Can Kurdish leaders use the next historical opportunity?

Recent news from the Middle East reflects a widespread need for changes. The Kurds are famous for being culturally divided and unable to cooperate with each other. Now the new mass media increases their awareness of democracy and the life of other Kurds. This is a historical opportunity.

To understand the complicated situation of the Kurds, it is necessary to look at the history. After almost two thousand years of Persian rule, most of the Kurds became part of the Ottoman Empire as a result of the Battle of Chaldiran in 1514. This was the first division of Kurdistan. After that, Ottoman Sultan Selim officially recognised sixteen Kurdish emirates. For centuries, these autonomous emirates were culturally, linguistically and religiously rich.

This text was published in Asos newspaper the 18th May 2011. It is in Kurdish here:
http://www.xendan.org/drejaWtar.aspx?NusarID=167&Jmara=3040


During the Ottoman times the Kurds lacked national identity. They did not identify themselves as Kurds but as members of their family, tribe and religious group. They were in a proto-national stage. Dr. Eric Hobsbawm uses this term to describe an ethnic group’s development towards nationalism. Although the group feels that they belong together because of their mutual ethnicity, they lack a common polity. It is possible to mobilise the existing national symbols for the creation of a modern state.

In the course of the fall and the dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire, most of its subject peoples were able to set up their own states, but not the Kurds. With the Treaty of Sevrés, which was signed on August 20, 1920, the Kurds were promised a homeland. But the Allies, led by Great Britain and France, knew that the implementation of the Treaty would require difficult military enforcement. They were not prepared to make this commitment. The Treaty of Sevrés was a historical opportunity but the Kurdish leaders were unable to benefit of it.

The Treaty of Lausanne, signed on July 24, 1923, was the international accord, with which the Republic of Turkey was established. The word ‘Kurd’ was not even mentioned in it. Kurds were not regarded as a minority group. References to minorities were limited to non-Muslims. This was the second division of Kurdistan.

Also Iraq was established after World War I. Under a mandate from the League of Nations, the administration of Iraq was entrusted to Britain, but it adopted a policy of devolving responsibilities to an Iraqi government in 1921.

From 1918 to 1925, the Kurds lost an opportunity for statehood. They found themselves to be an unrecognised minority in Turkey and in Iraq. The Kurdish question became a frozen conflict. All the problems were left without solution, waiting for the right moment for the conflict to appear again. Now, this seems to happen. On the one hand, the Kurds move towards nationalism from proto-national level. Due to electronic mass media, satellite TV and the Internet – and especially social media like Facebook – they get information about each other and about global developments, which was totally out of their reach at the beginning of the last century. The Kurdish culture in Iraq is the most traditional and the most tribal. The Iranian Kurds are the best educated Kurds. The Kurds who live in Turkey are the most modern and the most aware in political terms, but many of them are partly assimilated into the Turkish culture. For example, many have lost their Kurdish mother tongue.

The young generation of Kurds continues the nation-building process from the point at which their grandfathers froze the issue after the days of Lausanne. On the other hand, new historic opportunities are emerging because all parts of Kurdistan are controlled by countries that are moving towards radical changes.

Since the end of the 19th century, the problem of the Kurds has been their inability to cooperate with each other. Kurdish politics is local politics. The Kurds have been rebelling against their oppressors for decades, but their uprisings have been local.

In 1991 three Kurdish provinces in South Kurdistan got autonomy after the First Gulf War in the uprising Raperin. But three Kurdish provinces - Mosul, Kirkuk and Diyala - were left outside the autonomous region. This was again a historical opportunity what the Kurdish leaders could not use. Twenty years have passed without much improvement despite United Nations decided referendum which is known as Article 140 according its status in the Iraqi constitution. If the referendum is not arranged this will be the third division of Kurdistan.

In the 1920s, Kurdish leaders could not make use of the historic opportunities, which were available during the collapse process of the Ottoman Empire. It seems that the next opportunity for the Kurds might come up soon. Dramatic changes may take place in the Middle East in the near future, taking into account the situations in Turkey, in Iraq, in Iran and in Syria. Especially the future of Iraq after the removal of the American troops is unclear.

Parag Khanna, former election advisor of Barack Obama and current director of the Global Governance Initiative, predicted 2008 that Kurds would get independent state in 2016 and 20 000 American troops would be stationed in Kurdistan by that time. He describes this vision in his book "The Second World : Empires and Influence in the New Global Order". Khanna argues that Kurdish oil and gas especially could play a desicive role in supporting the independence. Europe wants to decrease its dependency on Russian gas. Kurdish gas reserves of three to six trillion cubic meters is the source to replace the Russian gas. There is plan to build the Nabucco pipeline from Turkey to Austria to transport the Kurdish gas to Europe.

