Kurds + Turkey = Turkish Federal Republic?
New year for Turkish Kurds began not easy. In early January, a Turkish court sentenced forty Kurds. They were accused of membership in some kind of terrorist organization - the “city wing” of the Kurdistan Workers' Party - and sentenced to large prison terms: from six to seventeen years.
Despite the fact that the PKK imposed a moratorium on the conduct of hostilities in 2009, since then, several thousand Kurds have been arrested in Turkish territory. These are mainly politicians, lawyers, journalists - that is, those people who could be in the front ranks of supporters of Kurdish autonomy in Turkey.
You also need to know that over the past 15 months in Turkey in "partisan" battles died about xnumx people.
The filling of prisons with Kurds is a bad option for domestic politics, as it constantly exacerbates the national question. Prime Minister Erdogan cannot fail to understand this. Therefore, already a few days after the 40 conviction of the Kurds, it was reported that the Turkish government together with the imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan amounted to plan to end a protracted conflict. (During the conflict between Turkey and the PKK, which began in 1984, almost forty thousand people were killed.) According to the Turkish TV channel "T-Vi", a preliminary agreement on the termination of armed clashes was reached during the last round of talks with Mr. Ocalan back in March 2012
According to the latest plan, people from the PKK will lay down weapon in exchange for: 1) granting broader rights to the Kurdish minority; 2) the release of activists sent to prison; 3) enshrined in the new constitution of the country the principle of identity of the Kurdish nation.
It is also reported that representatives of the "Party of Peace and Democracy", which actively supports the Kurds, said: before negotiating for the cessation of hostilities, the Turkish authorities must release Ocalan.
As noted by Olga Haldyz ("Voice of Russia"), the leadership of Turkey for the first time in a long time the Kurdish conflict acknowledged the fact that the National Intelligence Organization was negotiating with Abdullah Ocalan. Earlier news on negotiations between government structures and the PKK leaked to the media from unofficial sources.
The fact is that the conservative segments of Turkish society are negatively related to any dialogue with the separatists. Many Turks simply consider armed Kurds as terrorists. The official “vector” of the Turkish government’s behavior in the Kurdish issue was to deny negotiations with the PKK.
However, in March 2012, a conflict resolution strategy was announced. The main role, as a negotiator, was to be played here by the Peace and Democracy Party represented in the Majlis. At the same time, participation in the Ocalan negotiations was rejected.
The negotiating alignment did not change by itself, but after 2012’s fall in the Turkish prison prisons went on a hunger strike, the objectives of which were: improving the conditions of Öcalan and demanding the expansion of Kurdish rights, including giving them the right to defend themselves in court language.
The hunger strike went on for 67 days and there were no casualties. Abdullah Ocalan put an end to her: he appealed to the protesters with a call to stop it.
Since then, the Turkish government has recognized the authority of Ocalan among the Kurds. And the co-chairman of the Party of Peace and Democracy, Selyattin Demirtas, lucidly explained that if the PKK leader is able to stop the hunger strike with one word, it means that he can also urge the PKK to stop the armed conflict.
However, this turned out to be an attempt to idealize the authority of Ocalan. As soon as the authorities thought about new negotiations, 110 of the PKK militants attacked the gendarmerie in the southeastern province of Hakkari. A representative of the Turkish armed forces perished, two soldiers were wounded. 14 separatists were killed. It became clear that Ocalan was not the only Kurdish leader.
In addition, Turkish Kurds are not the only Kurds in the region. There are still Kurds Iraqi, Iranian and Syrian. Among those who attacked (from Iraq) the gendarmerie, there were a large number of immigrants from Iran and Syria.
The Kurdish problem, we note, no longer has a local character; many Kurds are supporters of the "Great Kurdistan", and not at all autonomy within a separate state. The situation is influenced by the official and private approval of the independence of the Kurds, occasionally reaching out from the US (Galbraith, for example, considers the coming Kurdistan to be Washington’s most important ally). The actions of Bashar al-Assad in Syria also strengthened the position of the Kurds: in the north of Syria, Kurdish autonomy with the army was almost created. The Turkish PKK is in contact with the Syrian Kurds.
