Turkey is a country that does not have even a single research institute or think tank that studies ethnic groups in Anatolia. Also, it does not have a single academic who conducts research on minority ethnic groups or diasporas in the country. This is because these topics were, until very recently, taboos for Turks. For this reason, Turkey lacks a strategy or a vision when it comes to this issue.The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has no taboos. The PKK has a strategy. The PKK acts in concert with shadowy forces that are unhappy with the country’s democratic transformation and seek to create political and economic chaos. Meanwhile, Turkey is keeping up its democratic initiative and improving its relations with the Kurdish regional government in northern Iraq. Interior Minister Beşir Atalay and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu have visited Arbil, and Turkey has opened a consulate general there. Turkish businessmen are very active in many areas in northern Iraq. In his capacity as the head of the Kurdish regional government in northern Iraq, Massoud Barzani has visited Ankara and İstanbul. The democratic initiative in the country and Turkey’s rapprochement with northern Iraq are abhorred by the PKK and the dark forces that want terrorism to continue. By stepping up its terrorist attacks, the PKK seeks to pit Turkey against northern Iraq. It is trying to ensure that a state of emergency is declared in Turkey’s Southeast. By provoking the Turkish army into conducting a cross-border operation into northern Iraq, it is attempting to disrupt Turkey’s relations with the Kurdish regional government in northern Iraq. In this way, it will become more influential in the Southeast and find an easy shelter in northern Iraq. Shadowy forces are using the PKK to prevent Turkey’s democratization. The PKK may create big gaps between Turks and Kurds as it seeks to build a Kurdish nation, and this is a big risk.
Turkey needs new strategies, not condemnations of terrorism done for show.
To prevent the alienation of Turks and Kurds, Turkey needs strategies that will enable it to understand its region. Turkey must devise new strategies based on efforts to establish multifaceted relations with its kin and relatives in Anatolia, the Black sea basin (the Balkans, Crimea, the Caucasus), Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa. Kurds must be part of this bigger picture. Kurds are one of the Turks’ closest relatives. Therefore, the process of moving away from coexistence and towards alienation must be stopped. To do this, democratic initiatives must not be disrupted and all ethnicities must be treated equally. However, the failure of Kurds in Turkey to mature their young and dynamic nationalist movements may lead to loss of social consensus, which may also be summed up as coexistence. Responsibility for Turkey also falls on the shoulders of Kurdish intellectuals.