All big Kurdish parties in Iraq, Iran, and Turkey concentrate on the situation of their own geographical area. They do not have a common national agenda. However, many young Kurds - the Facebook-generation - speak about a ‘Great Kurdistan’, meaning the unification of all four parts of Kurdistan. Yet there is no movement pushing for it, except for homepages on the Internet and on Facebook.

Kurdish leaders carry a big responsibility. Can they make cooperation? Can they use the historic opportunity, which seem to be available only once in a century? Only time will tell. I am sorry to say that at the moment the situation does not look good at least here in Sulaymania: Kurds struggle with each others the same way as they have done centuries instead of learning the modern skills of negotiation. This would benefit all Kurds in defending themselves against the neighbouring states. The plan to build the Nabucco pipeline or any other outside effort does not solve the Kurdish question if the Kurds can not cooperate with each others. Instead I have heard rumors that now they obtain more guns.

One thing is clear: problems, uprisings and struggles continue until a solution is found to the Kurdish question. In North Ireland, the struggle between the Irish and the British has already continued for seven hundred years. Let us hope that the Kurdish question will not remain unsolved for so long. It is a permanent source of instability in the whole Middle East until a political solution is found.

Congratulations for DTP!

Osman Baydemir. Istanbul March 2006 Photo: Kristiina Koivunen

The election victory of DTP in local elections in Turkey the 29th March 2009 is a great step for the Kurdish movement! Congratulations!

When looking at the situation from the South: let's hope that this victory of DTP is an important step in the democratization process of Turkey and search for solution to the Kurdish question. Which needs to be solved in all the countries between which Kurdistan is divided: Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria.

I hope the success of DTP will inspire all Kurds to make cooperation with each others. Together Kurds are strong!

Responsibility over the suffering of Kurds

Ten year of wasted opportunities to solve peacefully the Kurdish question and prevent a genocide on the edge of Europe.

Who is responsible? Who accepted the Treaty of Lausanne which denies even the existence of the Kurds? (Tip for the answer: look at the picture.)

My interview in PUKmedia about Kurdish movements

You can listen my interview which PUKmedia made today (the 23rd August 2008) in Sulaymania. It is in English and translated to Kurdish.

http://pukmedia.com/english/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6007&Itemid=42

Joost Lagendijk, study the court decision!

Joost Lagendijk, MEP and Chairman of Delegation to the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee. Photo: Kristiina Koivunen

The decision of the Court of Justice of the European Communities on 3 April 2008 is a crisis for European Union.

The court decision states that the 2002 decision of the European Council to put the PKK on its terrorism list because of an “error of procedure.” The court said that when the European Council created the list and applied sanctions to the organisation and its members, it did not announce its justification in time.

In Turkey courts are the places where the legacy of political decisions are being surveyed. It is a well known fact that Turkish politicians are not able to follow even the Turkish law. What this tells about the level of decision making?

Is the same happening now in the EU? Cooperation between EU and Turkey and Turkey’s EU membership negotiations should increase Turkey’s democratic development, not the opposite. Also move EU towards Turkish type of political life. But PKK’s inclusion to EU list of terrorist organisations proves that this has happened already.

The inevitable conclusion to be drawn from the court decision on 3 April 2008 is that how many other EU’s decisions are illegal?

Newroz Piroz Be!

Who is winner in the battles?

The eight days long battles between TSK and PKK have been very important news and a surprising event. Maybe every one else Kurdish blogger has written about it except me. The reason for that is that I write now a new book and I felt I do not have time to write a proper analysis about the situation.

So I better explain my view in a few words. Now Turkey and PKK argue who is winner of the battles. I think both of them are. Not in the sense they claim: how many enemy fighters they have killed. But in peace both partners win. Now Turkey has started de facto a cease fire, without claiming it. I am sure all mothers of Turkish soldiers are happy about it, even if they do not say it openly.

There has been demands from all around the world that Turkey should give Kurds more cultural rights and economical inputs to the area. Some commentary demand this also in Turkey, despite they use very hawkish words claiming that there is now need for another strategy to take the support of Kurdish people away from PKK. That would happen by giving Kurds in Turkey more rights.