Against the background of these events, talks about Kurdish autonomy within the framework of the Turkish state sounded more pronounced in Turkey. Ocalan himself, judging by his statements to the press, is not a separatist, but a supporter of a peaceful transition to Kurdish autonomy. Again, words are one thing, and deeds are another. Nowadays, it is very difficult to believe words.
Nevertheless, today it is difficult to doubt the peaceful intentions of Ocalan, who is in prison. Another issue is that the negotiations are hindered by some "negative" forces. In addition to the attack on the gendarmerie, other attempts are being made to thwart negotiations with Ocalan.
On the night of January 10 in Paris, in the building of the Kurdish Institute, were discovered the bodies of three Kurdish activists shot in the head: Sakine Kansyz, one of the founders of the PKK, Fidan Dogan, representatives of the National Congress of Kurdistan in Brussels, and activists Leila Soylemez. The murder happened on January 9 day. Analysts write that the motive for the crime could be a desire either to destabilize the situation in France, where the large Kurdish diaspora (150 thousand people) lives, or to hinder the process of normalization of Turkish-Kurdish relations.
In Diyarbakir - a city in southeastern Turkey, where Kurds mostly live - more than half a thousand people out to a demonstration in protest against the murder in Paris of three activists of the Workers Party of Kurdistan. The Party of Peace and Democracy called for them to come to the demonstration.
“We are asking the French government to find the killers and give their names to the public.” Now we are experiencing an important period. The experience of past years has shown that every time peace negotiations began, such attacks and provocations always occurred, ”said the deputy of the Peace and Democracy Party, Sirri Sakik.
A representative of the ruling Justice and Development Party, Hussein Djelik, said earlier that “someone wants to thwart the ongoing direct talks with Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan.”
“Murder can be the result of internal hostility in the PKK. We will continue our fight against terrorism, and we want to make progress on this. But there are those who do not like our success. This provocation can come from them, ”said Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
According to him, triple murder is the work of someone from the circle of activists. Erdogan noted that the crime scene is inside the protected area: “The doors are closed from the inside and have combination locks. Not knowing the code can not get inside, and they (the victim) will not open the door to a stranger. " According to the Turkish Prime Minister, this reinforces the version of the involvement of members of the internal environment of the victims in the killings.
The Kurds themselves accuse killing the turkish government.
In the PKK statement, transmitted through the Firat news agency, the killings were condemned and it was said that they were “an attempt to undermine” the negotiations between the Turkish government and Ocalan. The representative of the PKK blamed the death "international forces" and some "hidden forces" in Turkey, and added: "The killings will not go unanswered."
As for the negotiations between the PKK and the Turkish government, Tulin Daloglu, a columnist Al-Monitor and foreign policy analyst (Ankara), does not believe Ocalan’s statements at all. I did not believe before - I do not believe today.
Yes, he writes, there is no doubt that we all want to see an end to the bloodshed, but I feel that the negotiating “work” is basically a show, a game, and its participants seem to pass the ball to each other, not going to score a goal at all. The author says with irony that he hopes to refute his opinion, and undertakes to explain his point of view.
According to the preliminary conditions, the Kurds will lay down their arms if Ocalan is kept not in prison, but under house arrest. In addition, a general amnesty is required for PKK militants.
In turn, the Kurds would have refused in this case from claims to create an independent Kurdistan, and even abandoned attempts to achieve "democratic autonomy." They would no longer try to change the centralized management system in Turkey to the federal one.
Almost 14 years ago, the author writes, when Öcalan was sentenced to life imprisonment, he suddenly declared in the courtroom that the PKK does not fight for the creation of an independent Kurdistan, but only advocates pluralism and political freedom and linguistic rights of the Kurdish people. He claimed that this was all he wanted.
