Kurds don't bite

Ankara is trying to make peace with the Kurds and stop the bloodshed, which has been going on for 25 years. But the Turks and Kurds are against the peacekeeping initiative of the authorities

Seventeen-year-old Baran left home, leaving a note to his parents: “My battery is dead. Don't worry, I'm going to my friends." With him, he took only an identity card, two photographs of the family and a sweater that was knitted by his beloved girlfriend. It was in May, and since then, Baran has not been seen in his native Diyarbakir, a Kurdish city in southeastern Turkey. Only a few days later, his mobile phone was found in the bushes near the house.

The boy's parents did not go to the police. They already understood that Baran had gone to Qandil, a hard-to-reach area in northern Iraq, where the base of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), banned in Turkey, is located. A party spokesman's response to a Newsweek inquiry confirmed their assumptions: Baran and a hundred other recruits are undergoing special training in one of the PKK camps. There he was given a new name - Mirza Amed Size. Soon Mirza will be made a fighter for the independence of Kurdistan, and he will defend the rights of the Kurds living in Turkey with a machine gun in his hands. Over 25 years, more than 40,000 people have become victims of this struggle.

You might not have had to go to the mountains if Baran had waited another two months. At the end of July, the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the launch of the so-called "Kurdish Initiative". This is a series of democratic reforms designed to improve the situation with the rights of the Kurds and put an end to their long-standing enmity with the Turkish authorities.

Supporters of the prime minister and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) call the initiative revolutionary. And his opponents are divided into two camps: some consider the reform too radical, while others, on the contrary, are cosmetic. Both the former and the latter say that these measures will not force the PKK militants to lay down their arms. In this case, according to Turkish political scientists, Erdogan's party will lose the next elections, which will be held in 2012.

The rating of the AKP began to fall, just as the start of the reforms was announced. Now the party in power can only go to the end. The opposition fears that the AKP will even decide to change the constitution and eventually betray the ideas of Turkey's founding father, Kemal Ataturk.

ZERO PROBLEMS WITH NEIGHBORS

The details of the reform became known in mid-November at parliamentary hearings. Interior Minister Beshir Atalay, who oversees the initiative, hastened to assure the deputies that they would not grant autonomy to the Kurds and that all innovations would affect only the humanitarian sphere. The program turned out to be extensive anyway: remove restrictions on the use of the Kurdish language in the media, allow it to be spoken during political actions and in prisons, introduce elective courses in the language in schools and universities, return Kurdish names to renamed villages and install signs in two languages. Amnesty for PKK members who have not stained themselves with blood and the repatriation of refugees are also being discussed.

The resolution of the “Kurdish issue” would allow the Erdogan government not only to get rid of its main domestic political problem, but also to receive dividends from outside. The AKP dreams of Turkey's accession to the European Union and has been pursuing a policy of "zero problems with neighbors" with varying success for seven years now. Recently, the Turks have clearly become more active: they hastily put up with the Armenians, are negotiating on the occupied Northern Cyprus, and now it has come to the Kurds. The EU even praised the prime minister's latest initiative. "Turkey has demonstrated efforts in carrying out political reforms," ​​European Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn said. And he added: "Progress in negotiations on accession [to the EU] depends on this dynamic."

Peace with the Kurds is beneficial to Ankara in economic terms as well. If the Turks could guarantee security in regions with a Kurdish population (southeast Turkey and northern Iraq), then the Nabucco gas pipeline competing with the Russian South Stream could be filled with Iraqi gas. Türkiye, of course, would receive more money for transit. On the official website of the project, this route is already indicated by a dotted line. But while the Kurdistan Workers Party has settled there, it is not safe to pull a pipe from Iraq.

Kurdish rebels cost Turkey dearly. As AKP representatives recently stated, $300 billion has been spent on fighting them over 25 years. Ankara hopes that the Kurdish Initiative will make ordinary Kurds less receptive to PKK propaganda. The United States is also interested in this. When this issue went to press, Erdogan was preparing for an official visit to Washington. The Obama administration's approach is reflected in the White House's "Prevention of Conflict in Kurdistan" report. His main point is that when the Americans leave Iraq in 2011, the Kurdish separatists from the PKK should already be disarmed.

