Since the foundation of the republic in Turkey, Kurdish minority has been a long lasting problem in Turkish politics. The absence of a solution to this, contains an ever-present risk of a new civil war. The situation in Turkey nowadays is neither peace nor war. Since 1984, PKK attacks civilians and military forces continuously despite the ‘ceasefire’ after the arrest of the leader of the organization, Abdullah Öcalan, in 1999 at the Greek embassy in Kenya. However, Turkish government refrains from using ‘ceasefire’ acknowledging that PKK is not a state which they are involved in a war and PKK is not even a legal organization they recognized. PKK is a terrorist group for Turkish government.US and many other global powers have also recognized PKK as a terrorist group.
Kurdish question stems from the emergence of nationalism at the end of the Ottoman Empire times. Like Armenians and many other minorities within the empire, Kurdish people wanted their independence too. However, because the Kurds and the Turks were all Muslim and under the umbrella of the caliphate, they strived together for the victory against the Allies for saving the caliphate. However, when the Ottoman Empire collapsed Kurds were divided by the national borders; some of them were in the Iran borders, some of them were in the Iraq borders and some of them were in the newly established Turkish Republic borders. Therefore, the identity of Kurds was fragmented. They were the only ethnic group or nation which did not end up by their nation state and it seemed difficult to have one anymore because they were all scattered around the states. Furthermore, even they supported Independence War against the Allies; Turkish Republic did not recognize them after foundation and established the nation state for only Turks. Moreover, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk also abolished the caliphate in 1924 which was the common ground for Kurds and Turks. However, Ataturk promoted the motto of ‘Ne mutlu Türk’üm Diyene!’ best translated as ‘Happy is whoever says I am a Turk’ not whoever is a Turk. To be Turk meant to live within the boundaries of the republic and thereby to be its citizen (Radu, 2003). However, Kurds felt betrayed. With the political student movements in the 1960s and the Barzani’s revolt in 1961-1975 in Iraq, Kurdish opposition movement were also able to organize itself with the establishment of PKK in 1974(Roy, 2005).
Kurdish insurgency in Turkey actually gets supports both from the West and Third World countries. The West sees these problems as a matter of oppression or denial of rights by a majority of group, Turks, of an ethnic minority, Kurds. However, when you ask any of Turkish people, they would deny oppression of Kurds. Especially, Turkish elites argue that there is no problem of oppression but socioeconomic problem in the southeastern part of the state where many Kurds inhabit. Many of the elites also believe that terrorist groups within this minority group are strongly supported by the foreign states aiming at weakening Turkey.
In fact, what those people think is not just a conspiracy theory. PKK was always seen as an opportunity by the neighbor states to weaken Turkey. Greece, Syria, The Republic of Cyprus and Iran supported the existence of PKK in Turkey by both supplying them financial aid and also hosting them in their territories. Specifically, the reason for Syria to support PKK was manifold. The first reason; there was a conflict between Turkey and Syria over Hatay after French colonization in the region. Secondly, Güneydoğu Anadolu Projesi (GAP) was a huge project which was planned to use water from Euphrates and Tigris Rivers to irrigate large tracts of the arid region. With this project the Southern part of Turkey was aimed to be developed and increased the amount of harvest even 6 times. However, Syria perceived this as a treat to itself fearing it would affect the amount of water Syria could get from these rivers. Therefore, it supported both Kurdish terrorist group PKK and Armenian terrorist groups like ASALA against Turkish Republic. Other states generally, like Greece and Iran, did not want to have a strong Turkey just next to them and supported PKK against Turkish Republic. It is doubtful whether PKK could have attained anything close to the position it did without foreign support (Radu, 2005).
We should keep in mind that Kurdish problem in Turkey is distinct from the problem of PKK terrorism. Not every Kurdish people support what PKK does. Only 29% of the Kurdish population viewed PKK as the best representative of Kurdish people. Moreover, majority of Kurdish people want to remain within Turkish state (Milliyet Gazetesi, 1992). Originally, PKK was established based on Marxist- Leninist ideology in 1973 by Abdullah Öcalan. It was to advocate the creation of a Marxist-Kurdish state. PKK agenda described Kurdistan area under a colonial rule and the tribal leaders are the comprador colluded to help the state exploit the lower classes. This Marxist approach was the basic reason for Soviet help to PKK during Cold War. However, in 1990s we see a shift in PKK politics from Marxist to nationalist. This is basically because the region people were not interested in ideologies and were wary of them. Nationalism, on the other hand, was familiar to them and in accordance with their actual aim: independent Kurdish State. Therefore, with nationalist approach PKK was able to attract more people from Kurdish grassroots.
