Can Turkey Achieve Peace With The Kurds?

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in one of his recent tirades in which he referenced Lawrence of Arabia, claimed that the Islamic Ottoman Empire broke down due to the designs of imperialists and their lackeys and that they are now trying to do the same to Turkey.

If one is to remain loyal to historic facts, among the many factors that led to the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, the primary one was the spread of nationalism, first among Christian subjects and later among Muslims, including Turks. Today as well, it is mainly growing Kurdish nationalism that is the main threat to the unity of the Republic of Turkey. If Turkey's territorial integrity is to be preserved, one needs to have a realistic assessment of the facts. This, before all else, necessitates recognition of the fact that not just one but two peoples live in Turkey, and serious consideration of what needs to be done to avoid Kurdish nationalism from turning increasingly separatist and violent.

Certain extraordinary conditions perhaps still render this possible. The policy of forced assimilation of Kurds in the name of modernization by republican Turkey have given rise to Kurdish uprisings ever since the 1920s, the most violent of which is the one led by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) since the 1980s. The “Islamic nation,” which provided a common identity for all Muslim subjects of the Ottoman Empire, has long disappeared into history. The policies of the socioeconomic and political integration of Kurds since the transition to multiparty politics in the 1950s, however, still bind the two peoples together in an exceptional manner.

Most Kurds live in Turkish-majority regions of the country. There are millions born of mixed marriages. Ethnic Kurds are overrepresented in Turkey's economic, cultural and political elites. Separatism still remains marginal. Even the PKK has disavowed separatism and pledges to abandon violence if the common demands of Kurds are met. The grounds for the preservation of Turkey's territorial integrity may slowly be eroding due to the lack of determination in solving the Kurdish question, but it is perhaps still valid.

Turkey has through very bitter experiences learned that the unity of the country can never be protected by legal or military force. The only way is to meet the common, democratic demands of the vast majority of Kurds by adopting a new and democratic constitution to restructure Turkey as a state of citizens and not of any particular ethnic group, and to recognize the right to education in one's mother tongue and the right to administrative autonomy not only for Kurdish but all regions of the country.

The international dimension of the Kurdish question is becoming increasingly evident. Unless Turkey manages to consolidate a liberal and pluralist democracy that will meet the demands of all of its peoples, it is highly likely that separatism and pan-Kurdism will flourish. If Turkey is to preserve its territorial integrity, in the interest of all its peoples, Ankara has to also pursue a policy of friendship and solidarity with all Kurds wherever they live. It is clear that the perception that Ankara left the Kobani Kurds of Syria alone under the threat of massacre by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants, because they are closely affiliated with the PKK and refused to join the fight against the Bashar al-Assad dictatorship, triggered the violent mass demonstrations in Turkey's Kurdish regions this month that led to nearly 40 deaths.

It may be claimed that no matter what reforms Turkey adopts, they cannot hinder the spread of separatism and pan-Kurdism. This may be true. Yes, all reforms to meet their demands did not indeed hinder the spread of separatism and pan-nationalism among the Basques and Catalans in Spain. A violent form of separatism among the Basques that remained marginal has effectively expired, while Catalan separatists have never resorted to violence. Even if the Basques or Catalans choose to separate from Spain in the future, it is certain that this is going to happen in a peaceful and civilized way through referendums without any bloodshed and with the assurance of the rights of those who say “no” to independence.

ŞAHİN ALPAY (Cihan/Today's Zaman)