LEARNED TO LIVE TOGETHER

But at the November parliamentary hearings, Erdogan's peacekeeping initiative caused a flurry of criticism. Republican People's Party leader Deniz Baykal said the proposed measures would not help "root out Kurdish terrorism" and indeed they are "the theater for the European Union." The head of the Nationalist Action Party, Devlet Bahçeli, called the reformists traitors. He is confident that their proposals threaten the integrity of the Republic of Turkey, as they pander to the demands of the separatist-minded national minority. “This is a mockery of the common sense of the Turkish people,” added his fellow party member Mehmet Shandir.

MPs from the legal pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (PDS) did not like the reform either. They seem to be half-hearted. Kurdish politicians demand changes to the constitution, in particular its 42nd and 66th articles, which they call chauvinistic. The first bans teaching in the country's schools in any language other than Turkish. According to the second, all those who are connected by bonds of citizenship with the Turkish state are considered Turks. In fact, this means that Türkiye does not recognize the existence of national minorities on its territory.

So far, the authorities are not ready to change the constitution, but Interior Minister Beshir Atalay does not rule out that this will happen in the future. "Our people deserve a more democratic and pluralistic constitution," he says. The conservative opposition sees this as an undermining of the ideas of the first president of Turkey, Kemal Ataturk, who preached nationalism and the Turkization of minorities.

Most Turks are in solidarity with the opposition. Even cautious humanitarian indulgences within the framework of the Kurdish Initiative seem to them potentially dangerous. According to a November poll, 51% of the country's population is against the reform, while 35% are in favor.

“The parties have absolutely no trust in each other,” says Selahattin Demirtas, one of the PDO leaders. - The Kurds remember the years of repression and say that the problem cannot be solved in three months. The Turks are afraid that if the Kurds are given more rights, they will immediately demand independence.” Gülten Kaya, widow of Ahmet Kaya, a popular Kurdish singer forced to emigrate to France due to persecution at home, adds: “Over the years, Turks and Kurds have forgotten how to live together. The proposed reforms will not solve the problem, but may exacerbate it.”

At the end of November, having felt these sentiments, the AKP decided to launch a large-scale explanatory PR campaign in the regions. The Prime Minister also participates in it. Erdogan began his recent speech to the residents of the city of Malatya with words about the "detrimental impact of frozen conflicts." “We are ready to lose all our offices and titles,” he said. “The only thing we want is to stop the blood of our soldiers from shedding.”

GOODWILL GESTURE

“My brother is a soldier. What happens if they suddenly meet? They can kill each other!” cries Ziynet, the mother of the recruit Baran. She still cannot believe that her son joined the rebels, and does not understand why he did this. Usually young people from poor families go to the mountains. Those who have no education and prospects.

Baran's family is considered wealthy by local standards. His father Abdulla Demirbash is the head of one of the municipal districts of the Diyarbakir district. Baran studied at one of the best schools in the city, participated in amateur theatrical performances, and was interested in Kurdish music and philosophy. “He got good grades. Lots of friends, girl. Why did these mountains surrender to him? his mother throws up her hands.

Abdulla Demirbash knows the answer to this question, but is afraid to incur the wrath of his wife. He is sure that his son went to the militants, having seen on the example of his father how the rights of the Kurds in Turkey are being infringed. Over the past five years, 23 lawsuits have been filed against Demirbash Sr. He is accused of using the banned Kurdish language in the civil service and promoting the ideas of multilingualism.

Two years ago, he was fired from his post as head of the municipality. In March of this year, he again outstripped his competitors in municipal elections and was reinstated, but he is still running around the courts. On the basis of the current lawsuits, he faces 98 years in prison. “Baran, apparently, realized that you can’t achieve anything by democratic methods,” his father sighs.

“Young people today think differently than we once did. They were brought up in an environment of confrontation and violence, says Sezgin Tanrikulu, a well-known lawyer and former head of the Diyarbakır Bar Association. - Many have lost relatives, experienced psychological trauma. Since childhood, they have been thinking in terms of victims and executioners.”

The protagonist of the young Kurds is PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, who has been behind bars for ten years now. He prepared an alternative "Road Map" to solve the Kurdish problem. Its main point is the Kurds' right to self-government. But official Ankara is not yet negotiating with life-sentenced Ocalan. “We have the only interlocutor - our people,” Beshir Atalay said on this occasion.

Because of this, representatives of the PKK are ambivalent about the reform. In one of their latest statements, they called her a window dressing. This problem cannot be solved without coming into contact with the "expressors of the will of the Kurdish people", they are sure. Deniz Baikal of the Republican People's Party warns that it would be a "fatal mistake" if the authorities go along with "the people who support terrorism in the region."

