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Turkey: Oh dear Mr Bekdil
22.8.2006
By Djene Bajalan
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Kurdistan-Iraq,
-- While it seems that the current crisis between
the Kurdistan Regional Government and the republic
of Turkey seems to have been resolved for the time
been, it seems that there are still those amongst
the Turkish media establishment who continue to push
a hawkish line.
However, one surprise, I found while scanning the
Turkish press, was an article by, Burak Bekdil, a
Turkish Daily News regular, entitled “This is how
Iraqi Kurds will finish off PKK”.
Now before going into the details of Burak article,
it might be useful to point out that our subject for
today is not your average “establishment”
journalist. Indeed, Mr Bekdil suffered the ire of
the Turkish state when, in 2001, he dared to
criticize the Turkish judicial system. I am glad to
say, that his story had a happy ending and Mr Bekdil
continues to write for Turkish Daily news in his
uniquely “witty” style.
Yet, while educated in the elite institutions of
Turkey and in the somewhat less elite institution of
Surry University in Britain, Bekdil still has a
touching faith in the goodness of the Turkish
military establishment. Indeed, the article which he
was brought up on charges for claimed that it was
not the generals in Turkey that where the
untouchable but the judges!
On the capture of Abdullah Ocalan 1999 in a
statement issued on behalf of the Turco-British
Fellowship Club, he described Ocalan as “a terrorist
with the blood of 30 thousands victims on his
hands.” Now, I am not going to defend Apo on this,
in the sense that certainly as a Stalinist
organisation it is sure that PKK were responsible
for many unsavoury acts during the armed conflict
that struck Turkish Kurdistan (sorry Mr. Bekdil I
mean South East Turkey), but the famed objectivity
which he is known for, seemed to go out the window
when addressing Turkey’s pressing Kurdish issue.
Certainly, the Turkish military and police must take
at least some responsibility for the bloodshed.
Yet, Bekdil seems only to blame Kurds for the mess,
as revealed in his latest article. Lampooning the
Iraqi Kurdish and US promises to deal with the PKK
he claims that “cooperating with Barzani on the PKK
is almost akin to cooperating with (PKK leaders)
Murat Karayılan and Cemil Bayık on the same issue.”
The unspoken conclusion seems to be; maybe I am
wrong, that only a Turkish military strike against
the PKK will solve the issue.
However, if that is so, why have the PKK not been
dealt with before? Throughout the 1980s the Turkish
army had the right of “hot pursuit “which allowed
them to chase PKK fighter into Iraq and again in the
1990s the Turkish army in cooperation with the
Peshmergah also battled with the PKK.
Yet, the PKK remains a force, and a threat to
Turkey. It seems strange that a “smart” guy like
Bekdil should not recognise this. The answer to this
paradox seems to be in his complete disregard of
Kurdish grievance in Turkey and his total distain
for the Iraqi Kurds.
In the first part of his article, a sarcastic joke,
implying that the Kurdistan Regional Government is
actually arming the PKK, he invents his own term for
the Kurdistan Regional Government calling it the
Iraqi Kurdish entity, which he even makes up cute
abbreviation for “IKE”. Perhaps he has
Kurdistanaphoia, yet nowadays one cannot hide behind
the fact that there is no “official” place called
Kurdistan. According to the Iraqi constitution there
is a region of Iraq called Kurdistan, yet
militarists like Bekdil still seem to be stuck in
the past.
Indeed, returning to his earlier point, he fails to
note the critical difference between Regional
President Barzani and Iraqi president Talabani for
the PKK leadership; this is that they have been
elected. But of course, to a militarist elections
are no substitute for the divine guidance of the
military.
The end of his article however, is even more
interesting.
He castigates Erdogan for admitting to mistakes in
handling the Kurdish question in Turkey. As he puts
it (and I quote at length) “There can be no
democratic solution to a conflict that essentially
has nothing to do with democracy or lack of
democracy. The PKK is only the tip of the iceberg in
Turkey’s “Kurdish problem.” PKK men may soon go back
to their caves on the mountains and violence may
subside.
But what, really, can Turkey do about its
multi-million Kurds who do not yet kill but
sympathize with their comrades who kill?” So it
seems when it comes down to it, it is the essential
violent nature of the Kurd that is the course of so
much death and destruction in the south east. I
don’t know, but in my book, that comment is somewhat
racist. Sure, one can criticise Barzani and
Talanbani for many things, one can criticise the
leadership of the Kurdish movement in Turkey as
well.
But as they say “it takes two to tango”. Terrorism
does not just come from outer space; it grows from
the seedbed of state mismanagement and domination.
Maybe, as way of advice, Mr Bekdil should try and
look at the issue more objectively. Maybe the PKK
issue needs more force to be applied, but it also
needs more democracy. The gap between discourse and
reality has to be closed in Turkey.
hewlerglobe net
The PKK launched its fight for independence or
autonomy for the mainly Kurdish-populated southeast
of Turkey.
Southeastern Turkey:
North Kurdistan (
Kurdistan-Turkey) wikipedia
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