Comments on: PKK ends ceasefire

By: Frans Groenendijk

Frans Groenendijk — Thu, 11 Sep 2003 04:31:09 +0000

“As far as I can tell, the media hasn’t paid much attention to this story,”
But what stories ARE covered by traditional media in a thorough fair and balanced way?
Related to this issue: I was disappointed - to say the least- in the media-attention for what this and the previous Turkish government announced before Iraq was attacked. (if the Iraqee Kurds would make a move towards independence they openly threatened to occupy the North of Iraq.)
So strange too that the EU did not point out that this was a perfect example of what has to be changed before Turkey can join the EU.

By: Edward Hugh

Edward Hugh — Mon, 08 Sep 2003 17:39:19 +0000

Just a thought David.

I noticed the story, but it may be too early yet to really read the result. There may be a fair amount of brinkmanship going on here, since the Kurds on the other side of the border now feel safe and confident, and the PKK may feel Turkey is vulnerable, since there would be a lot of pressure from the EU and the US. I think we have to wait and see what happens.

Turkey is a bit like Spain emerging from the Franco years, and there will be pushing and shoving on both sides, just as there was here.

I don’t know if you noticed, but economically Turkey is looking quite good at the moment, and this has to put wind in the sails of the reformers. If you look at the demography, (here I go again) you will see Turkey is entering the ‘window of opportunity’ phase (as is Brazil). This may give grounds for optimism. But we still need to wait and see.

BTW Thanks for Blogrolling me. I’ve just returned the compliment.

By: Abiola Lapite

Abiola Lapite — Mon, 08 Sep 2003 02:21:54 +0000

Thank you for rephrasing that - no offense taken.

By: David Weman

David Weman — Sun, 07 Sep 2003 06:02:53 +0000

For the record, I have now altered the post in this fashion: I added “another (scandalously) underreported story” and substituted obvious for non-trivial.

By: David Weman

David Weman — Sun, 07 Sep 2003 05:56:20 +0000

Not trivial, but relatively unimportant for countries not in the neighbourhood, at least in the short run. When I say non-trivial, I don’t mean ‘not trivial’ but ‘the opposite of trivial.’

But it was extremely poor phrasing. I did not mean that the situation is unimportant, in fact I regard it more important than Iraq or Turkey, because of the immense human suffering.

I have railed several times on my blog about the lack of attention to Congo, which is why the comparison came to mind.

I thank you for bringing this to my attention.

By: Abiola Lapite

Abiola Lapite — Sun, 07 Sep 2003 05:32:42 +0000

And the Congo has “trivial” geopolitical ramifications?

Just because a conflict has no immediate bearing on your own parochial interests doesn’t make it “trivial”, Mr. Weman.