Well, isn’t that PKK has been demanding all the time? Why they would be fighting if the Kurds would have right to mass media and education in mother language?

Some other people speak about the possibility that DTP would lose the mayor elections in important cities, like Amed, next year in the local elections. That is a little bit difficult to believe, but people have the right to vote whom they like. But mayor from some other party than DTP in Amed would not make it less Kurdish city. Think the situation in Van, my favourite place: the mayor Burhan Yenigün is from AKP. But Van is pure Kurdish city. Main difference what Yenigün seems to have created there compared to DTP mayor cities is that it is difficult to find breakfast or lunch in Ramazan during the oruc. Being a devoted Muslim does not mean that one can not have Kurdish identity. I advice people who suppose this that they visit offices of Mazlum Der in Southeast Turkey!

Where the storm was biggest?

When I write this post in Helsinki, the weather is windy and stormy. Like most days this winter.

Last autumn and this winter I have participated quite many Kurdish and other demonstrations. And when and where the storm was biggest? Just look at the pictures which I have taken.... in addition that you can see from them that the weather was bad you surely also understand how much I felt cold when I took these snaps.... The first picture is from Brussels, 2007.

London. 2007

Helsinki. 2007

Helsinki, in front of Turkish Embassy, the 19th January 2008.

So let’s hope that if Turkey attacks South Kurdistan it will happen in spring or summer when the weather is warm! That would make life a little bit easier for us, the friends of Kurds who live in cold countries.

British discussion: Twin approach to the Kurdish question

Last year I visited England four times and during three journeys I was in the British Parliament in a Kurdish or Armenian meeting. I did not plan my journeys according to the seminars, but every time I went to London there seemed to be something important going on.

In picture: Mark Muller

Armenians have been talented for years in making lobby and now Kurds are learning the same skill.

There seems to be such understanding towards the Kurdish question in Great Britain what is missing in other European countries. Maybe it is the long war in Northern Ireland which has taught Britons to understand the many aspects of armed conflicts and especially the importance to end them. And of course the presence of British troops in Iraq increases public awareness to all issues in the region.

Lawyer Mark Muller is a hard-working man, a regular speaker in seminars.

Last June Muller said that there is a Kurdish entity in South Kurdistan.

"Turkish nationalists are right when they are afraid, they can not prohibit that a Kurdish state will be created", he believed.

Muller has practical approach towards the Kurdish question.

"In peace negotiations it is question about what helps, not about what is right or wrong", he said.
Despite the big problems Mark Muller had in June an optimistic attitude:

"We live now a very critical moment, but there is also a possibility for good seeds. Sometimes there is a solution and a new way of acting in the biggest crisis", he said in a seminar held in the British Parliament.

But Mark Muller was very serious in December in Brussels in the conference of the EU Turkey Civic Commission and spoke about the importance of critical planning until the beginning of May 2008.

He did not believe that there would be any purely political or military solution to the problem in Southeast Turkey. A twin approach is needed because there are many military and geopolitical aspects.

"The Kurdish issue in Turkey and the PKK issue are not identical despite they might be closely linked," he said. There are geopolitical aspects where PKK is not involved, like Turkey's relationship with Iraq and Iran. So these issues should be treated separately, he advised.

Mark Muller was again one of the speakers in a meeting in the British Parliament the 17th December. He explained how different AKP government is to previous Turkish governments and what opportunities this creates in the democracy development.

"The failure to move towards democracy is the biggest problem in Turkey. The Kurdish issue is only a reflection of this", he said.

"It is not question of Kurds on the one side and the Turks on the other side, or secularists against the islamists. People are targeting towards democracy. Turkey's democratization is much larger issue than only the Kurdish question", Muller explained.

Muller reminded that Britain has experience of complicated peace negotiations in North Ireland. This knowledge could be used for the benefit of Kurds.

Britain has its special responsibility to participate in the search of solution to the Kurdish question. It was one of the countries behind the Lausanne Treaty. If any country supports a declaration which claims that there is no Muslim minority when there is millions of such persons, the country must meet also the consequences.

EUTCC Conference in Brussels: Turkey must put its promises into action!

The European Parliament in Brussels.

Leyla Zana.

Some days ago, the 3.-4. December, there was an important conference about the future of the Kurds. It was arranged by a NGO, EU Turkey Civic Commission. The conference was held in the European Parliament in Brussels.

