Turkey Blasts the Kurds

The US House resolution labeling the massacres of Armenians in Turkey as a genocide has been shelved indefinitely. At least we can take solace in the face that Turkey will show constraint in dealing with the Kurds in Northern Iraq. Right? Actually, Turkey is on its second day of bombing the rebels in Iraq, which, depending on your sources, includes bombing large areas of land in which villagers, not rebels, live. What does America have to say?

On Sunday, Ryan C. Crocker, the American ambassador in Baghdad, defended Turkey’s right to act against cross-border attacks, but urged against destabilizing Iraq.

Speaking at a meeting with reporters at the American Embassy in Baghdad before news emerged of the latest reported strikes, he said, “I think we have been clear on this: the P.K.K. is a terrorist organization, it has carried out a number of lethal actions inside Turkey from bases in Iraq, and the Turks clearly have the right to defend their country and their people.”

(from the NYTimes)

The militant group Hamas in Gaza has also been appealing to the idea of rights when indiscriminately firing rockets into Israeli cities. In this case, the "right to resistance."

So, what we can learn from today's paper, is that it doesn't matter whether we label a genocide a genocide or not, Turkey's going to attack because it's within its "rights" to do so. The notion of rights, then, can be manipulated by whichever side to justify any use of force. This doesn't seem right, does it?