AKP'S KURDISH POLICY

"Some might not agree with the things I say but the time will show the truth."
~ Murat Karayılan.

Last month, the hevals at KurdishInfo ran an interview with Murat Karayılan, who has a lot of interesting things to say about a number of issues affecting Kurdistan. Karayılan's explanation of the AKP's approach to the Kurdish situation is enlightening, especially after we have witnessed the intensification of military operations against the Kurdish freedom movement since Abdullah Gül's visit to military installations in The Southeast in September, and the recent Ankara regime massacre in Beytüşşebap.

Politically, the war has also been intensified by the Ankara regime, with DTP parliamentarians, mayors, and politicians continue to be harassed, rounded up, arrested, and fired upon with weapons since the July elections. Threats are made to lift parliamentary immunity so that bogus accusations of "separatism" can be tried in kangaroo courts. Once again, the regime is engaging in its usual policy toward Kurdish political participation, one that will lead to the banning of yet another Kurdish party, as Büyükanıt has begun the call for:

The military, in parallel with their intervention on the ground, have also become more strident. Last week, before members of the military academy, General Büyükanit suggested it would be necessary to ban the DTP, whose members "call 'terrorists' brothers."

The full interview can be read at KurdishInfo but this post contains that portion in which Karayılan speaks about the AKP's policy toward the Kurdish people [Note: Paragraphs have been created that do not exist in the original, in order to make the replies easier to read--Mizgîn]:

****************************

Question: In the context of Abdullah Gul's becoming president, Iran and Turkish military attacks, the deferral of the Kirkuk referendum, we have Iraq's head of state and PUK leader Jalal Talabani's statement that the struggle in North Kurdistan is against democracy. How do you see this statement?


Murat Karayılan: Certainly any politician from Kurdistan can make comments about Kurdistan. But making empty statements is wrong. It is important to respect the people's situation in each part, taking in account that the people are living under pressure of colonialist powers. I think they should be careful when make their views public. Also we should consider Turkey's past history and the Kurdish people's struggle in Turkey. The Kurdish people's struggle opens the door for Turkey's democratic process. It was the Kurdish nation that resisted the 12 September military regime. It was again the Kurdish nation under the leadership of the PKK in its struggle for democracy on the 12 September fascist incidents. Since that time, the Kurdish struggle has helped Turkey to become democratic. It is the same today.

It is wrong to see the Kurdish nation's struggle as against democracy. The Kurdish struggle is a democratic struggle. In all parts of Kurdistan, the Kurdish nation has only one flag. With this, the Kurdish nation is reaching to its freedom. Whether in Turkey, Iran, Syria and Iraq, the Kurdish nation should be democracy's main dynamic and voice. The Kurdish nation's struggle is against flag-waving nationalism and anti-democratic oppression. When considering this, it should be assessed accurately. It is not right to make empty political statements about these issues.


Question: Talabani in his statement mentioned the voting in Kurdistan and stated how the AKP have proved that they are not racist. How true is this assertion do you think?


Murat Karayılan: The nature of the AKP should be understood. Generally, the AKP government is not well known by South Kurdistan politicians and individuals. They are misled by the AKP's false moderate political approach. Truly there are no huge differences between the AKP's and the military's strategic politics. The military's aim is to destroy the Kurdish people and their movement physically. They believe they can achieve this exclusively by using violence. The AKP uses not just military means, they are also doing it in a political way. Their political aim is to destroy the Kurds politically, militarily and culturally. The military's attitude is shared by the CHP and MHP.

In the AKP' s view all cannot be destroyed by violence alone, a more subtle approach should be used to destroy them. The AKP is saying to the military "you always say we will destroy, weakening them culturally, finishing them politically, but you cannot do it. Together with this you should use a policy of gradual erosion". Approach the Kurds softly, give them a hand, feed the poor, meet them; they think if they approach them from Islamic perspective, they can shift them from the national movement. Under developing Islam, they think they can hold Kurds under a colonist power, like Ottoman Empire's holding many nations under the umbrella of Islam, because the Turkish republic is the continuance of the Ottoman regime, which is why they are following this policy.

The AKP's policy is an Ottoman type of policy. They believe that by following this policy they can control and include the Kurds in their system. This is what they stand for. They do not recognize the Kurds as a power, they are aiming to include the Kurds in the system. Consequently, the strategic aim is the same, but the method is different. Apart from violence they also follow a devious policy. This means they defending a policy light force while the military is only defending use of force. The AKP says "No, we should give them sweets and hit them with a whip".