This conference was a forum for discussion. It reflected the atmosphere in Kurdistan and feelings of the Kurds. And how is the Kurdish atmosphere now? Courageous and optimistic. Recent news from Turkey show that common awareness is increasing about the Kurdish question. More and more Turkish people understand that this problem is endemic source for instability in Turkey and a solution must be found.

This conference was arranged for the fourth time, but for me it was the first time I attended it. The people who had been there earlier said this was the best of the four EUTCC conferences.
Turkish Kurds run now a campaign called "Edi bes e" - It is enough! These words describe well the atmosphere of the conference. One of the speakers, Dutch green MEP Joost Lagendijk, put it this way: "Now the situation is that EU criticises and Turkey promises to make changes but in practise nothing happens." This must change! This demand was repeated by speaker after each other, for example by Leyla Zana, Ahmet Türk, Akin Birdal and Nurettin Demirtas.

It depends on the political development during the next five months whether there will be war or peace. British lawyer Mark Muller talked about the need for a new way of thinking. "In peace negotiations it is question about what helps, not about what is right or wrong", he explained. Muller did not believe that there would be any purely political or military solution to the problem. A twin approach is needed because there are many military and geopolitical aspects.

Mr Muller spoke about the historical responsibility of his country Britain. He said also that Britain has lots of knowledge in peace processes due its experience of creating peace in North Ireland.

Like many other speakers, Mark Muller wanted EU to be more active in demanding change in Turkey. Some other speakers demanded EU to make time table for Turkey in the democracy process.

Next year will be the fifth anniversary of EU Turkey Civic Commission and it already plans a big new conference. There are many ideas for it, for example that there should be participants also from South Kurdistan, despite the topic will be the Turkish part of Kurdistan. There were some Iranian Kurds already in the conference of 2007. One of them was psychiatrist Kamal H. Artin, who come to Brussels from California, American west coast. He was critical on Nurettin Demirtas who demanded democratic autonomy. Artin wants the Kurdish target to be an independent state.

Kamal H. Artin had sat twenty hours in aeroplane travelling to Brussels. The next day after the conference he returned to California. "It was boring to travel so long time but it was worth of it to get the opportunity to say my opinion", he told.

Mark Muller and Joost Lagendijk.

Ahmet Türk and Nurettin Demirtas.

Rewbar Fatah and Kamal H. Artin.

Akin Birdal.

Akin Birdal, Dogu Ergil and Ahmet Türk.

Pictures: Kristiina Koivunen.

Fourth International Conference on EU, Turkey and the Kurds

Ahmet Türk, I and Nurettin Demirtas.

Greetings from Brussel where the fourth International Conference on EU, Turkey and the Kurds is just over. It was held in the European Parliament.

This is my favourite picture from it, despite the light is not enough.

I write more about the conference when I get back to Finland. Now I write with a computer that has French system and it is very slowly to write.

Kurdish possibilities: the collapse of Ottoman Empire and the collapse of Iraq

Kurdistan is now in the turning point of its history. During the First World War, after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, Kurds could not use that historical opportunity to gain their rights. Now another country, Iraq, is breaking down and the Kurdish leaders use cleverly the situation for the benefit of the Kurds.

Many decisions which were made at the beginning of last century have turned out to be wrong. Nations have arranged better solutions with bitter wars or at other heavy cost. Do you remember countries like Soviet Union and Yugoslavia? They had their roots in times of the first world war. Also the present division of Kurdistan was made at the same time.

The problem of Kurds is their inability to make cooperation with each others. Because of this their enemies have been able to control Kurds with the policy of "divide and rule". This situation will continue as long time as the Kurds can not negotiate with each others about their common targets and the Kurdish benefits.

If the partition process of Iraq continues there will independent state Kurdistan. This is frightening scenario for Turkey which has twenty million Kurdish citizens. When they compare their own situation to the conditions of free Kurds, is there anything good they can say about their own country?

World is not the same any more as it was ninety years ago. Nations should learn from mistakes made by other nations. Kurds have suffered too much as there has been many wars. And also their enemies have suffered. Everyone would benefit about a political solution to this problem. Now it is time to use diplomacy instead of weapons. England and France, who won the First World War, must carry their responsibility in solving problems which are caused by their wrong decisions at that time.

A mediator is necessary in solving difficult armed conflicts and threats of them. There are international organizations capable of arranging peace negotiations. One of them is Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). It is active also outside Europe, for example in Afghanistan. Next year my country Finland will be the chairman of OSCE. Despite Finland is a small country with a population of five million people, it has lots of experience in peace negotiating activities and other diplomatic work under difficult conditions.

