Fatih Cekirge: Pro-Kurdish leader, Turk- I didn't even use “genocide” for Armenia’s claims

He called me back immediately as it was also clear to him that the reports were growing at a rapid rate.

"They misunderstood me. I didn't say that Kurds faced a physical genocide. I just wanted to say that Kurds also faced social, political, and cultural suppression with other people during the September 12 regime* in Turkey."

But my remarks were not taken this way..."

I did not even use the word genocide to describe the Armenian claims**. I have abstained from saying this. Why I should say it now and speak about genocide..."

Is this a coincidence?

Is it so simple?

Here is the question that came to mind after this incident:

Firstly a press meeting is held and the word "genocide" is used in the same sentence with Kurds. Then it is said that Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned leader of the outlawed PKK organization, is being poorly treated and tortured. And then the street action begins in Turkey's southeastern province becoming awash with posters of Ocalan...

Can all this be a coincidence?

Then I asked him the source of claims that Ocalan was being mistreated?

"He had told his lawyers. He told them that they had pushed and kicked him and tried to make him fall. He also said that he wanted them to know but to not make an issue of it," Turk replied.

I asked him: Do you think these claims are true, do you believe it?

"I also called the Justice Minister to investigate them. I met with Dengir Mir Mehmet Firat, the deputy chairman of ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and told him to inform the prime minister about it," Turk responded.

Next I asked him: What happened then?

"The recent incidents would not have happened if they had launched an investigation. The tensions would have eased," he said.

We have reached this point because of Ocalan’s claim that he was pushed...

Look at this from another angle:

"The leader of a terrorist organization lies about being pushed and children are being sent into the streets to protest. And the young people of this country are being martyred while all this is happening..."

While on the other side, ethnical nationalism is being triggered:

A is person recognized as terrorist by one side, while on the other he is seen as leader whose image is carried through the streets.

Should this be the picture of Turkey at passes through a new century?

*The Turkish army launched a coup d'etat in Sep. 12, 1980 in an effort it says to halt clashes between leftist and right wing political groups that had brought Turkey to the brink of civil war throughout the 1970s. Around 650,000 people were detained, 230,000 people trialed, 50 people were executed, 14,000 lost their citizenship, all political parties, unions and foundations were closed, and 171 were killed under custody, while hundreds of thousands people were tortured, and  thousands are still missing.

**Armenia, with the backing of the diaspora, claims up to 1.5 million of their kin were slaughtered in orchestrated killings in 1915. Turkey rejects the claims, saying that 300,000 Armenians along with at least as many Turks died in civil strife that emerged when Armenians took up arms for independence in eastern Anatolia.