Population exchange proposal anachronistic, but still terrorizing

Also according to him, in line with the upcoming course of affairs vis-à-vis the Kurdish issue in the country, “there will be a need for drawing definite red lines against demands within the Southeast that contradict the principles of the nation-state, such as regional autonomy and education in a language other than the official language.

While highlighting the economic-social improvement, and eventually there will be a need for proposing an exchange of the Turkmen population in Iraq with those [Kurdish people in the Southeast] who don't want to obey these conditions.”

His name is Mümtaz Soysal, a former foreign minister and a professor of constitutional law. Soysal has asserted that he has a say not only in the lives of millions of Kurdish people living in Turkey, but also in the lives of the Turkmen people in neighboring Iraq. His view summarized above was reflected on Monday in his regular column, published in the daily newspaper Cumhuriyet. His column's title was “Absolute Solution.”

In response to critics, Soysal later said he has never been a racist person or a supporter of ethnic separatism. “There is a Kurdish state being established just near us. Those who don't want to live within a republic that is respectful to ethnic rights but is not based on ethical rights, let them go to that ‘Kurdish republic.' We can't keep anyone here by force,” he said. He was still assuming that he had a say on the fate of the Kurdish people living in this country -- apparently as a leading figure of a camp that presumably owns this country, unlike the Kurds.

The connotations of the phrase “population exchange” are linked with deeply held grievances on these lands, thus this is not solely a term related to social engineering attempts, which are also common here.

The 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, signed in the aftermath of the War of Independence and after the Ottoman Empire came to an end, set in motion a population exchange between Greek Orthodox citizens of the young Turkish Republic and Muslim citizens of Greece, which resulted in the displacement of approximately 2 million people.

 The Armenian population that was in Turkey before the establishment of Turkish Republic was forced to emigrate in 1915, and according to some, the conditions of this expulsion are the basis of Armenian claims of genocide.

Beside the still-ongoing political disputes concerning the forced emigration of Armenians, both Greek and Turkish literary traditions are still producing books explaining the grievances and homesick feelings held by Greeks and Turks who were subjected to population exchange. Those books also explain how those feelings have been inherited by younger generations.

Legacy of ‘İttihat ve Terakki’

Admitting that even putting forth such a proposal in itself spells a threat against Kurdish people or those who favor a broadening of the fundamental rights of Kurdish people living in this country, lawyer Sezgin Tanrıkulu, however, believes that such a proposal can find no echo within the public.

 “Soysal's proposal reflects a mentality that leads to concerns, but at the same time, it is not possible to explain or understand the mentality through sensible arguments,” Tanrıkulu, the Diyarbakır representative of the Turkey Human Rights Foundation (TİHV), told Sunday's Zaman.

“This society still has certain traumas due to similar implementations in the 1920s, and proposing such an implementation under the circumstances of the 21st century is not acceptable. Fortunately, such a proposal has no ground or support in the public, and it is not implementable either,” Tanrıkulu added, noting that he believed that Soysal reflected a fascist view and such fascist views should not be under protection of freedom of expression since they reflect a stance that contradicts basic humanitarian values.

According to Kurdish author and politician Orhan Miroğlu, proposals such as the one voiced by Soysal are not new and unfortunately have a degree of support within the society.

“This is basically ethnic engineering, and it is a brainchild of İttihat ve Terakki [the Committee of Union and Progress]. All of the policies implemented by İttihat ve Terakki following 1915 are reflections of this ethnic engineering,” Miroğlu told Sunday's Zaman, referring to İttihat and Terakki's ideology, which espoused purifying all of Anatolia through a “Turkification” of all its segments.

 “With its recent move toward resolving the Kurdish issue, I believe that the ruling Justice and Development Party [AK Party] is playing a historical role, no matter whether the results of this attempt will eventually be found satisfactory or not by the Kurdish people. What matters is the fact that they have attempted to change the dominant mental structure within Turkey. In response, a camp symbolized by Soysal and others has been terrorizing both Turkish and Kurdish people with such proposals. Unfortunately they may succeed in finding a response from within the society via this terrorizing impact,” Miroğlu said.

He also sarcastically questioned whether Soysal was sure that Turkmens in Iraq would be eager to come to Turkey, as they have been enjoying certain cultural and political rights within the Kurdish regional administration in northern Iraq.

A professor once

This is not the first time Soysal has astonished people with his views. In February, he openly suggested that one's expression of a desire for a coup falls under “freedom of expression.” He was speaking within the context of a debate concerning suspects in the Ergenekon investigation. Ergenekon is a clandestine terrorist organization accused of plotting to overthrow the government by fomenting a coup.

Earlier, following the AK Party's clear victory in the July 22, 2007 parliamentary elections, Soysal appeared on television and asked publicly, “Do we have to wait another four years for this party to leave?”

 Seeing Soysal expressing such views was particularly painful to those who once attended his constitutional law lectures at the Ankara University faculty of political sciences, known as Mülkiye. The courses were almost legendary, with high numbers of students flocking to the classes to listen to this professor back the protection of fundamental freedoms and rights under the constitution.

Baskın Oran, a professor of international relations who also gave lectures at the same faculty for decades, considers Soysal a symbol of the sad situation of so-called leftist ideology within Turkey.

“When I look at the 1960s and '70s, I see that we had actually been defending Kemalist ideology in the name of being leftists. The holy bridge between leftism and Kemalism was then anti-imperialism, and some of us have unfortunately still remained committed to this understanding,” Oran told Sunday's Zaman. “On the other hand, please do not ask me how a well-informed professor of constitutional law like Soysal can offer such a population exchange proposal.”

Instead, Oran gave an anecdote from his university years: It is 1968; Oran and his friends chat and criticize a professor for still using his lecture notes from 1951. The late Seha Meray, a professor of law, approaches and chides them for their critical remarks against their professor. “Some professors teach you how you should be, and some professors teach you how you should not be,” Meray tells Oran and his friends.

“Back in the 1960s, Soysal somehow taught us how we should be, and nowadays he is teaching us how we should not be,” Oran concluded.