Democracy by democrats

Yet when we hear the language, or better are subjected to the language, of the opposition, it is dry, poor and antagonistic. Their justifications are flimsy and far from being convincing. For example, the argument that “Kurdish education will fragment the country” is illogical. The country is already divided, and a bloody conflict is depleting the energy of the country. The Kurds are claiming that bans and restrictions on their culture are against human rights as well as a judicious form of government. If education in Kurdish is to wind down tensions, why then do a group of people who call themselves “nationalists” resist such a demand?

First of all, they are the victims of “national(ist) education,” just like the rest of the population, that hammered into the minds of the people that all peoples inhabiting Turkey are Turks and that their mutual language is Turkish. Everything else is perversion and dangerous to national unity. Secondly, they have fallen prey to the easy-to-accept conspiracy theory that being Kurdish is a fabrication of foreign powers and that demanding education in their native tongue is a plot to partition Turkey. What these people do not understand is that acknowledging the existence of Kurds and that they have a culture of their own including a language other than Turkish is not going to deprive us of our Turkishness. The use of Kurdish in public spaces is not going to shrink the power of Turkish just as praying and religious training in Arabic for centuries has not rid us of our Turkishness.

What is the problem, then? The problem is power politics. It is a matter of political sovereignty that does not emanate from the collective will of the people but rather from the majority that is ethnically Turkish. Within this context the dominant element resorted to two unsavory methods to create a homogeneous Turkish nation. It discouraged non-Muslim minorities to remain by deterrent economic measures, social discrimination and sometimes open coercion. Simultaneously it tried to assimilate Muslim minorities. Smaller and migrant Muslim communities like the Bosniacs, Pomaks, Circassians, etc., were successfully assimilated. But the autochthonous Kurds that numbered millions resisted an assimilation that reached the level of military campaigns and forced evictions. Of course, a lack of sufficient incentives such as education, public services, employment, welfare and enjoying the boons of a modern life, which could have all worked to facilitate integration, were never made available to them.

Now Kurds want equal rights, nothing more. However, Turkish nationalists and the bureaucracy that has planned and implemented discriminatory policies are resisting because their world, built on the dominance of an ethnic group and everything associated with it (laws, ranks and education), will disappear before their eyes. The tug-of-war is between rights and privileges. Rights are for every citizen; privileges are for the few.

Looking at this picture, one cannot help but notice the irony of a biased system that is built on the dominance of the Turk and has not provided democratic rights, basic freedoms, welfare and a level of development even to the Turks. Now Turkey has to be delivered to the people of Turkey.

It is obvious that the political system has to be rendered more popular and democratic in order to be more inclusive and participatory. However, it takes democrats to build a democracy. Before launching a democracy campaign, we have to build the foundations rights. The Political Parties Law that has so far created satrapies rather than popular and competitive organizations, equipping the leaders with unlimited power and unaccountability has to change. The Election Law, which was devised to leave out a Kurdish party by setting a 10 percent election threshold, has to be changed, also. The threshold must be reduced to a maximum of 5 percent. The judiciary must really be independent of other powers to be the guarantee of the rule of law. Finally, legislative immunity must be only limited to statements within Parliament, not to cover up and delay legal action for criminal offenses of members of Parliament. Today there are some members of Parliament who have dozens of legal cases ready to be activated on charges of corruption and similar offenses.