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Who needs ideology?
24.8.2007
By Zvi Bar'el |
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August
24, 2007
ANKARA - At the northern, Turkish end of the
Habur border crossing between Turkey and Iraqi
Kurdistan region, Murad is rushing to collect the
new cell phones he had distributed to the drivers at
the Kurdish end. This is how it works: The cell
phones are imported from Turkey to Kurdistan at low
prices, without import duty, and then make their way
back into Turkey, where they are sold as used
phones, without packaging, at better prices. It's
another small and insignificant gain for
enterprising Kurdish merchants who live in the
neglected Kurdish section of eastern Turkey.
But these small business ventures aren't enough to
support the millions of Kurds in the area. Even the
taxi drivers' control over the business of getting
passengers from the Turkish side to the Kurdish side
in the town of Silopi - a few minutes' drive from
the border - does not provide enough of a living.
"Regular" Turkish drivers, even if they live in
other Kurdish towns, are not allowed to cross. This
is a livelihood unique to Silopi residents, since
the Turkish authorities allow people to cross the
border only in an authorized taxi; they are not
allowed in by foot. The Kurdish residents of Turkey
can find better employment in the onion fields near
Ankara, where thousands go at this time of year to
try to earn $10-$15 a day picking onions.
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Zvi Bar'el |
In these fields, in the blazingly hot weather of
Anatolia, the Kurds live in tents, without water or
sewage systems - and not all of them are assured
work. When the season picking ends, they will go
back home to spend the next few months without a
job, until the next season. Every year the story
repeats itself, except that this time the Kurds of
Turkey have new hope. They decided that they would
not run as a separate party in the July 22
parliamentary elections (which, as in previous
efforts, would probably mean that the party would
not surpass the 10 percent electoral threshold), but
would instead run as independent candidates.
That decision necessitated some ideological
concessions, since the candidates were not running
as a single political body on a collective platform.
However, the method seems to have succeeded: Twenty
Kurdish candidates won seats in parliament, enough
to establish a separate faction.
The Kurds are considered natural allies of Turkish
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling Justice
and Development Party (AKP), which has been working
over the past five years to improve the Kurds'
situation in the country, from developing a water
infrastructure in southeastern Turkey to giving
scholarships to thousands of female Kurdish
students. But while the Erdogan government has put
more effort into this goal than any other government
has, the AKP-Kurdish alliance is encumbered by
certain restrictions.
The religious ruling party wants to appoint Abdullah
Gul the next president, but the Turkish public and
the army fear for the secular character of the state
if both the prime minister and the president are
waving the flag of religion. This has made the AKP
realize that it must concede parts of its platform
and ideology for the sake of living peaceably with
the consensus. And living with the consensus means
not just concealing its religious agenda, but also
lowering its pro-Kurdish profile. That's because
Turkey's "Kurdish problem" is related not only to
the definition of nationalism, but is also seen as a
"terror problem," in a way that to some extent
mirrors how Israeli Arabs are seen by some Israeli
Jews. If the ruling party wants to live in peace
with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and win
its support in electing Gul president, it would do
better not to make waves with the Kurdish issue.
Indeed, when the Kurdish parliamentary faction asked
Gul to explicitly commit to improving the situation
of the Kurds and made specific demands on this
matter, Gul avoided making a detailed commitment.
The result was that this week, in the first of three
expected rounds of voting for the president, the
Kurdish lawmakers decided to remain in the plenum
but not to support Gul. While the decision was
little more than a symbolic protest, since Gul would
not have had enough votes even with Kurdish support,
the Kurds managed to show that they are disappointed
with the ruling party and that their vote is not so
easily obtained.
If the Kurds feel let down by the new government
(whose confirmation awaits the selection of the new
president) and the army is concerned about the
character of the state, the religious voters - who
are responsible for AKP's sweeping victory - are
even more disheartened. The Erdogan government has
not managed to advance a religious agenda, improve
the standing of graduates of religious schools,
change the regulation that prevents women from
covering their heads in public, or institute a more
religious curriculum in Turkish schools.
Run for cover
The question "Where is the Islam of Turkey?" was
raised over and over again in conversations with
government supporters in Ankara last week. "From the
beginning we made it clear that we're not a
religious party, but a socialist one," one
government activist said at a meeting in his Ankara
home.
"So what's with the argument over women covering
their heads?" someone else asked.
"It's a matter of democracy," the activist
responded. "Everyone in the country must be able to
wear whatever he or she wants. That's true
democracy."
"So, secular Turkey gives Islam a good name?" said
another guest.
Indeed, that appears to be the best conclusion for
the government, which has been forced to maneuver
between the army, the concerned secular public and
the disappointed religious public.
This conclusion is also expressed in Turkish foreign
policy, especially regarding the Middle East.
"Turkey supports the unity of Iraq," explained a
senior Turkish foreign ministry official. "The
Kurds, unfortunately, are pushing an ethnic agenda
and are sentimental in dealing with the Kirkuk
problem. The government in Iraq needs the
cooperation of all the ethnic groups, but no
minority should have the political power to decide
the conditions under which the state is
administered. In general, it's desirable that the
administration of Iraq will be in the hands of the
Arab majority, in other words, the Shi'ites and the
Sunnis."
This may be one of the most anti-Kurdish statements
that a Turkish government official has made to a
journalist. Although he was referring to the Kurds
of Iraq, his comments implicitly referred to the
Kurds of Turkey as well. The fear of an independent
Kurdish state is a main theme of the ruling party,
which sees no problem cooperating politically with
Iran and Syria - one being a very religious country,
and the other a very secular one - regarding Iraq
and the Middle East in general.
"Our foreign policy stems from domestic needs, from
Turkish interests, and not just from what is going
on in the region," said the Turkish foreign ministry
official. When asked about the government's Islamic
agenda, he merely smiled dismissively and said:
"Religion is not policy. We have excellent relations
with a Jewish state, a Shi'ite one, a Sunni one and
a Christian one like the United States. We also have
disagreements with these countries, and not based on
an interpretation of the Koran, the Bible or the New
Testament."
And how should Turkey's close relations with Hamas
or its support of Syria be understood? "There is
nothing here to diminish the principle I noted," the
official said. "We are against creating alliances of
confrontation and we are in favor of integrating
everyone. [Palestinian Authority Chairman] Mahmoud
Abbas can't run Palestine or establish a Palestinian
state without the participation of Hamas, and not
because Hamas is a party with a religious agenda. We
don't think that sanctions on Syria or Iran are
effective - they are liable to create an alliance of
opposition states, and that's bad for everyone."
No surprises are expected during the second round of
presidential elections in the parliament today. This
time, too, Gul needs a two-thirds majority - 367 out
of 550 votes - to win, but he is not expected to get
that many. However, in the third round, which will
be held next weekend, Gul will need only a simple
majority, and if there are no surprises, then he
will be the next Turkish president. As president, he
- along with Erdogan - will stick to the guideline
that Turkish policy has followed for the past five
years, that states that ideology, including
religious ideology, is a luxury. The national
interest comes first.
haaretz com
**
Kurds are not recognized as an official minority in
Turkey and are denied rights granted to other
minority groups. Under EU pressure, Turkey recently
granted Kurds limited rights for broadcasts and
education in the Kurdish language, but critics say
the measures do not go far enough.
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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