I, the author of the article says, still remember that moment when I looked into the eyes of my foreign colleagues-journalists. They experienced the same bewilderment from Ocalan’s statement that I did. He claimed that he was able to inspire all these people to go to the mountains and start a war only to gain recognition of cultural rights. I did not believe then, and I do not believe it today, the journalist sums up.
Well, let's say, he continues, now Ocalan and his fighters only want this: to ensure their cultural and linguistic rights. Assuming that this is true, then what should Erdogan and Ocalan talk about? Is there already no corresponding policy in the country? Are opening the TRT 6 or Ses channels and Kurdish language courses not steps in the right direction? Of course, such efforts need to continue. Turkey is more democratic today than ten years ago, the author believes.
What is the Kurdish question all about? - the journalist asks himself. - Is it in a democracy?
No, Tulin Daloglu answers himself, the Kurdish question in Turkey really has nothing to do with democratic standards.
Like it or not, Kurdish nationalists want to get their own autonomous region. They want to manage their own Kurdish cities. Selahattin Demirtas, chairman of the “Party of Peace and Democracy,” stated that they “did not abandon their demands for autonomy” of Kurdistan.
Sinan Ulgen, Chairman of the Center for Economic and Foreign Policy Studies (EDAM) in Istanbul, believesthat the Turkish leadership is not at all confident that Ocalan will be able to persuade other leaders and PKK members to abandon the armed struggle. For his part, Ocalan must also doubt that the Turkish government is interested in more than the disarmament of the PKK.
In order to overcome this mutual distrust, the expert believes, a progressive “road map” must be developed at the talks: the more new measures are, the more trust is strengthened by previous measures. Each side takes a specific step, and only then proceeds to the next step. You should start with simple steps and then move on to more complicated ones.
For example, the first step of the Turkish government could be a judicial decision decriminalizing the non-terrorist political activities of the Kurds. This would lead to the release of several hundred Kurdish activists from prisons.
More complex and politically sensitive measures — the general disarmament of the PKK or the improvement of the conditions of Ocalan’s detention — can be resolved later.
Despite the fact that the PKK imposed a moratorium on the conduct of hostilities in 2009, since then, several thousand Kurds have been arrested in Turkish territory. These are mainly politicians, lawyers, journalists - that is, those people who could be in the front ranks of supporters of Kurdish autonomy in Turkey.
You also need to know that over the past 15 months in Turkey in "partisan" battles died about xnumx people.
The filling of prisons with Kurds is a bad option for domestic politics, as it constantly exacerbates the national question. Prime Minister Erdogan cannot fail to understand this. Therefore, already a few days after the 40 conviction of the Kurds, it was reported that the Turkish government together with the imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan amounted to plan to end a protracted conflict. (During the conflict between Turkey and the PKK, which began in 1984, almost forty thousand people were killed.) According to the Turkish TV channel "T-Vi", a preliminary agreement on the termination of armed clashes was reached during the last round of talks with Mr. Ocalan back in March 2012
According to the latest plan, people from the PKK will lay down weapon in exchange for: 1) granting broader rights to the Kurdish minority; 2) the release of activists sent to prison; 3) enshrined in the new constitution of the country the principle of identity of the Kurdish nation.
It is also reported that representatives of the "Party of Peace and Democracy", which actively supports the Kurds, said: before negotiating for the cessation of hostilities, the Turkish authorities must release Ocalan.
As noted by Olga Haldyz ("Voice of Russia"), the leadership of Turkey for the first time in a long time the Kurdish conflict acknowledged the fact that the National Intelligence Organization was negotiating with Abdullah Ocalan. Earlier news on negotiations between government structures and the PKK leaked to the media from unofficial sources.
The fact is that the conservative segments of Turkish society are negatively related to any dialogue with the separatists. Many Turks simply consider armed Kurds as terrorists. The official “vector” of the Turkish government’s behavior in the Kurdish issue was to deny negotiations with the PKK.
