Despite the disapproval of opposition parties, the details of the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AK Party) democratic initiative to solve the long-standing Kurdish problem were discussed in Parliament last week, months after the government announced its intention to formulate the plan. Along with the revelation has come increased hope on the part of Kurdish writers, politicians and artists -- and their requests to return to their homeland are back on the agenda. Speaking with Today’s Zaman, Kurdish intellectuals and artists expressed a desire to return home and said they were looking to the democratic initiative to make this possible. Why shouldn’t we, who were declared guilty and stripped of our citizenship due to the things we wrote and said, be allowed to return to our country, they ask.
The road to exile for many Kurdish writers convicted of disseminating terrorist propaganda because of the lyrics to a song or poem they wrote or recited passed through Diyarbakır Prison, now infamous for the torture inflicted upon its inmates. Following their time there, they were forced by varying circumstances to flee the country. Among them are writers, politicians, intellectuals and artists, names such as Kemal Burkay, Yılmaz Çamlıbel, Günay Aslan, Şükrü Gülmüş, Vildan Tanrı Kulu, Garip Dost and Şivan Perver -- and most of them are still waiting for the right time to return to their country.
Kemal Burkay, an important Kurdish political figure who lives in Sweden, draws attention to the legal roadblocks preventing their return, saying: “I certainly want to return to my country. If the necessary conditions were only in place, I would have returned long ago. Our political work was pacifist; we weren’t involved in any violence. But we were still outlawed. Because of our views and demands, we were under the threat of heavy punishment. For this reason, we were forced to go abroad.”
Yılmaz Çamblıbel, who lives in Germany, wants Parliament to amend laws to allow people like himself to return to Turkey. He spent six years at Diyarbakır Prison following the 1980 coup and becomes emotional when he speaks about his longing to return to his home province of Ağrı. The 75-year-old writer says his greatest desire is to see Ağrı again before he dies. “I try to alleviate the longing I feel for my home, which I’ve been away from for 23 years, with pictures. This longing has settled into my subconscious, so much so that I dream about Ağrı, about Mt. Ağrı, the İshak Paşa Palace, the tomb of Ahmet-i Hani…” he says. “No matter how comfortable life is here, a person still wants to return to their own country.”
‘AK Party’s initiative a good move’
Another Kurdish writer living in Germany for the past 30 years, Vildan Tanrıkulu, says it is the most natural right for Kurdish intellectuals to be able to return to their homeland of Turkey and says the AK Party’s democratic initiative is a step in the right direction. “I think the democratic initiative the AK Party started is valuable, and it gives us hope. The Kurdish intellectuals [in Europe] will return to Turkey with great social and cultural contributions to offer. This will speed up the initiative’s progress. The anxiety-free return of intellectuals to Turkey from Europe will strengthen the AK Party’s hand as much as it will promote peace,” Tanrıkulu says. “At the end of the day, we’re all underneath the same sky, and there’s enough room for all of us.”
“Of course, I want very much to return to Turkey. A life in exile is no different from living in an open-air prison. I’m not asking for a pardon from anyone, and I’m not asking for help from anyone because I’m not guilty,” says Kurdish politician Yaşar Kaya, who currently lives in Iraq. Referring to members of deep-state crime gangs responsible for innumerable atrocities committed against Kurds in Turkey over the years, Kaya added: “Those who have committed crimes are the Ergenekonists, the JİTEM members and the perpetrators of unsolved crimes. My yearning is for Turkey. It’s the shared homeland of Turks and Kurds.”
Striking the same note on the nature of the crimes and allegations against Kurdish intellectuals that prevent their return to Turkey, Şükrü Gülmüş, a Kurdish writer living in Sweden, says: “The intellectuals living abroad aren’t people convicted of murder. They have been convicted or accused due to their writings or speech. There should be an announcement made that says, ‘The Kurdish diaspora in Europe and everyone whose distance [from Turkey] is attributable to political conditions may return.’ There’s only so much a government can do; the AK Party is doing what it can. Legal changes are necessary to allow such returns.”
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