The core of the initiative is concerned about speaking to the hearts and minds of Kurds. The government tried to speak to nongovernmental organizations run by Kurds, to the legitimately elected representatives of Kurds in the Turkish Parliament, to the northern Iraqi relatives of Turkey’s Kurds… All pointed, in one way or another, to the same direction: Öcalan.Members of the now-closed Democratic Society Party (DTP) were frank and open about their un-addressability and self-assumed unaccountability. The day they decided to resign from Parliament as a response to the closure of their party by the Constitutional Court, I asked my knowledgeable friends whether the members had a chance to receive directions from Öcalan or not. I was told that Öcalan’s advocates’ last visit to his cell took place two days before the court announced its decision and that he must have given his directions then. I was skeptical, and time proved me right. Time proved that the ex-DTP members were incapable of making decisions and standing behind those decisions in the face of Öcalan.
The Constitutional Court’s decision to close the DTP was wrong. The DTP members’ decision to resign from politics and go to the mountains was wrong. But both decisions were made and publicized. The minute Öcalan intervened in the process, the DTP members changed their decision and decided to continue with politics.
What does this decision say?
This says that the DTP is a mouthpiece for Öcalan and that members of the party -- now the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) -- are simply supplementary. They say only what they are allowed to say. Whenever their imprisoned leader intervenes in what they have already said, they change their discourse at the expense of consistency and addressability. This decision also says that Öcalan wants to keep his mouth in the heart of legitimate politics. He wants to be able to speak to the general public through the BDP and to be spoken to by government organs.
Let this not be misunderstood. The DTP members are not alone in saying Öcalan is the key to a final solution. Nongovernmental organizations operating in southeast Turkey were all mute when the government was looking for an opening. By not fully supporting the policies of the government and by not encouraging it to further its reforms, Kurdish civil society also pointed to Öcalan. By keeping silent, Kurdish intellectuals left the floor to one single voice: that of Öcalan. But those who spoke out and criticized the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the DTP are also not innocent. By not creating a legitimate, peace-loving, historically clean alternative to the DTP, they also left the Kurdish streets at the mercy of Öcalan.
The government does not want to speak to Öcalan directly, but no one else is ready to speak to the government. Those who showed a willingness to speak out were either Öcalan’s mouthpieces or, by not acting in line with their words, only underlined the claim that Öcalan is the only real partner that can deliver what he promises.
This is a clear paradox for both the Turkish government and for Kurdish politicians. I don’t have the answer here, but I know this much: Whereas the government cannot find a Kurdish partner to speak to, Öcalan is quite able to find people and institutions that are willing to speak in his name.