Greetings from a marginal country

The internationally recognised image of Turkey is one of touristic indulgences, whirling dervishes and successful secularism. Within this idealised representation the status of the Kurds is lost. This is not only the case in the international version but also extends to the representation of Kurds in Turkey. In modern Turkey, Kurdish civil society is developing rapidly. Kurds are becoming increasing politically aware and organized in order to solve their problems of recognition. Yet the Kurdish voice is silenced, sometimes brutally.

The eerie silence of the Kurdish voice extends also to Europe. Social activism is described as terrorism. The old adage of one man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist fits appropriately in the case of the Kurds in Turkey.

Despite the mass symbolic gagging of the Kurdish voice news trickles through. The atrocities against Kurds in the Southeast of Turkey received limited coverage. This is in part related to the difficulties in getting news out of the country. No news agency has a permanent correspondent in Turkey in a location further east than Ankara. They are instead reliant on Turkish mass media for their news. This poses a serious threat to objectivity as the Turkish media is heavily censored by the authorities. Official censorship impacts profoundly on the representation of Kurds in the international community.

The public opinion and sympathy usually lies with the victims of armed conflicts. But in the case of the Kurds in Turkey it is the opposite with the international community siding with the Turkish state. Due partly to the lack of the Kurdish voice and flows of information from Kurdish areas but more significantly to the fact that Turkey has forced itself into a powerful lobbying position within the discourse of the War on Terror and counts among its friends America and the United Kingdom.

FINLAND, A SUPERPOWER IN DIPLOMACY

I have followed the situation of the Kurds for more than ten years. I have seen the huge problems but also the national awakening and rapid development of the liberation movement. Kurdish associations both in Kurdistan and in Europe are flexible and adopt all the time new methods when it is question about organising the Kurds. But these abilities disappear strangely when they should make contacts with European organisations.

I hope my readers understand that my critique is not intended to add to the negative representation of the Kurds, but instead it is intended to aid understanding of the problem. I have become very frustrated many times as I have felt the problems could be solved when working with other methods and other attitudes.

I am from Finland. Finland is located between East and West, it is a neighbour country of the former Soviet Union and present Russia with more than one thousand kilometres of land boarder. Since it became independent 1917 the main principle of Finnish foreign policy has been to balance with this neighbour. Finland is a small country in the amount of population (five million people) but a super power in diplomacy. Surviving with our big neighbour has taught Finnish diplomats to be very skilful. It is not a coincidence that in EU the commissioner for enlargement is from Finland. Finnish people are specialists in difficult diplomacy.

Olli Rehn is just one example. Other ones are Martti Ahtisaari, Harri Holkeri, Elisabeth Rehn, Helena Ranta and late Matti Wuori. Green MP Pekka Haavisto is one of the very few people who developed and maintained a personal relationship with the leaders of all parties in the Darfour crisis.

KURDI-KURDI -DIPLOMACY IS NOT ENOUGH

When looking at Finland from the Kurdish perspective there is one thing which makes it different to other Western European countries. The Turkish lobby is very weak in Finland. There are no Turkish immigrants except some Turkish men who have met a Finnish lady in Antalya beach and followed her to Finland.

But there are thousands of Kurdish refugees in my country, and compared to other European countries, the Kurdish plight receives sympathy from the general public. Finland and Kurdistan shared certain historical similarities. Finland was part of Russia until the First World War and during the period of 1939-1944 we had two wars against Soviet Union. We know what is to fight against an enormous enemy!

When campaigning for a political solution for the Kurdish question, what conclusions these facts bring to your mind: a country which is super power in diplomacy having sympathy for the Kurds, with no Turkish lobby?

Well, I have explained these facts during last ten years for many Kurdish activists. Their reaction has always been the same: Finland is marginal country which is not important for the Kurdish movement because the Kurdish community in Finland is small, only some thousand people.

Until now I have not met even one Kurd who would understand the special character of Finland's history. Or who would be at least interested in it, not even among the ones who have lived a long time in Finland. It is difficult to make cooperation with someone if you are interested only about yourself and do not want to know your partner.

It has surprised me that many Kurds know the battle of Raatteentie of January 1940 where 17 500 Soviet soldiers died (compared to the fallen 900 Finnish soldiers). Kurds respect how Finns won the battle by using methods which would nowadays be described as guerrilla warfare. But they do not know the meaning of this single battle in the whole war - not even to speak about the reflects of the war to the present foreign policy in Finland.

