KURDISH QUESTION solved!

I don’t know if you have heard of Altan Tan before, but he is a Kurd that has worked for Refah Partisi, and Hadep at one point, and now seems to be close to the AKP government. He is a mild Kurdish-rights defender and moderate Muslim. And he writes for Zaman daily, which is a newspaper that is owned by Fethullah Gulen like many other media outlets in Turkety. As you all probably know, Fethullah Gulen just recently was acquitted from a US court and now can even become citizen. That is not the extraordinary part about this man, who says that he is only a Muslim and nothing more, but in reality has a huge group of followers, and hundreds of schools all around the world, TV channels, Newspapers and many more things.

The most important of all these is, without a doubt, the schools that he has founded in all around the world including South Kurdistan. And let me say that they have got the permission to build a university, too, in only Kurdistan part that is supposedly being governed by the Kurds. It is interesting enough to note that, in those schools that stretch from Japan, Russia, almost all Turkic countries in Asia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Africa, some European countries and even USA, all of the pupils learn not only English but also Turkish, they learn Turkish National Anthem, they all learn about Ataturl and how great he was, they all learn that Turkey is the best country in the world and that Turkish language is the most beautiful one, shortly and with a little bit of Islam of course.

Now mind you, he says that his schools are not nationalistic but rather Islamic. But there is a huge controversy, if his schools are not nationalist, or I will even go further as to call it Fascist, why would the poor African children have to learn about the Turkish flag, Ataturk who executed all religious figures and almost banned religion and created a fascist state of Turkey, and Turkish national anthem. WHY? Why does he, or his servants don’t only teach the kids about Islam and other things but mostly about Turks and Turkishism?

One more little thing and I will move on to my topic; Did you know that they hold “International Turkish Olimpycs” every year, and last year they held the 6th one with the participation of 110 countries from all around the globe, and highest ranking government officials such as ministers and bureaucrats etc. This is a new movement of Turkish Imperialism as my National Security once said. But he is saying it is all because of Islam, right?He, and all of his followers do, support Palestine against Israel, and how ruthless Israel is etc, but I have never ever heard one single word from him about the Kurdish Question or Kurdish people, not even once.

A side note; Arabic is the second official language of Israel, and there are Arab Representatives in the Knesset. That is not to say there are not bad things happening to Arabs due to Israel-Palestinian conflict as those bad things happen to the Israelis(Jews), too. But lets compare the Kurdish Problem to the Palestinian one, and keep in mind that this guy is from Turkey and not Israel or Palestine, and he is from a place that is majority of the city is Kurdish, Erzurum.

Well, enough of that, lets get back to Altan Tan, in his last two articles at Zaman, he is telling us how the Kurdish Problem could be solved. For the full articles in English go to here, and here. I will just quote some parts of his articles. Here is a piece from his first article;

There are two reasons why a Kurdish state was not created in the Middle East in the 20th century:

1- The Western imperialists did not see an independent Kurdish state as compatible with their interests. There are several reasons for this.

2- The Kurds did not want to part ways with the Turks, with whom they have lived together for centuries.

The vast majority of Kurds still object to the idea of a nation-state and a separate Kurdish state from Turkey. These objections may be divided into two parts:

1- The idea of a nation-state and the nation-state model was fashionable in the 19th century. The nation-state became outdated in the 21st century. A wave of globalization has swept through the world. Information and culture recognize no boundaries, and the movement of goods cannot be prevented.

….

Instead of nation-states, regional unions and political and economic organizations like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the European Union gain importance. In the current form of the world, it is commonly held that a delayed Kurdish nationalism would bring harm to Kurds rather than benefits. The Kurds desire to remain within a political organization consistent with the new global tendencies rather than trying a non-functional and outdated model.

Before going to the second part I want to object some of the things he says in this first part of why the Kurds will object to the idea of a nation-state.

First of all, lets be honest, we don’t know if the Kurds want a nation-state or not, but one thing that we all know for sure is that; the Kurds do not want to live under this ruthless, inhumane, fascist regime of Turkey, or for that same reason in Syria, and Iran, too. The only way we could really learn what the Kurds really want is that if we hold a referendum, but a referendum that Kurdish people will be able to cast their true feelings and ideas; not under threat of the soldiers’ pistols pocking them from behind while casting their votes as has been the case as recent as the last elections in a lot of villages of Kurdistan. Either Cahsh village-guards, or the soldiers are the one to do this duty. So, we can’t know! One other thing that I know is, if there was such a referendum being held right now all of my parents, relatives and almost all of the Kurds that I know would vote for independence, so I don’t quite understand where he infers this conclusion from. Besides without a nation-state, or at least a federation that will give Kurds full rights, it is very hard if not impossible, to make Kurdish language that is most important thing that Kurds so far were fortunate enough to protect (even if auto-assimilation has sped up and we are losing it day-by-day now), pass it to future generations.

