Matt Broomfield
When the guerrilla fighters of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) began their armed struggle back in 1984, the Cold War was in its death throes. Ronald Reagan was trying to roll back the Soviet “Evil Empire”, the USSR was chaotically transitioning toward Gorbachev, and the IRA had just narrowly failed to assassinate Margaret Thatcher.
Some of those Kurdish fighters have been in the mountains ever since, waging a seemingly endless campaign against Turkey. When they finally descended this week, to ceremonially destroy their weapons as part of a closely-watched disarmament process,
they brought a symbolic end to the Cold War era of armed campaigns for national liberation. In his first video appearance for over 25 years, jailed Kurdish figurehead Abdullah Öcalan announced: “The PKK movement and its national liberation strategy… has had its day… I believe not in arms, but in the power of politics.”
With their traditional Kurdish clothes and battered Kalashnikovs, the guerrilla fighters certainly seem a world away from the hair gel, wrap-around sunglasses and slick suits of the media scrum, spooks and politicos awaiting them at the foot of the mountain. Öcalan made his historic video appearance sporting a Lacoste polo shirt, prompting ordinary Kurds to rush out and buy up the brand.
The present day is strange, but also familiar. Some headlines from 1984 could have been written just a few weeks ago — try “Nuclear Tensions Peak as TV Star Turned US President Jokes About Dropping The Bomb”. And amid our century’s New Cold War, the Kurds are grappling with contemporary versions of some age-old questions.
When wars never really end but endlessly evolve into proxy and frozen conflicts, what does it actually mean to declare victory or defeat? And amid spiralling regional confrontations, what are the potential consequences of forging a pact with the devil, and allying with your own long-term oppressors?
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