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The Kurdish dilemma
5.1.2010
By Bashdar Ismaeel,
a
longtime contributing writer for ekurd.net
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January 5, 2010
Two months can be a relatively long-time when it
comes to politics in Turkey. Only recently there was
widespread optimism and hope that Turkey was finally
intent on tackling its age-old Kurdish dilemma
head-on. However, hope quickly turned into despair
with the contentious decision to ban the Democratic
Society Party (DTP) by the Turkish Constitutional
Court for its alleged links to the PKK - a
separatist terrorist organisation - a claim that has
long reverberated in hawkish circles.
Big swing in Turkey
When Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
made an historic speech, widely referenced as the
“Kurdish Opening”, his vision was as courageous as
his boldness to pass momentous democratic measures
in Turkey against a backdrop of opposition.
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Bashdar Ismaeel, senior UK Editor |
The
plan itself took several more weeks to be unveiled
as widespread bickering, controversy and debate
gripped Turkey around the ground breaking measures
proposed.
While the steps finally unveiled fell short of
Kurdish expectations and was undoubtedly
watered-down under heavy criticism and pressure from
the Turkish opposition, it was nevertheless, for a
country that long denied even the existence of its
Kurdish population, an important step that was hoped
would finally bring unison and stability to the
southeast of Turkey.
DTP banned
The decision to ban the DTP in many ways has been
long-time coming. Almost as soon as the DTP became
the first Kurdish party in the Turkish parliament
for 14 years, the party found itself under pressure
from many who were intent on clipping the wings of a
growingly influential party in the much
disenfranchised Kurdish quarters.
Although the decision is bitterly disappointing
especially in light of the great deceleration affect
it has had on the Kurdish initiative, until mindsets
are greatly changed in Turkey such decisions are
unsurprising.
The closure of the party is the last in a line of 10
Kurdish parties to be closed down by Turkish
authorities. Under the orders of the prosecution, 37
party members including DTP leader Ahmet Turk have
been banned from politics for five years. The harsh
penal codes when it comes to preserving the
foundations of the Turkish republic has meant that
even the ruling AKP party has not been immune to the
viciousness of the Turkish constitutional courts.
Once sentiments had somewhat calmed, Ahmet Turk
strongly indicated that the remaining politicians
where the DTP held 21 seats in the 550-member
parliament, would form another group and remain in
parliament.
While the disillusionment of the politicians is
understandable, it is of paramount importance that
the Kurds remain on the democratic road. Regardless,
of whether another 10 pro-Kurdish parties are banned
in subsequent years, it remains very clear that the
only place that Kurdish issues can be solved is in
parliament and not in the mountains using military
force.
Who represents the Kurds?
Clearly, the PKK continues to have strong support
among the Kurds in Turkey. Although the DTP made
fundamental gains at the municipal elections earlier
this year, the PKK continues to be the common
denominator when it comes to any discussion around
the Kurdish issue.
While the DTP could have done more to take over the
new mantle as the chief representation of the Kurds
and distance itself emotively from the PKK, the PKK
cloud continued to linger in the DTP window. The PKK
trace is deep-rooted in the southeast,www.ekurd.netbecause
the Kurds have had no parliamentary representation
in successive decades and consequently a lack of
political alternatives to dilute the PKK influence.
Certainly for Turkey, the decision to ban the only
legal Kurdish body will have an adverse affect on
democracy in the region. Ironically, this position
places the PKK closer to the fore as the bastion of
Kurdish identity.
Years of bloodshed and billions of dollars of
expenditure has continually highlighted that without
addressing the root cause of the Kurdish struggle,
gulfs will continue to widen in Turkey.
While Erdogan’s guile stirred Kurdish optimism and
at least theoretically placed the long-term role of
the PKK in jeopardy, the decision to ban the DTP
once again leaves a feeling of despondency and a
lack of faith among the Kurds.
Furthermore, as it currently stands almost 2.5
million people have affectively lost their
representation. Unless this political gap can be
filled, then this will stir more bitterness and
disappointment.
