Abant Conference Helps to Shatter Prejudice
The 18th gathering of the Abant Platform on "Searching for Peace and a Future Together," which was held in Arbil on Feb. 15 and 16 with the participation of over 200 intellectuals from Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan, has raised hopes about the course of Turkey's relations with northern Iraq and the settlement of Turkey's long-standing Kurdish problem.
For a long time Turkey refused to have any diplomatic relations with northern Iraq on the grounds that northern Iraqi leaders were supporting the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which launches deadly terrorist attacks against Turkey. However, diplomatic contacts began to be held with the region in late 2008 in a move that was seen as an important step for the settlement of Turkey's Kurdish issue. Now that Turks and northern Iraqi Kurds are coming together around the same table for this conference, there are hopes for an end to mutual prejudices and the creation of better ties.
Star's Nasuhi Güngör, one of the participants at the meeting, writes that among the many conferences held by the Abant Platform so far, the one held in Arbil was the most meaningful, having sent its central message even before it started. "Coming to this region is important. Speaking here is important. It is important to reach millions of people who share the same feelings with you, who have their own prejudices, just or not," he explains. Güngör, who penned his column before the start of the conference, says the conference showed something before it even started: "The people in this region never turn down a hand extended to them with sincerity. Every step you take makes a contribution to the settlement of the problem. And the most important thing is that it breaks the prejudices into pieces on both sides. What else could be expected from a conference?
According to Bugün's Adem Yavuz Arslan, the conference in Arbil is the most meaningful of the conferences held by the Abant Platform so far and it will be a milestone in the settlement of the Kurdish problem and the course of relations between Turkey and Iraq. In his view, even if no concrete message or solution comes out of the meeting, the very act of coming together around the same table with Kurdish intellectuals is an important step. About those who did not participate in the conference even though they were invited, such as certain members of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP), the Republican People's Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), Yavuz says it is particularly interesting that the DTP members who engage in politics over the Kurdish problem act reluctantly for the settlement of the problem. "It leaves a serious question in people's minds about how the DTP can make a contribution to the settlement of the Kurdish problem by not attending a conference where every kind of view is openly discussed and violence is renounced," Yavuz explains.
Yeni Şafak's Yasin Aktay, another participant in the conference, talks about his impressions of the meeting and says Turks had the experience of engaging in such dialogue for the first time. He says this conference gave Turks the opportunity to realize that the northern Iraqi Kurds are not the same as Kurds living in Turkey, leading to more maturity in the language used between Turks and Iraqi Kurds.
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