First is the message US President Barack Obama gave during his address to the Turkish Parliament on April 6. In his speech, Obama had stressed the need for handling the Kurdish issue and improving relations with Armenia and the issue of reopening the Halki Seminary.It seems that the US is attaching special importance to the Kurdish issue. The fact that the US is pulling out from Iraq, the potential problems that the regional Kurdish government in northern Iraq might face and the possible role that Turkey may play as a strategic ally of the US are adding more urgency to the Kurdish issue. New developments have increased Turkey's role. At this point, it is vital to the US that no damage is done to northern Iraq. The US does not want the Kurds to develop feelings of being betrayed once again, and it is trying to make sure that a federation as its own political model is successfully implemented in Iraq. Concerning this point, the US believes Turkey may play a critical role. Turkey may protect the regional Kurdish government in northern Iraq and increase its political influence on Arabs so as to counterbalance the regional patronage of the Shiite population and Iran. While sorting out its business in the region, the US is shifting its focus to the Afghan and Pakistani zone.
The other factor is having realized that things will change in this process, Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan has declared that he would announce a roadmap for settlement and that he has been in touch with various columnists, authors, leading figures and nongovernmental organization via his lawyers within this framework. In a pre-emptive move, the state has launched an initiative and conducted various talks with similar figures. The method Öcalan is following in drawing up his roadmap is the same as the method the government is currently employing. It is as if the government and Öcalan are competing with each other to discredit one another's road map.
Now everyone wonders what sort of improvements the initiative will introduce in the settlement of the issue. It seems that the initiative will progress within the framework laid down by Chief of General Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ on April 14, 2009. Başbuğ is stressing the concepts of nation-state, the unitary structure of the state and individual freedoms, still under the influence of the official paradigm. However, we need a more comprehensive solution that goes beyond the established liberal or nationalist perspectives. This issue entails that we resort to another set of values, i.e., that of Islamic values. The intellectual and political basis that will help us settle this issue consists of the main Islamic resources and our historical experience. The state, the government, the PKK and the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) are miles away from these resources.
There are also difficulties other than those imposed by the paradigm: Even if, as the prime minister said, some partial improvements are made, we need a basic set of constitutional amendments. Currently, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) can make neither constitutional amendments nor a new constitution. The seats it commands in Parliament are not sufficient. Moreover, in the past, the Constitutional Court held that it committed an offense against secularism by amending Articles 10 and 42 of the Constitution and penalized it in this respect. We can expect no support from the Republican People's Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) concerning the constitutional amendments. The support from the DTP will not be sufficient, and even if it suffices, the Constitutional Court will still cancel those amendments. However, we should not ignore a small possibility: if this is a state project backed by the military, then the CHP might be forced to lend support, and in that case, even if the amendments are reviewed by the Constitutional Court, they will not be canceled. Whether this will be the case, we will see in the near future.
Even though a basic set of constitutional amendments cannot be made, some symbolic steps might be taken. These steps include reverting to local names, bringing the majority of the people in Makhmour camp in northern Iraq back to Turkey, the establishment of a Kurdology institute at Artuklu University in Mardin, the transformation of the Diyarbakır prison -- which is among the top five biggest torture houses in the world -- into an educational complex and possibly introducing Kurdish as an elective language course in schools. As a matter of fact, the prime minister says they do not intend to engage in difficult tasks such as amending the Constitution.
