NATO’s 75th anniversary

On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the founding of NATO on April 4, 1949, the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) would like to draw attention to the dark chapter in the history of the North Atlantic military alliance. “NATO’s important role as a shield against real threats has to be acknowledged, but the alliance’s history is not entirely glorious,” stated Dr. Kamal Sido, the STP’s Middle East Correspondent. “One of the darkest chapters is the unconditional support for Turkey – despite the human rights crimes against the Kurdish population. Further, NATO’s double standards became clear in the scope of Sweden’s accession negotiations, when the membership was bought through concessions to Turkey.”

Since Turkey’s accession in 1952, NATO has been partly responsible for the human rights abuses and war crimes the state committed against the Kurdish population and for the suppression of the Turkish democracy movement. “Turkey tried to instrumentalize NATO to wipe out the Kurdish language, culture, and identity. This was an attempted genocide against the Kurdish people in Turkey,” Sido said. In the 1980s and 1990s, the Turkish military had, according to current estimates, expelled at least three million Kurds, Assyrians and Arameans, Christians, Yazidis, and Alevis – under the pretext of fighting terrorism. Around 4,000 villages in Turkish Kurdistan were destroyed by the Turkish army and its mercenaries, and around 17,000 people were killed by so-called “unknown perpetrators”. In addition, entire areas from central Anatolia to the Zagros Mountains in eastern Kurdistan were deforested.

The Turkish government had, with NATO’s tacit approval, effectively installed an occupying force in the Kurdish regions of Turkey after the failed coup attempt in 2016.  The situation there is getting worse and worse: More and more Kurds are arrested, and there are bans on political parties and associations. In many places, mayors and councilors were replaced with officials from Ankara. According to the Kurdish community politician Abdullah Demirbaş, at least 15,000 Kurdish politicians are currently in jail in Turkey, and many more have left the country due to impending court proceedings.

“Since, 2018, Turkey has also been taking action against Kurds in Syria. With the occupation of Afrin and Ras al-Ain (Sare Kaniye), Turkey has clearly broken international law. Nevertheless, NATO did not react, thus betraying its values,” Sido criticized. According to estimates by the STP, around 1.5 million people were expelled from Northern Syria or were forced to flee. The situation of the people there is characterized by insecurity and violence: there is murder, looting, and rape. The aim is to rid these areas of the Kurds by systematically destroying their homeland. 

“The current chapter in NATO’s history is also characterized by anti-Kurdish measures. The inclusion of Sweden in the alliance occurred only after not only Sweden, but the entire NATO, had made concessions to Turkey – specifically against the Kurds, Sido explained.”