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Gul Says Oppressing Kurds a ‘Mistake’

by Contributor
March 19, 2014
in Featured Story, Latest, News, Top Stories
6
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Turkish President Abdullah Gul

COPENHAGEN, Denmark—Speaking to Danish newspaper Politiken on Saturday, Turkish President Abdullah Gul said Turkey’s policies towards the country’s Kurdish population have been a mistake.

“I’m brave enough to admit mistakes,” Gul told the newspaper, referring to Turkey’s prohibition of Kurds’ right to speak their own language or to express any Kurdish culture in Turkey, among other oppressive measures that have been implemented against the Kurds for decades.

Instead, Gul said that Kurds in Turkey must be afforded democracy if Turks want peace and control in that region of the country.

“The Kurdish question is about the democratic level. If you raise it, then the problems will fix themselves. If you take away all the reasons to fight, it is clear that the people will be with you,” he told Politiken.

In his interview, Gul also underlined Turkey’s good relations with Iraqi Kurds, calling them “close relatives” of the Turks. Indeed, Turkey has been providing Iraq’s Kurds with supplies, support, and developmental aid, winning favor with that region’s Kurdish leaders. This approach has been widely condemned by Kurdish leaders in Turkey, who point to the obvious “divide and conquer” strategy it reveals.

Many journalists, especially from the pro-Kurdish media, have been arrested in Turkey, highlighting another blot on Turkey human rights record concerning the Kurds. The Turkish president admits problems with the press, while stressing that the press must be free.

“Everyone in this country is free to write and publish, criticize or write their opinions freely. Even those with the toughest positions can freely publish and express their opinions,” Gul told the Danish newspaper.

That statement might be quite the overstatement, however, considering that Turkey was named the world’s number one jailer of journalists for the second consecutive year this year by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.

Daniella Kuzmanovic, associate professor and Turkey expert at the University of Copenhagen, told Iraqi Kurdish news agency Rudaw that Gul’s statements represent a break with Turkey’s official position, held until the 1990s, that the Kurdish problem was not caused by democratic problems, but socio-economic factors.

“Before, Turkish politicians used to say that the problem would be solved by improving the economy. Now, Gul is emphasizing that the Kurdish issue is solved with more democracy,” she told Rudaw.

According to Sardar Sharif, a PhD researcher in international relations at the University of Dohuk, Gul’s statements must be understood in light of the forthcoming local elections in Turkey on March 30.

“Kurdish areas are on AKP (the ruling Justice and Development Party) focus, and Gul’s political statement at this time appears more as a political maneuver to capture Kurdish voters. Another issue is that AKP also now uses its political relations with the Kurdistan Region of Iraq in these elections, which is quite understandable,” he said.

Commenting on the Turkish President’s divergent rhetoric, the Executive Director of the Armenian National Committee of America, Aram Hamparian, said: “President Gul’s claim to courage in facing up to Turkey’s sins clearly does not extend to an acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide, much less the willingness of his denialist government to accept its moral and legal responsibilities by agreeing to submit to a truthful, just, and comprehensive international resolution of this still unpunished crime against the Armenian nation.”

The chairman of the American Mesopotamian Organization, David William Lazar, said President Gul “admits to ‪‎Turkish‬ past mistakes towards the Kurds, but [he and his] government would not admit to the Genocide that destroyed three nations.”

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Comments 6

  1. GB says:
    10 years ago

    Abdullah, keep forgetting that “Mountain Turks” wants to have their own flag and Independence !

    Reply
  2. Sylva-MD-Poetry says:
    10 years ago

    President Gul denies that he has Armenian Genes…
    But one day his offspring will question him…
    Why he denied?…
    That “Honest Clever Artful gene”…
    Why he put the poor Journalist in prison …
    Because He said, “that he has Turkified Armenian genes…!”

    There is no Turkish Gene
    But there is Armenian Gene
    Seljuk Gene
    Kurdish Gene
    Persian Gene
    Scottish Gene
    Irish Gene…

    There is Turkish nationality…But never Turkish genes
    Like there is ‘No American Genes’ …
    Nationality is never a Gene …

    Let him do His DNA and find his origin …and Never Deny …
    You can never hide anything under the Bright Sunny Sky…

    Note: As recent study showed that Turks have 10% Armenian genes…
    As Seljuk arrived a millennium before confiscated, raped …and changed their genes…

    Sylva~MD~Poetry

    Reply
  3. Hratch says:
    10 years ago

    Actually the Young Turks started the mistake. They thought that unlike the Christian Armenians they could assimilate the Muslim Kurds into Turkish society. Since they were giving up all territories in the Balkans, North Africa and Middle East, they wanted to create a more homogeneous Turkey in Asia Minor.

    The Turks knew that it would be next to impossible to have a large Christian minority without have trouble in the future. The Armenian population would have grown organically and with that would have come unrest and trouble. Inter-marriage and Muslim Christian traditions would have always caused segregation and suspicion. In that they were correct, however the miscalculation came when they assumed that the Muslim minorities were more easy to handle. After all, all they had to do is teach them Turkish and ban Kurdish. Traditions and cultural norms were pretty much consistent between the two groups. In the end, the Kurds became the same problem as they feared would come from the Armenians and other Christian minorities residing in Asia Minor.

    In retrospect, the Turks still believe they had it half right. They could not have managed the suppression of both minorities if the Armenian presents continued. It would have been impossible to fight both groups simultaneously.

    Reply
  4. Alex Postallian says:
    10 years ago

    The ugly turk ghoul,found out oppressing the Kurds a big major populace of the SEWER,has caused many political problems..Now what about the raving maniac,errodoggie…

    Reply
  5. Jack Kalpakian says:
    10 years ago

    Gul and Gulen are Turkish interlocutors who can clearly be worked with. I do not think that they can necessarily be assumed to be friendly, but there is some ground for opening a dialogue. It should be pursued with Gulen first, and Gul once he decides on his own political future.

    Reply
  6. Josef says:
    10 years ago

    Because these monguls know the end is near!

    Reply

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