Political tension is costly for Kurds
If you walk alongside Diyarbakir's 5,000-year-old wall, you would notice a large number of young men on the grass, looking dejected. "There are no jobs here because there are no factories," said Bilal Amin."I am thinking of going to other cities [in Turkey] or South Kurdistan [Iraqi Kurdistan] for work."
Turkey's Kurdistan has fertile land, rich water resources from the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, as well as reserves of minerals. Due to 30 years of conflict between the Kurds and the Turkish state, more than 2,000 Kurdish villages were destroyed by Turkish army, which accused the villagers sheltering and feeding the Kurdish rebel Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). The villagers moved to cities in the Kurdish areas as well as Turkish cities, creating poor neighborhoods.
"The economic situation of Turkish Kurdistan is bad. Hundreds of thousands of Kurdish young men are jobless," said Muhammad Dara Aqar, the deputy leader of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Diyarbakir, the largest Kurdish city. Aqar told The Kurdish Globe that in Diyarbakir there is an area called Baglar, with a population of 450,000, of which 60 percent are young, and 80 percent of these young people are unemployed. He explained that in the past many young Kurdish people went to western Turkish areas, such as Istanbul and Antalya, to find jobs. However, in the past two years, due to the economic crisis, it is difficult for them to find jobs even in the west. "Due to political tension, there are no factories, industry or tourism in the Kurdish region. And the agriculture situation is not so good," he said. Aqar noted that the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP) may help Kurdish areas when 25 percent of the irrigation system is finished and 80 percent of the hydroelectric power is working. GAP is a multisector integrated regional development project based on the concept of sustainable development for the 9 million people living in the Southeastern Anatolia region.
The number of Turkish and foreign investors in the Kurdish region is low because many see the region as unstable and risky. Aqar said AKP tried to attract Turkish and foreign investors to the Kurdish region by offering tax incentives and reduced electricity costs, but it did not work. "I believe the government does not want to take any risk in the Kurdish areas, the government is waiting the Kurdish problem to be solved. The government wants to know what the Kurdish decision will be, whether they will form a separate state or remain with Turkey."
"The Turkish government does not want do large projects in the Kurdish areas because it is not sure about the future of the Kurdish areas," he reaffirmed. The situation in the Middle East is also unstable, he said.
He said AKP is trying to improve the economic situation in the Kurdish areas and it did take some steps, such as building roads and schools for the villages and providing them with electricity. "AKP believes if the Kurdish economy situation is improved, the risk of Kurdish separation from Turkey will decrease; there will be integration between Kurds and Turkey."
Muhammad Ali Atash, head of Kurdish department at Dicle News Agency, believes the Turkish government is not serious about developing the economy in the Kurdish areas. Atash said it is exaggerated by Turkish media and the government when they say Turkish Kurdistan is unstable and it is risky to invest in the Kurdish areas. "When the Turkish or foreign business representatives come here, they see it is not correct. The region is stable and life is normal. Atash mentioned that in Turkish Kurdistan, there are many tourist sites, but few tourists. Not because, he added, Kurdistan is not stable, but because the government does not provide them with basic services, such as roads and signs.
Some are optimistic, and believe the economic situation in Turkish Kurdistan will flourish in the future and political tensions will end. "I believe Turkish Kurdistan will be rich in near future," said Dr. Huseyin Seyhanlioglu, from the faculty of economy and administration at Dicle University in Diyarbakir.
Seyhanlioglu said if read you the history of Turkey, you can see the AKP government is one of the few Turkish governments that wants to solve the Kurdish problem. In the future people from Iraqi Kurdistan will be able to cross the Turkish border without a passport and vice versa. Moreover, he mentioned the Kurdish-Turkish conflict not only harmed Kurdish economy, but also the Turkish economy. To date, the conflict has cost the Turkish state $200 billion and more than 2 million Kurdish people have been displaced and have moved to Turkish cities, which created a burden for these cities.
A large number of Kurdish people live in Istanbul and other Turkish cities. The majority of the migration came as a result of 30 years of conflict and denying the Kurdish rights in Turkey. According to reports, the Kurds in Turkish cities live in the poorer neighborhoods and mostly work as manual labor.
Amin, the jobless man sitting on the grass, warned the Turkish state by saying "As long as the Kurdish situation is not improved, there will be [rebel] Kurds in the mountains."
© The Kurdish Globe 2011
