Washington Kurdish Institute
June 15, 2020
Soon after the brutal killing of George Floyd, many dictatorial regimes across the Middle East, including Iran and Turkey, loudly denounced the act. Yet the pretextual moral stand that these authoritarian governments took in this case remains in stark contrast to the extensive history and litany of behaviors of these regimes. Far from condemning state-sanctioned violence and murder of citizens, these governments have for years regularly engaged in these actions, especially against minority communities, such as the Kurds.
The Iranian government saw an opportunity in the killing of George Floyd to score a propaganda victory against the United States. It was an opportunity for Iran to not only denounce the U.S. government but to also smear life in America overall. Following condemnations from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the Foregin Ministry of Iran and its Minister Javad Zaref did not hesitate to follow in lashing out against the United States.
Yet these concerns regarding state violence, aggressive law enforcement, and disrespect for minority rights were purely pretextual by the Iranian government, whose true aim was to attack the image of a global rival. To better understand this, it’s helpful to remember the Iranian government’s record in recent years in response to protests, minority rights, and civil/human rights.
Over the span of four decades under dictatorship and persecution, the Iranian people from all walks of life have risen up against the government through nonviolent, peaceful protests. These protests often called on the Iranian regime to end its support for terrorist groups in the region (e.g., in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Yemen), and to spend more money and resources on improving the lives of the people of Iran. But the Iranian government only responded to these protests with violence and repression. For instance, between December 28, 2017 and January 6, 2018, some 21 Iranians were killed by regime forces and thousands of others jailed. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) have been at the forefront of this government-sanctioned violence against peaceful civilians who were merely demanding their basic human rights. In addition to mass detention of demonstrators, the Iranian government also began cutting communications, like internet connection, and resources off from areas where protests took place.In August of 2018 another wave of protests occurred, and were again met with not only violence but also government efforts to censor and limit reports on the number of casualties resulting from state-sanctioned violence. Yet more anti-regime protests continued, including ones initiated by Kurdish shop-owners engaging in coordinated strikes which lasted more than a week. The latest protests occurred in November 2019, lasting two weeks before extreme government-sponsored violence clamped down on peaceful demonstrators. During this clampdown the regime killed some 1,500 civilians, 400 of them women, in a span of less than two weeks. Such oppression continued during the COVID-19 pandemic, as security forces imprisoned coronavirus whistleblowers.
Such government initiated oppression has been long utilized by the Iranian regime, working to violently shut down any movement clamoring for freedom and human rights. For Iran’s Kurds, such violence was used against the population in the Iranian theocracy’s first wave of mass killings in 1979. Branded as a “holy war” against the Kurdish population, not only were many Kurdish people killed but numerous others were wrongfully and inhumanely imprisoned as well, simply for expressing their beliefs and pursuing their freedom and liberty. The Kurdish people have also suffered under extensive institutional racism and bigotry in Iranian society. For instance, with many of them living in poverty as a result of Iranian governmental policies, Kurds have taken up dangerous work as border porters (known as Kolbars) who work to transfer quasi-legal goods between Iran’s borders with Iraq and Turkey. These Kolbars are shot at, wounded, and killed on a daily basis. Since the beginning of 2020, the IRGC and Iranian border guards have killed some 26 Kolbars. This violence does not stay within Iran’s borders. It also extends into Iran’s neighbors, as the IRGC and its proxies have killed hundreds of demonstrators in Iraq last October as well as killing others in Syria and Lebanon.
Much of this is also true of the Turkish government, especially under the authoritarian rule of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). Like the Iranian regime, Turkey recognized in Floyd’s killing an opportunity to criticize and shame the United States. Yet at the same time the Erdogan regime has engaged in the same savage tactic used against Floyd, and worse, against Turkish civilians, especially religious and ethnic minorities. For example, the Turkish government has utilized killings, rapes, torture, and beatings against nonviolent civilians in Turkey. Under Erdogan’s rule, anti-government protests are forbidden. The only protests allowed are those whose message align with the AKP and Erdogan’s ideology. The Erdogan regime has jailed thousands of political opposition figures, including leaders like Selahattin Demirtas, who garnered millions of votes in recent elections. In addition, the government has pursued hundreds of frivolous court cases against academics and activists calling for peace through writing and publications — these were not even people out protesting the street but rather simply making their opinion known through the power of the pen. Since 2016, countless philanthropists, journalists, and activists have faced prison time, extortion, and displacement under the Turkish regime. In fact, Turkey is the top jailer of journalists in the world. There have been many Kurdish activists who have even been prosecuted over their social media posts. In one particularly brutal display of intimidation, the Erdogan regime sent the remains of a Kurdish rebel to his family through the mail. And Erdogan’s power and attacks against democratic institutions in Turkey has only grown, as he continues to expand his authoritarian powers and alter checks-and-balances in Turkey’s constitution.
It’s true that Black people and other racial and ethnic minority groups in the United States still face institutional racism and societal bigotry. But the cries of Turkey and Iran remain starkly insincere and opportunistic. Those governments practice and exercise a level of institutional bigotry, state violence, and human rights violations at grossly appalling levels. In Turkey and Iran there are countless George Floyds whose stories go untold, whose families continue to suffer, and who have yet to receive the justice that they and their loved ones deserve. While Iran and Turkey engage in this cheap media propaganda, authoritarianism in these countries continue to thrive, human rights continue to be violated, and the lives of countless ethnic and religious minorities continue to be brutally taken from them with no justice in sight.