Gov’t to forge ahead with Kurdish initiative in 2010

The president is planning to hold a summit for political leaders at the Çankaya presidential palace, although the date of the summit has not yet been made public. Gül invited the leaders for a summit to reach a consensus on the Kurdish initiative in 2009, but the invitation was rejected by CHP leader Deniz Baykal and MHP Chairman Devlet Bahçeli.

The two leaders define the Kurdish initiative as a “foreign-backed plan to divide the country” and accuse the AK Party and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of “high treason.” The president is also planning to host prominent figures in the country's executive, legislative and judicial bodies at the palace on Jan. 5. He is expected to request harmony among the state bodies from the participants.

The AK Party government announced its intention to settle the Kurdish question through peaceful methods during the summer but has not yet detailed its plan. The expectations are that the democratic initiative will grant the country's Kurds increased cultural and linguistic rights.

Turkey's Kurdish question has existed since the first years of the republic, but it turned violent in 1984 after the establishment of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). More than 40,000 civilians and security forces have been killed in clashes so far.

The government is also pinning high hopes on the General Staff to support its initiative. There are claims that the General Staff will hold secret meetings with high-level officials from the opposition parties on the details of the initiative package, although there is little hope that the meetings will secure the opposition's support.

Last week, the National Security Council (MGK) announced full support from the military brass for the government’s Kurdish initiative. The council is also to present a roadmap in 2010 to prevent the obstruction of the initiative by the main opposition parties.

The AK Party is also planning to replace the coordinator of the Kurdish initiative, Interior Minister Beşir Atalay, with a more proactive figure from the Cabinet to give some impetus to the plans. Atalay has been criticized for failing to establish strong ties with the opposition to gain their support for the initiative.

Since the government announced its ambition to peacefully settle the Kurdish question, Atalay has spoken with various civil society representatives, political party leaders, intellectuals and researchers to gather their opinions. He also met with academics, media representatives, journalists and writers in August at the Police Academy in Ankara to hear their contributions to the initiative. The government will make the details of the initiative more concrete in 2010 to refute criticism from opposition parties that the ruling party is not clear on the content of the package. The move will also be aimed at gaining the support of circles who have given the initiative the cold shoulder because of its ambiguity.

Though not officially confirmed, among the concrete suggestions of the initiative are: Turkey’s unitary government will be protected; political campaigns in Kurdish will be allowed; Kurds will be allowed to be educated in their mother tongue; Kurdish is to be allowed in prisons; place names will be restored; Kurdish institutes will be established; children will not be classified as terrorists; the Active Repentance Law will be put into effect; hate crimes will be outlawed; and Kurds will be allowed freedom of expression.