Is A Bright Future For Kurds On The Horizon?

The Washington, D.C.-based Middle East Studies Association (MESA) is an academic institution that organizes annual conferences on almost every issue of the Middle East. Thousands of scholars and graduate students around the world attend the annual conference and presents their research and findings. This year the conference is being held in Washington, D.C on Nov. 22-25.
The conference program shows that scholars are paying less and less attention to Turkey, especially the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government. A few years ago, the AKP government and its policies were one of the main areas that scholars were examining and presenting papers on. This year, however, there are few presentations on Turkey and only one on the AKP government.
This year, presentations on "the Kurdish question" have significantly increased; there are almost 10 more presentations related to the Kurdish issue than last year. There are nearly 30 paper presentations about "the Kurdish question," on topics ranging from the peace process to the situation in Iraq, and from Iranian Kurds to Kobani.
In one of the panels, titled "The Kurds and the Changing Middle East Political Map", scholars examined the impact of Kurdish issues on Middle Eastern affairs.
Renowned scholars such as Tozun Bahçeli, Robert W. Olson, Vera Eccarius-Kelly, Nader Entessar, Michael M. Gunter, Mohammed M.A. Ahmed examined various issues on the influence of Kurds. Gunter was among the most optimistic about the future of the Kurds, while Entessar stressed high hopes for Iranian Kurds but was not as optimistic as Gunter. Eccarius-Kelly shared interesting observations on pro-Abdullah Öcalan Kurds in the diaspora, especially with regard to the peace process in Turkey. She pointed out that pro-Öcalan Kurds in the diaspora are optimistic about the future of the peace process but still do not trust Erdoğan and the AKP government.

One of the issues that the scholars agreed upon was the impact of Kobani on Kurds. As Eccarious-Kelly put it, the issue of Kobani has brought together Turkey's Kurds, as well as Kurds from Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey. It seems that the peace process and Kobani as well as the brutal attacks of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) against Yazidi Kurds have impacted the Kurdish diaspora's strategies toward Europe, and similarly, Europeans' views of Kurds.

Eccarious-Kelly's presentation made me think that pro-Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) Kurds in the diaspora have starting to realize that the weapons of the PKK have turned into an obstacle in the way of their efforts to convince European policy circles and academics to remove the PKK from terror organization lists. The efforts of the PKK and the Democratic Union Party (PYD), its affiliate, against ISIL to protect helpless Kurds in Iraq and Syria have certainly created sympathy among interested parties in Europe. The Kurdish diaspora in Europe wants to use this sympathy as an opportunity to lift the ban on the PKK.

If Turkish policy-makers were sincere about the peace process, and if the PKK leadership in the Kandil Mountains shared similar views as the diaspora, the practical implication of such attempts would be a valuable asset for the peace process.
First, Kurdish efforts to lift the ban on the PKK's network indicate that the PKK would not want to use weapons against Turkey, because any armed clash with Turkey would ruin pro-PKK networks efforts to lift the ban on them.

In this case, Turkish government should work with European countries to use such attempts as an opportunity to convince the PKK to permanently end its armed fight.

Second, Turkey should respond positively and grant democratic rights to the Kurds, which would make Turkey's European partners put additional pressure on the PKK to permanently end the armed clash against Turkey.

One thing that concerns me is whether Turkey will see such attitude changes among the PKK's network and PKK supporters as an opportunity to hasten and deepen the peace process.

It seems to me that the Turkish authorities would prefer to take a shortcut by convincing Öcalan to manipulate the process, and thus buy some time before the next election. That would be big disappointment for the Kurds if the peace process fails.

EMRE USLU (Cihan/Today's Zaman)