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Today's Zaman, Turkey
May 24 2013
Do Kurdish-Turkish marriages prevent division?
by EMRE USLU
Turkey is an interesting country. We are a people able to create
arguments that are shaped by the conditions of the time, and then we
are able to believe in those same arguments we created. Our most
beloved way to face problems seems to be in taking shelter behind lies
constructed to shield us. What we first do, as a society, is make up
lies. Then we make ourselves believe in those lies. Finally, we try to
get others to believe in them. This is how it played out with the
Armenian `relocations' and with the Kurdish situation as well.
For example, the greatest lie we have created in the face of the
Kurdish problem is this: that the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) is
just a tool of foreign powers and its actions were unleashed upon us
by actors outside of Turkey. Also a part of this is the assertion that
PKK leaders are Armenian, not Kurdish, and that the leaders' views of
Marxism distance them from our Kurdish brothers
The real truth of the matter is that these lies were created by the
state, with the aim of making the Kurds believe these lies, and we all
wound up believing them, because we wanted to believe these things. We
had nothing else behind which to hide. It is essentially good that we
believed these things, though, because had Turkish society from the
very start connected the PKK directly with the Kurds, a civil war
would have long-ago broken out. When, in fact, what happened was that
since we believed these lies, the essential clashes remained between
the state and the PKK and did not descend to the level of general
society. For example, there has been no real enmity between Turkish
and Kurdish neighbors. Kurdish-Turkish marriages have carried on. The
two factions of society remain undivided.
And now, we are engaged in a peace process, a process we are
constructing from lies. The greatest lie created during this process
is this: There are simply too many Kurdish-Turkish marriages to keep
us from ever dividing.
All right, is this really true? And why does our state -- and why do
our political intellectuals -- feel the need to make up such a lie?
More importantly, would such marriages really prevent division from
occurring?
Let us speak openly. There is a very deep fear of division that lies
within Turkish society. It is this fear of division that has allowed
society to stomach so much.
When the whole peace process began, the fear grew even deeper. The
government insisted it had not given anything to the PKK, but no one
believed this. And so, a whole set of new arguments appeared, all
aimed at covering up this fear. The strongest of these arguments was
this: That Kurds and Turks are two peoples who have married off their
daughters and sons to one another over time -- meaning there cannot be
division after all these years.
First and foremost, ethnic separation and processes of division are
never based on reason. These are generally processes which occur
rapidly, triggered by major incidents that are the outcome of
emotional breaks and divisions in society. After all, if you consider
the ethnic divisions that unfolded with the Bosnian Serbs, the Kosovar
and the Armenian-Azeris in Karabag, and so on, none of them seem
reasonable in ways we can understand.
As it is, ethnic divisions and separations unfold according to their
own reasons. The events leading to the divisions all take place within
the framework of this special sort of reasoning. So, the truth is,
ethnic divisions and separations completely pass over reason, which is
why the interwoven histories and marriages of two cultures and
ethnicities are not enough to prevent them from separating. It is a
ridiculous argument.
What's more, statistics also do not support this argument. For
example, some data points to mixed ethnic marriages in the Ossetian
regions of Georgia as being around 40 percent. In Nagorno-Karabag,
mixed Armenian-Azeri marriages were at more than 20 percent. In
comparison, Turkish-Kurdish marriages in Turkey are at around 5-8
percent. So if even higher levels of mixed ethnic marriages in other
places were unable to prevent division and separation, how should
Turkish-Kurdish marriages -- at an average 7 percent -- prevent ethnic
separation in Turkey?
Also, the geography encompassed by Turkish-Kurdish marriages is
important. These are marriages which tend to take place more in larger
metropolitan areas where lots of Turks live. There are far fewer of
these mixed marriages in areas that are largely Kurdish, which means
that if division were to occur, according to this argument, it would
be in places largely populated by Kurds. Unlike what the state is
alleging, there are no such marriages in these areas. Which means that
even if this argument were true, it has no meaning when it comes to
these areas where Turkish-Kurdish marriages don't exist.
