ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Ahmet Turk, a veteran Kurdish politician and the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) candidate for the mayor of Mardin, told Rudaw that they have begun unofficial talks with Turkish officials about resuming the long-stalled Kurdish peace process, but noted that ultimate power over the matter rests with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with his grip on state institutions.
“We have had some meetings with some personalities, but we do not have any official engagement with Erdogan. But we are meeting some personalities at the parliament,” Turk told Rudaw's Abdulsalam Akinci.
Speaking against the backdrop of March 31 municipal elections in Turkey, Turk, who was the mayor of Mardin in 2014 but was removed by the government and replaced by a trustee, said that March is a bittersweet month in Kurdish politics.
This is the month, he said, when Kurdish people celebrate their new year and also mark women's day on March 8 - something his party champions.
“But March is also when we experienced the darkest days of our party and the Kurdish people in 1994,” he said, referring to the year he and many of his fellow lawmakers were removed from the Turkish legislature. Turk was sentenced to a year in jail, but some of his colleagues stayed in prison for about ten years.
The Kurdish peace process to end decades of bloody conflict started in earnest about 20 years later, in 2013, between the Turkish government under then-Prime Minister Erdogan and the
Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The talks were supported by Kurdistan Region officials, including then-President Masoud Barzani, and were mediated by the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), DEM Party’s sister party. The process collapsed in 2015, followed by intense urban fighting in Kurdish areas in the southeast of the country. More recently, the focus of the conflict has shifted across the border into the Kurdistan Region.
Some Turkish officials claim that the HDP is the political wing of the PKK. This is the reason for an ongoing legal case against the party. These accusations forced the HDP to rebrand itself as the DEM Party to avoid potential obstacles in 2023 general elections and the March 31 local vote.
The HDP’s former co-president Selahattin Demirtas, who was the main face of the now-collapsed peace process, recently called on the DEM party and the ruling Justice and Development (AKP) party to meet and enter negotiations.
Turk said they have taken some steps to resume the talks, but the long road to full engagement with the AKP’s number one man, Erdogan, will take time and conditions are attached.
It should be noted that DEM Party spokesperson Aysegul Dogan has denied there are any talks ongoing about reviving the peace process.
Turk said they believe Erdogan, whose current mandate as head of the state runs until 2028, is not the only one who can address the Kurdish issue, but he is the one who is powerful enough to convince the deep state. However, as long as Erdogan is in a coalition with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), the Kurdish question will not be on their agenda.
Turk claimed that AKP, which at one time championed some opening towards the Kurdish
issue, has lost popular support for their coalition with the country’s ultra-nationalist MHP, which he said have penetrated the judiciary system.
He added that Erdogan’s government continued to deny the Kurdish people any achievement of their rights, even across borders with daily military attacks against Kurdish groups in northeast Syria (Rojava) or in the Kurdistan Region’s Qandil mountains. Any call for a peace process under such circumstances will be futile, according to Turk.
“We can't do anything about it. They bombard Rojava daily. Rojava has not fired a single bullet at Turkey. When they are hostile to the Kurds and do not want the Kurds to achieve their rights in any region and are hostile to the Kurds, we cannot make an appeal. Therefore, when they want to be with the Kurds, open their arms to the Kurds, start a dialogue, accept the Kurdish language and Kurdish identity, then we will call for an end to the armed conflict. Then we will do whatever we can. Today you see Kurds being targeted day and night in Rojava, in Qandil. How can we say that they should lay down their arms? Even if we say so, it will have no value. The foundation of the situation must be present. Without that foundation, nothing can be done with words,” said Turk.
Cengiz Candar, the veteran journalist who won a seat in the parliament for the DEM Party last year, told Rudaw earlier this month that Erdogan intends to write a new constitution, but will need Kurdish support to do so.
“So we, as the DEM Party and the Kurdish movement, must be brought into the conversation… And all of this brings to mind the possibility of the revival of the peace process,” Candar said.
Mehmet Halis Bilden, the AKP’s mayoral candidate for Diyarbakir in Turkey’s Kurdish-majority southeast, told Rudaw in early March that his party has already served the Kurdish language. He noted that previously people were banned from speaking Kurdish in public areas, something that his party changed, adding that they have even offered Kurdish language classes as elective subjects in public schools.
For the previous municipal and presidential elections, HDP entered into an alliance with the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP). While Erdogan narrowly won the presidency, his AKP lost the mayorships of both Ankara and Istanbul.
Turk said their alliance with the CHP was “a political experiment” aimed at undermining the AKP and MHP coalition, but that CHP did not remain true to Kurdish voters, especially when they allied with what he called nationalist figures during the second round of the presidential vote.
He said that even if the CHP were to emerge victorious, “they do not have the power to influence the deep state.”
“We want dialogue and peace in this country. We have already said that armed conflict will not solve the problem. By meeting, we can resolve the Kurdish issue in a democratic way. Dialogue is necessary for us. We want to have a dialogue with everyone. Our demand is peace. Our desire is the brotherhood of nations. The CHP cannot convince the deep state. Someone like Erdogan, who today controls all the institutions, can do that, and solve the problem if he wants to. But the CHP cannot convince the deep state even if it wants to,” said Turk.
Claiming that the state-appointees who replaced elected officials in Kurdish areas have lost the AKP votes, Turk said he believes the government might think twice before trying something similar after the March 31 vote.
“Trustees closed the door of the municipalities to the people. Now, if you wish to visit the municipality building, you must seek police permission,” Turk said about the custodians running
municipalities like Mardin and Diyarbakir.