This is not the first time, and many suspect not the
last, where Turkish rhetoric around resolving its
Kurdish dilemma has not been met with real intent or
concrete steps.
Opposition backlash
After much promise from the Turkish government,
there is a big feeling of Turkish backtracking over
the historic steps. The immense pressure from
nationalist circles in Turkey placed severe pressure
on the government and Turkish courts not to be seen
as weak or undermining the foundations of the
Turkish republic, which for many has almost mystical
importance.
The surrender of a small group of PKK guerrillas was
designed as a test of Turkish desire and it was
hoped that this would be the first of many.
However, the surrender was met with such
high-profile jubilation from Kurds that it almost
felt like a victory parade for the PKK and this has
proved a counter-productive step by the Kurds. It
yet again placed focus on the PKK as the real front
of the Kurdish initiative, which for the government
was embarrassing and emanated weakness in the face
of their arch enemy.
The intense media coverage this received placed a
devastating knock on Erdogan’s initiative. This was
a fundamental chance for the DTP who were key actors
in the historic surrender to firmly assume the
mantle as the chief interlocutors of the Kurdish
movement. However, in many regards the DTP failed to
truly out-strip the PKK shadow as the new champion
of the Kurdish movement.
Widespread riots in Kurdish cities over the prison
conditions of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan followed by
a number of high-profile clashes between the PKK and
the Turkish army only added fuel to a raging
opposition fire.
While Erdogan, who was strongly critical of the
decision to ban the DTP and vowed to press on with
his vision of reforms, became increasingly isolated
the Turkish government realised that changing
mindsets would be a much more difficult task than
they imagined.
In a twist of irony, not long ago Erdogan held a
number of meetings with Ahmet Turk regarding the
initiative which he hailed for its positive impact
and productive influence.
Pressure from the EU
The decision to band the DTP was met with
disappointment from the EU, which has placed the
enhancement of minority rights as a keystone of
Turkey’s bid to join the EU.
While this saga has served a significant blow, it
simply must not detract either Kurds or Turks from
reality. The future of Turkey relies on the
affective integration of the Kurdish population.
Decades of nationalistic polices have served neither
side and if Turkey harbours any glimmer of
aspirations to join the EU then this must come with
the realisation that this can only occur if the
Kurds and Turks enter the EU hand-in-hand.
The era of violence in any struggle is over. The
world is smaller and more transparent than ever
before. No nation can systemically deny another
unless the world turns a blind eye. Support for the
PKK remains strong but to reduce its popularity
among the Kurds Turkey must take more courageous
steps.
Just as it is difficult to sway Turkish nationalist
sentiments towards the Kurds, it will take just as
long to convince Kurds that the Turkish government
is sincere in finally embracing them as a
fundamental cog of the Turkish landscape.
With the DTP vowing to appeal to the European Court
of Human Rights (ECHR) against the ruling of the
Constitutional Court, this episode may just receive
the global spotlight that will put pressure on the
Turkish government to reenergise its
widely-highlighted goal of broadening Kurdish
rights.
Bashdar Pusho Ismaeel is a London-based freelance
writer and analyst,
a regular
contributing writer for ekurd.net website.
Ismaeel whose primary focus and
expertise is on the Kurds, Iraq and Middle Eastern
current affairs. The main focus of his writing is to
promote peace, justice and increase awareness of the
diversity, suffering and at times explosive mix in
Iraq and the Middle East.
Most recently he has produced work for the
Washington Examiner, Asian Times, The Epoch Times,
Asia News, The Daily Star (Lebanon), Kurdish Globe,
Hewler Post, Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), KurdishMedia, PUK Online and OnlineOpinion.
He has achieved seminar recommended readings for Le
High University (Pennsylvania) and Massachusetts
Institute of Technology. His work has been
republished extensively elsewhere on the Internet.
You may reach the author via email at: bashdar (at)
hotmail.com
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