Turkish goverment closes the Kurdish "opening-up"

The initial target of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) ahead of the local elections was this:    Â

 

"We should take some of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party held municipalities in Turkey's mainly Kurdish-origin dominated southeast region. It would be a great success to win the Diyarbakir province. We could say to all everyone, even those who wanted to close the party that 'the AKP is the cement of Turkey's integrity. Here is the result. All, including Turkish, Kurdish and Circassion citizens, gather together under this roof."

 

And very intense activities began in this region. Roads, water, and electricity. Direct funding to help women...

 

This activity made the DTP uncomfortable and they raised tensions in the region by claiming ill-treatment of the jailed terrorist PKK leader, Abdullah Ocalan. And "nationalist reactions" arose especially from central Anatolia, the Agean, Marmara and Black Sea regions during this time.

 

Faced with the possibility of losing votes in these regions, Erdogan thought that this "political opening out" would lead to a dangerous point.

 

This was the main argument spoken in the corridors:

 

-Let us avoid falling into this trick while looking to increase votes in Diyarbakir. Let's not lose the wide support of the public just over the actions of a couple intellectuals..."

 

And then they returned to the same-old classic view, the one which the state has continued for 70 years...Â

 

The one that says: there is no discrimination towards any of our citizens? One state, one nation and one flag...

 

Abdulkadir Aksu* is the most important representative of this view since the term of Turkey’s former president, Turgut Ozal.

 

Aksu is of Kurdish origin and has held this view for many years:

 

"We are not discriminating against our citizens. We maintain the same distance to all of them. We don’t interfere in anybody's language or religion. We are struggling to serve... We create jobs to provide meals."

 

Yes, the arrival of Aksu, tells us more than the departure of the former deputy leader of the ruling AKP, Dengir Mir Mehmet Firat. It shows where the line is drawn marking the close of "the opening-up".

 

*A former Interior Minister who was recently appointed deputy leader of the AKP replacing Dengir Mir Mehmet Firat.