So in essence, if we are to divide from the Kurds, for as long as
there are networks like the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) and the
PKK that maintain their existence, there will always be a risk of
division. And Turkish-Kurdish marriages do not reduce this risk.
http://www.todayszaman.com/columnistDetail_getNewsById.action?newsId=316447
May 24 2013
Do Kurdish-Turkish marriages prevent division?
by EMRE USLU
Turkey is an interesting country. We are a people able to create
arguments that are shaped by the conditions of the time, and then we
are able to believe in those same arguments we created. Our most
beloved way to face problems seems to be in taking shelter behind lies
constructed to shield us. What we first do, as a society, is make up
lies. Then we make ourselves believe in those lies. Finally, we try to
get others to believe in them. This is how it played out with the
Armenian `relocations' and with the Kurdish situation as well.
For example, the greatest lie we have created in the face of the
Kurdish problem is this: that the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) is
just a tool of foreign powers and its actions were unleashed upon us
by actors outside of Turkey. Also a part of this is the assertion that
PKK leaders are Armenian, not Kurdish, and that the leaders' views of
Marxism distance them from our Kurdish brothers
The real truth of the matter is that these lies were created by the
state, with the aim of making the Kurds believe these lies, and we all
wound up believing them, because we wanted to believe these things. We
had nothing else behind which to hide. It is essentially good that we
believed these things, though, because had Turkish society from the
very start connected the PKK directly with the Kurds, a civil war
would have long-ago broken out. When, in fact, what happened was that
since we believed these lies, the essential clashes remained between
the state and the PKK and did not descend to the level of general
society. For example, there has been no real enmity between Turkish
and Kurdish neighbors. Kurdish-Turkish marriages have carried on. The
two factions of society remain undivided.
And now, we are engaged in a peace process, a process we are
constructing from lies. The greatest lie created during this process
is this: There are simply too many Kurdish-Turkish marriages to keep
us from ever dividing.
All right, is this really true? And why does our state -- and why do
our political intellectuals -- feel the need to make up such a lie?
More importantly, would such marriages really prevent division from
occurring?
Let us speak openly. There is a very deep fear of division that lies
within Turkish society. It is this fear of division that has allowed
society to stomach so much.
When the whole peace process began, the fear grew even deeper. The
government insisted it had not given anything to the PKK, but no one
believed this. And so, a whole set of new arguments appeared, all
aimed at covering up this fear. The strongest of these arguments was
this: That Kurds and Turks are two peoples who have married off their
daughters and sons to one another over time -- meaning there cannot be
division after all these years.
First and foremost, ethnic separation and processes of division are
never based on reason. These are generally processes which occur
rapidly, triggered by major incidents that are the outcome of
emotional breaks and divisions in society. After all, if you consider
the ethnic divisions that unfolded with the Bosnian Serbs, the Kosovar
and the Armenian-Azeris in Karabag, and so on, none of them seem
reasonable in ways we can understand.
As it is, ethnic divisions and separations unfold according to their
own reasons. The events leading to the divisions all take place within
the framework of this special sort of reasoning. So, the truth is,
ethnic divisions and separations completely pass over reason, which is
why the interwoven histories and marriages of two cultures and
ethnicities are not enough to prevent them from separating. It is a
ridiculous argument.
What's more, statistics also do not support this argument. For
example, some data points to mixed ethnic marriages in the Ossetian
regions of Georgia as being around 40 percent. In Nagorno-Karabag,
mixed Armenian-Azeri marriages were at more than 20 percent. In
comparison, Turkish-Kurdish marriages in Turkey are at around 5-8
percent. So if even higher levels of mixed ethnic marriages in other
places were unable to prevent division and separation, how should
Turkish-Kurdish marriages -- at an average 7 percent -- prevent ethnic
separation in Turkey?
Also, the geography encompassed by Turkish-Kurdish marriages is
important. These are marriages which tend to take place more in larger
metropolitan areas where lots of Turks live. There are far fewer of
these mixed marriages in areas that are largely Kurdish, which means
that if division were to occur, according to this argument, it would
be in places largely populated by Kurds. Unlike what the state is
alleging, there are no such marriages in these areas. Which means that
even if this argument were true, it has no meaning when it comes to
these areas where Turkish-Kurdish marriages don't exist.
So in essence, if we are to divide from the Kurds, for as long as
there are networks like the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) and the
PKK that maintain their existence, there will always be a risk of
division. And Turkish-Kurdish marriages do not reduce this risk.
http://www.todayszaman.com/columnistDetail_getNewsById.action?newsId=316447