Rethinking the Kurdish Problem
The 18th Abant Platform meeting titled "Searching for Peace and a Future Together," which was held on Feb. 15 in Arbil, northern Iraq, has made quite an impression.
This meeting has perhaps for the first time revealed comprehensively that Turkey cannot resolve its Kurdish problem independently of its relations with Iraqi Kurdistan. The expectation that Turkey will develop reforms such as the state-run Kurdish-language TV station TRT 6 to tackle its Kurdish problem is important in this respect. Turkey's escape from its mono-cultural nationalist constraint and attempt to resolve its Kurdish problem in a multicultural democratic constitutional state will provide a democratic opening for its citizens and make Turkey a reference point for Iraqi Kurdistan.
In addition to this, Turkey's inclination toward solving its Kurdish problem through democratic means will lead to a paradigm change in its view toward Iraqi Kurdistan. The "Kurdish problem," which has been tackled as a matter of national security and "northern Iraq," which has been addressed with the "fight against terror" rhetoric because of a narrow-minded nationalism based on the mono-cultural national state ideology need to be replaced.
The Kurdish problem needs to be replaced with a resolution created in a multicultural and democratic constitutional state, which will be created by constitutional reforms on citizenship, language and local administration. The political and practical term "northern Iraq" needs to be replaced with the term "Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Administration," which refers to the existence of a Kurdish federation.
Another conclusion we were compelled to reach at the meeting was that the only borders between Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan must be on the map. In a narrow sense, this means increasing economic and social gains by improving border passages. In the broader sense, this means making it a goal to accomplish the much-emphasized Turkish-Kurdish brotherhood. This view that all boundaries must be removed is of paramount importance for those who envisage the world as a garden without borders.
Certainly this border-obsessed nation-state centered nationalism has a long way to go before it can attain the much more humane idea of a borderless garden. But Turkey is seeking to enter a political geography that has managed to remove nation-state borders in an important part of the world -- the European Union.
The transnational and supranational EU is literally a formation that has carried democratic rights and liberties possessed in nation-states beyond and above the borders of these nation-states. Every step Turkey takes toward full membership in the EU will mean Turkey will accept and implement transnational and supranational rights and liberties. This will impact Turkey's solution for its Kurdish problem and its relations with Kurdistan, which has proven to be an inseparable factor in solving the Kurdish problem.
Essentially, as long as Turkey continues to lean toward unifying with the EU, it will be able to find a democratic solution to the Kurdish problem and develop its relations with Kurdistan from a perspective other than "national security." The optimistic tone of the above paragraphs should not lead one to think a solution will be found without any obstacles.
The EU is currently facing the threat of "introverted nationalism," which Andreu Misse, a journalist with Spain's El Pais daily, also wrote about in his article a few days ago. Introverted nationalism means EU member countries have become more introverted, differing from "European nationalism," which is represented by EU rightists, who view the EU as a federal structure that has a Christian-influenced relatively homogenous European culture.
Introverted nationalism is more troubling than "European nationalism" because it is inimical to the transnational and supranational rights and liberties that make the EU borderless. A negative scenario is that introverted nationalism will halt Turkey's EU process and encourage the EU to adopt a similar nationalist authoritarianism over Turkey.
This political struggle of those who envisage the EU as a true example of cosmopolitan democracy is not over. But Turkey must continue it EU bid in line with this cosmopolitan Europe view, which supports its membership. The only way Turkey can achieve this is by developing democratization reforms in line with multicultural democracy. Included in these reforms must be conditions that are vital for resolving the Kurdish problem such as redefining citizenship, removing all restrictions on the Kurdish language and applying the principle of local administration autonomy to all public administration problems and the Kurdish problem.
While considering a solution to the Kurdish problem and our relationship with Kurdistan, which is an inseparable part of the solution, we must question the consequences of excluding the EU based on the assumption that the entire West has negative views about Islam.
I believe the view mentioned above conflicts with another assessment made in Arbil -- namely, "protecting democratic rights and liberties, enhancing democratic institutions and mobilizing democratic actors in the relations." This is because "protecting democratic rights and liberties, enhancing democratic institutions and mobilizing democratic actors in the relations" can be achieved with the idea of a heterogeneous West in mind and including the efforts of cosmopolitan democracy supporters in the West.
Professor Levent Köker is a lecturer at Gazi University.
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