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Turkish Kemalist military the key obstacle
to truce between the Kurds and state
31.8.2010
By Baqi Barzani, for ekurd.net |
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August 31, 2010
Like his predecessor, retired Gen. İlker Başbuğ, who
led the Turkish military between 2008 and 2010, the
newly appointed Chief of General Staff Gen. Işık
Koşaner, voiced his strong opposition to granting
autonomy to the Kurds in North Kurdistan ( Southeast
Turkey) , or dismounting any form of
decentralization plan in the country. In a transfer
of chain of command ceremony on August 9, in
nutshell, he stated his new mission as follows: No
building of a second governmental structure in
Turkey; seeking aid from the central Iraqi
government and the regional Kurdish administration
against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK;
blocking the support PKK receives from some European
states; and continuing to grant the Turkish Armed
Forces, or TSK, authorization to launch military
strikes in South Kurdistan (North of Iraq).
The secular Kemalist military in Turkey is the major
stumbling block to compromise between the Kurds and
the Turkish state. Turkish military, however, has
never acknowledged the existence of Kurdish question
in Turkey. It terms it “combating terrorism”. There
has been strong endorsement among the general public
for peace between the Kurds and Turkey. Some have
considered PKK’s cease-fire offer as a golden
opportunity to unravel the decade-old conflict
between PKK and the government, and called upon the
incumbent authorities to take the maximum advantage
of it.
Score of Turkish political leaders, analysts and
intellectuals strongly rebuff Turkish military’s
unfounded interference in the issue, and infer that
the Kurdish-Turkish dilemma can simply be resolved,
but purely through negotiations and dialogue.
“Military measures do not provide the solution. Had
wars solved problems, this problem wouldn’t have
continued,” said Barzani, the leader Kurdish
Regional Government during his talks with Turkish
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Foreign
Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu.
According to Hasip Kaplan, Şırnak deputy of the
pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party, or BDP, “The
General Staff resorting to military means will
create big trauma in relations between Kurds and
Turks,” he told the Turkish Daily News. “It is not
the army’s but the government’s duty to solve the
Kurdish problem.
Oral Çalışlar, a noted Turkish journalist and
writer, has said that the declaration of a
cease-fire by Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) should
be seen as an opportunity to solve the Kurdish
problem because circumstances are ripe for a
solution.
Even opposition nationalist leaders such as Kemal
Kılıçdaroğlu, the leader of Republican People’s
Party, or CHP, have shifted their stance, more
favoring seeking a peaceful solution to the Kurdish
dilemma, as well. “ Economic and social solutions,
not more military might, are the keys to solving the
Kurdish question and the country’s terror problem
“Thirty-five years of experience has shown that
terror cannot be solved with guns alone”, he
asserted.
Turkish military has long been recognized the
biggest setback before a solution through dialogue,
negotiations or politics. At present, some 6000
Kurdish detainees are serving term behind the bars
on false separatism and terrorism charges. The
brutal tactics employed by military has exceedingly
tarnished the state credibility. Through 1980’s to
1990s,www.ekurd.netthousands
of Kurds had been mass murdered in ethnic-cleansing
efforts committed by Turkish military. Last month,
“Der Spiegel”, a German weekly magazine, ran a piece
arguing that the Turkish military had exploited
chemical weapons against Kurdish PKK fighters.
PKK announced a cease-fire valid through the 20th of
September. In September 12, Turkey will hold a
critical referendum on government-sponsored
constitutional reforms proposed by the ruling
Justice and Development party (AK). All state
branches and political parties are heavily tied up,
striving to come up with a practical approach to
address the lingering vital issue. Any inimical
military meddling in the affair will mar the
opportunity to attain perpetual peace and stability.
During the 4th convention of The Democratic Society
Congress, or DTK, Ahmet Turk, a Co-Chair of the
party, stated “our congress stresses the fact that
Turkey can no longer be governed by the stringent
understanding of the central administration of the
last 80 years. The DTK believes that the
coordination of some local authorities with the
formation of local self-governments, which are to
give body to entire democratic structure in Turkey
with the consideration of social, cultural and
economic characteristics, will reinforce unity and
togetherness. ‘Democratic Turkey, Self-Governments’
is a demand for unity and togetherness.”
PKK was intent on promulgating democratic autonomy
in North Kurdistan (Southeast Turkey). Instead, it
shelved the plan pending the outcomes of referendum.
Myriad experts suggest that if Turkey does not grant
the Kurds some degree of autonomy, the country would
eventually envisage disintegration, as Gülten
Kışanak, the co-chairwoman of the Peace and
Democracy Party, or BDP, indicated in an interview
with the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review
“Turkey could face intensified ethnic conflict and
potential dissolution if it fails to take advantage
of current opportunities to resolve the Kurdish
question.”
Baqi Barzani is a
Kurdish citizen of Sought Kurdistan [Iraq]. He
advocates the notion of " establishing an
independent Kurdish state". He contributes to
various Kurdish media outlets, especially ekurd.net.
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