BY HASAN CEMAL
MILLIYET- I went to a conference on `Kurds and the Peace Process in Turkey,' co-organized by the Heinrich Boll Foundation and the local bar association, in Diyarbakir last weekend. I think this was the first ever meeting in Diyarbakir whose title mentions the Kurds by name. People showed great interest in it and filled the convention hall throughout the weekend. The Kurdish issue, the terrorist PKK and weapons were all discussed and probed during the meeting's formal sessions and also on its sidelines. In the words of one of my colleagues, `The Kurds not only talked, but they also started to argue with each other.' This is partially true. I met two young teachers there. When I said that an atmosphere of free discussion had shown great development and that certain taboos had been broken, one of the teachers said that they had a friend in Iraq's Kandil mountains (where the terrorist PKK takes shelter) and that they even discuss (convicted PKK terrorist leader) Abdullah Ocalan with him.
Even Ocalan, he said! This should be emphasized. So what they were discussing and what were they fighting about? I last visited the region before the general elections this July. Also at that time, I noticed that people had started to discuss certain issues. But this atmosphere of discussion grew stronger after the elections, because the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) got a lot more votes from Kurds, even more than the Democratic Society Party (DTP) got. Now the AKP is getting ready for next year's local elections and wants to capture cities, especially Diyarbakir. One hotel owner said that if the AKP candidate is good, it would be able to win control of the city government. In short, supporters of the DTP and PKK and Kurdish intellectuals are confused by the rise of the AKP in the southeastern Anatolia. That's why they talk among themselves and even argue publicly about these issues: the PKK and armed conflict, violence and terrorist tactics, relations with the AKP government, a proposed new civilian constitution, the possibility of the PKK declaring a longer cease-fire, the shadow of Ocalan and Iraq's Mt. Kandil on the Kurdish political movement, and how to strengthen democracy and the rule of law in Turkey.
It's good that these issues are being discussed openly. It's vitally important for this country, in terms of stability, peace and democracy, that people have started to understand that armed conflict is a dead end and the idea of giving up violence has been taking hold. As long as PKK doesn't lay down its weapons, things will continue to be hard for Turkey. Obviously, the ruling AKP should do something about this. When the issue was being discussed last weekend, the news of the terrible massacre came from Diyarbakir's Beytussebap district: the PKK opened fire at a minibus and 12 people died. Bloody terrorism! What more can be said?