No room for Kurds in AKP Election Manifesto
No room for Kurds in AKP Election Manifesto
156 pages, and certainly not a modest proposal. And indeed to emphasise the far reaching vision of its plan the Elections Manifesto of the ruling AKP (Justice and Development Party) has been called "Vision 2023". Not just a plan for the next term in government (assuming the AKP will be confirmed in power) but a series of proposals to accompany Turkey right to the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the Republic by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. No little ambition. And yet not once in these 156 pages the one biggest issue of the Turkish Republic is mentioned. Biggest because it has in itself many if not all of the problems today faced by the Republic: human rights, education rights, freedom of expression rights etc. The issue is of course the Kurdish Question. So much for the long sighted and far reaching vision of the AKP. The election Manifesto deals with many issues, ranging from economic to social ones. And yet the one issue without, as every political observer would note, none of the others could realistically be achieved is not even being addressed. Why the Kurdish Question is so crucial to the development of future Turkey is indeed obvious. And yet it has been ignored. And then the question rises as how a political party could really imagine its country to develop and prosper when a third of its citizens are simply condemned to live as second class citizens. How can Turkey really imagine to progress when a substantial amount of its budget is eaten up by the 'defence' needs, i.e. the needs to sustain a vast scale war. Which includes not just the military operations, but also an apparatus of repression (political and social, that is) functioning on a daily basis with the sole aim to annihilate political confrontation.
But here it is, "Vision 2023" is there for everyone to read. The AKP has set 23 goals for 2023, the first being the drafting of a new Constitution for "full democracy". How ironic, when the very first articles which should go in order to allow full democracy to replace the current "democracy for some" (or, as it looks like recently, "democracy for who we [AKP] want"), are there to stay. Denial of the existence of a pluralistic society is not going to be taken out the Constitution in so barring any possibility of real change. Indeed AKP is so determined on this that even simple suggestions to change the first 3 articles of the 1980 military junta Constitution, or at least to discuss about the possibility to modify them is dismissed with anger and violence. TUSIAD recent conference in which the industrialists association 'dared' to suggest that "indeed perhaps" the issue of changing these articles could be addressed is a fitting example when it comes to show how hard it is even to talk about certain issues.
Then of course the Kurdish Question means freedom of expression, freedom of the press, right to be taught in one's mother language… and these are clearly universal rights. Yet AKP did not feel the need to spare a word about one third of the country citizens. And therefore, by logic, about the basic rights of all of the citizens.
Instead the "lion role" is played by the economy goals. According to their projections, the AK Party’s targets for 2023 include $500 billion in exports, $2 trillion in national income, an income of $25,000 per capita, 15,000 kilometers of new railways and 500,000 new homes. Decreasing unemployment to 5 percent is among the most assertive pledges of the party. The ruling party projects that the population of the country will be 82 million as of 2023. All of these clearly without even an hint to the ongoing war waged against the Kurds.
Yes, to be fair, there are several plans regarding education. AKP plans to increase the number of universities to 250 and establish a university in every province. The rate of school-age children enrolled in primary and secondary schools will be increased to 100 percent and the length of compulsory education will be increased from 8 to 12 years. The AK Party manifesto says no citizens will be without health insurance as of 2023. Again, one wonders about these goals as the main basic right of being able to be taught in one owns language is not even taken into consideration.
Yet there would be new roads. AKP plans to double the 15,000 kilometers of double-lane roads constructed since 2002. The total length of divided roads will be increased to 32,000 kilometers by 2023. The total length of divided highways in Turkey was just 6,500 kilometers in 2003 and construction is currently under way to build an additional 5,000 kilometers. The Marmaray project, which will connect Ýstanbul’s Asian and European sides via an undersea commuter train line, and the Ýzmit Gulf Crossing Project, connecting Ýstanbul to Ýzmir, are also expected to be completed by 2015. A new port is expected be constructed in Mersin as of 2023. In addition to the new railway and high-speed train projects, the ruling party also plans to construct one of world’s biggest railway logistics centers in Erzurum. And finally, last but not least, the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP), the biggest public investment project in Turkey’s history, initiated to help develop Turkey’s Southeast (or to robbing it of its resources by destroying hundreds of important historical and cultural sites, if you want to put it in an other way), is also expected to be completed by 2015. AKP also plans to establish at least three nuclear power plants (when the whole world is pondering what to do after deadly Fukushima accident) and to increase the country’s income from tourism to $50 billion as of 2023.
But here it is, "Vision 2023" is there for everyone to read. The AKP has set 23 goals for 2023, the first being the drafting of a new Constitution for "full democracy". How ironic, when the very first articles which should go in order to allow full democracy to replace the current "democracy for some" (or, as it looks like recently, "democracy for who we [AKP] want"), are there to stay. Denial of the existence of a pluralistic society is not going to be taken out the Constitution in so barring any possibility of real change. Indeed AKP is so determined on this that even simple suggestions to change the first 3 articles of the 1980 military junta Constitution, or at least to discuss about the possibility to modify them is dismissed with anger and violence. TUSIAD recent conference in which the industrialists association 'dared' to suggest that "indeed perhaps" the issue of changing these articles could be addressed is a fitting example when it comes to show how hard it is even to talk about certain issues.
Then of course the Kurdish Question means freedom of expression, freedom of the press, right to be taught in one's mother language… and these are clearly universal rights. Yet AKP did not feel the need to spare a word about one third of the country citizens. And therefore, by logic, about the basic rights of all of the citizens.
Instead the "lion role" is played by the economy goals. According to their projections, the AK Party’s targets for 2023 include $500 billion in exports, $2 trillion in national income, an income of $25,000 per capita, 15,000 kilometers of new railways and 500,000 new homes. Decreasing unemployment to 5 percent is among the most assertive pledges of the party. The ruling party projects that the population of the country will be 82 million as of 2023. All of these clearly without even an hint to the ongoing war waged against the Kurds.
Yes, to be fair, there are several plans regarding education. AKP plans to increase the number of universities to 250 and establish a university in every province. The rate of school-age children enrolled in primary and secondary schools will be increased to 100 percent and the length of compulsory education will be increased from 8 to 12 years. The AK Party manifesto says no citizens will be without health insurance as of 2023. Again, one wonders about these goals as the main basic right of being able to be taught in one owns language is not even taken into consideration.
Yet there would be new roads. AKP plans to double the 15,000 kilometers of double-lane roads constructed since 2002. The total length of divided roads will be increased to 32,000 kilometers by 2023. The total length of divided highways in Turkey was just 6,500 kilometers in 2003 and construction is currently under way to build an additional 5,000 kilometers. The Marmaray project, which will connect Ýstanbul’s Asian and European sides via an undersea commuter train line, and the Ýzmit Gulf Crossing Project, connecting Ýstanbul to Ýzmir, are also expected to be completed by 2015. A new port is expected be constructed in Mersin as of 2023. In addition to the new railway and high-speed train projects, the ruling party also plans to construct one of world’s biggest railway logistics centers in Erzurum. And finally, last but not least, the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP), the biggest public investment project in Turkey’s history, initiated to help develop Turkey’s Southeast (or to robbing it of its resources by destroying hundreds of important historical and cultural sites, if you want to put it in an other way), is also expected to be completed by 2015. AKP also plans to establish at least three nuclear power plants (when the whole world is pondering what to do after deadly Fukushima accident) and to increase the country’s income from tourism to $50 billion as of 2023.
