T U RK I SH SOC I AL D EMOC R AC Y Republican People’s Party
EU ROPEA N BU L L ET I N
C H P
www.chp.org.tr
November 2009
CHP VIEWS AND PROPOSALS ON THE KURDISH QUESTION
The Turkish Parliament debated the government’s initiative on the Kurdish question on November 10th and 13th. Background: In 1991, the first proposal of law in Turkey on the abolishment of all obstacles to the use of the Kurdish language was a social-democratic initiative. It was signed and introduced by Mr Deniz Baykal and his colleagues. In 2002, during the rule of the coalition government (Social-Democrats-Liberals-Nationalists) several reforms were adopted to allow the teaching and broadcasting in Kurdish. Recently, the Turkish government declared its intention to implement a new reform on the ethnic issues without making public its proposal. CHP responded in reminding its previous comprehensive reports on the Kurdish question and its very recent concrete proposals. Excerpts from the speeches of CHP President Deniz Baykal Turkish Parliament, 9-13 November 2009:
CHP defends a democratic Turkey fully in compliance with the European standards of rule of law, independence of judiciary as well as human and minority rights.
In a democracy no state should allow the encouragement of an ethnic segregation at the national level.
The right policy is to respect the ethnic identity of every citizen. The state has the duty to guarantee this respect. No one should be under any pressure because of his or her ethnic identity. The ethnic identity is an honour for every citizen.
More explicitly, to be able to say “I am a Kurd” is a right and honour of any citizen in Turkey. The expression of cultural, religious and ethnic identities should never be a subject to any restriction.
Kurd, Circassian, Albanian, Arabic, Bosnian, Georgian or all other ethnic origins are Turkey’s diversity, richness, reality and force.
The notion of being Turk refers to the citizenship, to the people living in the Republic of Turkey and by no means should be interpreted in the legal order or public life as an ethnic reference.
The fight against the PKK (explicitly recognised as terrorist by the European Union) should not be a matter of negotiation. We can not negotiate with terrorists. We can encourage them to leave their arms, to surrender, to stop the cries of the
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victims’ mothers, families, of the society. The examples of the UK against the IRA, and Spain and France against the ETA are important in this respect (It is regrettable that, during the AKP government since 2002, the yearly number of victims of the PKK terror increased 24 times) 
We must accept that in the past many mistakes are committed in dealing with the Kurdish question, now we have to beyond the stalemate.
CHP’s proposals are based on the following main lines: -
Barriers to the use of the Kurdish in the daily life should totally disappear including the academic research and institutions as well as language courses. (CHP points to the risks of a separate national educational system in different ethnic languages. There are serious concerns of stimulating ethnic segregation in decomposing the educational system)
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Education, women rights, economic growth and jobs should be at the core of a new social development strategy with tangible and measurable goals. The GAP regional development project has to be accelerated immediately.
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We observe a radical decrease in the access of the youth of SouthEastern and Eastern Anatolia to good-level education. State must open specialised high schools (with an intensive scientific, technological and linguistic curriculum) in each province. Moreover, a well-designed mobilisation for primary school focusing not only to quantities but adopting as well a qualitative approach is needed. The level of the quality of education in these regions must reach the Western Turkey in next few years.
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The economic development can no longer be based on the regional economic incentives which have turned out to finance corruption. Temporarily the state intervention is required to invest in the agriculture, new industries, technologies and human capital. The short-term deficits for these projects should be tolerated.
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Social development projects are unsatisfactory. The women rights are essential in this respect starting with the education and professional life of young girls and young women.
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The social security reform is another main pillar and requires a specific regional approach. The citizens and families deserve better service from state. To increase the employment opportunities and job creating initiatives ought to become a short-term success goal. All these, and not an empty rhetoric, should be the main-lines of the political debate in view of a better future for our citizens living in these regions.
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