A week ago, Turkey's constitutional court voted to ban the Democratic Society Party (DTP), the largest Kurdish group in the country's Parliament. The grounds were that it had links with terrorist group, the PKK. There has since been widespread unrest in Kurdish regions. Chief of General Staff Gen. Ilker Basbug, vowed that in the wake of disturbances which have seen four people killed, the PKK would be crushed.
With great respect to the general and the lawyers and nationalist politicians who have driven through the DTP ban, the move may be counterproductive, not least because Turkey has been here before.
The present government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is formed by the Justice and Development (AK) Party, a moderate Islamist movement whose predecessors were also banned by the self-same constitutional court. Indeed Erdogan, a former successful mayor of Istanbul, whose city administration was notable for its lack of corruption, was himself jailed briefly in 1998.
Even after he came to power in 2003, reactionary elements with the Turkish establishment would not give up. Events came to a head in May 2007 when his then Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül ran for the presidency. An attempt was made in the Constitutional Court not only to block Gül's candidacy but also to declare the AK party illegal, despite its recently renewed and increased electoral mandate. By a narrow margin the court threw out the action.
Erdogan has made a settlement of the 25-year Kurdish conflict a priority. Not only has he driven through the legalization of Kurdish political parties but has also lifted bans on the use of the Kurdish language. There has, therefore, been some despair in the government at the DTP's banning. However, ministers moved quickly to say that they would happily talk with the existing Kurdish legislators, regardless of what new party name they chose for themselves. Nevertheless, the cause of a negotiated end to the Kurdish insurrection has been thrown back.
The harsh truth is that, despite the final triumph of the Sri Lankan government over the once seemingly invincible Tamil Tigers, in Turkey a military victory over the Kurds is impossible because of the rebels' support in neighboring Iraq and Iran. Therefore only talking can end the violence. Banning Kurdish legislators who are prepared to talk thus serves no useful purpose whatsoever.
The DTP denies it has links to the internationally outlawed PKK. That may be true. But even if it is not, there are strong precedents for talking to them anyway. For instance, the British and Irish governments negotiated with Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland, even though it was clearly the political wing of the terrorist Provisional IRA. Indeed two Sinn Fein leaders were past IRA commanders. The upshot of this willingness to talk to these people was peace and probably Tony Blair's only creditable political achievement.
Turkey's constitutional judges can no more solve the Kurdish insurrection with a sweep of the pen than its military can crush the PKK. We can only hope that Kemalist nationalists in the country's establishment will accepted this.
© Arab News 2009