“If they deal with the Kurds as an enemy, Turkey will not become a democracy,” Turk said, adding that it is now time for a “new policy” in Turkey to address the Kurdish issue.
“We have had some meetings with some personalities, but we do not have any official engagement with Erdogan. But we are meeting some personalities at the parliament,” Turk told Rudaw's Abdulsalam Akinci.
Speaking against the backdrop of March 31 municipal elections in Turkey, Turk, who was the mayor of Mardin in 2014 but was removed by the government and replaced by a trustee, said that March is a bittersweet month in Kurdish politics.
This is the month, he said, when Kurdish people celebrate their new year and also mark women's day on March 8 - something his party champions.
“But March is also when we experienced the darkest days of our party and the Kurdish people in 1994,” he said, referring to the year he and many of his fellow lawmakers were removed from the Turkish legislature. Turk was sentenced to a year in jail, but some of his colleagues stayed in prison for about ten years.
The Kurdish peace process to end decades of bloody conflict started in earnest about 20 years later, in 2013, between the Turkish government under then-Prime Minister Erdogan and the
Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The talks were supported by Kurdistan Region officials, including then-President Masoud Barzani, and were mediated by the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), DEM Party’s sister party. The process collapsed in 2015, followed by intense urban fighting in Kurdish areas in the southeast of the country. More recently, the focus of the conflict has shifted across the border into the Kurdistan Region.
Some Turkish officials claim that the HDP is the political wing of the PKK. This is the reason for an ongoing legal case against the party. These accusations forced the HDP to rebrand itself as the DEM Party to avoid potential obstacles in 2023 general elections and the March 31 local vote.
The HDP’s former co-president Selahattin Demirtas, who was the main face of the now-collapsed peace process, recently called on the DEM party and the ruling Justice and Development (AKP) party to meet and enter negotiations.
Turk said they have taken some steps to resume the talks, but the long road to full engagement with the AKP’s number one man, Erdogan, will take time and conditions are attached.
It should be noted that DEM Party spokesperson Aysegul Dogan has denied there are any talks ongoing about reviving the peace process.
Turk said they believe Erdogan, whose current mandate as head of the state runs until 2028, is not the only one who can address the Kurdish issue, but he is the one who is powerful enough to convince the deep state. However, as long as Erdogan is in a coalition with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), the Kurdish question will not be on their agenda.
Turk claimed that AKP, which at one time championed some opening towards the Kurdish
issue, has lost popular support for their coalition with the country’s ultra-nationalist MHP, which he said have penetrated the judiciary system.
He added that Erdogan’s government continued to deny the Kurdish people any achievement of their rights, even across borders with daily military attacks against Kurdish groups in northeast Syria (Rojava) or in the Kurdistan Region’s Qandil mountains. Any call for a peace process under such circumstances will be futile, according to Turk.
“We can't do anything about it. They bombard Rojava daily. Rojava has not fired a single bullet at Turkey. When they are hostile to the Kurds and do not want the Kurds to achieve their rights in any region and are hostile to the Kurds, we cannot make an appeal. Therefore, when they want to be with the Kurds, open their arms to the Kurds, start a dialogue, accept the Kurdish language and Kurdish identity, then we will call for an end to the armed conflict. Then we will do whatever we can. Today you see Kurds being targeted day and night in Rojava, in Qandil. How can we say that they should lay down their arms? Even if we say so, it will have no value. The foundation of the situation must be present. Without that foundation, nothing can be done with words,” said Turk.
Cengiz Candar, the veteran journalist who won a seat in the parliament for the DEM Party last year, told Rudaw earlier this month that Erdogan intends to write a new constitution, but will need Kurdish support to do so.
“So we, as the DEM Party and the Kurdish movement, must be brought into the conversation… And all of this brings to mind the possibility of the revival of the peace process,” Candar said.
Mehmet Halis Bilden, the AKP’s mayoral candidate for Diyarbakir in Turkey’s Kurdish-majority southeast, told Rudaw in early March that his party has already served the Kurdish language. He noted that previously people were banned from speaking Kurdish in public areas, something that his party changed, adding that they have even offered Kurdish language classes as elective subjects in public schools.
For the previous municipal and presidential elections, HDP entered into an alliance with the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP). While Erdogan narrowly won the presidency, his AKP lost the mayorships of both Ankara and Istanbul.
Turk said their alliance with the CHP was “a political experiment” aimed at undermining the AKP and MHP coalition, but that CHP did not remain true to Kurdish voters, especially when they allied with what he called nationalist figures during the second round of the presidential vote.
He said that even if the CHP were to emerge victorious, “they do not have the power to influence the deep state.”
“We want dialogue and peace in this country. We have already said that armed conflict will not solve the problem. By meeting, we can resolve the Kurdish issue in a democratic way. Dialogue is necessary for us. We want to have a dialogue with everyone. Our demand is peace. Our desire is the brotherhood of nations. The CHP cannot convince the deep state. Someone like Erdogan, who today controls all the institutions, can do that, and solve the problem if he wants to. But the CHP cannot convince the deep state even if it wants to,” said Turk.
Claiming that the state-appointees who replaced elected officials in Kurdish areas have lost the AKP votes, Turk said he believes the government might think twice before trying something similar after the March 31 vote.
“Trustees closed the door of the municipalities to the people. Now, if you wish to visit the municipality building, you must seek police permission,” Turk said about the custodians running
municipalities like Mardin and Diyarbakir.
“If they deal with the Kurds as an enemy, Turkey will not become a democracy,” Turk said, adding that it is now time for a “new policy” in Turkey to address the Kurdish issue.
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