Opposition ambivalent as gov’t rallies to solve Kurdish issue

In what appears to be uncharted territory, political parties, government leaders, civil society representatives and pundits have started to debate what Turkey could, and more importantly should, do to end the decades-long Kurdish problem.

While it became obvious that the government -- in coordination with all other state institutions including the powerful army, which is leading the charge against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) -- has been working for some time now on a comprehensive solution package to deal with all aspects of the Kurdish issue, opposition parties, including the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP), have either failed to offer their own solutions or have drawn blanks on substantial issues.

The government announced last week that it will take into consideration the views of different segments of society while developing its comprehensive plan, which will be based on democratization. While opposition parties have not developed a plan satisfying the current needs of the parties involved in the Kurdish issue, many civil society organizations, including business associations and unions, have ideas on the Kurdish issue and are ready to share them with the government. Interior Minister Beşir Atalay at a press conference on Wednesday stated that the government had begun to work on a Kurdish initiative that would be based on a model unique to the country's history and current conditions. He called on politicians, the media and civil society organizations to come and join this process.

“We are moving forward with views and contributions from others. We are also taking into account books, analyses and speeches on this issue. We are making use of these works. As we conducted this project, our target was to ensure the widest possible consensus on the issue. We expect contributions from all political parties. They will all be visited. We also think that the opposition's positive statements have been important. We will also talk to them. We will make an effort to hear opinions and secure the involvement of civil society organizations, academics, media representatives, journalists and writers. Everyone will embrace our efforts,” he said.

 But the main opposition party, the Republican People's Party (CHP), simply referred to an outdated report it prepared in 1989 when asked about the party's position on the Kurdish issue.

 “Since then, we have not prepared any reports, but you can refer to speeches of our leader [Deniz Baykal] and my two recent articles,” Algan Hacaloğlu, deputy chairman of the CHP, told Sunday's Zaman. Hacaloğlu was the main contributor to the 20-year-old report.

 The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) has many reports posted on its official Web site, offering the party's viewpoint on different subjects including corruption, Turkey-European Union relations, Cyprus and the economy, but does not have any positions posted concerning the “Kurdish question,” “southeastern and eastern Anatolia” or “terrorism.”

 “This subject is an imposition by foreign powers. They were using terrorism for different purposes in the past. Now they want to use the laying down of arms by terrorists for different purposes. The plan of the government is the disintegration of society,” Oktay Vural, deputy chairman of the MHP parliamentary group, told Sunday's Zaman.

MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli was quick to refuse to view or even to listen to the government's designated plan. He called the efforts treason. “These kinds of efforts are aiming to bring in political and legal legitimacy to ethnic separation,” he claimed in a written statement on Thursday.

 The track record of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) also shows good and bad points when it comes to addressing the complicated Kurdish issue, proving that high-ranking officials have not made up their minds yet and often contradicted themselves on many occasions.

 Speaking in Hakkari in 2008, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said: “One nation, one flag, one motherland and one state. Some people are opposed to this. Those who oppose this should leave.” But the prime minister and his party have made other statements, including a famous speech in Diyarbakır in 2005 in which he acknowledged that the Turkish state had made mistakes regarding Kurds and the Kurdish issue and now was the time for the country to confront its disturbing past. In the same speech, Erdoğan tried to articulate a new concept of national identity for a multi-ethnic and multi-religious Turkey. 

 The pro-Kurdish DTP, by its very nature, stands to be the best prepared to offer solutions to the issue. The main parameters were outlined in a report titled “The Democratic Autonomy Project.” It basically suggests strengthening local administration and establishing local assemblies, which would be allowed to function in the mother tongues of the regions.

 However, critics of the report find some of these proposals unacceptable. They point out that the DTP is referring to the outlawed PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization, and its jailed leader, Abdullah Öcalan, as producers of the solution concerning the Kurdish problem. The Democratic Autonomy Project was originally developed by Öcalan.

 But civil society organizations, including business associations, have frequently shared their reports and suggestions with the public despite harsh criticism. For example, in the year 2001, the Turkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association (TÜSİAD) published a report suggesting the recognition of cultural rights including education in a person's mother tongue and the removal of obstacles to democratization, including amendments to the Political Parties Law and Election Law. This report, like many other reports on the Kurdish question by civil society organizations, sparked many reactions.

 “Anyone who touches this issue was somehow tainted by the state in the past. Since the mainstream political parties of Turkey knew that very well, they were quite hesitant to bring their own suggestions,” former Diyarbakır Bar Association Chairman Sezgin Tanrıkulu told Sunday's Zaman. He lamented that after a quarter century of the Kurdish problem being an inescapable part of daily life, opposition parties still do not have concrete solutions to the problem.

 “Opposition parties are still telling the government, ‘Bring your plan, then we will disclose our view.' This is pitiful. Political parties should have had their own comprehensive reports on the subject for a while,” he said.

 Yılmaz Ensaroğlu, a human rights activist, assigns the blame partly to the Constitution, which was prepared by the military after the 1980 coup. “The Constitution does not give enough space to political parties to produce ideas,” he said. “Even if they have some ideas, they do not have the people to implement them. Even if they have the people, they are not able to cross the boundaries drawn by the state. The parties who attempted to do so were closed down,” he added. 

Kurdish language and other cultural rights

Since the beginning of this year, the state run TRT 6 station has been broadcasting in Kurdish 24 hours a day, but restrictions on private channels broadcasting in Kurdish still exist. Private Kurdish language courses are allowed. Recently, the government issued new regulations that allowed inmates in prisons to converse with their relatives in Kurdish. In the past, conversations in other languages were banned even if the prisoner or relative did not speak Turkish.

