This is where we are with the Kurdish issue. There is a new renewed optimism about the Kurdish issue. Even most pessimists seem to have a brighter view of things this time. The radicals on all sides are following the developments closely and waiting for more to happen. But the key question remains: will a lasting solution to the Kurdish issue be a win-win situation for everyone? Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan started a new initiative and instructed Interior Minister Beşir Atalay to prepare an action plan to find a lasting solution to the Kurdish problem. In his address to his party group, he even said, “This [Justice and Development Party (AK Party)] group will see this problem solved,” referring to the numerous failed attempts since Turgut Özal's efforts in the late 1980s.
The goal is to bring the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) fighters down from the mountains, bring an end to violence, disarm the PKK and expand the field of democratic rights for all citizens of Turkey, including the Kurds. This entails removing the main obstacles to the use of the Kurdish language and taking bold steps in other areas of democratization. The government is also planning to boost the economic development of the region by finishing the multi-billion dollar Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP), which will provide new jobs for the young generation in the Kurdish-populated areas. Last year, the government allocated $12 billion to GAP.
Will all of this be enough to create a win-win situation for all citizens of Turkey? We do not know yet if the Kurdish political leaders will be satisfied with the new package. They may ask for more and get less. The reason is that while trying to solve the Kurdish issue, Turkey may end up with a “Turkish problem.”
What is the Turkish problem? It is the rise of a new nationalism against the Kurdish initiative. This new nationalism does not have to have any of the colors of classical nationalism, no trace of Turkism, no shade of even political nationalism. Rather, it may have all the elements of an oppositional identity: the new Turkish identity versus the Kurds.
The initial reaction of Devlet Bahçeli, the leader of the Turkist Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), to the new Kurdish initiative already gives some signals. Bahçeli not only rejected the initiative but also threatened to take the fight back to the mountains themselves. He is implying that if the AK Party government and the Turkish military do not fight against the PKK, his party will do so, even if it means “going up to the mountains for 50 years.” His party officials later tried to “clarify” his statement, but the message is clear.
This threat is not to be taken lightly. Bahçeli's statement can easily become the voice of many in Turkey and a new anti-Kurdish Turkish identity may easily spread across the various social and political segments of Turkish society. We may end up with a deadlier Turkish problem while struggling with the Kurdish problem.
What can the AK Party government do? There is a lot the Erdoğan government can do, and it is already doing it. The action plan for a new democratization package is yet to be announced, but the government seems to be determined.
President Abdullah Gül and Prime Minister Erdoğan are among the most respected national leaders in Turkey. In many polls, Erdoğan emerges as the most “nationalist leader,” i.e., the most patriotic leader. Both Gül and Erdoğan have these credentials and will have to use their own personal cache to convince everyone of a win-win situation.
Much of Turkish nationalism is based on sentimentality; it is not a rational political philosophy but a powerful feeling of community, history and tradition. Both leaders will have to use Ottoman history as a model to soften the sharp edges of anti-Kurdish, anti-Arab and anti-Persian Turkish nationalism. If successful, this process will deeply transform Turkish nationalism and bring it back closer to its Ottoman roots.
It looks like an Ottoman model of national diversity will be the only model to create a win-win situation for everyone.
