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Iraqi Kurds can also help Turkish stability
8.5.2007
By Ilnur Cevik |
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May 8, 2007
It is no secret that peace and stability of the
Kurdistan Region of Iraq is in the vital interests
of Turkey. But it is also a fact that the stability
and internal harmony of Turkey is also vital for our
Kurdish brothers and sisters living across the
border in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq.
Turkey is going through a stormy political period
after the presidential elections created a massive
secularist reaction that even brought in the Turkish
military with a threat to intervene. Now the dust is
settling down and with the prompt action of the
ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party the
country is going to early elections on July 22 to
defuse the political crisis and solve the dispute at
the polls.
These elections will be vital in shaping Turkey's
future. What happens in the elections especially in
southeastern Turkey will affect the overall outcome
of the polls. The AK Party wants to win as many
seats as possible to maintain its vast majority in
Parliament and thus retain its strength in the
Parliament with a solid majority.
I will be a tough election. The centrist parties the
Motherland Party founded by Turgut Ozal and the True
Path Party once led by Suleyman Demirel have merged
on Saturday to form the Democrat Party to challenge
AK Party in the polls. The strength of this party is
a mystery but it is a potential threat of AK Party
votes. The secularists are urging everyone to go to
the polls to increase the rate of participation in
the elections and reduce the chances of AK Party
winning an absolute majority.
This means every seat won throughout Turkey will
count and AK Party will be fighting a hard battle
for every possible seat… The votes in southeast
Turkey will be golden. The seats to be won from
southeast Turkey will also be golden.
We are aware that the Iraqi Kurdish leaders want the
AK Party to remain in power because they see that
all the other parties are highly negative towards
them. It is no secret that there are deep
misunderstandings and disinformation about the
Kurdistan Region of Iraq and the views and attitudes
of the Iraqi Kurdish leaders like Kurdistan region
president Massoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani.
Some recent statements from the Iraqi Kurdish region
have also deepened Turkish public mistrust…
Now is the time to make gestures that will make life
easier for the AK Party on the PKK issue and on
other issues like Kirkuk.
Unfortunately positive statements from Erbil are
hardly making an impact in Turkey, even ordinary
Turks expect some action.
There is also an impression among Turks that the
Iraqi Kurdish leaders, especially president Barzani
and Talabani, have some influence on the Kurdish
tribes in Turkey and thus can affect votes in
southeastern Turkey.
This view is strengthened as the senior officials of
the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) visit
the Kurdistan region and meet with leaders…
Whether the DTP will field serious candidates in
these elections or whether it will participate in
the polls with independent candidates will be vital
for an AK Party success in southeastern Turkey. If
the DTP enters the elections with independent
candidates they will win at least 20 to 30 seats. If
they participate as the DTP they will not be able to
pass the ten percent threshold (every party has to
win at least 10 percent of the national votes to be
able to win any seats in Parliament).
So now we need clarifications from the Kurdish
leaders on where they stand and what they want to
do.
What happens in Turkey and who runs the country is
as important for them as it is for us. They need a
government in Ankara that they can cooperate with
once the Iraqi oil law passes and they get their
hands on the oil resources of the north…
thenewanatolian com
** The use of the term "Kurdistan" is vigorously
rejected due to its alleged political implications
by the Republic of Turkey, which does not recognize
the existence of a "Turkish Kurdistan" Southeast
Turkey.
Others estimate over 40 million Kurds live in
Big Kurdistan (Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Iran, Armenia),
which covers an area as big as France, about half of
all Kurds which estimate to 20 million live in
Turkey.
Turkey is home to over 25 million ethnic Kurds, some
of whom openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK for a
Kurdish homeland in the country's mainly Kurdish
southeast of Turkey.
Before August 2002, the Turkish government placed
severe restrictions on the use of Kurdish language,
prohibiting the language in education and broadcast
media.
The Kurdish alphabet is still not recognized
in Turkey, and use of the Kurdish letters X, W, Q
which do not exist in the Turkish
alphabet has led to judicial persecution in 2000 and
2003
The Kurdish flag flown officially in Iraqi Kurdistan
but unofficially flown by Kurds in Armenia. The flag
is banned in Iran, Syria, and Turkey where flying it
is a criminal offence"
Southeastern Turkey:
North Kurdistan ( Kurdistan-Turkey)
wikipedia
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