Sociologist and writer Ismail Beşikçi, who is currently in Stockholm as the guest of the Kurdish Foundation in Sweden commented on the so-called democratization package Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced on Monday.

Beşikçi asked “What about the thousands of politicians who are being held behind bars in the KCK (Kurdistan Communities Union) case, how will they be able to do politics?”, directing his question to PM who defends that “Kurds should do politics in public instead of waging a war on mountains”. Beşikçi underlined the followings, once again addressing his remarks to Erdoğan; “You are still holding even the elected mayors and deputies in prison while you are defending the replacement of the war with politics. This is not paving the way for doing politics”.

Making a comparison between the Palestine and Kurdish issues, Beşikçi said that “Palestinians have one single enemy which is Israel. All Arab and Muslim countries are opponent of Israel. The situation is however different for Kurds and Armenians. Today Kurds are struggling in the middle of a hell, surrounded by enemies who are all trying to kill and destroy them”.

Remarking that Armenians are also in a similar situation, Beşikçi remarked that “But for the Bolsheviks in 1918, the Party of Union and Progress could have easily wiped the East Armenia off the map and history. East Armenia survived for being Bolshevik, just like the West Armenia”.

Beşikçi said the package did not meet the expectations, particularly those of Kurds and Assyrians, and added the followings; “These lands have witnessed genocide and exile. Assyrians were forced to migrate from Midyat (Mardin's district) during the last 30 years of war in the country. Their properties were seized by village guards whom the state presented Assyrians' properties and lands in order to encourage them to fight the guerrilla. Assyrian and Syriac peoples suffered a loss and seizure of their possessions. Guerrilla families and Kurds do also have similar problems”.