“Whether you call it a terror problem, a southeastern Anatolia problem or a Kurdish problem, this is the first question for Turkey. It has to be solved,” Gül said. Analysts say there are things both the state and the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) should do to solve this pressing problem, which has caused Turkey to undergo tremendous material and humanitarian losses. According to Milliyet’s Taha Akyol, President Gül’s remarks are more than a casual statement and are a turning point in the history of the Turkish Republic. He notes that the founders of the Turkish Republic were also aware of the fact that the biggest problem in Turkey was the Kurdish problem, but they avoided even mentioning it, and Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the nation’s founder, predicted that Kurdish nationalism would not emerge in the coming generations. “The founders of the republic believed that the Kurds would be Turkified in time, but this has not turned out to be the case. It has been seen that policies excluding Kurds and placing pressure on them since the 1930s have not been beneficial. To the contrary, they served as a ‘stimulant’ that has nourished Kurdish nationalism for years,” explains Akyol. In his view, the first thing that should be done toward a solution of the Kurdish problem is the PKK laying down arms. Akyol affirms that the state cannot end the PKK’s terrorism, but the PKK has hit a deadlock as well. In reference to the opposition of some Kurdish circles who think the state will forget a “solution” if the PKK lays down its arms, Akyol notes that Turkey made the most of its democratic initiatives, not during the 1990s when PKK terrorism reached its peak, but during the 2000s when the PKK announced a cease-fire. “The circumstances of the era necessitate democratic initiatives, and PKK terrorism is an obstacle in the way of this,” contends Akyol.
As a result of Gül’s remarks, Star’s Mehmet Metiner, a Kurd, thinks that the state has embraced a new approach regarding the Kurdish problem and believes that this problem should be resolved. Regarding the steps that the state should take to solve the Kurdish problem, he says the legal obstacles to the use of the Kurdish language should be removed and that Kurds should be able to practice their language and culture freely, and that these steps should be taken despite the PKK. In order to bring the PKK terrorists down from the mountains, Metiner says the state should give up the view that the engagement of Kurds in politics is a threat and that a reasonable amnesty law should be prepared for the PKK terrorists. “Those who want peace should begin by making a contribution to the formation of an environment for peace. If the opportunity for peace is missed this time again, we will all lose,” warns Metiner.
Akşam’s İsmail Küçükkaya, in the wake of a consensus among state bodies regarding the solution of the Kurdish problem, says the state’s new policies regarding the solution of the Kurdish problem will invalidate a thesis that has long been used by the supporters of the PKK suggesting that “the state policies do not leave for anything other than the use of violence.”
