Kurdish is an indispensable prerequisite

The interesting part is that this report reveals mutual points of meetings with political trends associations in the Southeast and many people who are in a leading and respected position among the Kurds.

Up until now many works, surveys and evaluations have been published regarding "solution propositions." But none of them summarized mutual meetings based on civil grounds like TESEV’s does. It is a work that should attract the interest of politicians, the military and the press.

The mutual point of the report is that the solution to the Kurdish problem lies in language and education and is an "absolute must." The following are concrete suggestions:

w By changing the Constitution and the national education basic law, the way should be paved for Kurdish as a second language, or as an elective.

w Language prohibition regarding the right to organize and the freedom of expression should be lifted.

w Name changes for places should be prevented and those that have changed should be returned.

w Preaching in mosques in the region should be allowed in Turkish and Kurdish.

w To medical establishments in the region, Kurdish speaking personnel should be appointed.

w To courts of law in the region, Kurdish speaking personnel should be appointed.

w Institutes for Kurdish studies should be established working on the Kurdish language and literature at universities.

Of course besides this list, there are many suggestions. But these are the points stressed by nearly all segments. This list reflects the indispensable expectations of our citizens of Kurdish origin. Now if we were to say "no buddy, the county cannot be split like that," we then couldn’t solve the Kurdish problem, but we would create a fertile swamp for the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, to turn green in. This is important to know. On top of the list of people of Kurdish origin comes a name that makes Turkey proud, Yaşar Kemal.

Yaşar Kemal is characteristic for not using his Kurdish identity, neither in the domestic nor international arena. If he wished so he would have been a flag bearer for the Kurdish problem and talk about how the Turkish government oppresses the Kurds. This way he would have gained much more than he has until now. He didn’t É On the contrary, he supported that the problem could not be solved with arms. He said that a civil war and armed conflict will harm the Kurds as well. He warned both sides. Recently, we visited him together with Zülfü Livaneli and former True Path Party, or DYP, congressman Sedat Aloğlu.

He started off talking to me, "look M. Ali listen to me carefullyÉ" and then spoke about all his experience. He said, "If the administration wants to show his intention to solve the Kurdish problem, the indispensable and only step to take is to provide for the right to their language and lift all constraints." Yaşar Kemal does not insist on anything else. It’s just the mother tongue.

He draws attention to the fact that one thing that is important for mankind is that he cannot give up is speaking, writing and communicating in his mother tongue. He also draws attention to the fact that those who are limited in the usage of their mother tongue will always show reaction, not accept the place they live in as theirs and feel oppressed. The way to turn somebody against you is to prohibit his basic need, meaning his mother tongue. Thinking about Yaşar Kemal’s words it is impossible not to understand his so very true point. Let’s put ourselves in the position of our Kurdish citizens. Let’s assume they are the majority and we are in their position and the government prohibits us to speak Turkish, to name many of us and places we live in, in the Turkish language, prohibits Turkish TV, radio and songs and prevents Turkish lessons and for many of us to teach our mother tongue. How would you feel? This is how the Kurds feel. The findings in the TESEV report correspond to what Yaşar Kemal said to us.