BY ERGUN BABAHAN
SABAH- Turkey is healing the wounds of its recent past. Following the events of the last 20 years, the current situation lends hopes for the future. Former Democratic Party (DEP) Deputy Leyla Zana was imprisoned for 12 years after she tried to take her Parliament oath of office in Kurdish, and her recent speech in Brussels should be evaluated from this standpoint. The speech might carry certain elements which would disturb different sectors of society for various reasons. During this process, the Turkish nation will learn how to live with views which don’t threaten its existence. Actually the nation could internalize them. In spite of the efforts of certain circles in Turkey and during a period of intensive conflict, there was no Turkish-Kurdish tension. Everybody cursed terrorism and cried for martyrs but nobody considered Abdullah Ocalan and his band to be a nation. When we look at Zana’s speech in Brussels from this perspective, one of the most important things was that she didn’t hold any grudge despite her 12 years in prison. The most striking point of the speech was Zana’s stance supporting Turkey’s EU membership process.
Turkey has implemented a series of reforms under the Copenhagen criteria in order to become an EU member. The pressure on different sectors of the nation seeking more democracy, like the Kurds, has fallen greatly thanks to these reforms. Now European politicians who question and even oppose Turkey’s EU membership should consider the situation in terms of these sectors. Will the situation of Kurds, liberals, etc. be better if Turkey starts membership negotiations? Now everybody agrees that the EU is a project of peace. This includes not only countries living in peace with their neighbors, but also finding peace and welfare within their own nations. Now I ask the European politicians if they have the right to say to Zana, whom they awarded the Sakharov Prize, ‘We like you and support your efforts, but we can’t admit you’? Will you support Zana in the struggle for a more democratic and modern Turkey, or embrace those standing in her way? The EU is facing a test of its sincerity.