TIME TO LEARN NEW SKILS

The reasons behind the problems in Kurdish diplomacy are clear. For decades it has been forbidden for them for them to study their own culture and history. When there are finally some possibilities for that - at least in the Diaspora community - it is understandable that people spent all their time in doing it. But it would be so much easier to learn from others' mistakes instead of experiencing same mistakes by oneself and learning by this rocky road!
Also there is huge lack of activists. 30 000 PKK guerrillas have died in the war. There are thousands Kurdish politicians in Turkish prisons, and thousands others have been forced to escape to Europe where they face other problems. There is huge amount of Kurds who have mental or physical problems caused by torture, deportation, political violence on their family members etc. I do not even try to estimate their numbers. Each story of the victims - the fallen guerrillas, the disappeared, the injured, the prisoners, the refugees - is a human tragedy.
But these atrocities have also the practical consequence that there is lack of huge amount of people who could have developed the Kurdish movement if the conditions would have been different. The target of the Turkish state was to destroy the Kurdish movement when it targeted individual members of it. Also the problems of the Kurdish diplomacy is a result of this.
Despite all these problems, the only way to solve the Kurdish question is that Kurds learn to make international cooperation. We, the foreign friends of Kurds, can assist in this. But Kurdish diplomacy can be done only by the Kurds themselves.

Europe sees the crisis but does not understand it

This post I write in England. The tension on the Iraqi-Turkish boarder has been one of the main news in the European mass media. But here is not much understanding about the complexity of the Kurdish question.

The news concentrate on PKK. Before I came to London some journalists called me from the Finnish Broadcasting Company. It was easy to understand from their questions that they did not understand much about the problem. Their main interest was to know how many Kurds support PKK.

Some journalists write that if Turkey attacks North Iraq it might have also some other purposes than the destruction of PKK. They understand that Turkey would like to occupy North Iraq to prevent Kurdistan Regional Government to give independence declaration. But these news do not have any details. For example they do not tell about the Kerkuk referendum and Article 140.

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was in London on Tuesday the 23rd October. His program was kept secret opposite to what is the normal practice during such visits. Also the British government was afraid for demonstrations against his visit. And for good reason. The Kurdish community is preparing demonstrations against the war.

If Turkey really starts the war the demonstrations might became massive. In Europe there is strong peace movement and it has lots of experience in arranging protests against the Iraq war.

In Turkey the self censorship of mass media is reaching an alarming level. Whole the world is against Turkey's war plans but Turkish people do not know it. Instead television programmes tell them that Turks are now as strong than during the Ottoman times. Well, every one outside Turkey knows the truth.

On Sunday one week ago PKK captured eight soldiers in Hakkari. When it gave their pictures to the publicity, Turkish TV channels did not showe these pictures and only very Turkish news papers printed them.

One of the few Turkish journalists who has critised the war plans is Lale Sariibrahimoglu. She is columnist in Today's Zaman and correspondent of Jane's Defence Weekly's. It is one of the leading magazines in the world about military issues. Mrs. Sariibrahimoglu has been writing to it sixteen years. She says about Turkey's war plans that Turkey is shooting itself to the foot.

Last week Mrs. Sariibrahimoglu had a trial in Istanbul. The prosecutor claims that she has insulted the military by one of her articles. According to the Article 301 of Turkish Penal Code this is a crime.

Winter is coming but Turkey's army wants to send its sons to the Kurdish mountains. If the war really starts how the Turkish people feel when they learn the truth only by bitter experience? That the Ottoman time is over.

Whole the world speaks now about negotiations and a peaceful solution to this crisis. Turkish people should listen to these speeches. Also they would benefit if there would be political solution to the Kurdish question. Peace is not a defeat for Turkey.

Demonstration of Umbrellas in Brussels

Thousands of Kurds gathered in Brussels on Saturday the 29th September 2007. They demanded to get information about the health check up which was made to Abdullah Öcalan in the summer. Really, the doctors must have found something special in their survey as it takes so long time to write the report!

Unfortenately the weather was rainy but it didn't seem to disturb the people who marched kilometres through the down town and listened after that Kurdish music in open air. For me this was a good sight seing tour in Brussels. Just look how attractive statues there are in Brussels!

Pictures by Kristiina Koivunen.

Gulan: Turkey one week after the elections

The text in Kurdish.

