Turkey’s Kurds. Freedom calls

Good news for a beleaguered people

BY ANY standards June 9th was a splendid day for Turkey's 12m-odd Kurds. State-run Turkish television aired its first-ever broadcast in the most widely spoken Kurdish dialect, Kurmandji. And hours later a Turkish appeal court ordered the release of the country's most prominent female Kurdish politician, Leyla Zana, and three colleagues, who had spent ten years in jail after being convicted in 1994 on charges of belonging to the Kurdish separatist rebel group, the PKK. All four promptly walked free, pending an appeal that will be heard on July 8th.

Thousands of Kurds, waving the once-banned Kurdish red, green and yellow flag, took to the streets to celebrate. For decades the state had denied the Kurds' existence, as well as that of their ancient tongue. An emotional Mrs Zana, whose “crimes” included addressing the Turkish parliament in 1991 in Kurdish (never mind that she was calling for peace between Turks and Kurds), declared that her struggle was not over, but that “sunny days” awaited the country if everybody worked together for “peace, justice and democracy”.

Both moves were intended in part to help chivvy European Union leaders into giving Turkey a date for the start of membership talks at their summit in December. Mrs Zana's case was seen as a test for the strength of Turkish democracy and justice. The noises coming from Brussels are increasingly favourable. Gunter Verheugen, the European commissioner for enlargement, said that the court's decision was proof that Turkey's EU-oriented reforms were “gaining ground”.

Much credit is due to Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and his Justice and Development party, which came to power 19 months ago. The party, established by former Islamists, has used its parliamentary majority to push through a raft of sweeping reforms. Mr Erdogan also strong-armed his Turkish-Cypriot proteges into backing the latest UN plan to reunite Cyprus, though it was then rejected by the Greek-Cypriot side in a referendum in April. But credit is also due to Turkey's hawkish generals, if only because for once they have not sought to block change. This is not to say that Turkey's dreadful human-rights record is now squeaky clean. This week alone, police in Istanbul detained 25 Kurdish journalists accused of links with the PKK.

Durable peace between Turks and Kurds can be assured only if the government lends an ear to the PKK's renewed calls for a full amnesty for all 5,000 or so of its fighters, as well as for its remaining leaders, who are hiding in mountain bases in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq. Earlier this month the rebels threatened to resume their war because of the government's failure to heed their demands, which include freeing their top leader, Abdullah Ocalan, who has been in jail since his capture in 1999.

Yet it seems unlikely that most Kurds, even though they have long seen the PKK as freedom-fighters not terrorists, are ready to be dragged into a new war. Turkey is putting pressure on the American forces in Iraq to root out and disarm the PKK. Caving in to Turkish demands, the EU has added the PKK to its own list of terrorist organisations. The risk is that terrorism is just what increasingly beset guerrillas may resort to, unless Turkey finds a formula to forgive their past misdeeds.

Feature looks at relations between Turkey and its Kurdish community.