During the match, Bursaspor fans unfurled banners which read “How happy is he who says I am a Turk.” They also chanted slogans, saying, “PKK [Kurdistan Workers' Party], get out!” The Bursaspor fans were repeating a mistake the Turkish state has made for too long: putting all Kurds in the same basket as the PKK and accusing them of engaging in separatism.
Trying to understand the motivation which led the Bursaspor fans to have such a reaction to Diyarbakırspor, Yeni Şafak's Ali Bayramoğlu says this unpleasant reaction could be a result of the upset felt about the government's democratization initiative and something provoked by the ongoing debates about this initiative. He also says the incidents prove how a democratization initiative is indispensable in Turkey for solving the Kurdish problem and how Turkey has reached dangerous waters with the policies it has pursued against the Kurds so far.
“Certainly every democratic step taken for the solution of the deep social and political problems breaks taboos and the status quo, which leads to anxiety among the majority,” he says adding that this anxiety is felt more in societies like Turkey where fears of division produce reactions. Yet, Bayramoğlu thinks that the incidents in Bursa are more than a reaction to the democratization initiative, rather the last in the chain of ongoing ethnic clashes as similar events frequently took place in Turkey.
Milliyet's Fikret Bila says the incidents in Bursa where Diyarbakırspor and its players were tarred with the same brush as the PKK should sound an alarm and that no time should be lost in preventing the spread of such incidents. He also says the management of Diyarbakırspor should not make a mistake by withdrawing from the league because this would serve the purpose of those who want to create a Turkish-Kurdish conflict and pull Turkey towards a civil war. Sports fans should not be deceived by provocations, he says. In the wake of this, Bila calls on Interior Minister Beşir Atalay, who is responsible for the coordination of the democratization initiative, to take the necessary measures before the re-occurrence of such incidents.
“In order to prevent soccer matches from turning into Turkish-Kurdish conflicts, security in the stands should be ensured and provocateurs should be prevented from mixing in with football fans. The incidents in Bursa showed how fragile the democratization initiative process is and how difficult it is to manage mass psychology,” remarks Bila.
Vatan's Can Ataklı thinks differently and says that the government's democratization initiative, which he criticizes for lacking any concrete content, is leading to unpleasant incidents such as those in Bursa. “Statements suggesting that ‘Turkey will not improve if the Kurdish problem is not solved' and ‘Solve the Kurdish problem, or else much blood will be spilt' have begun to irritate ordinary citizens. The remarks and attitudes of those defending the Kurdish public have frustrated the people more because their defensive attitude gradually turned into admiration for Kurds. I am afraid that public anger will grow and incidents like those in Bursa will spread to other parts of the country,” says Ataklı.
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