Even Kurdish minority is a hot topic in Turkish politics; Turkey is neither a bipolar nor a deeply divided society like Rwanda or Sri Lanka. Open tensions in society between Turks and Kurds remain minimal. Kurdish people is the most populous minority in Turkey and they are the only one Ataturk’s nation building did not succeed. There is irrefutable ethnic aspect but the core in Kurdish problem is oft-neglected social, economic, political and ideological dimensions, which makes it different from ethnic conflicts in Kosovo, Chechnya, Rwanda and Liberia too. The Kurdish areas have consistently lagged behind the rest of Turkey in terms of economic development due largely to the preservation of the tribal structures and the neglect of central government. Tribal leaders of course have an interest in preventing rapid modernization which would inevitably weaken the traditional social structures that perpetuate their power. As a result, they have in all likelihood encouraged a certain lack of attention to their region on the part of central authorities (p.130, Radu, 2005). This lack of state investment later caused lack of education, infrastructure and resulted in underdevelopment in the region, which will eventually cause emergence of terrorist groups in the name of ‘freedom fighter’. Basically, the reason for this underdevelopment in the region is seen as an economic racism done by the government against Kurdish people and a ground for the rebellion.
With the coup d’état in 1980 in Turkey, government’s approach toward PKK and Kurdish people had an extreme condition. There was more repressive and ignorant approach. Military government leader Evren even rejected the existence of the Kurdish and said there is nothing like Kurds but a sound when you walk on the snow similar to ‘Kurd’ sound and the people who name themselves as Kurds are the people who lived in snowy places most of the time and got this nickname. This became a government policy and many generations grew up assuming that Kurdish people actually belonged to Turkish origins but somehow they were rebellion (Radikal Gazetesi, 2007). By this way Kurdish people compelled either to be a member of PKK to have a voice or either got assimilated in Turkish culture. Any peaceful advocacy of Kurdish rights would attract the wrath of both the state and the PKK (Radu, 2005).
Turkey lost so much energy on this issue. The allocation of military spending is even higher than national education spending. Turkey wants to be an EU member and a strong state in the region. Some negotiations between EU and Turkey were just about minority problems in Turkey. It is essential to solve this issue by peaceful manners and please the Kurdish people without preventing Turkey from being a strong state. This ‘Kurdish Problem’ hunch is always emerging especially in critical times, like EU negotiations. This Kurd-Turk distinction is so unnecessary and damaging Turkey’s developmental state aims.
Solutions to this conflict lie in the democratization process. Turkish government should abolish any law restricting cultural rights .However; Ankara still sometimes refrains from letting Kurdish legal and political representation. It perceives them as a menace to national security and as a separatist terrorism. However, it is known by experience in the past that preventing them participating from politics is much more destructive. Additionally, some scholars argue that government should allow education in the mother language for the Kurds claiming it will enable them to learn their identity and be a part of the society at the same time. However, government is afraid of that it may cause a fragmentation in the society and secession of the state. That seems reasonable because by this way you may create a society even cannot speak the same language. Turkish government right now does not recognize any diploma taught in any ethnic language but allows opening Kurdish courses and Kurdish departments in the universities.
Furthermore, the Southeastern part of Turkey needs to be developed by being industrialized. However, government should pay attention to the distribution of wealth over there because in the past the gain was just for the landlord but not the peasants. Actually over the years, governors and NGOs try to resolve this issue by implementing new projects in the region. ’Kardelen’ project, for example, was aiming bringing girls to the school in the region and was quite successful.
Populated mostly by Kurdish people the Southeastern part of Turley has been witnessing state-oriented investments nowadays. Most recently, Kurdish people have a state-controlled TV channel which is broadcasting in Kurdish. Even some universities are arguing opening a department of Kurdish language and literature and they are allowed to do so by the law anymore. Other than cultural investments, state tries to make the region more attractive to the private investment by lowering the tax here. It is believed that if the unemployment rates decrease, there would be less people who will be willing to a part of PKK. These progresses are more than welcome by the Kurdish society. Turkish people are also hopeful that maybe these new rights and developments will satisfy the Kurds and this conflict will reach to an end. Neither Kurdish mother nor Turkish mother wants to sacrifice their sons in the battle for this endless conflict anymore. Turkey has won the war against PKK in 1999 and right now it needs to win the peace (Radu, 2005).
Melike Baştürk
References
1. Berkan, I. (2007). The Problem of Terror and Kurds. Radikal Newspaper. (6th of November)
2. Roy O., the editor (2005). Turkey Today: A European Country?.
3. Radu S. Michael, the editor (2003). Dangerous Neighborhood: Contemporary Issues in Turkey’s Foreign Relations. The Kurdish Question in Turkish Politics by Svante E. Cornell, 126-140.
4. The Survey Results Published in Milliyet Newspaper, 6th September 1992.
Copyright protected by Digiprove © 2012