The Kurdish Question: Yes, No, Maybe
The Kurdish Question: Yes, No, Maybe
So according to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan "there is no Kurdish Question". There are, as he remarked in his latest speech, "problems my Kurdish brothers and sisters have". Problems which boil down to some kind of "rights" problems, although this does not amount to a "problem of discrimination". Because, as the Prime Minister keeps remarking, "We see no difference in our peoples, regardless of their origins and identities. We do not discriminate between Kurds and Laz. What matters is a single identity and to be a citizen of the Republic of Turkey".
And yet so much for the "Kurdish Question" non existence, it is indeed the Kurdish Question the central issue in this electoral campaign. And not only because the political arena is undoubtedly overwhelmed by the Kurdish people, wether we are talking about the Kurdish independent candidates to the 12 June general elections, of the civil disobedience initiatives, the democratic solution tents, the marches and rallies, the celebrations for the Kurdish language, and of course the war. The massacre taking place on the Kurdish mountains of young guerrillas, who - is always worth reminding it - after over a year of unilateral ceasefire have adopted a self defence position.
So the Kurdish Question not only does exists but it is everywhere. So much for the Prime Minister desperate attempt to deny it. Indeed the Kurdish Question is so much everywhere that one of the top man of Erdogan, Vice Prime Minister Bulent Arinç felt to admit the existence of a "Kurdish Question in Eastern Turkey". An admission all the more embarrassing, for it clearly puts the Prime Minister in a ridiculous position. What are the real motives behind Arinç's decision to distance (at least apparently) himself from the official ruling AKP (Justice and Democracy Party) line - No Kurdish Question - remain to be seen. But clearly it is a symptom of some kind of unease about the official line. And it might be as well a symptom of something more, as elections polls are not publicly told but privately we know they are being conducted. And clearly they speak of a success for the Labor, Democracy and Freedom Block candidates supported by the BDP (Peace and Democracy Party) and so much of the Kurdish population. So clearly somebody within the ruling party might be thinking that it's better to deal with the issue sooner rather than later.
So much so that even opposition party, the Kemalist CHP (Republican's People Party) seems to be moving from the nationalist orthodoxy it has been supporting up to now and proposed several democratic solutions to the Kurdish issue. Among them, only a few days ago, a call for greater local autonomy and school instruction in mother-tongue languages in accordance with European standards. As much cosmetic or "save the boat while you can" they might be, these proposals also underlined a difficulty with the continuous denial of the Kurdish Question existence.
CHP deputy leader Sezgin Tanrýkulu said the Kurdish problem could be solved within the unitary structure of Turkey by empowering local administrations with the full implementation of the European Local Administrations Autonomy Condition.
Tanrýkulu revealed the democratization targets of CHP in a meeting to a group of journalists in Istanbul. CHP has proposals for four main democratization issues in Turkey in its election statement, Tanrýkulu said.
“Turkey is one of the countries that has signed the European Local Administrations Autonomy Condition, however Turkey has attached annotation for seven of its articles. We want these annotations removed. If these annotations are removed, then there would be no question of democratic autonomy for the Kurdish people, the whole issue can be solved within the unitary structure of Turkey,” said Tanrýkulu.
Kurdish people know better that these kind of proposals are not worth the paper they are printed on but it is significant that the very issue the government and opposition so desperately wanted to avoid by denying it is indeed the core issue of this elections. And it will continue to haunt this campaign and far beyond it.
And yet so much for the "Kurdish Question" non existence, it is indeed the Kurdish Question the central issue in this electoral campaign. And not only because the political arena is undoubtedly overwhelmed by the Kurdish people, wether we are talking about the Kurdish independent candidates to the 12 June general elections, of the civil disobedience initiatives, the democratic solution tents, the marches and rallies, the celebrations for the Kurdish language, and of course the war. The massacre taking place on the Kurdish mountains of young guerrillas, who - is always worth reminding it - after over a year of unilateral ceasefire have adopted a self defence position.
So the Kurdish Question not only does exists but it is everywhere. So much for the Prime Minister desperate attempt to deny it. Indeed the Kurdish Question is so much everywhere that one of the top man of Erdogan, Vice Prime Minister Bulent Arinç felt to admit the existence of a "Kurdish Question in Eastern Turkey". An admission all the more embarrassing, for it clearly puts the Prime Minister in a ridiculous position. What are the real motives behind Arinç's decision to distance (at least apparently) himself from the official ruling AKP (Justice and Democracy Party) line - No Kurdish Question - remain to be seen. But clearly it is a symptom of some kind of unease about the official line. And it might be as well a symptom of something more, as elections polls are not publicly told but privately we know they are being conducted. And clearly they speak of a success for the Labor, Democracy and Freedom Block candidates supported by the BDP (Peace and Democracy Party) and so much of the Kurdish population. So clearly somebody within the ruling party might be thinking that it's better to deal with the issue sooner rather than later.
So much so that even opposition party, the Kemalist CHP (Republican's People Party) seems to be moving from the nationalist orthodoxy it has been supporting up to now and proposed several democratic solutions to the Kurdish issue. Among them, only a few days ago, a call for greater local autonomy and school instruction in mother-tongue languages in accordance with European standards. As much cosmetic or "save the boat while you can" they might be, these proposals also underlined a difficulty with the continuous denial of the Kurdish Question existence.
CHP deputy leader Sezgin Tanrýkulu said the Kurdish problem could be solved within the unitary structure of Turkey by empowering local administrations with the full implementation of the European Local Administrations Autonomy Condition.
Tanrýkulu revealed the democratization targets of CHP in a meeting to a group of journalists in Istanbul. CHP has proposals for four main democratization issues in Turkey in its election statement, Tanrýkulu said.
“Turkey is one of the countries that has signed the European Local Administrations Autonomy Condition, however Turkey has attached annotation for seven of its articles. We want these annotations removed. If these annotations are removed, then there would be no question of democratic autonomy for the Kurdish people, the whole issue can be solved within the unitary structure of Turkey,” said Tanrýkulu.
Kurdish people know better that these kind of proposals are not worth the paper they are printed on but it is significant that the very issue the government and opposition so desperately wanted to avoid by denying it is indeed the core issue of this elections. And it will continue to haunt this campaign and far beyond it.
