Another taboo out the way: new page with Iraqi Kurdistan

Foreign Minister Davutoğlu had many reasons to be happy. Although his visit to Arbil could have been seen as a routine follow-up to the signing of 48 agreements between Turkey and Iraq -- by Talabani and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan -- the real reason is that Ankara has taken a huge step in recognizing the “presence” of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and has leapt forward in the hope of solving the decades old Kurdish problem.

Barham Salih, the prime minister of the KRG, and Nechirvan Barzani, his predecessor, were also happy. Perhaps the best words to explain the satisfaction came from the most powerful figure in the region: Massoud Barzani. While praising the visit, he told the press that “we never experienced bad things from Turkey.” A page is being turned.

But challenges are ahead. There is no doubt that the establishment of diplomatic representation --- the opening of a consulate-general -- in Arbil will be, while symbolically marking the new page, instrumental in helping business flourish even more. The hard part will be to persuade the units of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the mountains to come down and give up their armed struggle. Ankara’s “recognition” will accelerate the efforts by the Iraqi Kurds to exert pressure on the PKK and Barzani has already hinted that talks will intensify.

While the “Kurdish initiative” is apparently at a halt because of the enthusiasm in the Democratic Society Party (DTP) camp when welcoming some militants who came home in uniform, as if this was a victorious welcome, the news coming from Arbil is a reminder of the resolve within the Justice and Development Party (AKP) that steps in the direction of stopping the bloodshed and ending the vendetta are to continue.

Should the PKK be happy about the rapprochement between Ankara and the KRG? No. The recent change of heart that has been observed in Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed leader of the PKK, is truly telling. In an apparent outburst of anger, Öcalan called off the “homecoming” of PKK militants from Europe to Turkey, saying “no more” and mocking the “initiative” as “ploy” not to be “swallowed” by the Kurds. What he is reading into the plan is that the warmer Ankara and the Iraqi Kurds feel toward each other, the bigger the risks of the dissolution of the PKK. He realizes he will lose much of his expected role as an interlocutor in the “Turkish leg” of the solution, because, if Barzani truly means what he says in “persuading” the PKK to disarm, it would be rather difficult to confront the process on two fronts against the global conjuncture. This leaves Öcalan with only old rhetoric and devices. If the “hard core” of the PKK displays signs of softening, the only way out will be to resort to terror, weakening an already shaken, but not stirred, AKP. That is why, with the “Arbil initiative,” Iraqi Kurds have gained a key role in the process.

We now know which steps will be helpful in assisting radicalized Kurds to return to the talks through democratic representation: “Homecoming” should not be allowed to stop; a disruption would give the ultranationalist opposition in Turkey a chance to collect its forces to “hit” at the process. If people are to return, during the initial phase they should be selected from the Mahmour refugee camp and, on the condition that they will not be harassed, no overenthusiastic welcoming ceremony should take place.

A second and equally important step should be to hasten the return of the key figures of the Kurdish diaspora in Europe. It is much more diverse than the segment here in Turkey and the “homecoming” of anti-armed struggle figures such as Kemal Burkay (exiled in Sweden) and former deputies such as Yaşar Kaya and others will certainly bring a breath of fresh air to the debate taking place among the hopeful Kurds. The Arbil visit shows how fruitful it can be to assist the process by engaging with peaceful figures in the game for peace.