Baikal and other opposition politicians all cannot forget the magnificent reception recently given by the Turkish Kurds in honor of the arrival of "ambassadors of peace" from Iraq. This is the name given to a group of 34 Kurds (of which eight are PKK fighters) who surrendered to the Turkish authorities as a sign of reconciliation at the call of Ocalan. At the checkpoint, they were met by the leaders of the Democratic Society party and tens of thousands of Kurds with the symbols of independent Kurdistan. They shouted Ocalan's name and separatist slogans.

In response, Turkish nationalists in the city of Izmir threw stones at the car of the head of the PDO, Ahmet Turk. A fight broke out and 11 people were injured. And last week, the reaction of the Kurds followed - street riots swept Diyarbakir, Mersin and even Istanbul. The Turkish authorities - also as a gesture of goodwill - decided to release all eight ex-militants to freedom. Rookie Baran was not among them.

* PARIA OF KURDISTAN * Attempts to create their own state of the Kurds - an Iranian-speaking ethnic minority of the Ottoman Empire - began in the 19th century. The 1920 Treaty of Sevres between the Entente countries and Turkey provided for the creation of an independent Kurdistan, but never entered into force. After several unsuccessful uprisings, the Kurds created the military-political Marxist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in 1978 and declared war on Turkey in the mid-1980s.

1984 - The first armed action of the PKK was the capture of the barracks of the Turkish army in the cities of Erukh and Semdinli in southeastern Turkey.

1986 - The governors of the Turkish and Iraqi border provinces entered into an agreement under which the armies of both countries, pursuing the Kurds, had the right to cross the border. Over the next 20 years, Türkiye conducted hundreds of military operations against the PKK. The largest of them (in 1995) involved 3,500 soldiers. They managed to destroy 1500 militants. The last major action involving aviation and artillery took place in December 2007-February 2008.

1987 - Saddam Hussein's government uses chemical weapons against Iraqi Kurds for the first time. In total, about 40 such attacks were carried out.

1991 - After Hussein lost the war for Kuwait, Iraqi Kurds, who were waiting for the fall of his regime, revolted and took control of northern Iraq. Hussein put down the rebellion. The intervention of the UN and the beginning of the US operation to protect the Kurds "Consolation" turned the three northern provinces of Iraq into a de facto independent Kurdish region.

1993 - PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan appeals to Turkish President Turgut Özal for a ceasefire. But Ozal dies under unclear circumstances, and the army launches a massive operation against the PKK. Ocalan refuses the truce. The Kurds are trying to involve European countries in the conflict: they take tourists hostage, seize embassies.

1998 - Turkey has concentrated troops on the border with Syria, under the threat of war, demanding that Damascus expel Öcalan and withdraw support for the PKK. Syria complied. The head of the PKK tried to find refuge in Italy, Greece and Russia, but to no avail.

1999 - Turkish special services conducted a special operation in Kenya and captured Ocalan, who was hiding there. A wave of terrorist attacks swept through Turkey. The leader of the PKK was sentenced to death. The PKK announced the withdrawal of troops from Turkish Kurdistan to northern Iraq, as well as a unilateral truce. In 2002, Ocalan's death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.

2004 - The PKK announced that it was ending the truce due to Turkey's neglect of Kurdish issues. Foreign tourists are advised to leave Turkey.

2006 - The funeral of four PKK activists killed in a shootout with the military erupted into riots. Three people were killed and hundreds were injured. After a series of explosions in Istanbul and a terrorist attack in Antalya, the Turkish army concentrated a 150,000-strong group on the border with Iraq, preparing for a large-scale operation.

2008 - in January, a car was blown up in Diyarbakir on the way of a bus with Turkish military men. Four people were killed, 68 people were injured. In July, there were two terrorist attacks in the shopping centers of Istanbul. 17 people were killed, 150 were injured. Ankara blamed the Kurdish separatists for the attacks. In August, PKK militants blew up the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline.

2009 - In March, the PKK imposed a moratorium on hostilities, declaring a political solution to the conflict as its goal. In May, in the Kurdish region in the southeast of the country, unidentified people attacked a Turkish wedding. The procession was fired upon with machine guns and pelted with grenades. 41 people died, more than 20 were injured.