Gülcihan Simsek, Ahmet Türk and Aysel Tugluk in Wan, December 2006. Photo: Kristiina Koivunen

The hot issue of last week was of course Turkey's elections. The Islamic AK Party got almost half of the votes and more than twenty Kurdish DTP politicians entered the parliament.

Last week I wrote about Kurdish internet pages. There is an active virtual Kurdish community discussing daily politics. Internet is like an answer to the needs of the nation which is spread all around the world. But the available technology is just one step in creating Kurdish community in internet. More important is the national awakening process among the people. If the Kurds would not want to communicate with each others even the best technology could not help.

Times are changing in Turkey. Just compare the present situation to the one of last decade. First example: During 1983-1998 Turkish troops went 36 times to South Kurdistan. And now? Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has spoken about a political solution to the Kurdish question. Before the elections his tone became a little bit hawkish but immediately after them the tension on the boarder decreased.

And the second example: the group of Kurdish parliamentarians was crushed down in Turkey in the early 1990s. Mehmet Sincar was murdered 1993 and many other Kurdish politicians were put to prison for ten years. Now it happens the opposite. The new MP Sebahat Tuncel came out from Gebze prison two days after she was elected to the parliament. Mehmet Sincar's widow Jihan Sincar is now the mayor of Kiziltepe and in parliament sits Mrs Pervin Buldan whose husband Savas Buldan disappeared last decade. Internet community follows everything what the Kurdish politicians say and discuss what they should do next.

Kurds have been controlled for decades by the principle of "divide and rule". When there are more and more contacts between the Kurds they notice how they benefit of co-operation with each others. Internet is one method for this, satellite televisions is another, and third is travelling and meetings, also among the Diaspora Kurds.

European people do not understand much about the change process what is now going on both in Kurdistan and in Turkey. Finnish newspapers see it as a paradox that Mr Erdogan speaks for Islamic values and is in Turkey the biggest supporter of EU membership. They think that Erdogan's target is to make Turkey an Islamist state. People here do not understand that Erdogan's main vision is to change Turkish system from the military rule to a democracy. It is a shame that Europeans are afraid of an Islamic country becoming a member in European Union but they have nothing against a country controlled by the army.

What will happen next in Turkey? During this spring and summer it has become clear that Turkey's army is not voluntarily giving up its power. But also Erdogan has strong will. Times are changing not only for the Kurds, but also for the Turkish army. Before AK Party no other political party has been strong enough to stand against the military. The army has to accept that Turks are tired on it and want to return to the pre-Kemalist time when the state and religion were not separated from each others. Now it is time to separate the state and army.

Congratulations to Kurdish parliamentarians!

Aysel Tugluk (in the middle with flowers) in Wan Airport December 2006. Photo: Kristiina Koivunen

All Kurdish bloggers have written their comments about Turkey's elections - except me! In addition of having a full time work for one month in City of Helsinki Social Department I have been busy writing my analysis to Helsingin Sanomat. It is Finland's biggest daily newspaper with a circulation of 430 000 (we are five million people in this country).

My article was published today in the editorial page (page number 2) of the newspaper with my picture. It tells about the rocky road what Erdogan's new government will have. The text is not translated to English and I do not have time to translate it. I will comment the elections in Gulan next Monday the 30th July and put the same text in English to this blog.

Now I say just the same thing every else has already said: this is really great! Once again something which gives the Kurds hope for the future. Things can change! They are already changing.

During recent years my articles about Turkey have been published in the editorial page of Helsingin Sanomat about a dozen times. There has been also some unofficial dialogue with the Turkish Embassy as Ambassador Reha Keskintepe has sent twice his answers to my articles and they have been published in the page for readers' letters in Helsingin Sanomat. Despite until now this dialogue has not been very fruitful (last year Mr Keskintepe claimed that I distribute terrorist propaganda) I hope it will continue. Now it has become time in start political dialogue in Turkey to find a peaceful solution to the Kurdish question. It will benefit also Turks, not just Kurds.

Gulan: Virtual Kurdistan

The text in Kurdish.

I write this column one day before the elections in Turkey, and it is published one day after them. What a condition to write a column! You will hear my comments about Turkey's elections next week.

I follow Turkey's elections and the tension in the boarder of Iraq and Turkey in almost real time - from internet and satellite televisions. And so do millions other people. Kurds in Europe and Kurdistan and their friends. They get information from their own perspective, not from an Arab or Turkish view.