However, in March 2012, a conflict resolution strategy was announced. The main role, as a negotiator, was to be played here by the Peace and Democracy Party represented in the Majlis. At the same time, participation in the Ocalan negotiations was rejected.
The negotiating alignment did not change by itself, but after 2012’s fall in the Turkish prison prisons went on a hunger strike, the objectives of which were: improving the conditions of Öcalan and demanding the expansion of Kurdish rights, including giving them the right to defend themselves in court language.
The hunger strike went on for 67 days and there were no casualties. Abdullah Ocalan put an end to her: he appealed to the protesters with a call to stop it.
Since then, the Turkish government has recognized the authority of Ocalan among the Kurds. And the co-chairman of the Party of Peace and Democracy, Selyattin Demirtas, lucidly explained that if the PKK leader is able to stop the hunger strike with one word, it means that he can also urge the PKK to stop the armed conflict.
However, this turned out to be an attempt to idealize the authority of Ocalan. As soon as the authorities thought about new negotiations, 110 of the PKK militants attacked the gendarmerie in the southeastern province of Hakkari. A representative of the Turkish armed forces perished, two soldiers were wounded. 14 separatists were killed. It became clear that Ocalan was not the only Kurdish leader.
In addition, Turkish Kurds are not the only Kurds in the region. There are still Kurds Iraqi, Iranian and Syrian. Among those who attacked (from Iraq) the gendarmerie, there were a large number of immigrants from Iran and Syria.
The Kurdish problem, we note, no longer has a local character; many Kurds are supporters of the "Great Kurdistan", and not at all autonomy within a separate state. The situation is influenced by the official and private approval of the independence of the Kurds, occasionally reaching out from the US (Galbraith, for example, considers the coming Kurdistan to be Washington’s most important ally). The actions of Bashar al-Assad in Syria also strengthened the position of the Kurds: in the north of Syria, Kurdish autonomy with the army was almost created. The Turkish PKK is in contact with the Syrian Kurds.
Against the background of these events, talks about Kurdish autonomy within the framework of the Turkish state sounded more pronounced in Turkey. Ocalan himself, judging by his statements to the press, is not a separatist, but a supporter of a peaceful transition to Kurdish autonomy. Again, words are one thing, and deeds are another. Nowadays, it is very difficult to believe words.
Nevertheless, today it is difficult to doubt the peaceful intentions of Ocalan, who is in prison. Another issue is that the negotiations are hindered by some "negative" forces. In addition to the attack on the gendarmerie, other attempts are being made to thwart negotiations with Ocalan.
On the night of January 10 in Paris, in the building of the Kurdish Institute, were discovered the bodies of three Kurdish activists shot in the head: Sakine Kansyz, one of the founders of the PKK, Fidan Dogan, representatives of the National Congress of Kurdistan in Brussels, and activists Leila Soylemez. The murder happened on January 9 day. Analysts write that the motive for the crime could be a desire either to destabilize the situation in France, where the large Kurdish diaspora (150 thousand people) lives, or to hinder the process of normalization of Turkish-Kurdish relations.
In Diyarbakir - a city in southeastern Turkey, where Kurds mostly live - more than half a thousand people out to a demonstration in protest against the murder in Paris of three activists of the Workers Party of Kurdistan. The Party of Peace and Democracy called for them to come to the demonstration.
“We are asking the French government to find the killers and give their names to the public.” Now we are experiencing an important period. The experience of past years has shown that every time peace negotiations began, such attacks and provocations always occurred, ”said the deputy of the Peace and Democracy Party, Sirri Sakik.
A representative of the ruling Justice and Development Party, Hussein Djelik, said earlier that “someone wants to thwart the ongoing direct talks with Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan.”
