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KAYGISIZ, Turkey, July 7 (AFP) - When Mustafa
Kacmaz beat his rival in a 2003 race for mayor in
this remote Kurdish village in southeastern Turkey,
his strongest weapon was the blessing of family
elders.
The support of ageing and uneducated uncles may not
be a critical asset elsewhere, but in Kaygisiz,
where Kacmaz elders preside a 5,000-strong clan, it
is means 63 percent of the vote.
"Parties and ideologies do not mean much here," the
45-year-old mayor, who belongs to a small
center-right party, said in his shabby office.
"People listen to the word of their elders."
His story is common in the predominantly Kurdish
southeast, where a large part of the population
still lives in tribes or clans bound by economic and
kinship ties, representing a political force to
reckon with.
Eager to grab large chunks of votes, politicians
negotiate the support of tribal leaders ahead of
elections, promising services and jobs for the
impoverished region devastated by years of bloody
conflict between Kurdish rebels and the army.
Sporting a bushy mustache and an easy smile, Kacmaz
says the people know the favored candidate will
serve the community interests: his efforts have
resulted in the construction of a school, a health
center and a telephone network in Kaygisiz.
The stone and mudbrick houses of the village will
soon have running water and the earth roads will be
paved, he said.
Tribal influence has steered regional politics for
decades, but researchers say it is now on the wane
since the rebellion led by the Kurdistan Workers'
Party (PKK) since 1984 forced tens of thousands of
peasants into the cities, weakening patriarchal
traditions.
The PKK's Marxist-Leninist ideology and its call for
a national awakening also struck at the heart of the
feudal system -- in its early years, the PKK even
attacked tribal leaders as "government targets."
The change is visible in nearby Silvan, where Suna
Kepoglu, the local Kurdish agha, or chief, complains
that villagers are "blind" in their political
allegiences.
The Democratic People's Party, which campaigns for
Kurdish rights, has won the Silvan township in two
consecutive elections since 1999, beating the party
she favors.
Kepoglu says she may personally run in future polls,
counting on the respect she inherited from her
father, a former member of parliament, along with
his vast farmlands.
"The weight of his name is my advantage," she said,
surrounded by men at the ready to carry out her
orders.
With a stylish haircut and make-up, the 33-year-old
Kepoglu, a rare female agha, says she detests the
label of the oppressive and greedy feudal overlord.
She is donating land to the government to build
schools and health facilities, she explained, and
often uses her authority to convince peasants to
send their daughters to school.
The ramifications of PKK's campaign in the region
have pushed the clans into the battlefield as well.
Many communities have joined the "village guards", a
militia armed and paid by the government to fight
against the PKK -- a policy that has helped the army
in the rough, unfamiliar southeastern terrain, but
has often pitted neighbor against neighbor.
"Without us, the army would have suffered bigger
losses," said Cembeli Ege as his team of village
guards kept watch in a white stone shack on the road
from Silvan to the provincial capital, Diyarbakir.
All 70 men in Ege's Taspinar village are members of
the guard, their main source of livelihood.
The militia, however, have created new tensions,
using what critics describe as a climate of impunity
to commit a series of crimes, ranging from
intimidaton and murder of rival clan members to
drug-trafficking and rape.
The European Union, which Turkey is seeking to join,
is pressing Ankara to find a solution to the village
guard problem.
"We want peace," Ege said. "But we also want to keep
our jobs."
AFP
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