The former not only means a historic move to start digging into the role of the top brass in political engineering by force, but also means a delivery of yet another severe blow to the culture of worship of militarism and cult of the army. The latter two, however, are the sources of increasing concern, forcing a mood change from optimism to the opposite.It becomes all the more clear that Turkey is in the process of tearing apart the straitjacket of tutelage; however, the more visible the process, the more explicit the role of possible actors who may or may not be helpful.
Ever since the beginning of the vital “Kurdish Initiative,” how the DTP’s leading cadres would define their position has been a key issue. After some positive signs in the initial phases and some public debate which had fed hopes that the DTP would gain from its inner diversity, the roadmap now is narrowed down to one single track: Abdullah Öcalan.
The last four weeks or so also marked a daring challenge from the DTP, which was demonstrated repeatedly in numerous manifestations, that Öcalan should be the exclusive “part” for negotiations. The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has been generously praised, too. At the same time, lobbying amongst the Westerners focused almost entirely on the prison conditions of Öcalan, the role of Öcalan and importance of Öcalan etc.
The process led the DTP into a mental cul-de-sac. It now appears as a party with one single mission: Amnesty for and release of Öcalan. It seems, too, that the diverse rhetoric from the top echelons of the DTP has disappeared, silencing even moderate and venerable figures such as the leader Ahmet Türk.
There is no reason to believe that the DTP has not known the “open secret” that Ankara deliberately, with regard to the practice of free speech, surpassed the limits of what is acceptable and often let praise of violence and armed struggle go away unpunished. All this was seen as part of the possible success for the initiative and therefore even the closure case has been delayed. The declaration on final phase of Constitutional Court deliberations means the patience in Ankara is running out. The hope has been that DTP will play a constructive role in ending decades of bloodshed and suppression.
Has the DTP chosen the “hard way”? It might have. The contact with EU circles, with focus on Öcalan, delivers this message: Either you are with us in our demands, or we will cause havoc. A pro-closure verdict by the top court will be most likely seen as strengthening the party’s support, and fueling the support for the armed struggle which it can not distance itself from.
Pushing the case in the wrong direction and abusing the role given to it by the voters, the DTP is now at crossroads, risking alienation from the EU and undermining Turkey’s path of reform and accession to the union. It is a choice of folly.
Nobody in today’s Turkey is really able to understand where this party, whose representation in Parliament is a great chance for a reconciliation long overdue, stands on the major issues of democratization; the moves in order to make the “untouchable” military accountable; the indictments filed against military officers of high rank for crimes of against humanity and summary executions, including large numbers of Kurds; the uncovered plots against non-Muslim minorities…
The DTP has had almost nothing to say about the those issues, it has not made its position clear on where it stands on Turkey’s struggle for more reform, freedom and rule of law. Its raison d’être are the “conditions” and “leadership” of Öcalan.
Instead of keeping the masses and youth out of the streets, instead of supporting the moves to make life better for its voters, the DTP has lately been in the lead in the escalation of violence. The crowds attack places chosen at random with stones and Molotov cocktails, provoking counter-violence, while Parliament prepares itself to pardon the stone-throwing children. By way of its actions the DTP shows observers with whom it wants to side.
There are two factors affecting Turkey’s vocation of reform, EU membership and solid democracy. The outside factor has been, for a long time, Cyprus. The inside factor emerges now as the party of grand disorientation: the DTP. Unless sound reasoning prevails, it will be powerfully instrumentalized by powers that do not want to see Turks inside the EU. Let us see how wisely realistic or irresponsibly adventurous the DTP’s figures will be as the clock ticks for the country they live in. In the archaic house of politics in Turkey, the folly is always at your doorstep.