“Murder can be the result of internal hostility in the PKK. We will continue our fight against terrorism, and we want to make progress on this. But there are those who do not like our success. This provocation can come from them, ”said Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
According to him, triple murder is the work of someone from the circle of activists. Erdogan noted that the crime scene is inside the protected area: “The doors are closed from the inside and have combination locks. Not knowing the code can not get inside, and they (the victim) will not open the door to a stranger. " According to the Turkish Prime Minister, this reinforces the version of the involvement of members of the internal environment of the victims in the killings.
The Kurds themselves accuse killing the turkish government.
In the PKK statement, transmitted through the Firat news agency, the killings were condemned and it was said that they were “an attempt to undermine” the negotiations between the Turkish government and Ocalan. The representative of the PKK blamed the death "international forces" and some "hidden forces" in Turkey, and added: "The killings will not go unanswered."
As for the negotiations between the PKK and the Turkish government, Tulin Daloglu, a columnist Al-Monitor and foreign policy analyst (Ankara), does not believe Ocalan’s statements at all. I did not believe before - I do not believe today.
Yes, he writes, there is no doubt that we all want to see an end to the bloodshed, but I feel that the negotiating “work” is basically a show, a game, and its participants seem to pass the ball to each other, not going to score a goal at all. The author says with irony that he hopes to refute his opinion, and undertakes to explain his point of view.
According to the preliminary conditions, the Kurds will lay down their arms if Ocalan is kept not in prison, but under house arrest. In addition, a general amnesty is required for PKK militants.
In turn, the Kurds would have refused in this case from claims to create an independent Kurdistan, and even abandoned attempts to achieve "democratic autonomy." They would no longer try to change the centralized management system in Turkey to the federal one.
Almost 14 years ago, the author writes, when Öcalan was sentenced to life imprisonment, he suddenly declared in the courtroom that the PKK does not fight for the creation of an independent Kurdistan, but only advocates pluralism and political freedom and linguistic rights of the Kurdish people. He claimed that this was all he wanted.
I, the author of the article says, still remember that moment when I looked into the eyes of my foreign colleagues-journalists. They experienced the same bewilderment from Ocalan’s statement that I did. He claimed that he was able to inspire all these people to go to the mountains and start a war only to gain recognition of cultural rights. I did not believe then, and I do not believe it today, the journalist sums up.
Well, let's say, he continues, now Ocalan and his fighters only want this: to ensure their cultural and linguistic rights. Assuming that this is true, then what should Erdogan and Ocalan talk about? Is there already no corresponding policy in the country? Are opening the TRT 6 or Ses channels and Kurdish language courses not steps in the right direction? Of course, such efforts need to continue. Turkey is more democratic today than ten years ago, the author believes.
What is the Kurdish question all about? - the journalist asks himself. - Is it in a democracy?
No, Tulin Daloglu answers himself, the Kurdish question in Turkey really has nothing to do with democratic standards.
Like it or not, Kurdish nationalists want to get their own autonomous region. They want to manage their own Kurdish cities. Selahattin Demirtas, chairman of the “Party of Peace and Democracy,” stated that they “did not abandon their demands for autonomy” of Kurdistan.
Sinan Ulgen, Chairman of the Center for Economic and Foreign Policy Studies (EDAM) in Istanbul, believesthat the Turkish leadership is not at all confident that Ocalan will be able to persuade other leaders and PKK members to abandon the armed struggle. For his part, Ocalan must also doubt that the Turkish government is interested in more than the disarmament of the PKK.
In order to overcome this mutual distrust, the expert believes, a progressive “road map” must be developed at the talks: the more new measures are, the more trust is strengthened by previous measures. Each side takes a specific step, and only then proceeds to the next step. You should start with simple steps and then move on to more complicated ones.
For example, the first step of the Turkish government could be a judicial decision decriminalizing the non-terrorist political activities of the Kurds. This would lead to the release of several hundred Kurdish activists from prisons.
More complex and politically sensitive measures — the general disarmament of the PKK or the improvement of the conditions of Ocalan’s detention — can be resolved later.
Observed and translated by Oleg Chuvakin
- especially for topwar.ru
- especially for topwar.ru
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