SABAH- Columnist Gungor Mengi writes on the petition drive for education in Kurdish. A summary of his column is as follows:
The National Security Council (MGK) has stated that the petition drive for education in Kurdish was directed by the PKK. The petitions asking for education in Kurdish were aimed at universities at first, but later spread to secondary and primary schools. The reaction of the state was to reject the petitions and to take those participating in the dive into custody. However, it would have been much better to respect the right to circulate but to respond to them with a few sentences saying that what hey were asking for was against the law. The PKK has pushed this cause knowing full well that the state is not ready to grant such a right. In the National Programme presented to the EU, it was stated that Turkish was the official and educational language but also pointed out that there was no obstacle to use a different language in daily life with the condition that it wouldn't be used for secessionist purposes. This is a game of chess. The suspicion that the drive is aimed at dividing Turkey up is a correct one. However, we mustn't lose sight of the drive's real goal is not 'Education in Kurdish' but rather luring Turkey into a trap. The PKK will consider itself successful when students and their parents are arrested. Then it will exploit their situation and try to find supporters abroad to apply foreign pressure on the country. We hope to hear that the MGK has seen through this ploy, and that it has proposed a more moderate, flexible approach to the government. Toughness does not necessarily show determination.
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION