The Prime Minister gets coolish welcome in Kurdish cities
The Prime Minister gets coolish welcome in Kurdish cities
It was not the great show on support the Prime Minister was expecting. Siirt was the first stop in the electoral tour of Recep Tayyip Erdoðan in the Kurdish area. Furthermore Siirt was the city where Erdoðan had won a parliamentary seat in a by-election in November 2003. So as the Prime Minister pointed out he was expecting from the people of Siirt the "same support you have given before. I knew Siirt then, I know Siirt now", he said. In fact he actually showed not to know Siirt very well now. The crowd who went to hear the Prime Minister's speech was not as big as he might have expected. A few thousands people. It appeared clear from the little enthusiasm that the people of Siirt have chosen otherwise. They will not support Erdoðan this time. Indeed the Labor, Democracy and Freedom Block candidates are said to be well on the lead.
All in all, the speech by the Prime Minister on Thursday was nothing much than an appeal to people. "Vote for me and tourism will boost" sort of speech. Something few seemed to believe really. Erdoðan did not mention the problems of Siirt, high youth unemployment, to begin with. Indeed he preferred to blame the economic depression of the region on the activities by the PKK. But this also did not go down well with the people of Siirt who know only too well that the war is fought and wanted by the Turkish state. Furthermore the PKK has been in a position of self defence since last March.
Today the Prime Minister will be speaking in Kars and Van. In Van the "People's Initiatives" has called on people to get together to say no to Erdoðan.
Interestingly enough more and more establishment's papers are acknowledging the fact that "the Kurdish question continues to be Turkey’s number one problem", to quote a column in today's Hürriyet Daily News (Hürriyet's group). Semih Idiz in his column today underlined that "Matters are coming to a dangerous head today more than at any time. The fact that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan has changed sides and is now playing the ultra-nationalist card against the Kurds, ostensibly to undermine the ultra-nationalist Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, in order to ensure it remains under the 10 percent electoral threshold in the June 12 elections, seems to have aggravated the situation." Clearly everybody here is playing their own game. Unfortunately at the expenses of the Kurdish people. But it is nevertheless worth to underline the changing in the discourse in the main stream media as well.
The agenda is clear: undermine the AKP government not for the sake of democracy, but to support the opposition CHP (Republican People Party). And yet in his reasoning Idiz is pushed to ask: "How Erdoðan can stand up, in the face of what is actually happening, and claim that “Turkey’s Kurdish problem is over” is a mystery. He appears to be telling us that all the protests we see by the Kurds, the position that the BDP is taking in this respect, and the intense public debate about this issue represent something other than the Kurdish problem". The issue is that. The answers and the way to deal with the issue are many and different. But even columnist Hasan Cemal, who is known for supporting the AKP and also for his outspoken stance on issues like the Kurdish issue, is admitting that Erdoðan’s playing of the nationalist card to undermine the MHP has crossed a line.
The problem is precisely that: the line has been crossed. This is also why the elections on 12 June are going to be some kind of a watershed. After 12 June nothing will be like before, for bad or/and for good. It is in this context that the last remarks by Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan should be read.
War, or rather a worse war than the one going on now, is lurking. The Kurds have done and are continuing to do everything they could to prevent the war getting worse. The ball is now, more than ever on in the other camp. And time is running out.
All in all, the speech by the Prime Minister on Thursday was nothing much than an appeal to people. "Vote for me and tourism will boost" sort of speech. Something few seemed to believe really. Erdoðan did not mention the problems of Siirt, high youth unemployment, to begin with. Indeed he preferred to blame the economic depression of the region on the activities by the PKK. But this also did not go down well with the people of Siirt who know only too well that the war is fought and wanted by the Turkish state. Furthermore the PKK has been in a position of self defence since last March.
Today the Prime Minister will be speaking in Kars and Van. In Van the "People's Initiatives" has called on people to get together to say no to Erdoðan.
Interestingly enough more and more establishment's papers are acknowledging the fact that "the Kurdish question continues to be Turkey’s number one problem", to quote a column in today's Hürriyet Daily News (Hürriyet's group). Semih Idiz in his column today underlined that "Matters are coming to a dangerous head today more than at any time. The fact that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan has changed sides and is now playing the ultra-nationalist card against the Kurds, ostensibly to undermine the ultra-nationalist Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, in order to ensure it remains under the 10 percent electoral threshold in the June 12 elections, seems to have aggravated the situation." Clearly everybody here is playing their own game. Unfortunately at the expenses of the Kurdish people. But it is nevertheless worth to underline the changing in the discourse in the main stream media as well.
The agenda is clear: undermine the AKP government not for the sake of democracy, but to support the opposition CHP (Republican People Party). And yet in his reasoning Idiz is pushed to ask: "How Erdoðan can stand up, in the face of what is actually happening, and claim that “Turkey’s Kurdish problem is over” is a mystery. He appears to be telling us that all the protests we see by the Kurds, the position that the BDP is taking in this respect, and the intense public debate about this issue represent something other than the Kurdish problem". The issue is that. The answers and the way to deal with the issue are many and different. But even columnist Hasan Cemal, who is known for supporting the AKP and also for his outspoken stance on issues like the Kurdish issue, is admitting that Erdoðan’s playing of the nationalist card to undermine the MHP has crossed a line.
The problem is precisely that: the line has been crossed. This is also why the elections on 12 June are going to be some kind of a watershed. After 12 June nothing will be like before, for bad or/and for good. It is in this context that the last remarks by Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan should be read.
War, or rather a worse war than the one going on now, is lurking. The Kurds have done and are continuing to do everything they could to prevent the war getting worse. The ball is now, more than ever on in the other camp. And time is running out.
