The great disappointment with the way unarmed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants came to surrender at the Habur border gate with Iraq was the first sign of dissatisfaction. The Turkish middle class and their media organs made a great fuss about the joy of those who surrendered upon the call of the government and the happiness of the thousands of people who came to greet them. They were happy to return home safe and the greeters were joyous to see the end of a quarter of a century war that would allow their kin to return home alive. But this was too much. They were expected to come in on their knees, repenting; they would be treated like prisoners and the revenge that was promised by the officials would be taken, at least symbolically. This was not the case. The process of pardoning those accused of being PKK accessories with no criminal record ended in sour feelings on both sides.This abrupt halt in the process of “bringing the terrorists down from the mountains” threw the Kurdish or democratic initiative off balance and into disarray. No one knows where we will go from here. It is in the midst of this uncertainty that news of attempts at lynching began to be heard in western towns like İzmir and Çanakkale. The Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) convoy in the first instance and a minor skirmish for a woman turned into demonstrations of hate against the Kurds.
I have always believed that Kurdish nationalism is the illegitimate child of Turkish nationalism. Failing to construct a legal citizenship disregarding race and religion, emphasizing Turkish ethnic identity as the basis of citizenship, the regime has created opposition to its official version of citizenship that is exclusive and punitive for the “others.” As the resistance to this exclusive official definition of citizenship and all the ensuing practice that favored the Turk over other citizens of the republic developed, first suspicion, later anxiety and lately hatred for the “resistant other” grew into a divisive movement. Now, more than the Kurds that were held accountable for divisive intentions, there are a growing number of Turks who want a life without the Kurds. These Turks want the “unfaithful” Kurds to leave the “home territory” that they believe to have been invaded in recent decades. This is a real danger for national unity.
Why do young middle class girls and boys arm themselves with stones and clubs to attack the Kurds living in their towns and districts? One explanation may be the rhetoric of the officials who have incessantly promised more blood for the fallen soldiers during their funeral ceremonies. None of them said anything about the reasons or how to end this fratricide except promising the “martyrs” blood will not remain on the ground, calling for even more bloodshed. Unfortunately, the mainstream media has not only repeated these statements but further roused national(ist) sentiments as well.
So peace, reconciliation, expanding the legal base of citizenship to include others and granting equality to those who are not ethnic Turks and Sunni Muslims (roughly one-third of the country’s population) is now perceived as defeat, surrender and dangerous compromise. The middle class ethnic Turks of urban origin feel that their grip on the system is waning and they have to share power and their usual lifestyle with the religious fundamentalists and uncouth peasants. They claim to be modern but they fall short of all modern values of democracy, basic rights and rule of law. In fact, they have lost their fervor as the modernizing force of society. Their basic instinct is to hold onto whatever is left of their former privileges as the leading class of the republic until the 1970s. Their behavior and anxiety against change resemble the German middle-class of the 1930s who were the main force behind the German National Socialist Party and its ideology. Otherwise how can we account for these reactionary outbursts observed in the western towns of Turkey and the newly discovered putschist groups in the armed forces.
According to the recent documents (fortunately) leaked from the headquarters of the General Staff, a group of naval officers would have planted explosives in a submarine in a museum to be detonated when the museum was most crowded with schoolchildren. The blame would be put on the religious AK Party and more obscurantist forces believed to be under its guardianship with the ill intention of setting up an Islamic government in Turkey. A heartless secular officialdom plotting against its own children and their civilian supporters fearing to lose the world they thought they owned should not be the destiny of this country. This intense fear of dissolution and dismantling of the republic has to be dissipated as soon as possible. The media has a great responsibility in this endeavor which it has so far missed.
