Within the last two days, I and the more than 100 Turkish intellectuals who came to Arbil to attend the 18th Abant Platform Meeting, have heard this name so many times that it has started to become familiar. This is a name that Turkey recognizes by way of extension: We recognize the state of Iraq and the constitution of this state refers to a certain region of its dominion as Kurdistan. I am counting the number of Turkish intellectuals who start to pronounce this name without hesitation. It is growing.
Logic does have a geography. What is quite logical in Ankara seems quite illogical here. I used to laugh at the Greeks who were ready to recognize Macedonia but only with another name, and I have never realized that this might resemble what I was doing when I -- well, I was not an exception -- was referring to the Kurdistan regional government as the regional northern Iraqi government.
The Abant Platform opened my eyes.
The Abant Platform is unquestionably the strongest civil society organization in Turkey. It brings together intellectuals from different ideological positions, schools of thought and political lines. It is a platform par excellence. In such platforms, problems are not solved. Agendas and principles are set. The intellectuals who participate -- and even those who do not -- feel obliged to write about the issues discussed in these platforms, and the final statement of the platform is usually taken as a set of principles for further discussion by the participants of the meeting. For me, the greatest contribution of the platform is the simple fact that it brings that number of people together and provides the peaceful venue for a healthy discussion and networking.
I am a bit ashamed to confess that, but I had never been to Iraq before, let alone to Arbil. But I am not naïve about Kurds and the Kurdish culture. I have been to almost all the cities of our Southeast, and let me suggest that the Kurds of Kurdistan have a lot to learn from the Kurds of Turkey when it comes to cuisine and courtesy. But we have a lot to learn from the Kurds of this region also.
Here is what I learned in two days:
1. From the Kurds in the streets, I learned that Kurds care about non-Kurdish issues also. They are, to some extent, fed up with the fact that Turks speak to them -- and these are the peaceful ones -- only about Kurdish terrorists and the Kurdish problem. They want to speak about the global economic crisis, the Palestinian issue, the Davos incident … and, oh … particularly Ergenekon. (This might have a part of Kurdish problem in it, I know. But the reason why the Kurds of Kurdistan are interested in this issue is not the Kurdishness of the issue; it is because they care about the fate of the Justice and Development Party [AK Party].)
2. From the Turks that came with the delegation I learned that we all loved Kurds. We were looking for a chance to pronounce that love and incidentally that chance came on a St Valentine weekend. Professor Mümtaz'er Türköne's quotation from Kurdish-origin intellectual of Turkish nationalism Ziya Gökalp was enough to summarize the feelings of the delegation: "A Turk that doesn't love Kurds is not a Turk, and a Kurd that doesn't love Turks is not a Kurd."
3. From the first session of the program, I learned that in the minds of the Turkish participants the Kurdish issue is a part of a greater regional-global issue of identity-value-civilization perception whereas the sole Kurdish participant, Fred Eseserd, regards the Kurdish issue of Iraq as an Iraqi issue. Dr. İbrahim Kalın of SETA claimed that the world needed a new value-centered policy understanding instead of the existing interest-oriented one. "The artificial map of the Middle East is creating problems for the last century," he said. Ali Bulaç was even more critical of the established norms: "The name Middle East has to be revolted against. If you accept the naming of another, you accept to be dominated by the name-giver.
Turkey was named as the southern-flank of NATO in the past, and nowadays it is named as a bridge between East and West. Tell me, can such a country decide its own positions?" he asked, with obvious answers following.
The Abant Platform is a good and breathtaking teacher. I will continue to brief the lessons I took.
