Turkey denies the existence of Kurds. This must change!

[Harold Schiffman]

Sunday, November 11, 2007
Turkey denies the existence of Kurds. This must change!

By Diyar Gharib

 We often hear from Kurdish or foreign officials that the PKK crisis
cannot be solved though military means but through dialogue. It is
stressed that this age is the age of dialogue. The time of war and the
language of war are over. For this purpose they call upon the PKK not
to fight and instead try to solve their issue with Turkey through
dialogue. To this point, everything is of course normal. It is normal
that there are groups, parties and people who wish to have conflicts
solved through peaceful political dialogue. This attitude deserves
respect and is much appreciated.  But what attracts attention about
these external interventions that the people (who ask the PKK not to
use violence) ignore the current and previous cease-fires observed by
the PKK.

They also fail to mention that Turkey not only has failed to respond
or even acknowledge PKK cease-fires, but it has continued to attack
the Kurdish people and the PKK in every possible way.Furthermore,
Turkey does not recognize the identity and existence of the Kurdish
people.  The odd thing is that the above-mentioned officials keep
silent about these issues. This means they ignore the main reasons
that cause violence and continuation of conflict and environment of
war which are not the Kurds and the PKK but the ideology and political
policy of the Turkish state. Turkish ideology is that any citizen who
cannot say "I am a happy Turk" (below picture carved into a hillside
in Sirnak) has no citizenship rights and are considered aliens to be
punished and marginalized.

It is obvious that there are many dignified persons and groups in
Turkey who, while consider themselves the citizens of Turkey, refuse
to describe themselves as Turks. This is a natural right of these
people to feel and express themselves in this way because they belong
to different ethnic groups.  The denial of differences and diversity
and insistence on forcibly imposing one identity on all the national
groups and cultures as well as imposing directly and indirectly
non-democratic coercive laws and practices is in itself is terror and
causes the creation of tension and conflict among different ethnic
groups.

Thus, it is the nation or power that has the political and state
control and uses such non-democratic laws and practices that is
responsible for the creation of terror and conflict among its
citizens. Those who deny these facts today are the Turkish state and
Turks not Kurds. The root cause of the conflict is the policies of the
Turkish state.

Acknowledging this first, then it is normal to call upon the PKK to
use peaceful means for the resolution of the Kurdish issue in Turkey.
It is also normal to call upon Turkey too to respond to the PKK. But
it is not right to speak of Turkey as if it were a peaceful innocent
side of the conflict.

Also when some talk about dialogue they should also explain the
principles of dialogue to which democrats and peace-loving people must
adhere because without such principles and criteria there would be
confusion and ambiguity about those who want peace and those who
insist on violence and war.

The following are some principles which I believe should set this straight:



1. The Turkish state must formally recognize the existence and
identity of the Kurdish people in Turkey.

2. Turkey should recognize the PKK and accept to enter into dialogue
and negotiate with them.

3. Turkey should accept international mediation in drafting a solution
to PKK and Kurdish question.

These principles, the first two in particular, are basic and essential.

Any call for peace and dialogue that does not pay attention to these
principles cannot lead to any result apart from supporting the
continuation of racist policies of denial and genocide against the
Kurdish people.Erdogan said recently (on the PKK): let them lay down
arms and exercise politics within the framework of (Turkish)
parliament.

This statement by Erdogan was undeservedly exaggerated by officials
and the media. They were quick to ask the PKK to immediately respond
to Erdogan. Some were about to transform Erdogan, in our easy, to
Ghandi. Thank God, Erdogan himself put an end to this when he said PKK
officials must be punished while others could benefit from the
repentance law.

This is what Erdogan means when he asks PKK to practice politics under
the umbrella of Turkish parliament. In other words, Erdogan has not
said anything towards pursuing a peaceful solution of the Kurdish
question. He was only reaffirming the same racist policies of Turkey
in a political language.

If the PKK had accepted these policies of the Turkish state it would
not have taken up arms in the first place. On the other hand, the PKK
fighters are not bandits and robbers to take advantage of repentance
law.

Here I find it necessary that Kurdish officials, the media and writers
be careful enough not to make such big political mistakes. Today
Turkey is in the middle of a crisis and it tries to use various
methods to save itself from this it. Hence, it varies its political
language to suit its purpose. Sometimes it talks of dialogue and
peace. But whenever we hear these words we must not forget the
principles I have mentioned earlier.

We must also not forget that it is their parliament that has decreed a
war. Let us not fall in these traps again. Let us not allow others to
trample on our rights in the name of peace and dialogue.


http://hevallo.blogspot.com/2007/11/turkey-denies-existence-of-kurds-this.html
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