rise of an anti-Western Is-
lamic party in recent elections, Turkey — and
its place on the front line of NATO — stands at
a crossroads.
But our history as an oppressed ethnic and re-
ligious minority compels us to speak out against
the systematic destruction of Kurdish lives and
culture. Little more than 50 years ago, the in-
ternational community remained silent while
Jews, who also had no home country to turn to
and protect them, were confronted with the
threat of annihilation.
Whether it's Saddam Hussein or a ruthless
military machine based in Ankara, we must im-
plore our elected officials to prevent the barbar-
ic treatment of the Kurds. To do less would be
failing to live up to the principles of this nation
and a disservice to the memory of the Six Mil-
lion.

Making A Pitch For Camp
c ; As A Jewish Experience

We all know that camp is still almost half a year
away. But as our 1996 Camp special section
shows us, the time for preparation is now.
That camp is such a "Jewish" experience
makes it all the more important for families to
seriously get ready for their children's time away
from home.
For many Jews, camp is the setting for many
long-lasting relationships and memories. There
are countless stories of adults who send their
children to the same camps they attended. For
many Jewish children, the strongest link they
have Jewishly is their four weeks away in the

summer. Even if they don't observe any sem-
blance of a Jewish holiday or Shabbat at home,
chances are at a Jewish camp they'll have that
experience.
There was that counselor who helped not only
teach a child how to swim, but how to say Ha
Motzi. And that experience has been a powerful
fuel for that,camper's Jewish flame later on in
life.
Again, it's so much more than canoeing and
art projects. It's a shared experience. So for now,
stay warm. But get ready for your children to
have a cool time.

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Letters

JCC Solutions
No Quick Fix

We concur with the statement in
the recent Jewish News editori-
al that "members and the com-
munity need to be shown why a
Jewish Center is relevant to their
lives." However, we would sug-
gest that the article is mislead-
ing in its implication that the
Center is not moving forward.
In fact, the Center recognizes
that its mission and current "core
businesses" must be thoroughly
re-examined to meet the needs of
our Jewish community as we ap-
proach the 21st century.
While some may expect a quick
fix, the Center executive commit-
tee and board, Federation and
staff of both organizations have
been working closely for the past
12 months, spending literally hun-
dreds of hours to carefully reset
the course of the Center. To do oth-
erwise would be irresponsible.
We are fortunate to have a
Jewish community newspaper
that calls attention to important
issues. At this time of transition,
however, we would expect this
communal instrument to strive
for balance and fairness in its cov-
erage and editorials.
The Jewish News has a vital
role to play in the future of the
Center, and we look forward to
working together to achieve our
common communal goals.

Douglas Bloom
President,
Jewish Community Center

Allan Nachman
Chairman,
JCC /Federation,
Joint Operating Committee

What Makes Ours
Any Better?

I just received my Jewish News,
read the article "Prisons Try To
Snuff Lights Of Freedom" (Jam 5)
by David Zeman, and thought for
a moment I had the wrong paper.
Since when is it wrong to
equate any criminal, no matter
what his religion, as anything but
criminal?
I don't see what makes ours
any better than theirs; the prison
is not to rehabilitate criminals

but to punish them for breaking
a law.
What difference does it make
that there are 51 (Jewish in-
mates) among 40,000 statewide.
The rest of us aren't in prison, nor
have we broken any laws. What
makes the difference?
Personally, I think the action
was ill-considered and incorrect
on the part of the people and
groups that wanted special priv-
ileges for these prisoners.
I must strongly disagree with
Rabbi Levi Shemtov. It's time
there was a crackdown on "in-
mates' rights." These people are
in prison for breaking the law
and, as far as I am concerned, for-
feited their rights when they com-
mitted their crimes.

Daniel Natow
Southfield

Government Vs.
Civil Rights

Doesn't anyone care that the pre-
sent government of Israel is vio-
lating the civil rights of its own
people, that "administrative de-
tention," a holdover from the pe-
riod of the British mandate, is
being used to incarcerate Jews
without charge and without due
process — citizens whose only
crime seems to have been ex-
pressions antagonistic to the gov-
ernment's positions? Why am I
not hearing any indignant protest
from those who were always on
the ready to criticize Israel for vi-
olating the civil rights of Arabs?
Where are the voices of Jews
who fought so diligently for the
civil rights of blacks and women
in this country? Granted, Israel's
security needs keep it from prac-
ticing the kind of democracy
which we in the United States ex-
pect; nevertheless, one can only
attribute political motives to the
Israeli government's violations of
basic human rights against its
own people.
This is not the kind of Jewish
state I envisioned when I sup-
ported its establishment. If such
policies remain in effect, I will
give serious consideration to dis-
continuing my support.

Dr. Lillian Rosenberg
Hurwitz
Franklin

