Sir, - I must commend you for drawing attention to the warlike activities of Turkey in your edition of October 24th. Turkey's murderous campaign against the Kurdish people for many decades now has been an outrage against humanity. A few months ago Saddam Hussein stood aside as the Turkish army pursued the Kurdish people over the Iraqi border, murdering men, women and children and sending thousands of refugees fleeing before them.
Now, as you report, Turkey has massed its army along the Syrian border to force the Syrian government to cease giving shelter and aid to the Kurdish refugees.
While I commend you for now raising this issue in your Editorial, I must question why you ignore it is your news reports. Where are your special reporters, and where are RTE's, in reporting this brutal war carried out by a country which is a highly regarded member of NATO, a great ally of the US and an applicant for membership of the European Union?
It has been responsible for more than 10 times the number of murders, rapes and various other human rights abuses over the last decade than have taken place in Kosovo. But of course the American-dominated NATO has instructed its allied European countries to ignore events in Turkey but to demonise the Serbian people and their leaders. Do you never wonder where the KLA (Kosovo Liberation Army) appeared from so suddenly, fully armed, with the most modern weaponry, in full uniforms, and with its every move and word covered by the television cameras? Well, start wondering now.
By the way, should we refuse to play soccer with Turkey if we were drawn against them? Your sports journalists should sort themselves out. If they want to make political decisions let them check out every country's human rights record. - Yours, etc., Tomas MacGiolla,
The Workers' Party,
St Laurence's Road,
Dublin 20.