No winners in Gulf war

Regarding the opinion-page column ``Picking up the pieces from the Gulf war: Lessons for Gulf states and the world,'' Sept. 15: The simplistic observation that Iraq should not be rewarded for gaining the upper hand in the conflict is ridiculous. No one has won this war. With millions of casualties and damages beyond belief, survival is the only question at hand. There is no need for the so-called Iraqi propaganda against Iran. Beginning with the taking of the American hostages, continuing with promotion of international terrorism and the eternal repression and suppression of the Iranian people, Ayatollah Khomeini has left a path of destruction that will take a long time to remedy.

If any party in this situation is to be constrained, it should be Khomeini's Islamic Republic, which has always threatened expansionism and promoted international terrorism while systematically killing its own people. J. Olivares Gaithersburg, Md.

Turkish taboo I was shocked to read the article ``Turkey anxious about presence of Iraqi Kurds,'' Sept. 12. It states that the ``Turkish press has criticized Iraq's `inhuman' behavior toward the Kurds'' and ignores the brave and strong side of the press which directed its attention to the problem in southeastern Turkey long ago and is currently discussing it vigorously.

Readers deserve to know that current Turkish laws forbid the discussion of the ``Kurdish problem.'' Some well-known Turkish intellectuals are before the court for having said what they thought - and the ruling party is very willing to apply these ambiguous laws wherever it can. This decades-old taboo is, in fact, an integral part of the general absence of freedom of speech and civil rights in Turkey. A struggle is going on in Turkey for more and more democracy and for the establishment of civil rights. As these goals are getting closer, taboos are weakening. Huseyin Basegmez Detroit

Applause for China The editorial ``China discovers inflation,'' Sept. 19, explains how hard it is to overcome a centralized government and obtain new, better economic policies. China is the first communist country to try to subdue state control and central planning, and thus will have to set a precedent for other restricted countries. Inflation is running rampant, along with other economic problems, an ineffective tax collection system, and official corruption. China should be applauded for the obstacles it is overcoming on the way to economic modernization. Jill Lovejoy West Lafayette, Ind.