Gulan 11.6.2007: Meeting about the Kurdish Question in the British Parliament

The text in Kurdish.

Europe has not understood how serious the crisis between Turkey and South Kurdistan is. Mass media does not tell much about it. But there are signs that some people are waking up to see the crisis. One example is the meeting which was held in the British Parliament last Wednesday the 6th June. The topic of the meeting was "EU, Turkey and the Kurdish Question - What change now for a peacefull resolution of the conflict?"

It was hosted by Mr Elfyn Llwyd, a Welch parliamentarian who is the Vice-Chair of the Parliamentarians for National Self-Determination (PNSD). One practical step to distribute information about the Kurdish question is that there will be a group which follows the situation and prepares reports for British parliamentarians.

One of the speakers was Mrs. Maureen Freely. She has translated Orhan Pamuk's books to English. She told how the imperial Ottoman history still affects the feelings of the Turkish people. It is difficult for them to accept that their country is no more the superpower of the world. And Turks have been manipulated to believe that they are surrounded by enemies and they need a strong army to protect them.

Mrs. Freely said that Turkey has been very succesfull in distributing wrong information about the situation to Europe. When one hears news from Turkey one should allways ask what is the source of information and who keeps silent.

I think Turks are not able to face their own history. But Turkey can not develop without a public discussion about the collapse of Ottoman Empire and all the tragedies which happened at the beginning of last century.

Lawyer Mark Muller said that we are witnessing now such a crisis which we have seen never before. I think that the present crisis is still one step in the collapse process of the Ottoman Empire. Anyway Mr Muller was optimistic. He said that there are many possibilities for a good development. Often there are seeds for solution and a new way of thinking even in the biggest crisis when a country must change.

Muller believed that if the Islamist Party AKP does not win the elections in July, Turkey will fall to a very deep crisis. The Turkish government and army are arguing whether Turkey should attack South Kurdistan. They use hard words. But they know that when the Turkish army has entered South Kurdistan it has never reached the targets.

I want to share the optimism of Mark Muller. The situation is now very dangerous but there are powers in Turkey which understand that this crisis can not be solved by military methods. Europe must carry its responsibility in solving the crisis and not close the eyes from it. Mr Muller said that the government of Tony Blair has experience of very complicated peace negotiations in North Ireland. This knowledge could be used in solving the Kurdish question. It is the responsibility of Great Britain because it was one the main actors behind the Lausanne Treaty.