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February 28, 2008
The Kurdish question: The Achilles' Heel of Turkey
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
What strikes me these days is not the bold effort the Turkish military is taking against the terrorists of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) in the mountains of northern Iraq. From a Turkish perspective, it is a necessary case of a the-best-defense-is-offense type of operation – something that we are used to. What I find really striking is what took place within our own borders: While our armed forces were cracking down Kurdish separatists, thousands of sympathizers of those separatists demonstrated in the streets or Diyarbakır and Van to denounce “the Turkish onslaught.”
This points to something that everybody knows in Turkey but few openly dare to say: The PKK is not some guys – and girls – in arms; it has support and grassroots among some, not all, of our Kurdish citizens. If the PKK had consisted of only its terrorists – in other words if it were something like a mafia – then our state could take care of it by killing or capturing its members one by one. But you can't finish off a force which is rooted in an unfriendly population. The more you kill their guerrillas, the more they recruit ones. That's precisely why we haven't been able to finish off the PKK since 1984.
Political solution, but how?
That's also why the U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates was right when he pointed out that Turkey needs a “political solution.” (And I very much hope that United States itself – and its best ally, Israel – realize the same fact in their own circumstances.) Actually quite many intellectuals in Turkey, too, have been saying the same thing all along. But to accept that you need a political solution does not solve your problem overnight. The next question is what kind of a political solution you need. And to find answer, you have to first find out what kind of a demand you are facing.
Generalizations are always somewhat misleading, but I still think that the “Kurdish demand” that Turkey faces can be divided into two broad categories.
First, there are Kurds who would be satisfied with broader cultural rights and better economic opportunities within a unified and democratic Turkey. They have been detesting the suppression of their identity by the Turkish state – and they are right. But a liberalized and developed Turkey – and especially one which becomes, or at least looks likely to become, an EU member – would be enough for them to be loyal citizens.
In the second category, there are Kurdish nationalists. They believe that Turkey's Kurds are not only an ethnic group within the Turkish state. They rather think that Kurds are a separate nation that deserves its own nation-state. They realize that they can't have it overnight; so they should go step by step. They need to do some cultural nation-building, while looking for political opportunities that will grant them the right moment to carve a "Kurdistan" out of Turkey – perhaps as an autonomous region first, and an independent state later.
The next question is how many Kurds of Turkey can be counted as Kurdish nationalists. It is impossible to be precise, but we can get an impression from election results. In Turkish politics, since the early 90s, there is always a political party which represents Kurdish nationalism and which sounds as if it is the political wing of the PKK. And these political parties never have got more than 5 percent of the votes. But polls indicate that people whose mother tongue is Kurdish make up of about 15 percent of the population. This roughly means that only one out of three Kurds is interested in Kurdish nationalism. The others just want decent lives. In the latest election, the great majority of them voted for the incumbent Justice and Development Party (AKP).
The fact that most Kurds are not nationalist might be considered as good news. But it doesn't make life much easy, because the nationalist ones are zealous enough to prevent the peaceful integration, let alone the assimilation, of the others into Turkish society. Actually that's why the PKK is still active and violent during an era in which Kurds have gained unprecedented rights and, therefore, became less and less nationalist. For the PKK, the best Kurd is a nationalist Kurd. Others are either traitors to be eliminated or, at best, fools to be indoctrinated.
Therefore the PKK, and its base, stands as on obstacle to the solution of Turkey's Kurdish problem. Unless they change their minds, they won't be settled with a “solution” which paves the way for an independent Kurdish state.
The best we can do
“So why don't you consider giving them a state,” you might ask. For many people in Turkey, that would be the ultimate heresy. I tend to be more pragmatic on these national issues, and could well have said, “yes, indeed, let's give them a few cities in the southeast and move on.” That region, after all, is not the most attractive part of Turkey. We would actually be much better off without it.
But things are not that simple. Turkey is different from Iraq, in which ethnic lines between Kurds and Arabs are relatively well defined. Turkey's Kurds are much more integrated into the country, and more than half of the Kurds now live in the West. The most populous “Kurdish city” in Turkey is not Diyarbakır or Van, but Istanbul. In such a highly mixed population, creating ethnic borders will be a very dangerous experiment. Remember just what happened in Bosnia, or, to India and Pakistan during the partition. Creating a “Kurdistan” in the southeast of Turkey, even as a federal state, would provoke nationalism all around the country and lead to a horrible Turko-Kurdish clash.
So what can Turkey do? The best hope is to try to win Kurdish hearts and minds as much as possible with a much better democracy and economy. This might marginalize Kurdish nationalism, whose armed wing, the PKK, must be dealt with both counter-terrorism (i.e., sticks) and methods of disarmament (i.e., carrots.).
Even if we do all this, we can't be sure that the Kurdish question will be solved. It is really the toughest problem for Turkey. In the Islam-secularism conflict, there are fierce words and clenched fists. But in this ethnic conflict, there are 35 thousand dead bodies.
