Istanbul of the differences neglecting the Kurds
Istanbul of the differences neglecting the Kurds
Istanbul is the 2010 Capital of Culture. You would not really notice it as the publicity for the event is definitively undertone. Yet a lot of money were put into it. And a lot of groups benefited from it: thousands of events are being organized all over the city, even if finding a program of them is not that easy. A recurrent theme is the ‘diversity’ and ‘multicultural’ attitude and being of the city that was Bisanzio and Costantinopoli. Interestingly enough different initiatives and events have at their core this ‘diversity’ which is seen as a richness. And yet you would find the rich culture of the Armenians, Greek, Jewish, Assyrians and even gypsies mentioned. But no mention of the Kurdish culture. And yet some of the finest buildings in Istanbul bring the signature of the great Kurdish architect Sinan. Indeed so little can the Turkish establishment tolerate that some of the best art has actually to be put down to a Kurd that recently some historians even mentioned the possibility to run a dna test on the remains of Sinan, to try and prove that he was not a Kurd.
The policy of denial of the Kurdish people so continues and it is clearly in open contrast to what the government is saying. Prime Minister Erdogan keeps talking about the “opening”, the democratic initiative that should contribute to the solution of the Kurdish question, but the reality is that Kurds are even denied a place in the ‘diversity’ of Istanbul, in a cultural event.
“We were quite optmistic – say a young Kurdish woman lawyer, who prefers to be named only by her initials H.S. – at the beginning. Not that we believed the Prime Minister’s proposal that much. But there was a feeling that something could be reach, that a breach in the wall had finally been made. So we put our efforts into the peace process. But then the Constitutional Court, last December, closed the DTP (Party of the Democratic Society) and it was the beginning of the end, I think”, said the lawyer. A feeling shared by many at the BDP (Peace and Democracy Party) which replaced the DTP. “The government – says Baris – wants to solve the Kurdish issue without involving the Kurds. War is continuing and scores of people are being arrested”. Many on the Turkish left also saw in the DTP an opportunity. As the left in Turkey is not so strong many saw in the DTP the only real left alternative to the establishment. “I thought of joining the DTP – says Serkan, who owns a film production company – because it was the only party which addressed social and economic issues as well as the Kurdish issue – but the establishment could not tolerate this and banned it”.
Young people are getting more and more under pressure. “In the schools , especially in Diyarbakir and in the Kurdish cities, there are teachers who are in fact policemen. My daughter – says Ayse T. who lives in Diyarbakir and is in Istanbul to visit relatives – who is 13 came from school and told me that the new teacher is a policeman and that he was asking questions to the children about their families. He asked my daughter if she goes to demonstration. It’s scary – says Ayse – because it means that they are keeping the kids under control since this age”. Not only that, but Ayse was planning to take their kids on holidays around Izmir but she was basically refused a place. “We were looking for a holiday house – she says – but every time we told the landlord that we were from Diyarbakir they told us that there were no room for us. They openly told us that they will not rent us anything because we are from Diyarbakir”. The same story is told by different people. “In the last year or so – says Murat T. – Kurds are experiencing yet another form of racism. It happens in the workplace, for example it happened in the Black Sea area with seasonal workers who were refused work. And it’s happening now with people who are simply trying to go on holiday with their children”.
In Istanbul it is not so evident that there is a war going on. And yet in Taksim like in Kadikoy small groups of ultranationalist fascists are collecting signatures to reinstate the death penalty to execute the Kurdish leader, Abdullah Ocalan. There is a culture of hate being fed to the people also through the media. This is tangible. And Kurdish people living in Istanbul prefer to stay among themselves. In Galatasaray there is a permanent tent in solidarity with ill prisoners. Tayad is the association of the families of political prisoners. They are in the very centre of Istanbul. “We try to risa awareness among people about the condition of ill political prisoners. – say a young woman with a red band on her forehead – Turists? No they don’t really want to know”. And this is also sympthomatic of a situation. Europe prefers not to know. Still the three monkeys’ attitude prevails. I don’t see, I don’t ear, I don’t speak. It is a deafening silence which makes the left in Europe a looser once again.
The policy of denial of the Kurdish people so continues and it is clearly in open contrast to what the government is saying. Prime Minister Erdogan keeps talking about the “opening”, the democratic initiative that should contribute to the solution of the Kurdish question, but the reality is that Kurds are even denied a place in the ‘diversity’ of Istanbul, in a cultural event.
“We were quite optmistic – say a young Kurdish woman lawyer, who prefers to be named only by her initials H.S. – at the beginning. Not that we believed the Prime Minister’s proposal that much. But there was a feeling that something could be reach, that a breach in the wall had finally been made. So we put our efforts into the peace process. But then the Constitutional Court, last December, closed the DTP (Party of the Democratic Society) and it was the beginning of the end, I think”, said the lawyer. A feeling shared by many at the BDP (Peace and Democracy Party) which replaced the DTP. “The government – says Baris – wants to solve the Kurdish issue without involving the Kurds. War is continuing and scores of people are being arrested”. Many on the Turkish left also saw in the DTP an opportunity. As the left in Turkey is not so strong many saw in the DTP the only real left alternative to the establishment. “I thought of joining the DTP – says Serkan, who owns a film production company – because it was the only party which addressed social and economic issues as well as the Kurdish issue – but the establishment could not tolerate this and banned it”.
Young people are getting more and more under pressure. “In the schools , especially in Diyarbakir and in the Kurdish cities, there are teachers who are in fact policemen. My daughter – says Ayse T. who lives in Diyarbakir and is in Istanbul to visit relatives – who is 13 came from school and told me that the new teacher is a policeman and that he was asking questions to the children about their families. He asked my daughter if she goes to demonstration. It’s scary – says Ayse – because it means that they are keeping the kids under control since this age”. Not only that, but Ayse was planning to take their kids on holidays around Izmir but she was basically refused a place. “We were looking for a holiday house – she says – but every time we told the landlord that we were from Diyarbakir they told us that there were no room for us. They openly told us that they will not rent us anything because we are from Diyarbakir”. The same story is told by different people. “In the last year or so – says Murat T. – Kurds are experiencing yet another form of racism. It happens in the workplace, for example it happened in the Black Sea area with seasonal workers who were refused work. And it’s happening now with people who are simply trying to go on holiday with their children”.
In Istanbul it is not so evident that there is a war going on. And yet in Taksim like in Kadikoy small groups of ultranationalist fascists are collecting signatures to reinstate the death penalty to execute the Kurdish leader, Abdullah Ocalan. There is a culture of hate being fed to the people also through the media. This is tangible. And Kurdish people living in Istanbul prefer to stay among themselves. In Galatasaray there is a permanent tent in solidarity with ill prisoners. Tayad is the association of the families of political prisoners. They are in the very centre of Istanbul. “We try to risa awareness among people about the condition of ill political prisoners. – say a young woman with a red band on her forehead – Turists? No they don’t really want to know”. And this is also sympthomatic of a situation. Europe prefers not to know. Still the three monkeys’ attitude prevails. I don’t see, I don’t ear, I don’t speak. It is a deafening silence which makes the left in Europe a looser once again.
