Indeed they cried in the past and they are still crying today. Tears today are the components of past pain. You made many mothers cry when you were establishing the republic, and blood is still being shed today because you did not turn round and look at them. There is still a bitter taste at our tables. Our inability to embrace each other and to speak the same language stems from the pain we’ve experienced in the past. You’re so blind and so deaf to society. You never had and I think you never will have a future to give or a garden to grow.I am perplexed as to whether I should start to loath or just keep quiet. But you cannot remain silent when someone is being killed. In the past when the elegant suits and exquisite hats of the republic were overwhelming the “locals,” the goal was advanced civilization. It is the same today. Those who speak about peace are accused of being “unprogressive.” But the progressive gentlemen, well, they were progressive even when they were switching Seyit Rıza’s splendid turban for a ready-made hat at the break of dawn.
Seyit Rıza, who was the leader of the Kurdish movement during the Dersim Rebellion in Turkey between 1937 and 1938, wanted nothing more than a piece of cloth with which he could cover his honor. “I will not die with my head uncovered,” he said. “if you are going to hang my son, hang him after you hang me.” That was the last wish of a proud father who did not want to see his son’s death. But they did not even hear that. The military squads in the background turned their attention to the locals, and the republic’s exemplary girl, Sabiha Gökçen, was behind the machine gun attacking Dersim from the air. This can be found in their archives. They know their crimes. But civilization is valuable, civilization is a big test. Yes, many mothers cried at Dersim. They have not stopped crying. Their pain continues.
Yet a party that is associated with people and the republic thinks it is politics to reopen the wounds of the public. When references are made to past pain, applause is heard. Continues. The republic is powerful and the future is bright. So what if there are deaths, let innocents pay the price. Continue with the struggle. Those who talk about national pride should make politics out of national wounds to be able to heal them, not to make them continue.
Those in the opposition do not have the strength or the heart to talk about a solution today. They are carrying out so-called opposition in the name of unity. Every word they utter suggests separation. They are carrying out so-called opposition in the name of the future. But their idea about the future entails nothing other than to continue the evil they’ve started. They give Dersim and Sheikh Sait as an example. Oh you heartless person, deaths led to more deaths because of the atrocity you describe as a struggle. Of course, I don’t expect anything good from those cold eyes. You are deprived of a politics that will reinforce your idea of unity which you hide behind. Old men are banging on their desks in Parliament. What they want to kill is Turkey’s future. The future in which there will be no blood shed between Turks and Kurds. From the lectern in Parliament they are defaming the pain of mothers. They are listening with the deaf ears of a person who has never felt the pain of losing a child. Perhaps their souls are not touched. They are adding poison to the clear waters of the future.
Looking at the situation in Parliament, the interior minister’s effort to have his shaky voice heard from the podium and Bülent Arınç’s statements from Diyarbakır seem much more humanitarian and sincere. For the first time ever, Turkey is trying to convert the authoritarianism which the republic saw fit for its people into a system that grants basic human rights. The policies of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) are actually bringing Turkey to the line that it should have reached a long time ago. Perhaps because our uncivilized civilization slept for too long, obscurantism swung above our head like Damocles’ sword. Of course, the losses were not counted during the ruckus, but neither has that been forgotten.
While the pains the republic caused for those who were not from itself are still so fresh in people’s mind, those who begin to speak need to think about what they are saying a thousand times. Referring to inhumane actions that were deemed appropriate for people in the past and criticizing actions that lead to what is humanitarian is immoral from any perspective you care to choose.
