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Turkey: Kurdish 'QUESTION' just won't go
away
10.1.2006
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Istanbul, 10 Jan. (AKI) - Whatever their ethnic
origin and religion, all citizens are Turks,
affirmed Turkish president Ahmet Necdet Sezer in his
2006 New Years Message, stepping into a heated
national identity debate.
The taboo question of Turkish identity has emerged
in recent months, as the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK)
resumed attacks after a 1999 unilateral ceasefire
and as Ankara faces tough scrutiny on human rights
in its EU membership bid. Since the PKK began its
battle against the Turkish state in 1984 some 35,000
people have been killed. Kurds make up 12-14 million
of Turkey's 70 million inhabitants.
Prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan triggered the
discussion over Turkey's official ‘one nation-state’
policy, following violent protests following an
attack on a bookstore in the southeastern town of
Semdinli on November 9. Several people were killed
in clashes between police and protesters. Three
Turkish security officials have been charged in
connection with the attack, thought to have targeted
the shop's owner, who is Kurd, allegedly linked to
the PKK.
Seeking to calm unrest in the Kurdish areas Erdogan
said: “All citizens of Turkey are united under the
primary identity of being a citizen of Turkish
Republic, however all Turks have sub-identities. No
one should be offended by this. A Kurd can say I am
a Kurd.”
His break with state orthodoxy - the rigorous
defence of the secular unified state as envisaged by
the country's founder Kemal Ataturk - received
enthusiastic applause from some in the European
Union and from a small group of intellectuals in
Turkey itself. But it unleashed a tide of anger and
criticism everywhere else.
Turkish nationalists were furious warning that any
redefinition of Turkish identity could lead to the
break up of the country. And even the main
opposition party, the social democratic Republican
People’s Party (CHP) through its leader, Deniz
Baykal said any redefinition of Turkish identity
might tear the country apart, like the former
Yugoslavia.
The powerful armed forces were predictably enraged.
Hursit Tolon, former First Army Commander General,
echoed soldiers reaction saying that Turkey doesn't
have a Kurdish problem and that proposing the
concept of sub-identity would serve the PKK.
The military wing of the National Security Council
at a year's end meeting said: “Redefinition of
identity is violation of the constitution.
Discussions like those harm the structure of the
state based on one nation.”
The same fears that Turkey might disintegrate are
being echoed in the media. Taha Akyol, columnist in
Milliyet wrote: “Ethnic differentations can lead to
bloody decomposition. We should develop cultural
pluralism while keeping one-nation state structure.”
However other commentators put the 'Kurdish
question' in different terms.
“Of course the constitution says all citizens of
Turkish state are Turks. But ‘Turk’ is also
ethnically the name of a race. Someone who does not
belong to this ethnic group may not be happy to be
called Turk.
The crucial point is to loyalty to the Republic of
Turkey. We denied Kurdish identity for 80 years but
this can not continue" said Ismet Berkan,
editor-in-chief of pro-EU left-wing Radikal.
But how Turks define who they are and what that
means for their large Kurdish population is no
longer a purely internal issue. After some tension
over Turkey's refusal to fully endorse the US-led
war on Iraq in 2003, and a refocusing of foreign
policy towards Europe, Ankara's axis with Washington
now seems to be being reinforced. Particularly as
Turks become increasingly aware of the reluctance of
some European nations to include them in the
25-member bloc.
On the EU side, the first flash point is Roj TV,
which still broadcasts in Denmark despite Ankara’s
insistence that it supports the PKK, which the EU
considers a terrorist organisation. The second is
Joost Lagendijk, the co-chairman of the EU-Turkey
joint parliamentary committee who is being probed by
an Istanbul court for recent comments. Lagendijk,
“The Turkish military wants clashes with PKK since
it makes the army feel powerful and important” he
allegedly said.
On the US side however, top officials of CIA and FBI
paid visits to Ankara last month. It is reported
that Ankara wanted the US to act militarily against
the PKK top ranks in northern Iraq. It wants help in
finding a military solution to the violence by the
guerrilla group.
The government of Ankara has made some moves towards
improving the rights of Kurds. Turkish media
watchdog ‘RTUK’ announced in December that private
television and radio stations will be able to start
broadcasting in Kurdish as of January. The state
broadcaster TRT started airing weekly half-hour
programmes in Kurdish dialects in 2004.
While giving the green light for broadcast in the
Kurdish language - something it had resisted for
decades - Ankara is still demanding that Denmark ban
the Kurdish satellite broadcaster Roj TV.
Turkey’s estimated 12-14 million-Kurds are not
regarded as minority under the country's
constitution. Under the 1923 Lausanne Treaty, Turkey
granted minority rights only to non-Muslims. The EU
is eager to have the Kurds classified as a minority
and see their demands for some autonomy addressed.
In June 2004, the PKK cancelled its ceasefire
declaration dating from 1999 when its leader
Abdullah Ocalan was captured in Kenya. According to
official government figures, since 2004 about 1000
members of PKK have infiltrated to Turkey from
Northern Iraq where PKK has allegedly set up its
base with about 3000 militants. From that time PKK
violence has gradually re-emerged in Turkey, with
nearly 200 soldiers and civilians killed over the
past year.
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