 Government: It is expected that the government, within the framework of its Kurdish initiative, will remove the obstacles to using Kurdish in private broadcasting. Though the prime minister in the past said education in Kurdish was out of the question, the new initiative might envisage elective Kurdish courses in public schools in the long run. The appointment of Kurdish-speaking civil servants, especially ones who would be working in the health industry in predominantly Kurdish areas, might be on the horizon as well.

 Restoring the original Kurdish geographical place names and settlements if the residents vote to do so is also on the agenda. It is anticipated that sermons in Kurdish will be allowed in mosques.

 CHP: CHP leader Deniz Baykal in a speech in May suggested that private stations broadcasting in Kurdish could be subsidized by the state and Kurdish citizens who do not know Turkish could submit petitions in Kurdish but this right should not be abused. In the same speech, he underlined that civil servants who work in predominantly Kurdish areas could be chosen from among Kurdish speakers. But earlier, he strongly underlined that he was against education in Kurdish but not against teaching mother tongues.

 MHP: MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli in a written statement on Thursday claimed that any regulation that paves the way for using two languages in public services and education would mean rewarding treason. He said in January that the Kurdish broadcasting on TRT 6 was “treason” and underlined that for his party, unity in the language is the main element in nation building. “Whoever wants to speak in their mother tongue in their private life can do so. There is no one preventing them from doing so. We will respect the people's mother tongues, but we will continue to speak and to think in Turkish,” he had said.

 DTP: The DTP had suggested the recognition of the Kurdish language as an official language in the Constitution but has recently backed out on that. Instead they now demand the removal of all restrictions on broadcasting in Kurdish. The DTP also wants both classes on mother tongues and education carried out in mother tongues. 

Security and the village guard system

 One of the other problematic areas in the background of the Kurdish debate is the status of the village guard system, which was established in 1985 to fight against terrorism and is based on the state arming some villagers. Pro-Kurdish circles have long accused this system of having a destructive effect on the social fabric of the region.

According to a 2006 report from the Interior Ministry, there were 57,757 village guards at that time and almost 5,000 of them were involved in crime. According to the same report, 2,402 of them were involved in terrorism, 936 committed property crime, 1,234 of them harmed people and 428 of them were involved in smuggling.

Government: The government is planning to overhaul the village guard system in the short term and eventually plans to phase it out in the long run. Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç said in May that the guard system was originally set up to shore up the fight against terrorism but vowed it would be completely revamped.

CHP: The CHP proposes the establishment of “rural police” instead of the village guard system and gendarmerie forces. The CHP suggests people employed as village guards can be transferred to other service areas such as planting trees and other infrastructure work. The party calls for the abolishment of the system in due course.

MHP: The MHP regards the system as a “must” for the security of the region and finds it a useful tool in the fight against terrorism. MHP Deputy Chairman Mehmet Şandır said during a press conference in May that the government should improve the conditions of the village guards.

DTP: The DTP demands the immediate abolishment of the system.

Amnesty

It is estimated that there are almost 5,000 PKK militants, 2,000 of whom are either Syrian or Iranian citizens. Turkish Penal Code (TCK) Article 221 called the “active repentance” law envisages the release without punishment of terrorist organization members who turn themselves in, as long as they have not been involved in any armed clashes with security forces or any other terrorist attacks against Turkey. Although the government's Kurdish initiative is not clear, many observers are suggesting that it should include an amnesty that would be more comprehensive than Article 221.

Government: According to rumors, the government's new initiative is trying to tackle the amnesty issue on different levels; it has different plans for the leaders of the PKK, for ordinary militants and for those who are living in Europe. According to expectations, the leaders might be exiled to other countries while the militants can go back to their homes without facing trial. But no one expects new regulations regarding PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan except the easing of the conditions of his imprisonment. He is currently serving a life sentence as the only inmate on İmralı Island in the Sea of Marmara.

CHP: In a December 2007 speech, Baykal underlined that amnesty is not possible at all, saying, “They are talking about moderating Article 221, any moderation can easily turn into an amnesty but an amnesty without the PKK first laying down its arms would have dangerous consequences.”

“[Introducing] a pardon is very dangerous if terrorism is not abandoned,” he had said. “To pardon some people in line with the demands of an organization that sees itself as entitled to armed conflict would be to give a green light to terrorism in the long run.”

MHP: MHP leader Bahçeli, during the election campaigns in 2007, symbolically threw a rope to the prime minister to be used to hang Öcalan. Also, this May, while addressing his party's parliamentary group, he said the MHP could not turn a blind eye to attempts to issue a general amnesty to PKK members, who he referred to as “baby killers.”

DTP: The DTP suggests that Öcalan should at least be transferred to a normal prison under normal conditions, pending later release. The DTP also underlines that the scope and the implementation of a possible amnesty should be in accordance with “dignity” and should not force militants who turn themselves in to give information about the PKK. 

Other problem areas

Observers have emphasized that in order to bring a lasting and fair solution to the Kurdish problem, there should be some regulations for improving the economic situation of the region. The cultural demands of the Kurds should be addressed and a plan for the future of PKK members should be drawn up. When it comes to the economic development of the region, all parties are in agreement. In fact, the CHP and the MHP have the tendency to perceive the Kurdish problem as merely an economic problem. The AK Party advocates economic investments and incentives for the region but argues the cultural aspects of the problem should not be ignored. The DTP suggests the implementation of “positive discrimination” economically in the region as it maintains that the region's economic backwardness has been deliberately created by the state, and it is time it was reversed.