Gulan: The depth of Turkey's crisis

http://gulan-media.com/h633/g32.pdf

Abdullah Gül in Finland, November 2006. Photo: Kristiina Koivunen

Last week I wrote in my column that the Turkish army is satisfied that Abdullah Gül will be the next president of Turkey. I sent that column from Brussels to Hewler on Friday the 27th April.
When it was published things had already changed in Turkey. The army had made it clear that it does not like Abdullah Gül to be the new president. One week ago there were mass demonstrations in Istanbul where the message was clear: Turkey's next president should be secular.

That Turkey is not able even to select a president shows how deep the crisis is. The parliament elections will be in July. Both Turkey and European Union wait that after that a miracle will happen and the problems will disappear. But it can turn to the opposite. After the elections the situation can be even more difficult than now.

Prime minister Erdogan's Islamic Justice and Development Party AKP has a good change to win again the elections. It is the only party since 1980 which has been a serious power against the army. From the Kurdish perspective Erdogan has been the best prime minister in Turkey after the military coup. It seems that only the Islamists are courageous enough to change Turkey into a Western democracy.

But the obstacle is that the army does not voluntarily give up its power. What it would do if Erdogan starts to build the next government? Remembering what has happened during recent years it is easy to guess: Jitem, the intelligence service of Gendarmerie, would make again a provocation and get angry Kurds to protest on the streets. That would be a good excuse for the army to declare a state of emergency. I really hope that I am wrong with these pessimistic words! But the recent weeks have shown that army is not giving up. And neither Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Now I am back in Finland. I spoke some days ago with a Kurdish friend who lives in Finland. He said that for the Kurds the situation is now better than ever before in their history. Now Kurds make cooperation with each others. I was very happy to hear that DTP chairman Ahmet Türk, Aysel Tugluk and Sirri Sakik visited South Kurdistan one week ago. They met Jalal Talabani in the Kurdish village of Dokan.

European Union has commented that it is good that the elections in Turkey will be held earlier. But I have not heard their statements about the fact that hundreds of Kurdish politicians are in prison. How the elections can be fair under such conditions? And how unfair elections can solve the problems of Turkey? The Kurds in Turkey have more trustworthy friends in South Kurdistan than in European Union.

I send this article by e-mail from Helsinki to Gulan's editorial staff on Saturday the 5th May. I can not predict what happens on Sunday before this article is published. I hope my text does not get old during two days what are needed to translate, do the lay out and print it. But in Turkey everything is possible...