
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, April 7, 1991                   TAG: 9104090489
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: D-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

REFUGEES/ NATIONLESS KURDS ALSO HOMELESS

POOR KURDS. They're on the move again. Nothing new in that; they are a nomadic people. But they often get shoved around when there is international unrest. Right now, hundreds of thousands of them, fleeing Iraqi forces, are collecting on the border of Turkey, which refuses them admission. Another million are moving toward Iran. These refugees need help from the international community.

Granted, Kurds bring a lot of trouble on themselves. About 5 million of them live in a region of western Asia stretching across Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria. They have long wanted their own nation, and during this century have staged many uprisings against governments of countries where they live. Every rebellion has been bloodily put down.

One could blame the Kurds for their stubborn refusal to blend into the local landscape. But like many landless (and fractious) peoples - for example, the Palestinians - they have been cynically used by outsiders.

A couple of decades ago, for instance, the Soviet Union stirred them up to make trouble for our then ally, Iran, and NATO member Turkey. In the early 1970s, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger told the Kurds the United States and Iran would give them covert aid if they fought Iraq; but then the shah gained a border settlement with Iraq, and the Kurds were hung out to dry. Now they are being similarly hung out after being encouraged by President Bush to rebel against Saddam Hussein, then left to his merciless brutality.

The Kurds have been brutally treated by a succession of governments where they live - especially Iraq, where they've risen up against Baghdad about every 10 years since World War I. Saddam wiped out a rebellious Kurdish village a few years ago with poison gas, killing inhabitants indiscriminately. Today, the Kurds again confront defeat and slaughter. The resulting refugee crisis is said to be the worst since World War II.

There's irony in the Kurds' attempt to seek refuge in Turkey; in 1925, Turks crushed their ancestors' attempt at independence. Britain, most influential outsider in the region then, refused them succor, as the United States is doing now.

This isn't to say the Kurds should have help in getting their own country. Nationalism, still the strongest political force in this century, can have good effects: redrawing outmoded and arbitrary boundaries, righting ancient wrongs, freeing peoples from oppression and domination.

But national self-determination is no formula for world stability. It also can wreak much ill. Breakup of existing nations brings disorder and, often, suffering; it can breed new ethnic and political conflict and repression of minorities. It can lead to more wars. Neither the United States nor any other country is wise, let alone powerful, enough to redirect other countries' internal affairs and offer anyone who wants it national self-determination.

America and the rest of the international community do have an obligation to the Kurds and other refugees in the wake of the Gulf War. Bordering nations that can offer them shelter should receive financial and other aid to help resettlement; nations that can take them in as immigrants should try to accommodate as many as practical. The United States should show leadership in making arrangements and helping the refugees.

Now that an official cease-fire is in the works, the way may be cleared for U.S. assistance to refugee-beset countries such as Turkey and Jordan. The New World Order must involve more than averting war and allaying political disorder. It should also mean increased concern for masses of people who get caught up in others' power struggles.

by CNB