Now, everyone is discussing what can and should be done to make use of this opportunity and avoid wasting yet another chance by learning a lesson from Turkey’s past experiences. “How can the Kurdish problem be resolved? How can the violence be ceased? These are crucial questions for Turkey,” says Yeni Şafak’s Ali Bayramoğlu, who thinks Turkey’s approaches toward this problem have all proven unsuccessful. “There is an official method that has been practiced for a while based on the acceptance of the Kurdish identity, but that relates this existence to the security issue. This method is based on the idea of differentiating between the Kurdistan Workers’ Party [PKK] and the Kurdish problem and ensuring the weakening of the political, military and grassroots power of the PKK. What about the result? It is obvious: failure,” says Bayramoğlu. Referring to a recent interview Milliyet daily columnist Hasan Cemal conducted with PKK commander Murat Karayılan in the Kandil Mountains, Bayramoğlu wrote the following in his column: “In all his statements, the number one man of the PKK means to say that if the Kurdish problem is to be resolved, this can only happen with the PKK. This discourse, which identifies the PKK with the Kurdish problem, is saying that excluding the PKK means there will be no solution to the Kurdish problem.” In the wake of Cemal’s interview, Bayramoğlu thinks there are lessons that should be learned: “Yes, journalists break taboos, and now it is time to debate, think and take action,” suggests Bayramoğlu.
Milliyet’s Fikret Bila also dwells on demands Karayılan made during his interview with Cemal and discusses whether it is realistic for Turkey to sit at a table with the PKK or the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) or a commission of wise men to be established and strike a bargain granting Kurds autonomy. According to Bila, this demand is very unrealistic and is far from Turkey’s promises to allow Kurds to enjoy their linguistic and cultural rights.
Akşam’s Hüsnü Mahalli points to silencing weapons as the first step toward a solution to the Kurdish problem. He suggests that the PKK should unconditionally extend the duration of its unilateral cease-fire until the end of the year and should never resort to armed violence. Likewise, he says the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK), by leaving aside all its traditional statements, may cease its military operations against the PKK in the Southeast and in northern Iraq. “At the end of this step, which will make a contribution to the development of mutual trust, a general amnesty issue may appear on the agenda for the PKK terrorists,” says Mahalli.
Bugün’s Ahmet Taşgetiren thinks the state is confused about what kind of approach it should develop regarding the solution of the Kurdish problem. “I still think that the state does not have a clear idea about what to do and how it will reach a solution by maintaining its ‘unitary structure,’ which is its red line. I call this a state of confusion,” says Taşgetiren.
