CHP and AKP agreed on solving Kurdish question without Kurds
CHP and AKP agreed on solving Kurdish question without Kurds
There is one thing that certainly emerged from the meeting between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan and CHP leader Kemal Kýlýçdaroðlu on the Kurdish issue: the two leaders think they can solve the issue by excluding the Kurds.
It goes without saying that this is not only impossible, but it goes against every logic. Indeed, the PM and the opposition leader have learned nothing from conflict resolution policies around the world, from South Africa to the North of Ireland, to the Basque country, just to name the nearest in time.
The very first and one lesson is that no solution is possible without the full participation on equal basis of all parties involved. Put it differently, there is going to be no solution if the Kurdish people's representatives will not be sitting at the talks table on equal terms.
So yes, the CHP and the AKP are engaging in yet another "baffling" and so sterile exercise. In Ireland, in the '80s it was called "talks about talks": it indicated the baffling about talks the British government was doing when attempting to exclude Sinn Fein from the negotiations.
Of course it ended as it was widely expected to end: the bubble blasted, sooner rather than later.
The 10 points plan presented by the CHP amounts to nothing but a bubble ready to blast should Kurds not included in the talks about a solution. Even more, at the talks table all the proposals, included the Kurdish ones need to be presented and discussed.
Needless to say the most comprehensive and feasible proposal to date is that by jailed Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan. The very same Road Map the Prime Minister himself is said to be in agreement with "90 percent" (if we were to take seriously the MIT officials meetings with the PKK representatives).
Indeed the CHP knows all to well that it had borrowed large parts of Öcalan's Road Map to draw up its on 10 points plan. No wonder Kýlýçdaroðlu was quick to say that if the ultranationalist MHP feels unconfortable with some of the definitions, those can be renamed.
"Our discourse on the [Kurdish] issue may disturb some parties. But our expressions are not unchangeable. Definitions are not a big deal, but we have to come together first of all. We are still calling on all political parties including the MHP and the BDP , as well as extra-parliamentary political parties. We want to secure a national consensus in this country", the CHP leader said adding "If you say the Wise People Commission is a proposal of Öcalan, then we can rename it the Opinion Leaders Commission, or something else. If you say ‘Don’t call the issue the Kurdish question,’ all right, we can call it a terror problem. Naming is not the problem, the matter is actually coming together".
But the problem is not so much naming things, indeed it is to accept that the issue - whatever you want to call it - can only be solved if all of the parties are at the table. Then words, naming things, become important: because all parties must have equal status at the table, equal rights and equal duties. This is the real challenge the PM should decide to face and stand up to.
It goes without saying that this is not only impossible, but it goes against every logic. Indeed, the PM and the opposition leader have learned nothing from conflict resolution policies around the world, from South Africa to the North of Ireland, to the Basque country, just to name the nearest in time.
The very first and one lesson is that no solution is possible without the full participation on equal basis of all parties involved. Put it differently, there is going to be no solution if the Kurdish people's representatives will not be sitting at the talks table on equal terms.
So yes, the CHP and the AKP are engaging in yet another "baffling" and so sterile exercise. In Ireland, in the '80s it was called "talks about talks": it indicated the baffling about talks the British government was doing when attempting to exclude Sinn Fein from the negotiations.
Of course it ended as it was widely expected to end: the bubble blasted, sooner rather than later.
The 10 points plan presented by the CHP amounts to nothing but a bubble ready to blast should Kurds not included in the talks about a solution. Even more, at the talks table all the proposals, included the Kurdish ones need to be presented and discussed.
Needless to say the most comprehensive and feasible proposal to date is that by jailed Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan. The very same Road Map the Prime Minister himself is said to be in agreement with "90 percent" (if we were to take seriously the MIT officials meetings with the PKK representatives).
Indeed the CHP knows all to well that it had borrowed large parts of Öcalan's Road Map to draw up its on 10 points plan. No wonder Kýlýçdaroðlu was quick to say that if the ultranationalist MHP feels unconfortable with some of the definitions, those can be renamed.
"Our discourse on the [Kurdish] issue may disturb some parties. But our expressions are not unchangeable. Definitions are not a big deal, but we have to come together first of all. We are still calling on all political parties including the MHP and the BDP , as well as extra-parliamentary political parties. We want to secure a national consensus in this country", the CHP leader said adding "If you say the Wise People Commission is a proposal of Öcalan, then we can rename it the Opinion Leaders Commission, or something else. If you say ‘Don’t call the issue the Kurdish question,’ all right, we can call it a terror problem. Naming is not the problem, the matter is actually coming together".
But the problem is not so much naming things, indeed it is to accept that the issue - whatever you want to call it - can only be solved if all of the parties are at the table. Then words, naming things, become important: because all parties must have equal status at the table, equal rights and equal duties. This is the real challenge the PM should decide to face and stand up to.
