‘Pro-Kurdish DTP should shoulder its responsibilities’

Observers say that among the DTP's responsibilities are working to present itself as a party to a solution instead of suggesting the inclusion of jailed leader of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Abdullah Öcalan, in the solution process. The DTP should also outline realistic demands toward solution of the problem and work harder to prepare the Turkish public and its own support bases for a long-lasting resolution of the conflict, experts say.

“[The DTP] should work to reduce to tension in society. Instead of the language of conflict, it should develop the language of peace,” said human rights activist Yılmaz Ensaroğlu.

He underlined that no matter what the government says, the DTP responds with words that demonstrate their mistrust of the government. “Such an attitude does not contribute to the process. It would be better if they were able to tell the government, ‘If you will do something good, we will support you',” Ensaroğlu said.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said last week that the government has begun work on a Kurdish initiative. Erdoğan did not give any details on the content of the planned proposal, but sources familiar with the government's recent work in this regard say improvements to laws limiting the use of Kurdish languages in education as well as increased opportunities for full or partial amnesty for some PKK militants are in the works.

The DTP, however, was quick to disesteem the government's plans, suggesting that even if the package includes serious reforms that would contribute to a solution, since it is being prepared without the consent of Kurdish community representatives the reforms might not be echoed in society.

“When the government launched Kurdish-language channel TRT 6, the DTP representatives did not participate in its inauguration ceremony and were negative about the channel even before seeing its content. Then those working to realize reform thought that the DTP's problem is not the solution, but a solution based on Öcalan,” Ensaroğlu claimed.

DTP supporters staged a demonstration in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır and called for rapid settlement of the long-standing Kurdish question.

The DTP also suggested that the issue should be addressed before Öcalan, who is preparing to announce his own “roadmap” on Aug. 15, the anniversary of the first PKK-launched terrorist in 1984.

“The DTP [represents] the political side of this problem. It should be very clear on that [point] and should be more active politically,” underlined Kurdish intellectual Altan Tan.

Mesut Yeğen of the Middle East Technical University sociology department said the DTP should not hold back from shouldering its responsibility: “They are acting like the main parties are the PKK and Öcalan. The DTP should give up this attitude and position itself as the main side [to negotiate with the government on behalf of Kurds] instead of trying to delegate its responsibility.”

Another PKK leader, Murat Karayılan, had said that if the government did not want to engage the PKK as a counterpart they could enter into dialogue with the DTP, and if not with the DTP then “wise men,” Kurdish intellectual leaders.

But in their statements, DTP officials frequently underline that Öcalan's roadmap should be taken into account, failing to put forward the party's own plan or suggestions.

According to experts another shortcoming of the DTP is an inability to indicate a realistic plan for the solution of the Kurdish question.

“The DTP was caught unprepared by the ongoing process. A long time ago, it had to outline its demands, starting from the most easily fulfilled ones,” Ensaroğlu noted.

He recalled that since the DTP entered Parliament it has been excluded by the other parties, but according to him still the party can still use Parliament as a platform to implement policies to overcome the obstacles ahead of it.

Yeğen agreed with Ensaroğlu and underlined that the DTP should develop a program that takes into consideration the sensitivities of the state and public at large.

“To demand education in the Kurdish language, to suggest democratic autonomy and to say if these happen then the PKK can lay down its arms -- these are not projects which can be realized between today and tomorrow. These can be successful only with long-term projects,” he said.

Sezgin Tanrıkulu, former chairman of the Diyarbakır Bar Association, and Tan both underlined that the DTP has a responsibility to prepare the Turkish public and its own supporters for a solution. “As the legitimate and the legal part of the problem, the DTP has a responsibility to contribute to the problem's solution by suggesting rational solutions after all this pain,” Tanrıkulu said.

Altan added that the DTP should take the other political parties into consideration and come up with realistic projects while keeping in mind that it is the representative of certain segments of Kurds.

DTP Diyarbakır deputy Aysel Tuğluk recently said that if political parties including the DTP were able to shoulder their responsibilities effectively, the situation at hand would be different. Speaking to CNN Türk, Tuğluk underlined that politics has been unable to effect a lasting solution to the Kurdish problem. She noted in particular that the DTP should have done a better job taking the sensitivities of all relevant parties into account.