Turkey: Threat of conflict with Kurdish militants places stress on democratic system

Yigal Schleifer: 10/25/07

In southwestern Turkey, a region inhabited predominantly by Kurds, there is widespread concern that democratic rights will become the first casualty if the Turkish military makes a move across the Iraqi border in pursuit of Kurdish militants.

Responding to a sharp increase in militant attacks in recent weeks, the Turkish parliament on October 17 authorized military units to conduct a raid into northern Iraq to destroy Kurdish supply and logistics centers. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. The army has so far remained on the Turkish side of the frontier. However, Turkey in recent days has been carrying out artillery and air attacks against Kurdish militant targets inside Iraq.

The steady movement toward a full-blown conflict is alarming many residents in southwestern Turkey. During the 1980's and 90's, the area saw thousands of people killed and entire villages destroyed in fighting between the guerillas belonging to the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) and Turkish security forces, and many now fear that the renewed tensions could lead to a rollback of the limited democratic reforms that they have gained over the last few years. Hard-won political rights, including the presence of 22 Kurdish MPs in the Turkish parliament, may now be at risk, as any new hostilities could drive a wedge between Kurds and Turks.

"If there is an incursion, it impacts us directly. We know that as a result of this our democratic rights will be lost," says Mehmet Salih Yildiz, a member of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) and mayor of the small city of Yuksekova, some 30 miles (48 kilometers) from the Iraqi border.

Despite the mounting tensions, on a recent sunny day, Yuksekova was the picture of normalcy. Children played on the sidewalks, the kebab restaurants did brisk business and the streets were clogged with honking cars and trucks. Only the military helicopters flying over-head, and the occasional armored personnel carriers slowly rolling down the main street, provided hints that not all is well.

The PKK has, in recent months, stepped up its attacks on Turkish forces. Not far from Yuksekova is the small mountain village of Daglica, where Kurdish guerillas on October 21 ambushed a Turkish military convoy, killing 12 soldiers, wounding 16 others and leaving eight missing. The attack inflamed the Turkish public and has pushed the government to the brink of war.

"The current government promised us they would work for peace, but they are bringing us war," says Halit Tekci, a 65-year-old sitting at sidewalk café in Yuksekova. "We don't want to be like Iraq."

Observers in other parts of Turkey are also voicing concern that a Turkish invasion of northern Iraq could have troubling consequences for the southeast. "The real danger is the Kurdish issue threatening Turkish democracy. You are seeing an increasing securitization of the Turkish political discourse, which is threatening democratization," says Volkan Aytar, a researcher at the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation, an Istanbul-based think tank.

Under pressure from the European Union, which it hopes to join, Turkey has instituted a series of political reforms, allowing now for limited broadcasts in Kurdish and for teaching the language in private courses. "If the local population sees democratic reforms being rolled back, they could fall back into supporting the PKK and following a more radical line," Aytar says.

It's not difficult to picture that scenario in a place like Yuksekova, where it seems like almost everyone knows a PKK fighter who has been killed, or who is currently up in the mountains of northern Iraq with the organization. "If you knock on any door here, you find someone who has lost a loved one," said Yuksekova mayor Yildiz.

"The pain is deep, but still there's a hope for peace," says the mayor, whose two sons were killed fighting with the PKK.

Aliza Marcus, a former Reuters correspondent in Turkey and author of the recently published "Blood and Belief: The PKK and the Kurdish Fight for Independence," says these deep ties have left the rebel group with a strong reserve of sympathy and respect in the region. "Certainly the PKK is not as popular as it was in the 1990's. But still it is very strong and it's able to direct the Kurdish political debate in Turkey," she said.

The PKK's attacks have had a powerful impact on the public mood in Turkey, with the October 21 attack in Daglica leading to protests across Turkey, with thousands of flag-waving marchers calling for Turkey to take action against the PKK. More disturbingly, offices of the pro-Kurdish DTP, which currently has 20 of its members in parliament, were attacked by mobs in several cities. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

"While we are looking for terrorists in the Kandil Mountains [of northern Iraq] we should not forget that the supporters of terrorists are ... even in the corridors of the parliament," Devlet Bahceli, leader of the right-wing Nationalist Action Party (MHP), said at a recent party meeting, referring to the DTP.

The protests and the attacks on the DTP offices seem to have exposed a deep fault line running through Turkish society, one that is being watched with increasing concern in the southeast. "We feel bad when a soldier is killed, but when Kurds are attacked or a Kurdish political party office is attacked, a hatred is awakened in us," says Ismail Arslan, a radio journalist who works for a small station in Yuksekova.

"What is happening now could bring the Turkish and the Kurdish people against each other," says Yildiz, Yuksekova's mayor. Still, the mayor says he hopes that the normalcy that his city has been able to regain will hold, despite the drums of war that are beating throughout Turkey. "People are sick and tired of this conflict," he says. "They hate it."

Editor's Note: Yigal Schleifer is a freelance journalist based in Istanbul.

Posted October 25, 2007 © Eurasianet