Last week I wrote that at the time of the Sèvres Treaty the perspectives of most local Kurdish leaders did not go beyond the own lands. This is understandable. Travelling and getting information from the outside world is not easy in a mountainous country. Even if the aghas had been in Bagdad, Constantinopole or Tehran, most of their people had hardly been in the neighbour village. The development of national identity is different process among mountain people than in the plain lands. The Scottish people is a good example of this. But now this process happens among the Kurds faster than the same process earlier among other nations.
Internet is different to traditional mass media in many ways. It is faster and it reaches whole the world. But it is also interactive and connects people to each other. Readers can send comments to articles. Other readers continue the discussion. There are hundreds of Kurdish internet pages and discussions groups. The world's largest nation without a country has found a forum for communication which suits to their distribution around the world. Kurds build now virtual Kurdistan.

Internet is easy to use. Here in Europe it is not expensive and we have electricity all the time. Now the virtual Kurdish community wonders whether Iraq will be divided into three parts. Can the problems in Southeast Turkey be solved if Kurdish DTP party gets seats in the parliament? Which group arranged last week the twin bombing in Kirkuk?

Last decade thousands of villages were destroyed both in South Kurdistan and North Kurdistan. People were deported to slums of big cities. It took years before the world knew what atrocities were happening. Nowadays such things can not any more be hidden. In Turkey three provinces are under the state of emergency rule (OHAL) but there are every day reports in internet about things which happen there.

Distributing information to all parts of Kurdistan is just the first step in the process. Commenting it quickly is the second step. This makes internet unique. Readers get information from many sources. They compare it and make their own conclusions. Many people write their opinions to internet. There are many different ways to do it. Some people write with their name, other are anonymous. Many associations and people have their own internet pages, others send comments.

The oppressors of the Kurds try to stop this communication. They hack Kurdish internet pages. Turkey banned for a while the popular You Tube where everyone can distribute videos. But it seems that Kurds are always one step ahead the ones who try to close their pages. They are very creative to find new ways to use internet for the Kurdish national movement. Virtual Kurdistan develops quickly. Later these ideas will be used also in real Kurdistan.

Gulan: The second change for Kurds

The text in Kurdish.

At the time of the Sèvres Treaty Kurds did not have enough national unity to protect their rights. The collapse of the Ottoman Empire was a historical opportunity which the Kurdish aghas failed to use. The perspectives of most local leaders did not go beyond the land which was their personal property.

Nationalism arrived to the Kurdish mountains some centuries later than to Europe but finally it arrived there. And it seems that now there is the second change for Kurds to get control over their land, natural resources and cultural heritage. One artificial land, which was created at the beginning of last century, is now in danger to collapse. This land is Iraq.

A soft partition of Iraq is already going on, claimed Michael O'Hanlon and Edward Joseph in a panel discussion at the School of Advanced International Studies in Washington on Thursday, the fifth July. They both are researchers and Mr Joseph is also Iraq war veteran. Iraq would be split up into Kurdistan, "Shi'astan" and "Sunnistan". O'Hanlon and Joseph said partition should only be considered as a final option if nothing else works. US army will not stay for ever in Iraq. Demands to withdraw American troops from there grow at the same rate than the amount of dead American soldiers increases.

Kurds missed their change during the first world war but now they are well prepared for the second change. But times are different. It is not only the Kurds who have changed, also the world is now different that ninety years ago. Nationalism and national states do not have the same meaning than during those days. In the global world nationalism is one value among other ones like democracy and civil society. When I have followed the Kurdish movement in Turkey and in Europe I have seen how creatively Kurds and Kurdish associations take modern information and process it. Now they get new information at the same time than other nations.

And it is not only the state called "Iraq" which seems to be near its end. There are signs that also the period of Kemalist rule will not last for ever. A power struggle is going on in Turkey between AK Party and the army. I think the Kemalist rule will be replaced sooner or later by democracy or by Islamist rule. Will this be the change for people in North Kurdistan to get their rights?

I hope that Iraq will not be split into three parts. It would happen by a civil war. But look at Bagdad: what the present situation is if not civil war? Even less I hope a partition process in Turkey. It would be terrible bloodshed. The change must happen in peace negotiations.

The situations are very different in Turkey and in Iraq. In Turkey the Kurdish question is the country's biggest problem. Because it has not been solved there has occurred lots of other problems. In Iraq the main problems are caused by other reasons but since 1991 Kurds have been clever to use the chaotic situation for their own benefit.

It is up to the Kurds how they use this second change. There are also other ways than to build a national state. But one thing is sure. What ever Kurds do the result will be better than during the days of the Lausanne Treaty.