Quotes about Kurdish Rights

Les Aspin

Long-term, we must figure out a way that the Kurdish territory within Iraq operates with a certain amount of autonomy so that they feel comfortable and safe going back.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan

There is no Kurdish problem.

Osman Baydemir

I have had it up to here with the prosecutions, the government's attitude, the judiciary, the media's stance and the majority of Turks who view the Kurdish people's justified cause through a nationalist lens.

Luke Harding

Under the Assads, Kurds were forbidden from learning their own language at school, or even from speaking it in the military. The result is a generation of Syrian Kurds, many now in late middle age, who can't write their own language.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan

The Kurdish problem is not only the problem of one part of my nation: it is a problem of every one of us, including myself.

Massoud Barzani

Declaration of a state [Kurdistan] is the legitimate right of the Kurdish nation. This goal should be realized, but without resorting to violence.

The Kurdish People do not have a homeland of their own but are minorities of other states—mostly in Turkey and Iraq. There was a “Kurdistan” for a few years but it did not last do to major geopolitical forces. Whereas Barzani is opposed to violence, there are other Kurds who have resorted to vicious terrorism in their quest for a homeland. Kurds represent a wide range of opinion on the best way to create a stat of Kurdistan, but they were at the time, almost unanimous on their desire for independence and the belief in their moral right to have a homeland.

Timothy Noah

Whenever a Kurd wants to measure the depth of some foreign leader's commitment to Kurdish autonomy, he listens for one particular word. That word is 'federal.' Anyone who will say he favors Kurdish federalism can be counted a friend of the Kurds.

Kurdistan Workers Party

All candidates in Van and Hakkari (areas of Turkey) from CHP, MHP, DYP and AKP (political parties) must withdraw themselves and offer their support to Kurdish people. Our people must demonstrate their Kurdishness in the elections. ... Whoever continues the activities we mentioned here will be punished. Whoever damages our movement or our party will not be forgiven in any way. They should know that they are facing death.

This party has been outlawed in Turkey. The PKK has not only threatened Turks who might vote the “wrong way,” but they have killed thousands and are one of the most serious terrorist organizations in the world. Their objective is that the ethnic Kurds be given control over an area of Turkey adjacent to Iraq where they can form a Kurdish state by combining the ethnic Kurds from Turkey, Iraq, and Iran on land from all three nations. The goal of an independent Kurdistan is not unreasonable—the Kurds of Iraq already have an autonomous Province, but their methods have been so violent and repulsive that even those who historically believe the Kurds ought to have a homeland, would not want to reward such terrorists for their crimes.

Kurdish Rights Quotes