In this column, I’m going to attempt to summarize the views and evidence espoused by the northern Iraqi Kurdish intellectuals and journalists who participated in the same meeting on how they view Turkey and relations with Turkey.
In his presentation at the meeting, Mukriyan Foundation President Bakir Karim Mohamad Salih began his remarks by emphasizing that Kurds, just like Turks, Arabs and Iranians, were original, historic and settled regional elements, going on to note that despite many events throughout history and cruelty they encountered, Kurds had succeeded in preserving themselves. Drawing attention to the necessity for the peoples of the region to accept one another’s existence and live in peace, Salih noted the great influence of Turkey on Iraqi Kurds and said that because Kurdish intellectuals lived in İstanbul in the past, they had a close familiarity with Turkish literature and culture and it was the effect of this culture that led to the publishing of newspapers in northern Iraq in the 1920s. Lamenting that this cultural tie was broken toward the 1950s, Salih said that after this time, the sole source of information about the Turks and the Ottomans were textbooks and that these texts introduced the Turks and Ottomans as imperialist colonizers; he asserted that this had negatively affected approaches to Turkey.
Salih went on to say that anti-Turkey propaganda also bore an effect on Kurds during the era of Saddam Hussein and that the relationship between Turkey and the northern Iraqi regional Kurdish administration established in 1991 under the auspices of Operation Northern Watch had continual ups and downs. Until 2003, Turkey’s view of its region was always based on security, and despite the serious efforts of Iraqi Kurds to create stability in Iraq following the toppling of Saddam in 2003, Turkey had difficulty accepting the new state of the region, Salih said. He added that they had high hopes for the improvement of relations with Turkey when the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) came to power in 2002, but this was not realized to the extent that they had wanted.
Noting that there are around 620 press organs operating in northern Iraq today -- six of them daily newspapers -- Salih mentioned that these include not just publications and broadcasts in Kurdish, but also in Arabic, Turkish and English, and that this was not viewed as a threat but as a strength and a richness. Northern Iraqi media view Turkey as both a neighbor and a strong regional country, Salih said, noting that they were aware of Turkey’s rising influence on the Balkans, the Middle East and the Caucasus and had closely followed and commended Turkey’s “zero problems with neighbors” policy. Salih also noted that the widespread availability of high-quality Turkish products in northern Iraq and the investments made in the region by Turkish construction firms had contributed positively to Turkey’s image there, adding that the universities and schools run by Feza Educational Establishments in the region served as both an educational model for them and also contributed to the development of relations with Turkey. He also said that despite shows such as “Kurtlar Vadisi” creating negative images of Kurds, Turkish TV series nevertheless served to bring the two countries closer together. Noting that Turkey’s approach to Iraqi Kurdistan remains unclear, Salih said they still earnestly support Turkey in its moves that recognize the existence of Kurds, such as the establishment of TRT Şeş, education in Kurdish, the opening of Kurdish departments in universities and the government’s democratic initiative to solve the Kurdish problem. The recent closure of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) and the detention of some Kurdish politicians cast a shadow over the initiative process, Salih said, noting that occasionally anti-Turkish statements are also made in northern Iraqi Kurdish media, but most of the time these are reactions to Turkish policies.
Adalat Abdullah Mohammad, the chief columnist of the Vala journal, spoke of the roles that fell upon the Turkish media in changing the image of Kurds in Turkey, saying that the bad image developed from 1992 to the present necessitated friendship with the Turkish media. Contrary to the image portrayed in the Turkish media, northern Iraq -- Arbil in particular -- is one of the safest places in the world, Mohammad said. “We want to remember Turkey not as a country that issues threats of sending soldiers to northern Iraq, but as the country that in the late 1980s always received the peshmerga with open arms.”
Another speaker said that for the Kurds of northern Iraq, Turkey’s democratic initiative is received as good news rivaling other developments of value in their own region; yet another speaker said that the things they heard from Turkish intellectuals during the meeting would have been unimaginable a few years ago. The AK Party’s democratic initiative has been received positively in the region, the speaker said, emphasizing that they intended to adopt a positive and constructive stance vis-à-vis Turkey’s progress in every field.
Kurdistan Strategic Studies Center President Fareed Saber Qader said in his speech that it was meaningless to view northern Iraq as a threat to Turkey, noting that they view NATO member Turkey as a very powerful country. Turkey has rectified its relationships with all of its neighbors, and northern Iraq also wants to benefit from its share of this positive trend, Qader said. Kurds are in no position to give up on their rights or autonomy just because of opposition from Turkey or anybody else, Qader said, opining that they had the power to change Turkey’s thoughts on northern Iraq because these opinions were based in Turkish domestic politics more than anything else.
Writer Abubakir Ali Mohammad Amin said that the AK Party government’s efforts had created a new image -- despite harsh statements by the military and hawks -- and stated skeptically that the image of Turkey in their minds was still not completely formed. Amin also expressed concern that should the democratic initiative fail, there could be a return to the past. Kurds attribute importance to Turkey’s economic and political strength and want the country to enter the European Union, Amin said, noting that should Turkey progress further in its democratization process, the image of Turkey in the mind of northern Iraqi Kurds will be a beautiful one.
Xabat newspaper chief columnist Nazhad A. Kadir drew importance to the development of cultural and sports relations alongside political and economic ties. Faheem Abdolla Hamo, head of the Hani Establishment, noted that Turkey and Kurds have a recent history that cannot be considered positive, but said that it was time to leave the past behind and look to the future with hope. Aras Darwish said the feelings of oppression that Kurds have suffered for centuries are far deeper than the fear of division that Turks have suffered for the past 100 years, asserting that this paved the way for a fear of being wiped off the face of the earth and damaged relations.
Ultimately, the things said and explained during the meeting -- which I found wholly successful, sincere and courageous -- were far more than I have summarized here. Still, what I’ve aimed for in these past two columns is to ensure that this historic meeting not be confined to the meeting hall’s walls, but for it to reach out to a broader audience.