Of course, this is applicable to the other parts of our culture. How are we going to preserve Kurdish language and culture without a systemized structure? How? Thus, this saying that nation-state is not fashionable enough now is not very valid to me. Lets see what else he says;

2- The nation-state model does not fit the Middle East. The nation-state brought irresolution rather than solution to Middle Eastern communities because of the following reasons:

…

e. Marriages take place between those who share the same religion and sect without considering the lingual and racial difference. Integration between families is almost intact. It is estimated that the number of marriages between Turks and Kurds is over 1 million in Turkey alone.

We could agree with him on the fact that, nation-state did bring a lot of irresolution or rather disasters to the Middle East. But that itself is not strong enough argument to say for this reason Kurds don’t want their homeland; Kurdistan. It was only the Kurds happen to be a little behind in comparison to other peoples, but now they are aware of it, and at best chance they will declare their independence, too, just like any other honorable people.

Marriages between Turks and Kurds, I guess there is such a fact, even if I don’t think that the number is as he says 1 million. Those marriages are left in the past, now the Kurds almost cannot get married with Turks because the Turkish side of the family the threatens their daughter or son with disowning them if they marry a Kurd, let alone other things. Turks, not all, but in general now hate Kurds. They don’t even become friends with them anymore let alone marrying them.

f. There have been almost no ethnic wars between communities in the Middle East. The most important wars in the history were fought between Turks. These are the wars fought between Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror and the Akkoyunlu ruler Uzun Hasan, Yıldırım Bayezit and Uzbek Timurlane, Sultan Selim I and Safavid Shah Ismail. All these rulers were Turks. In addition, with the exception of Shah Ismail, all others were Sunni as well. The reason of the wars was the pursuit of power and influence.

So, then what is the name of the lynching campaign against the Kurds in all Turkish cities, especially in Sakarya, Ankara, Konya, Adana etc? That is not an ethnic conflict? Well then what is it?

In his second article, he tells us why an ethnic-federation would not work in Turkey. Lets listen to him:

The idea of an ethnic federation is not an ideal response to contemporary needs, just as the idea of recognizing a separate state or government model for every sect and language would not be appropriate.

Moreover, an ethnic federation would not fit into Turkey's conditions for a number of reasons.

About 60 percent of the Kurds living in Turkey live in western Turkey, in cities like İstanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Adana, Mersin and Bursa. In Syria, Iraq and Iran, on the other hand, Kurds mostly settled in their own geographies and were not so dispersed throughout other parts of the country.

Now, this is not completely true. Tehran, Baghdad, Damascus and other cities have substantial Kurdish populations, along with other cities in all these countries. And one thing not to miss is this; in Iran or Syria the Kurds were not forced to leave their homes, as it is the case in Turkey (3 million people homeless, 4 thousand villages destroyed, all of the forests of Kurdistan burnt down, all of its water resources utilized etc). But lets assume for a second what he is saying is correct.

Economic integration is at an advanced level. Kurds have secured substantial economic resources in almost every part of Turkey and made huge amounts of investments. In economic terms, there are countless partnerships between Turks and Kurds. Their interests are interrelated. On the other hand, while there are problems with regard to political and cultural rights, the Kurds enjoy equal status as citizens. A substantial number of Syria's Kurds, however, are not even citizens yet.

So the Kurds have secured all of the economic resources in the shoe-shining, begging, car-parking sectors. That is what he talking about, I think, because I cannot think of any other sector that has Kurds, and by Kurds I mean real Kurds not the fake ones who have become Turks. If it was not for the Kurds, there would not be one person who would work in construction business without any benefits or whatsoever. So it is true that there are countless partnerships between Kurds and Turks, otherwise the Turks would not be able to find any servants for them. It is true that the Kurds enjoy equal status with Turks, as long as they deny their roots and say that they are Turks. True, a lot of Kurds in Syria do not have citizenship, but they live with their honor, living and passing down their culture to the younger generations proudly. And the Kurds in Syria can always proudly say they are Kurdish, and almost never hide their identity. You compare it!

I don’t want to make this already long post longer. The author does say that 3 thousand villages were ‘evacuated’ and that Turkey should help and recognize a free Kurdistan in Iraq, too. But, I think he is too much under the influence of the Turkist Fethullah Gulen, as he is writing in his newspaper, right?