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'LIVING TOGETHER' UNDER CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
Today's Zaman
Nov 13 2012
Turkey
An intensity of expectations and a fear of failure are now part of
the peculiar process of Turkey's transition towards democracy. It
becomes rough and complicated, as days go by; it has hit serious snags.
The heart of the matter is living together in peace and accord. When I
watched a fresh manifestation on the theme last Sunday in İstanbul, I
could not help but swing between hope and despair about such a future.
Hope was stemming from the Living Together Awards by the Journalists
and Writers Foundation (GYV), affiliated with the Hizmet movement. The
print and visual media award was handed out to the Armenian newspaper
AGOS and Dunya TV, a unique private TV channel in Kurdish. A mixed
group of Turkish and Armenian gymnastics students were highlighted
for their joint friendship project "Ashura/Anushabur" and others
went to the Suryani Metropolit (Aramean Metropolitan) of Mardin and
an elderly Kurdish opinion leader/spiritual guide in Batman.
There should be no doubt that this ceremony comes at a time when the
government and Parliament need a powerful "heads-up" for the completion
of the democratic transition. The fact that this comes from a globally
benevolent, pious movement underlines the urgency to establish
social peace. Despair is also for real. The hunger strikes of some
700 Kurdish prisoners have entered the ninth week, with no agreement
in sight. Nine members of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), the
political wing of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), also joined
the hunger strike, as Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan employs
a harder rhetoric, talking about reintroducing capital punishment,
refusing to discuss the change of prison conditions of Ocalan and,
as he reiterated yesterday in the Justice and Development Party (AKP)
weekly meeting in Parliament, that "nothing will happen unless the
PKK lays down its arms," emphasizing loudly that "I am not talking
about silencing the guns, but laying down the arms."
The only positive sign -- a tiny one -- is the hastily inserted bill
that will make it possible to defend oneself in Kurdish in court. How
to read the latest row on hunger strikes? How can it end? Erdogan's
threat to reintroduce the death penalty should not be taken that
seriously. It will simply remain a tactical tool to vent the mass
emotions, but also, as an instrument for appeasing the Nationalist
Movement Party (MHP), as Erdogan proceeds with his plans for his
presidency. But there are dangers ahead in his vicinity: AKP will
start showing wider cracks -- because its DNA is set to reject a
return to the old times -- and a new political reality will develop.
Senior AKP figures watch the path of Erdogan with unease, and if
the hardliner rhetoric turns into tougher action on the Kurdish
issue, AKP's conservative Kurdish segment will burst under the local
pressures. No matter what, the AKP is approaching a crossroads that
will confirm or redefine its identity.
The hunger strikes push forward major points. One of them has to do
with the macro objective of the transition, namely a new constitution.
Education in one's native tongue, as well as the definition of
citizenship and decentralization, have to be dealt in that context.
But there is also the hottest of all potatoes, the issue that dynamited
the negotiation process: namely, what to do with Ocalan.
This part of the problem has to be handled under the title "amnesty"
(or whatever other term is applied) or a special deal. One severe
consequence of the current deadlock around the hunger strikes is the
BDP's choice to abstain from the Constitutional Commission's critical
work. The BDP so far refused to send a "reason" for its absence,
raising fears that it may weaken the commission's legitimacy. It
raises the hopes of the MHP, of course; and the CHP is left adrift
in the midst of the turmoil.
If the bill of "legal defense in Kurdish" passes, will it end the
hunger strikes? It probably will. Because the BDP does not want to be
the one that throws in the towel in the constitutional process, but
the huge problem remains intact. Where to go from there, about the PKK
insurgency and a solution to the democratic part of Kurdish demands?
No matter what, the bull is out there, wildly galloping, waiting to be
tamed. Not by constant beating, but by other methods. What a challenge.
http://www.todayszaman.com/columnistDetail_getNewsById.action?newsId=298081
From: A. Papazian
Today's Zaman
Nov 13 2012
Turkey
An intensity of expectations and a fear of failure are now part of
the peculiar process of Turkey's transition towards democracy. It
becomes rough and complicated, as days go by; it has hit serious snags.
The heart of the matter is living together in peace and accord. When I
watched a fresh manifestation on the theme last Sunday in İstanbul, I
could not help but swing between hope and despair about such a future.
Hope was stemming from the Living Together Awards by the Journalists
and Writers Foundation (GYV), affiliated with the Hizmet movement. The
print and visual media award was handed out to the Armenian newspaper
AGOS and Dunya TV, a unique private TV channel in Kurdish. A mixed
group of Turkish and Armenian gymnastics students were highlighted
for their joint friendship project "Ashura/Anushabur" and others
went to the Suryani Metropolit (Aramean Metropolitan) of Mardin and
an elderly Kurdish opinion leader/spiritual guide in Batman.
There should be no doubt that this ceremony comes at a time when the
government and Parliament need a powerful "heads-up" for the completion
of the democratic transition. The fact that this comes from a globally
benevolent, pious movement underlines the urgency to establish
social peace. Despair is also for real. The hunger strikes of some
700 Kurdish prisoners have entered the ninth week, with no agreement
in sight. Nine members of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), the
political wing of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), also joined
the hunger strike, as Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan employs
a harder rhetoric, talking about reintroducing capital punishment,
refusing to discuss the change of prison conditions of Ocalan and,
as he reiterated yesterday in the Justice and Development Party (AKP)
weekly meeting in Parliament, that "nothing will happen unless the
PKK lays down its arms," emphasizing loudly that "I am not talking
about silencing the guns, but laying down the arms."
The only positive sign -- a tiny one -- is the hastily inserted bill
that will make it possible to defend oneself in Kurdish in court. How
to read the latest row on hunger strikes? How can it end? Erdogan's
threat to reintroduce the death penalty should not be taken that
seriously. It will simply remain a tactical tool to vent the mass
emotions, but also, as an instrument for appeasing the Nationalist
Movement Party (MHP), as Erdogan proceeds with his plans for his
presidency. But there are dangers ahead in his vicinity: AKP will
start showing wider cracks -- because its DNA is set to reject a
return to the old times -- and a new political reality will develop.
Senior AKP figures watch the path of Erdogan with unease, and if
the hardliner rhetoric turns into tougher action on the Kurdish
issue, AKP's conservative Kurdish segment will burst under the local
pressures. No matter what, the AKP is approaching a crossroads that
will confirm or redefine its identity.
The hunger strikes push forward major points. One of them has to do
with the macro objective of the transition, namely a new constitution.
Education in one's native tongue, as well as the definition of
citizenship and decentralization, have to be dealt in that context.
But there is also the hottest of all potatoes, the issue that dynamited
the negotiation process: namely, what to do with Ocalan.
This part of the problem has to be handled under the title "amnesty"
(or whatever other term is applied) or a special deal. One severe
consequence of the current deadlock around the hunger strikes is the
BDP's choice to abstain from the Constitutional Commission's critical
work. The BDP so far refused to send a "reason" for its absence,
raising fears that it may weaken the commission's legitimacy. It
raises the hopes of the MHP, of course; and the CHP is left adrift
in the midst of the turmoil.
If the bill of "legal defense in Kurdish" passes, will it end the
hunger strikes? It probably will. Because the BDP does not want to be
the one that throws in the towel in the constitutional process, but
the huge problem remains intact. Where to go from there, about the PKK
insurgency and a solution to the democratic part of Kurdish demands?
No matter what, the bull is out there, wildly galloping, waiting to be
tamed. Not by constant beating, but by other methods. What a challenge.
http://www.todayszaman.com/columnistDetail_getNewsById.action?newsId=298081
From: A. Papazian