Abant Platform Suggests New Language to Settle Kurdish Problem

Amidst increasing tension over the latest detentions in the investigation into the Ergenekon gang, a shadowy criminal network that is alleged to have links to the state, the Abant Platform gathered last week for a three-day conference to discuss Turkey's thorny Kurdish problem.

Following Turkey dealing a severe blow to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) with numerous air and land operations since late last year, there was a big expectation about the prospects of settling the Kurdish issue with economic, social and political measures. Nevertheless, the closure case filed against the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) urged the government to put these plans on the back burner. The Abant Platform has presented the opportunity to bring this long-standing problem back onto Turkey's agenda, with participants agreeing on the need for developing a new and non-divisive language for settlement of the problem.

Bugün's Mehmet Metiner, a Kurd and one of the participants at the Abant meeting, complains about the use of divisive language while attempting to look for solutions to the Kurdish issue, adding that discussing the issue in terms of "we Turks" and "you Kurds" only deepens the problem. He suggests that a unilateral language be adopted, explaining that politically accusing the other side only deepens both side's concerns. "We need a new language of empathy aimed at eliminating concerns on both sides," he says. Focusing on the historical background of the Kurdish problem, he notes that the problem emerged as a result of the state regarding all of its citizens as Turks in its official ideology. In Metiner's view, the understanding according to which "no democracy will be settled in Turkey if the Kurdish problem is not solved" should be replaced with the belief that "the Kurdish problem can only be resolved within democracy." He also finds it problematic that there is a Turkish perception that reduces the Kurdish problem to the problem of PKK terrorism. "A Turkish perception needs to be developed that differentiates between the Kurdish problem and the PKK," he says.

Star's Nasuhi Güngör also points to divisive language as a big obstacle in the settlement of the Kurdish issue. "All the participants of the Abant meeting agreed that resorting to violence was not a means to solve the problem. It is necessary to renounce the language that nourishes violence in addition to renouncing violence itself. This is valid for all parties of the problem," Güngör suggests. In his view, the AK Party has taken significant steps for the settlement of the problem and it has shown that politics has the power to produce solutions for this problem. The result of the July 22 elections last year, in which the AK Party garnered a majority of the votes in the predominantly Kurdish Southeast, is an indication of this, he says. "This problem will continue to be discussed for a long time. However, for the correct steps to be taken, the understandings that nourish this problem have to be seriously reviewed," he explains.