The Southern powers are developing and analyzing this policy. There is a trust and belief in some of Abdullah Gul's political statements that are sent from religious orders via the AKP party. This is definitely a trick; on the other side AKP is working to activate former collaborators. Again supporting the Islamic groups and trying to damage the federal state's national politic organizations in the South. In my point of view, Southern politicians cannot understand the Turkish republic's political views. Thus they cannot analyse the AKP correctly.

Some might not agree with the things I say but the time will show the truth. The AKP's policy is to pressure and weaken the Kurdish nation. The AKP has come together with the state and military on the Kurdistan problem. As a result of this cooperation, it was agreed about Abdullah Gul's becoming president. If this cooperation had never taken place, they would not have agreed to it. This is a certainty. All the Kurds should know this. The AKP agreed on using the military, from military side and AKP's political side to destroy the Kurdish nation. The AKP is an extremely ambitious political structure. To gain full power, they said "yes" to destroy Kurdish nation. This will be revealed even more when the time comes. This is why all the Kurdistan powers should see the true side of the AKP party.

Last year when Turkish chief of general staff Yasar Buyukanit started his duty, he gave a speech, which he repeated later at a press conference at different dates in the USA and Turkey, where he declared what was the strategy of the Turkish policy towards Kurdish problem. That strategy was not just to destroy the PKK, but at the same time destroying the regional government in South Kurdistan. "Clarifying the PKK is not enough, Kurdistan strategy should be elimination". Clearly these terms were used. Also the AKP held the same perspective. From now on, the Kurdish people's freedom is is to be fought militarily, politically, socially and culturally. This is the policy of colonisation and weakening of the AKP and the government which are one and the same. There is no other power.

Mr Talabani has said that "the DTP have four MPs from Diyarbakir, and the AKP has eight, this shows that the AKP is in the future of this area". He has also said things like it has been proved that the AKP is not a racist party. There is a mistake in numbers, but it is Turkey's anti-democratic approach which discriminates against Kurdish people, and puts a barrier which stops the true representation of the people's choice in parliament, with a 10% threshold, that led the DTP not to go to the elections with all its candidates in Diyarbakir.

The anti-democratic practice is clear here and cannot be ignored. DTP could not get more than four MPs. If there were more, this would have caused confusion and would have been a barrier for others to be elected. It is for this reason the DTP could have not have had all of Diyarbakir's seats, due to the 10% threshold. Wrongly evaluating Turkey's anti-democratic practices could lead someone to wrong decisions. In respect of this, the oppressive policies of the Republic of Turkey against the Kurdish people must be seen in every aspect.

A group of Kurdish MPs have gained seats in the parliament. This is a victory of the Kurdish freedom movement. This was achieved through a lot of hard work. Many obstacles were put in the way to stop this popular power reaching parliament. They went there by overcoming these obstacles. For this reason at the present this group is under attack. Many cases have been opened against this group to take them out and make them ineffective. These MPs are encircled and are under psychological pressure. If Kurds on the outside "carry water to the well" of the Turkish government, this will not help the Kurdish case. For this reason, they must support a national politics and support the democratic struggle of the Kurdish nation in Kurdistan.

Considering the struggle in Northern Kurdistan as a struggle against democracy will not be stating reality. The struggle of the Kurdish nation is a legitimate struggle. Its use of weapons for self-defense is legitimate. Young Kurdish people are being killed with chemical weapons and shot down every day. Without doubt, these young people are going to defend themselves, against tanks, cannon balls and chemical weapons. What can they do other than defend themselves against a situation like this?

Despite this, in October 2006 a ceasefire was declared.

People from Kurdistan and international forces were aware of this, but no one stopped the attacks of the Turkish military. None of the democratic forces in the US, Iraq or Turkey tried to stop the assassination of the Kurdish youth by the Turkish military. The present situation aims to eradicate the will power of the Kurdish people, this is evident, and a right politics cannot be carried out without seeing this.

*****************************

According to Firat News, thousands of peşmêrge forces equipped with heavy guns have been sent to the border (to Karavole, Çiyaye Bexer, Sinava, and Beçika in Zaxo) by the KRG.

In an attempt to impose an information blackout within North Kurdistan, the Ankara regime has shut down Özgür Gündem for another 30 days. This is the fifth time ÖG has been shut down and is not permitted to publish inside Turkey, and it will make 60 consecutive days of censorship against the paper.

Northern Kurds are in mourning today for the loss of Kurdish author, Mehmed Uzun, who lost his battle with stomach cancer this morning in Amed. The Canadian Press carries the announcement in English. Özgür Gündem has an announcement in Turkish and Azadiya Welat in Kurdish.