Posted by Mustafa Akyol at February 28, 2008 10:13 AM
This is why Turkey should officially recognize Northern Iraq as Kurdistan. That way the government can sponsor programs to relocate anti-Turkish Kurds to where they belong: in Iraqi Kurdistan. Why shouldn't the government help send people who don't like Turkey someplace they do like? They'll be happier, and so will Turkish citizens.
Western countries deport domestic terrorists and their relatives overseas all the time, so I don't think it would be that big a deal if Turkey deported them just across the border. By terrorists I also refer to the people in the streets shouting slogans in support of the PKK and their Borat look-alike of a leader.
My family is originally from Kars, and Kars is just one of the many Turkish cities that Kurds include in their maps of "Kurdistan". The idea of federalism is just a lie to put it simply. When Kurds mention federalism or autonomy it doesn't sound so bad, but in reality they mean the kind of autonomy they've succeeded in creating in Iraq. In Iraqi Kurdistan they ethnically cleansed local Turkmen and Arab towns, then proceeded to ban the Iraqi flag completely from their regional territory. All this had a direct correlation with the rise in Kurdish terrorism in Turkey's south-eastern region.
Turks need to be reminded that the land they reside on is extremely valuable. Every nation in the world is trying to destabilize Turkey so that when it's weak, they'll pounce upon it like jackals.
There are many ethnic Kurds who have integrated into Turkish society and have become extremely successful in all fields. The problem is not with Turkish society or the Republic itself, but with the Kurds.
International media outlets recently have been eager to write stories about how the collapse of the Turkish state and society is imminent. It's during these times that the Turkish government, public, and military have to be more assertive against terrorism than ever.
Posted by: Kerim at March 2, 2008 3:28 AM
We should definitely recognize the Kurdistan region of North Iraq. We should set up consulates, an embassy and other diplomatic missions there as soon as possible. Help establish schools and universities on a longer term.
Once this is done, we should make a formal request that Peshmerge forces be located all along the Turkish border. Turkish and Peshmerge troops should be in visual distance from eachother, either side of the border. If any PKK heads were to make it into turkey during the Spring and after, it will be clear who to blame. It will enable us to draw a line between the KRG and the PKK if there is one. If not, we can recognize an act of war by a government, to which we had previously shown goodwill.
This would also undoubtedly boost our relationship with the US and soften our image abroad. The Kurds of Turkey will also see that there is no issue with Kurds or even a Kurdish state, as long as it is not carved out of Turkey. Those who are desperate to have a passport with the name Kurdistan on it can move there.
Domestic policies should ensure further investment in the South East, Welfare and employment being the priorities. Kurdish language and studies departments should be opened in Turkish universities. Kurdish should be offered as a second language option in primary and secondary schools. I also think that Kurdish radio stations and TV channels would be much better than the hourly slotted programs currently showing. We need to bring Kurdish language, thought and politics into the mainstream. Let us help take it out of the hands of separatists. On Newroz, let us jump over the fire with them, embrace them as brothers. Afterall, the English celebrate Irish St Patricks day.
Once we put all this into action, Kurds will have no excuse to resort to violence. I even believe that separatist feeling in general will fall. I base this assumption on the Welsh experience in the UK which was very successful. The incorporation of the Welsh language within the system in all domains (from welsh translations on phone boxes to the British passports), along with major economic investments has completely transformed a part of the UK which had fallen behind. The Welsh nationalist parties now no longer enjoy broad support but quite the opposite.
It is not enough to recognize diversity. It needs to be utilized. It is indeed unwise not to do so, as the Turkish experience as shown. Unfortunately, my common sense tells me that Turkey is far from undertaking these bold but rational steps, which could help resolve the Kurdish issue once and for all.
Posted by: Ceyhan at March 2, 2008 6:23 PM
The case of Spain and Basque separatism is an interesting one. To make a long story short, the EU integration and its subsequent economic success, coupled with cultural rights brought the ultras to a minority of less than 10% of Basques. ETA, the Basque nationalist/terrorist organization has become quite marginalized even among its own. They still commit crimes and everything, but for your average Basque, they're not justified anymore. And they're treated by the Spanish state as such: crimes. Were the Spanish government to react to them otherwise (e.g. military action), there would probably some sort of identification at play which would draw support to those, because you're basically attacking the group. By removing the roots that gave rise to that nationalism during Franco's times (similar to what happened to Kurds in Turkey), and by treating the remainding as common criminals, even Basques could see them that way. Has it eliminated terrorism completely? No, but you'll discover that it takes a few psychos only to wreak that kind of havoc, and they can use whatever pretext they want - including those of oppression, nationalist cause, you name it. Accepting that you can't eliminate psychos makes you able to concentrate on the part of the problem that you can eliminate.
Posted by: Chahine at March 3, 2008 3:25 AM
"The problem is not with Turkish society or the Republic itself, but with the Kurds. "
Lol,
THis was funny..
Posted by: Cenk at March 3, 2008 9:28 PM