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A Kurdish autonomous region in Turkey
Modeled on the autonomous region in Muslim Mindanao
(ARMM)
18.8.2010
By Dr. Aland Mizell
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August 18, 2010
“Turkey should allow the creation of local
legislatures apart from the national Parliament” and
should create several autonomous regions in Turkey,
such as autonomous Eastern and Central Black Sea
regions, as well as an autonomous region for the
Kurds. At the panel discussion in the eastern
province of Tunceli a couple of weeks ago,
Diyarbakir Mayor Osman Baydemir made this statement,
which included a proposal for this effect. Baydemir
strongly argued for an autonomous Kurdish region in
Turkey where the Turkish flag would fly next to the
Kurdish banner on all official buildings. However,
he got heavy criticism from some of the nationalists
such as Cemil Cicek, who accused Mayor Baydemir of
speaking nonsense. Probably behind closed doors the
ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) were
discussing the real solution to what Mayor Baydemir
proposed will be. In my view, since the AKP is a big
fan of the Ottoman Empire and since the Kurds were
semi-autonomous during the Ottoman Empire, the AKP
would do well to consider a semi-autonomous Kurdish
region.
I think Mayor Baydemir was frank in his proposal,
but that the AKP and other politicians would like to
see a realistic solution to the Kurdish problem.
Once Vaclav Havel, former president of the Czech
Republic insightfully argued, “Without free, self
respecting, and autonomous citizens there can be no
free and independent nations. Without internal
peace, that is, peace among citizens and between the
citizens and the state, there can be no guarantee of
external peace.” If Turkey wants to be the leader of
the Muslims and the Middle East and now competes for
this leadership with Iran, the Turkish government
must solve the Kurdish problem because Turkey’s
leadership depends on how it deals with its “Kurdish
question.” Thus, it is better to listen to what
Baydemir proposed-- a democratic autonomy. Turkey
will not solve the problem by sending the police to
the region, by empowering prosecutors, by putting
Kurdish leaders in jail, or by talking empty
politics, but rather it will resolve it by listening
to the Kurds.
Actually Mr. Cemil Cicek himself speaks nonsense and
has no clue what is going on in the world. Autonomy
and regional self-governance are part of the
political systems in all large, democratic
countries. What Mr. Cicek fails to understand, or
did not want to understand. is that Mayor Baydemir’s
analysis that conflict between the Kurds and the
Turkish government is based on a very long history
of the Turkish government’s refusing to listen to
the Kurdish people. However, Mr. Cicek and Prime
Minister Erdogan (the leader of the AKP party), if
you would really like to make any progress toward
change, you must show sincerity toward
reconciliation. When you have your meeting, you
should include the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy
Party (BDP) leaders because without their support,
you are not going to solve the problem. You should
not exclude them; you should talk to them, but not
leave out the BDP members in order to start mutual
truth-building.
After genuine talks begin, the AKP and other members
may use this time to consider seriously Mayor
Baydemir’s proposal and even the idea of the late
president Özal to create a statewide local
administration that is accountable to the central
authority and the local population by transferring
some power of the state policies to the hands of
local people. Kurds then will be able to work with
the Turkish government to show their full
citizenship, committing to the unity of the country;
engaging as good productive members of society; and
establishing social, economical and political
structures, so they can be members of the Turkish
community.
For example, the success of the Autonomous Region in
Muslim Mindanao results in part from clear lines for
the different levels of players in the Philippines
‘system. The ARMM region externally depends on
Manila, but internally they are autonomous. At the
top the government is in charge of defense, external
affairs, major taxes, etc. At the next level, the
state is responsible for administering public order,
agriculture, and education. The Philippines’
national government and ARMM government work
together on issues of economic and social planning
and higher education.
The Philippines’ ARMM has a population of more than
three million in the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao
Del Sur, Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi and the City of
Marawi. The ARMM region is headed by one regional
governor, one regional vice-governor, and
twenty-four representatives of the Regional
Legislative Assembly serving the eight districts’ of
the five provinces and one city of the region. In
the specific areas of autonomy, Muslims are to be
given the right establishing their own courts that
will implement the Islamic Law. Muslims are to be
represented in all courts, including the Supreme
Court. Furthermore, authorities of the ARMM region
have the right to set up schools, colleges,www.ekurd.netand
universities, as well their own administration
system in compliance with the objectives of the ARMM
region and its institutions. Being autonomous gives
opportunity for an ARMM arrangement with its own
administration of economic and social systems but
does mean that its inhabitants desire to be totally
independent from the Philippines. This kind of
system could be the model for Turkey.
In addition, the creation of the ARMM region was
quite a significant improvement for the political
settlements between the Muslims and the Philippine
government. This type of system would help both the
Kurds and the Turks to move toward a greater state
of Turkey. It is important to empower the Kurds with
recourse and abilities to fight for social,
political and economic issues in the region; it is
not enough just to say there is a power sharing
agreement in southeastern Turkey. Turkey has made
mistakes in the past in that it did not let the
Kurdish minorities have their voice in the decision
making process. That is why they have a trust
problem today and will continue to have one if
Ankara does not include the Kurds in the decision
making process. Is it poverty and a poor quality of
life that causes the Kurds to engage in violence or
do Kurds see secession as the best alternative to
promote their welfare? What would make the Kurdish
citizens feel a part of the country?
Plato once said that a tyrant is always stirring up
some war or other in order that the people may
require a leader. That is why today we see a sudden
increase of violence. The solution to the problem is
about rebuilding the relationship that has been
broken. The two entities need to determine common,
shared values and an understanding of a joint
future. If the government continues not to talk
about the BDP, continues to divide the Kurds into
bad Kurds and good Kurds, continues not to include
the elected Kurdish politicians in the decision
making process, continues to jail the Kurdish
politicians; if the destruction of the villages is
not addressed and compensated for by the government,
if extrajudicial killings have not been tackled,
then there will never be a peace process.
The Turkish government must discuss the past and
work through the injustices meaningfully so that
they can focus more on future building. Before doing
that, however, the government must acknowledge the
past mistakes, not just blame one party. The example
above shows that there is a greater good for the
Kurds and the Turks if the Turkish government takes
seriously Mayor Baydemir’s call for an autonomous
region for the Kurdish people. This will give a
sense of local ownership to the Kurdish people, and
then the voice of the Kurds will be with the Turkish
state. This kind of approach has been absent in the
Turkish government’s agenda for a long time.
Dr. Aland Mizell: aland_mizell1@hotmail.com
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