Mehmet Ali Birand - English
Mehmet Ali Birand - English
Mehmet Ali Birand - EnglishYazarın Tüm Yazıları

We need to help the DTP

If we want the process that we are living in to become more apparent, then it is better to use the following sentences:

w To inactivate the PKK terror

w To decrease prohibitions regarding the Kurdish issue and meet expectations of our Kurdish origin citizens as much as possible and win their hearts.

We need to deal with two points. One is the impossibility of totally wiping out the PKK and never mentioning the name.

Terror organizations may be inactivated and their deeds decreased to an unimportant number but never totally wiped out. They always continue their existence somewhere. One other aspect we need to prepare for is that the Kurdish issue is not to be solved that easily.

There definitely will be new requests and expectations.

What’s important is to decrease the PKK terror and Kurdish issue to a point of "living together."

If we look at it from this angle, we may say that the period before us has created an opportunity.

Let’s not expect the PKK to put down its weapons and descend from the mountains with flowers. But on the contrary, it would be a great development if we could allow for the PKK to put down its weapons for a long time and cease-fire.

Concerning the Kurdish issue, let’s not expect our citizens of Kurdish origin to kiss and hug their Turkish brothers. It would suffice if we fixed their standard of living, provided the use of their mother tongue, allowed them to use Kurdish names for their children or place of living, and created jobs.

This way we would probably not solve the problem completely but make it possible to "live together."

If we are to use this period before us seriously, then everybody needs to take part. Foremost the government and the Turkish Armed Forces, and those who make up politics need to agree on and implement mutual politics. The media, instead of looking for rating and circulation figures, should be content with only "making news."

The opposition, when using its right to criticize, should not oppose for the sake of opposing the government.

The judiciary needs to rid itself of arresting each and every DTP member, punishing every spoken word, arresting every child hanging a poster and the excitement from closing the DTP.

So within all this, does the DTP not play any role? Of course it does. The DTP needs to ease the period that we are passingÉ Pronounce words more carefully and speak after much consideration. The DTP might ease the way to peace as well as make it more difficult if not impossible. If they like, they might cause trouble. But then they would take on the historical responsibility.

We need to act as one. Or else we will encounter more blood and death. Wouldn’t that be a pity?

If this is not fascism, then what is it?

I watch with astonishment a part of those who reacted to the prime minister’s speech in Düzce. The reason I say "a part" is that I did not account for the fascists within them. But there are some among them that I for years identified as "reasonable and well-behaved" that stun me.

The prime minister drew attention to an extremely obvious fact and said, "Those of different ethnicity are dismissed. I wonder if we won. These were not considered to be good. In reality this is a fascist attitude."

Is it not the truth? Did we not chase Turkish citizens of Greek origin with whom we shared the same territory and memory for many years? Did we not rip them out of their places with methods that do not suitable for Turkish behaviour? Did we not devastate their churches, places of business and even graves?

Isn’t that true? Did we not chase the Armenians? Were they not forced to leave because of neighborhood pressure or tax and bureaucracy procedures?

We didn’t even leave the Jews alone. Did we not persecute a great part of the Kurds? Did we not take away their basic rights? They all had a reason. We used the property tax to take away from the non-Muslim and distribute to the Muslim. We justified ourselves with the Cyprus and Thessalonica events against Turkish citizens of Greek origin, ASALA murders against the Armenians and developments in Palestine against the Jews..

Now let’s discuss today. The prime minister made a good point. But it is not enough to "identify." If he believes what he says then this indicates that he does not want to repeat historical mistakes. A series of steps reaching from the seminary to renovating churches, the Kurdish issue to preventing discourse against Jews and ease in the lives of our Armenian citizens. That’s when his words won’t float around.
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