Warfare intensifies in Turkey

In the international mass media the escalation of fighting in the Kurdish region in Turkey has been in the shadow of the Syrian crisis. June 2011 parliamentary elections were held in Turkey. People hoped that the elections would contribute to a peaceful solution in the Kurdish conflict. But things turned to opposite direction. The post-election year has been the bloodiest in Turkey since the capture of Kurdistan Workers' Party PKK’s leader Abdullah Öcalan in 1999. According to International Crisis Group, in the fighting in southeastern Turkey has died since the 2011 elections more than 700 people: about 400 PKK guerrillas, more than 200 Turkish soldiers and at least 84 civilians. In recent weeks, the situation has become even worse: on average ten soldiers die in a week. According to PKK sources, the number of deaths during the last two years has been two thousand people. In 2005, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan seemed to be ready to seek a political solution to the Kurdish question. He spoke about this during his visit in Kurdish region's largest city Diyarbakir. In the spring 2009 there were rumors that the Turkish government and the PKK representatives have informal contacts with target to start peace negotiations. Bianet news agency (which is considered to be a reliable source) referred to this in May 2009. In spring 2009 journalist Hasan Cemal of Millyet newspaper (big Turkish newspaper) interviewed PKK leader Murat Karayilan. He stated that PKK does not require constitutional amendments before the letting down weapons. Sources near to PKK said last July that Abdullah Ocalan was also involved in the informal contacts with the Turkish authorities until the 2011 elections. After the elections, these informal contacts did not continue in any form. The source stressed that PKK, for its part, had fulfilled all the matters agreed upon, in contrast than the Turkish side. Abdullah Ocalan was put to isolation after the elections. Last visitors met him in Imrali island in July last year. Ocalan has been held isolated also in the past, but never before this length of time. Kurds around the world have begun to worry in earnest as there are no news about him. Demonstrations are being organized all around the world. In England Initiative Freedom for Ocalan Committee will held a demonstration every Wednesday in London's Trafalgar Square. They compare Ocalan’s situation to the Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who can now take part in Burma's politics after years of isolation. Ocalan's supporters hope that a similar arrangement could be reached also in Turkey as part of the solution to the Kurdish question. According to International Crisis Group, there is danger that Turkey will move towards a brutal anti-terrorism war. Hardening line in the Turkish side would strengthen hardliners also inside PKK - even though the organization shows in public united opinions, it is clear that behind the scenes there is a range of views, harder and softer ones. In the autonomy of the Syrian Kurds there is not now any big news to report. The Syrian Kurds proclaimed their territory autonomous in July this year. The Iraqi Kurds, the Kurds in the South, have had autonomy since 1991. Autonomy is also the aim of the Kurds in Turkey, as the co-existence with the Turks does not seem to succeed. Now, in eastern Kurdistan, or the Iranian part of Kurdistan, discussion on autonomy has also started. Rojhelat web page, near to leftist Komala-party, published an appeal to referendum about autonomy. It was signed by Iranian Kurdish intellectuals. In this petition the persons, who signed it, have come to the conclusion that for the Kurds life is impossible inside the Iranian borders; both the ruling Islamists and the opposition threatens the Kurds. One can draw only one conclusion: when the current regime in Iran is replaced by its successor, also it continues to suppress the Kurds. A petition signed by 118 people requests international organizations to arrange the referendum. They do not make a plan of how voting would take place. Referendum did not succeed in South Kurdistan: Iraqi’s so-called disputed areas (ie, the areas populated by Kurds, which are not included to the Kurdistan autonomous region, but are controlled by the Iraqi government), even that the vote is stated in the Iraqi constitution, and there were American troops, who could have controlled the voting. Eastern Kurdistan Referendum is quite unlikely to be achieved in the coming months. The Kurds have rebelled since the second division of Kurdistan in the 1920s (the first distribution took place 1514 and also after that there were rebellions). The current uprisings differ from the previous ones: now there are uprisings in many parts of Kurdistan at the same time, in the past, only one revolt was going on at a time. So there will be enough of news to report also in the future.