Gulan: Who is provocative, Masoud Barzani or Yasar Büyükanit?

http://www.gulan-media.com/h630/g27.pdf

Leyla Zana said in her newroz speech in Diyarbakir that Kurds have three leaders: Abdullah Öcalan, Masoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani. This caused a storm in Turkey. The biggest fear for Turks is a possibility that Kurds make cooperation with each others. Until now they have been controlled by the policy of "divide and conquer".

But this is changing. It can be seen from recent statements by Masoud Barzani and DTP leaders. For example Ibrahim Aydogdu sayid last February that an attack to Kerkuk is like one to Diyarbakir. He is the DTP chairman in Diyarbakir.

The tension in Iraq-Turkey boarder is the hottest topic of columns in Turkish newspapers. Unfortunately the columnists understand very little about the problem. And even less they want to search a political solution to it. For example Ekrem Dumanli from "Today's Zaman" says that Erdogan was obliged to tell Barzani his limits.

Tufan Türenc from Hürriyet finds it reasonable that General Büyükanit refuses to meet leaders of KRG. By not speaking with them Büyükanit shows that he does not recognise them.
Instead of giving rights to the Kurds in Turkey, Turkish columnists want to deny them also from the Kurds who live in other countries. Ibrahim Kalin from "Today's Zaman" denies from the Iraqi Kurds even the right to use the traditional name of their area. He wants to drop "Kurdistan" from the name of the autonomous area and call it "Northern Iraqi Region". If the negotiations have such a starting point one can not expect much of them.

The timing of General Yasar Büyükanit's enthusiasm to send troops to South Kurdistan is not a coincidence. The Parliament will soon decide who will be the next president in Turkey.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan went to Diyarbakir the 12th August 2005 and talked about solving the Kurdish question. Since that the army has made provocations every time when Erdogan has tried to continue the democratization process in Turkey. Do the generals watch quietly when the Parliament votes him to the Cankaya President Palace? It was not a surprise that General Büyükanit said in his television speech last Thursday, the 12th April, that Turkey's next president should be committed to secularism "in earnest".

If Turkey would attack Kandil even a short time one consequence of it might be a wave of riots in Turkey. This would be a good excuse to the army to announce an emergency rule in Turkey - and put their own man in Cankaya President Palace.

I think that in Büyükanit's provocative speech about sending troops to South Kurdistan the most important message was to make his opinion clear about who will not be the next president.
Büyükanit can not attack Kandil because US does not accept it. As Yavuz Önen, the chairman of Turkey's Human Rights Foundation TIHV, said: "Büyükanit targeted everybody from academics, the government, the European Union to human rights activists but avoided to mention anything about the policies of United States".

Ekrem Dumanli of "Todays's Zaman" claimed that Mesud Barzani is playing with fire. Who is playing with fire? Who is provocative? Turkish generals. They are surprised when Kurds are not any more afraid of them. It is a normal reaction that Kurds want to defend themselves.

Moreover, the game of Turkish generals can lead to consequences what they can not imagine. Instead of announcing how divided Kurds are Turks should sit with them in a negotiating table to solve this problem.