Turkey’s Kurds. Hope in the air

Date: 13/03/04

Changes in Iraq give a chance of peace between Turks and Kurds

AS IRAQI Kurds took to the streets to celebrate an interim constitution that guarantees them unprecedented rights, their restive Turkish cousins rejoiced too. “We can't believe this is happening, it's too good to be true,” rasped Cemil Oter, a Kurdish tribal chief, who, like many of his ethnic kin, was glued to a Kurdish television broadcast from Iraq.

Under Iraq's new laws, some 4m Kurds will keep their own regional government, parliament and police. Their language has been designated one of Iraq's official tongues. For the authorities in Turkey, home to three times as many ethnic Kurds, the changes in Iraq are a bit unnerving. They suspect the Americans (who deny it) of having a plan for an independent Kurdish state in northern Iraq. If that - or anything like it - came about, it could refuel separatist violence among Turkey's Kurds.

Yet some people in Turkey are beginning to argue that, instead of pointing fingers at American troublemakers, the country would have less to fear if it gave its own Kurds, whose existence as an ethnic group has long been denied, a better deal. Some moves have been made in that direction. Egged on by the European Union, which Turkey hopes to join, parliament has approved laws enabling Turkey's Kurds to broadcast in and teach their language in privately run courses for the first time. A draft law curbing the powers of the central government will give regions, including ten largely Kurdish provinces, greater control over health and education.

Still, implementation has been slow. Kurdish politicians continue to be prosecuted for such offences as addressing public rallies in their mother tongue. Mr Oter and his friends celebrated the Iraqi Kurds' new gains in the privacy of their homes, for fear of being arrested. And Ankara's hawkish generals still want all Kurds kept on a tight leash - on the ground that 5,000 armed Turkish Kurds holed up in Iraq may still be a threat.

That argument may be losing some of its force, however, because of a power struggle that has been raging among the Turkish Kurds, armed and otherwise. A feud has erupted among leaders of the PKK guerrilla group, which waged war against Turkey in the name of separatism and Marxism, until its leader, Abdullah Ocalan, was captured in 1999.

The row broke out when Osman Ocalan (the new PKK boss, and brother of Abdullah) said he wanted to disarm the group - under a deal with the Americans. The Americans deny any contact with Osman. He has been declared a traitor by most rebels, who want to keep their guns. But it is still amazing to see a PKK bigwig, at liberty, becoming a pro-American dove.

Tensions in the PKK have spilled over to Turkey's largest pro-Kurdish party, Dehap, as it prepares for local elections on March 28th. It is no secret that the PKK has the final say over who runs on the party ticket. So far, hardliners have had their way, notably with the ditching of Feridun Celik, mayor of Diyarbakir, who is backed by Osman Ocalan. Mr Celik declared his candidacy as an independent, only to withdraw amid death threats - despite claiming to have backing from both Ocalans. The stance of Abdullah Ocalan - isolated even from his own lawyers over the past month in his cell near Istanbul - is a mystery.

Equally opaque is the degree of influence he still wields over his followers. Any loosening of the ties between the armed Kurds and unarmed ones in Dehap could, in a paradoxical way, make life trickier for the Turkish authorities. Up to now, they have relied on Abdullah Ocalan to send messages of restraint to his erstwhile comrades, and he has duly obliged.

But what if signals from Abdullah's prison cell lose their effect? As a last resort, Ankara might try an alternative strategy: reaching out to its Kurdish citizens to persuade them that their interests lie in staying in a democratic state that is on its way to joining the EU. What would this take? A first step might be an amnesty for all PKK fighters; another would be compensation for the 1m Turkish Kurds forcibly displaced during the PKK rebellion. Even more boldly, Turkey could embrace Iraq's Kurds as political and economic partners. These are not easy nettles for any Turkish government to grasp; but if the prize were lasting peace between Turks and Kurds, it would be worth some stings.

Article suggests that changes in Iraq give a chance of peace between Turks and Kurds.