DEM party co-leader says Turkey spent $3 trillion on Kurdish conflict

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkey has spent $3 trillion trying to prevent Kurds from exercising their democratic rights, the co-chair of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) said Tuesday at the Middle East Research Institute (MERI) Forum in Erbil, calling for a democratic resolution to the Kurdish issue.

“If that mindset, which spent $3 trillion just to prevent Kurds from speaking their mother tongue, had instead spent that $3 trillion on Turkey's economy, prosperity, and infrastructure, we would be looking at a very different Turkey today,” Tuncer Bakirhan said during a panel titled “From Conflict to a New Political Settlement: Turkey, the Kurds and the Future of the Region.” 

Bakirhan said Turkey had spent a century denying the Kurdish issue and pursuing assimilation, arguing that the failure to address Kurdish demands through democratic means had contributed to decades of conflict. 

Bakirhan is a former chairman of the Democratic People's Party and the former mayor of the southeastern Kurdish-majority city of Siirt, before he was dismissed by the Turkish ministry of the interior and arrested in December 2016 on charges regarding alleged membership and involvement with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and sentenced to a sweeping ten-year term a few years later. In September 2021, the European Court of Human Rights fined the Turkish state 10,000 euros for his “unjustified” detention.

“Turkey - like Iraq, Syria, and Iran - has a Kurdish issue and a democracy issue,” he said. “For a hundred years, Turkey denied the Kurdish issue and tried to assimilate the Kurds.”

His remarks came as Turkey pursues a peace process to end a decades-long conflict with the PKK, with imprisoned leader Abdullah Ocalan playing a guiding role in the group’s disbandment. The process gained momentum after the PKK announced its withdrawal from Turkey in October, following parliament’s approval of a law in August to facilitate the reintegration of its members.

Bakirhan praised the process, saying Ocalan had taken significant political risks in seeking an end to the conflict, which has claimed tens of thousands of lives. He also thanked Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani and Kurdistan Democratic Party leader Masoud Barzani for their roles and contributions to the process.

“To end a 40-year war all at once is not a decision every leader can make,” Bakirhan said, adding that the initiative would hopefully reach a successful conclusion.

The DEM Party, which received more than 6 million votes in Turkey, supports efforts to resolve the Kurdish issue through political dialogue, Bakirhan said.

“Wherever democracy is, the DEM Party is there; wherever peace is, the DEM Party is there,” he stated.

A bid for equal citizenship rights

Bakirhan argued that Kurds did not necessarily need an independent state to achieve freedom, provided the country in which they live guarantees democratic rights, recognizes their identity and language, and treats all citizens equally.

“Sometimes to be free, you do not necessarily have to own a piece of territory,” he said. “If the state is democratic, if it recognizes your language and identity, and if everyone living under that state's constitution is an equal citizen, then that state already belongs to everyone.”

He said this principle offered an answer to why Kurds could seek equal citizenship and coexistence rather than a separate state.

Bakirhan also linked the resolution of Turkey’s Kurdish issue to stability in Iraq, saying progress toward peace could strengthen regional relations and benefit the Kurdistan Region.

“A Turkey that resolves its own Kurdish question will bring stability to Iraq and its governance, and create trust for the Federal Kurdistan Region,” he said.

Criticism of Iran's treatment of minorities

Turning to Iran, Bakirhan said the country’s Kurdish, Baluch, Azeri, Turkmen and other communities continued to face poverty despite its substantial natural resources. He argued that internal repression and foreign military intervention both contributed to suffering.

“If US missiles and Israeli bombs cause bloodshed there, the execution gallows in Iran cause bloodshed as well,” he said, criticizing both external military action and Iran’s treatment of its population.

He added that Iran could address its internal problems through a political process similar to the one underway in Turkey.

Bakirhan also called on Kurds to strengthen their unity, warning that regional alliances could shift according to the interests of foreign external powers.

“America is here today and gone tomorrow,” he said. “Another country may be a friend today, but tomorrow it leaves because its interests dictate otherwise.”