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Daily Sabah, Turkey
Sept 2 2014
DAVUTOÄ?LU AS TURKEY'S PM: TURNING AN IDEA INTO A REALITY
Merve Å?ebnem Oruç 03 September 2014, Wednesday
In Turkey, Kurds celebrated two arrivals on March 21, 2013: the first
day of spring and a cease-fire between the state and the leader of the
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Abdullah Ã-calan ` first step to ending
the 30-year conflict. It was not the first time that both sides have
been trying to cease hositilities but everyone knew that this might
finally be permanent. The likelihood made some happy while making
others angry and scared.
The negotiations between the two parties have proceeded as planned,
surviving many crises throughout the 15 months of ongoing talks. The
national and international circles that have benefited from the
conflict were in charge within that period. The presidential election
also staged the resistance of the will of Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an who set
his mind to the continuance of the cease-fire in any case, and Ã-calan
as well. The period of crises starting with the Gezi events arranged
to overthrow ErdoÄ?an leading to the corruption scandals in December
2013 that targeted ErdoÄ?an, his family, and close circle were all part
of an attack on the 'New Turkey' ideal and its crucial initiative: the
peace between the Kurds and the Turks. If the coup attempt organized
by the 'parallel state' was successfully staged, ErdoÄ?an would be in
jail now and Ã-calan most probably would have been executed. The
heinous attack against the will of the establishment of New Turkey
shows the importance of the cease-fire, and that a permanent peace is
the core of the evolution in the country's sociopolitical realities as
well as a huge alteration in regional dynamics.
The success of the peace process is also a crucial variant for the
future of the regional financial, economic, energy- and trade-related
relations. The old regime had few diplomatic or economic relations
with countries in the region, let alone the Kurds whose existence was
denied by the Kemalist state for years. Seeing Arabs, Armenians,
Persians, Greeks and Kurds as a threat was a common practice of
Kemalist regime. Unfortunately, it takes time for people who were born
under the propaganda of a fascist regime and live with it for years to
change. It takes years for a society to abandon nationalist
reflections, which were the basic symptoms of an illness caused by
systematically imposed fascist ideology, and its fears in a
post-national era.
But the chaos that shook Turkey for months has one benefit. The
concussions after the shake help people to wake up. Normally it would
take years for Turkish society to accept that negotiations with the
PKK leader is not a compromise but a necessity for peace, or that the
hostility against Kurds was not about security but racism. Now, peace
is adopted largely because they see the most attacked is the most
precious. The biggest threat against peace has passed. More
importantly, people woke up. 'The New Turkey' project has passed the
earthquake resistance test. We can walk through the final road to New
Turkey.
The era of Ahmet DavutoÄ?lu's prime ministry, following in the
footsteps of ErdoÄ?an's three-term prime ministry, with the help of
ErdoÄ?an's presidency, is to be a new era in Turkish politics that
transforms an idea into a reality, and aims to complete a change that
was already in the process of actualizing.
http://www.dailysabah.com/columns/merve-sebnem-oruc/2014/09/03/davutoglu-as-turkeys-pm-turning-an-idea-into-a-reality
Sept 2 2014
DAVUTOÄ?LU AS TURKEY'S PM: TURNING AN IDEA INTO A REALITY
Merve Å?ebnem Oruç 03 September 2014, Wednesday
In Turkey, Kurds celebrated two arrivals on March 21, 2013: the first
day of spring and a cease-fire between the state and the leader of the
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Abdullah Ã-calan ` first step to ending
the 30-year conflict. It was not the first time that both sides have
been trying to cease hositilities but everyone knew that this might
finally be permanent. The likelihood made some happy while making
others angry and scared.
The negotiations between the two parties have proceeded as planned,
surviving many crises throughout the 15 months of ongoing talks. The
national and international circles that have benefited from the
conflict were in charge within that period. The presidential election
also staged the resistance of the will of Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an who set
his mind to the continuance of the cease-fire in any case, and Ã-calan
as well. The period of crises starting with the Gezi events arranged
to overthrow ErdoÄ?an leading to the corruption scandals in December
2013 that targeted ErdoÄ?an, his family, and close circle were all part
of an attack on the 'New Turkey' ideal and its crucial initiative: the
peace between the Kurds and the Turks. If the coup attempt organized
by the 'parallel state' was successfully staged, ErdoÄ?an would be in
jail now and Ã-calan most probably would have been executed. The
heinous attack against the will of the establishment of New Turkey
shows the importance of the cease-fire, and that a permanent peace is
the core of the evolution in the country's sociopolitical realities as
well as a huge alteration in regional dynamics.
The success of the peace process is also a crucial variant for the
future of the regional financial, economic, energy- and trade-related
relations. The old regime had few diplomatic or economic relations
with countries in the region, let alone the Kurds whose existence was
denied by the Kemalist state for years. Seeing Arabs, Armenians,
Persians, Greeks and Kurds as a threat was a common practice of
Kemalist regime. Unfortunately, it takes time for people who were born
under the propaganda of a fascist regime and live with it for years to
change. It takes years for a society to abandon nationalist
reflections, which were the basic symptoms of an illness caused by
systematically imposed fascist ideology, and its fears in a
post-national era.
But the chaos that shook Turkey for months has one benefit. The
concussions after the shake help people to wake up. Normally it would
take years for Turkish society to accept that negotiations with the
PKK leader is not a compromise but a necessity for peace, or that the
hostility against Kurds was not about security but racism. Now, peace
is adopted largely because they see the most attacked is the most
precious. The biggest threat against peace has passed. More
importantly, people woke up. 'The New Turkey' project has passed the
earthquake resistance test. We can walk through the final road to New
Turkey.
The era of Ahmet DavutoÄ?lu's prime ministry, following in the
footsteps of ErdoÄ?an's three-term prime ministry, with the help of
ErdoÄ?an's presidency, is to be a new era in Turkish politics that
transforms an idea into a reality, and aims to complete a change that
was already in the process of actualizing.
http://www.dailysabah.com/columns/merve-sebnem-oruc/2014/09/03/davutoglu-as-turkeys-pm-turning-an-idea-into-a-reality