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Ankara: Are Kurds A Part Of The 'Turkish Nation?'

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  • Ankara: Are Kurds A Part Of The 'Turkish Nation?'

    ARE KURDS A PART OF THE 'TURKISH NATION?'

    Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
    March 13 2013

    Since the beginning of this year Turkey has been chasing a new hope:
    A peaceful settlement with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK),
    whose guerilla warfare and terrorist campaign against the state
    has destroyed more than 40,000 lives since 1984. The totalitarian
    charisma of the PKK's jailed leader, Abdullah Ocalan, is turning out
    to be a blessing, as his recent calls for a farewell to arms proves
    to be key for the much-hoped for solution.

    However, the PKK will not leave arms for nothing. Besides amnesty and
    other privileges for its own members, the organization also expects
    serious constitutional changes that will secure the aspirations of
    Turkey's Kurds.

    One of these is a reform that all liberals and even the incumbent
    Justice and Development Party (AKP) support: the lifting of the
    constitutional clause that says all citizens of Turkey "are Turks."

    Kurds, most understandably, do not want to be defined as such and
    want to be able to claim their identity without any imposition from
    the state.

    Although Turkish nationalists (some of which are in the main opposition
    Republican Peoples' Party) want to keep this all-citizens-are-Turkish
    clause passionately, it seems certain that it will disappear in a
    new constitution. Yet that is only the beginning.

    An even bigger issue is the term "Turkish nation," which appears
    in the Constitution dozens of times. The majority of the Kurds do
    not consider themselves a part of this nation. Hence they demand a
    serious rewording of the national charter.

    One of the popular Kurdish goals is to include "the Kurdish people"
    in the Constitution, as one of the pillars, if not a co-founder, of
    the Republic of Turkey. But although this might sound fair, it is a
    recipe for new problems and tensions. If Turks and Kurds are mentioned
    in the Constitution then what about Arabs, the Circassians, the Laz,
    the Bosniaks, the Zaza or the Armenians? Are they less important? Who
    decides which group deserves to be honored by law and which group
    does not?

    An alternative idea, which I support, is to make not an
    ethnicity-definitive constitution, but an ethnicity-blind one.

    Accordingly, the solution is not to create a list of ethnic groups in
    Turkey, but to abolish the dominance of the largest of them, the Turks.

    This idea has even led to a new conceptualization of the nation:
    "The Nation of Turkey" instead of "the Turkish Nation." (In Turkish,
    "Turkiye Milleti" instead of "Turk Milleti.") While the latter is
    based on an identity (Turkishness), the former is clearly based on
    belonging to a country (Turkey).

    "The Nation of Turkey" is certainly a promising vision for including
    Kurds and other non-Turkish groups.

    But there is also the risk that it will be found artificial, if
    not "fake," by the Turkish majority, which is often watching these
    discussions with shock and contempt.

    Which brings me to my ideal solution; one that is based on the
    classical liberal approach: the best definition is the least
    definition. In other words, let's just avoid putting a nametag on
    the nation and leave it loose.

    Notably, this was the attitude during Turkey's War of Liberation
    (1919-22), when political leaders, including Ataturk, spoke of "the
    nation" only, allowing every group to imagine themselves as a part
    of it.

    More recently, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, too, has won many
    non-Turkish votes by praising "our nation," in a tone that carefully
    avoids the word "Turk." Perhaps other political leaders should take
    a hint.

    March/13/2013

    http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/are-kurds-a-part-of-the-turkish-nation.aspx?pageID=449&nID=42847&NewsCatID=411

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