BY NURAY MERT
RADIKAL- Scholar and columnist Nuray Mert comments on one of Turkey’s most controversial problems, namely the long-standing Kurdish issue. A summary of her column is as follows:
I’ve been receiving mails and messages from some of my readers for some time now complaining that I hardly ever comment on the Kurdish and southeastern Anatolia issues. Well, they are right, for I usually avoid commenting on these problems. I must deny that I tend, as some of my ‘gentle’ readers have suggested, to swerve on the issue, but I am wary of my critical approach to the problem being misused as a tool by certain quarters to support their ultra-nationalist tendencies and the state’s official view. As you know, political matters in our country can never be discussed free of categorical frameworks, and this is especially true with the Kurdish issue. On the one hand, there is this official, nationalist perspective, one which perceives the issue as a source of instigation and treachery, and on the other there are liberals and leftists who insistently defend every Kurdish action and deed unquestioningly. Trapped between these two extremes, it is very difficult to find a sound, distinct platform for discussion.
I have earlier argued in one of my rare columns on the problem that the Kurdish issue was caught between an ultra-rightist Turkish nationalism and a leftist Kurdish nationalism. I say ‘leftist’ in reference to the current terminology, for I believe that in fact the Kurdish policies have effectively moved to the right since the 1980s. Moreover, focusing so single-mindedly on the Kurdish issue is damaging the Turkish left. Since the 1980s, the leftist perspective has been formulating a policy exclusively focused on ‘identity’ politics, which in fact implies a strong commitment to the right. In addition, I would not for the world agree with those who assess and back the Kurdish cause by saying, ‘The nationalist causes of oppressed peoples, no matter when and where, are always in the right.’ The issue of nationalism is a long story. But let me say briefly that as a person who carefully steers clear of any nationalist outlook, and especially of Turkish nationalism, I just can’t bring myself to have any sympathy for Kurdish nationalism either. This doesn’t mean that I reject every political demand shaping up around Kurdish identity. We have even seen times when the Kurdish language was completely banned in this country. No one can argue that ours is a smoothly functioning democracy. But let’s admit one thing: One side sees the Kurdish demands for basic ‘cultural rights’ as separatism, and the other side, the Kurdish nationalists, sees obtaining these rights as a first step to building a nation. Liberating the Kurdish issue from the hands of these shallow perspectives will be difficult indeed. As a matter of fact, we live in a country where both Turks and Kurds are closer to nationalist politics than democratic ones. Not that this geography is incapable of producing a democratic order, but the development of a democratic culture requires a historical experience and an intellectual background. Unfortunately, this country lacks both.
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION