SOUTHEASTERN QUESTION ON THE AGENDA
Prominent Turkish diplomat suggests strong action against Syria for support of PKK. He says Syria is, de facto and de jure, at war with Turkey by sheltering and supporting terrorism. International conditions are suitable for Turkey to retaliate. Europe may give political status to this terrorist organization. Ambassador Elekdað expects the PKK to be an international political question before long and suggests social, economic and political measures to solve the problem. The State Department agrees without losing sight of historic facts that are not necessarily in its favour. Retired Ambassador Þükrü Elekdað has suggested the Government to take strong action against Syria for its flagrant violations of the UN Charter by keeping the terrorist organization PKK under its full control. This suggestion went against Foreign Minister Ýsmail Cem’s recent efforts, within the Government’s “Neighbourhood Dialogue” policy, to improve and normalize relations with Syria.In an article published in the reputable daily Milliyet, Elekdað admitted that a survey he carried out into the Southeastern Question with all its domestic and external dimensions brought about a picture totally different from the views announced to the public by Turkey’s military authorities. The following are the highlights of Elekdað’s findings and suggestions:
- The PKK has made a great effort to gain political efficacy and strength abroad and has managed to deeply settle especially in Europe. It would not be right to make appraisals of the PKK by disregarding the international dimensions of this external organization. That is to say, one cannot destroy the PKK by only delivering deadly blows in the battlefield.
- The Southeastern Question is about to gain international stature. It is constantly becoming more probable for the PKK to be recognized as a political organization by some European countries. In the event of such a probability it will be exceedingly difficult to fight the PKK. It would put Turkey under heavy pressure to accept a political solution.
- No matter what grave blows are delivered to the PKK, it will be able to replenish its striking force and continue with its actions, as long as today’s conditions continue.
- No progress has been achieved in the direction of the solution of the Southeastern Question. The relative calm and stability secured in the region is misleading. This calm is due to the control and deterrence provided by a security force of 300,000 soldiers. The PKK will immediately fill the void and re-dominate vast areas, the moment there is a reduction in the power or efficacy of the Turkish Armed Forces in the region.
- The Southeastern Question constitutes the most urgent and prominent threat for Turkey. To put a halt to this trend and to eliminate this threat, the authorities in charge of Turkey’s security should realize that the continuation or discontinuation of the confrontation in the Southeast no longer depends on the wishes of the Kurdish descent people or the will of the PKK. Syria, who wants to weaken Turkey and who uses the PKK to this end, has the full say on this issue. That is why one of the two main preconditions of keeping the Southeast in peace and calm is to force Syria to deport the PKK leader Öcalan and his band to a country which has no common frontiers with Turkey and to cut off the Syrian support to this terrorism. The PKK’s will to fight can only be broken by crushing the head of the snake in Syria. Such a development would also dissuade the external organization of the PKK from going on with this fight. To attain this goal, Turkey, by using its legitimate right of self-defence, should resort to countermeasures aimed at harming Syria’s national interests and go on with them until it achieves a result. Given the resolutions concerning the definition of aggression and Article 2/4 of the UN Charter, Syria has launched war against Turkey, de facto and de jure, by sheltering, feeding and supporting a terrorist organization that resorts to inhumane terrorist actions. Both this state of affairs and current international conditions and trend are creating an atmosphere suitable for Turkey to gradually stage a political and strategic concept in order to materialize the above objective. Following the recent aggressions against the American Embassies in Africa, the outlook has gained momentum in Washington that terrorism should be fought with the determination of “an eye-for-an-eye”. Meanwhile, pressure on Syria has mounted for its sheltering international terrorism. Furthermore, the political and strategic power balances are in Turkey’s favour in the region. Most important of all, Syria is feeling the pressure of the cooperation of Turkey and Israel.
- The second precondition of ensuring communal security and peace in the Southeast is to defeat poverty, unemployment and lack of education in the region. To this end, a social and economic development plan to provide livelihood, employment and a civilized infrastructure to the Southeast should rapidly be put into force. This plan should cover an 8-year period to enable the local people to organize the production structure of their own region, to encourage local people to become entrepreneurs, to reduce unemployment, to complete the infrastructure of the region and to realize 8-year’s compulsory education. The basic condition of successfully implementing this plan is to have sufficient and sound resources. This, for its part, can be materialized with a special additional tax to last eight years, proceeding from a mentality of reconciliation and mobilization throughout Turkey. Considering the heavy burden on Turkey’s economy of the struggle in the Southeast, it would be appropriate to regard this transfer of funds to the Southeast as an investment and make it a net contribution to the economy. Besides, parallel to the implementation of this plan, Turkey’s conformation to human rights and international norms for democratization will be facilitated. For the last 14 years Ankara has not been able to manifest the discretion and courage to achieve these two objectives. The point this problem has reached today has gained vital importance to the steps to actively defend its interests against Syria and to snatch from that country its PKK trump card. And finally, the Southeastern Question and the impact of terrorism against Turkey are like shackles on a giant’s hands and feet. The giant will engage in big investments as soon as it gets rid of these shackles. Turkey must be able to put in force a comprehensive social and economic plan in the Southeast with the cognizance that the cost of these investments is marginal compared to their equities.
The State Department urges Turkey to address the Kurdish Question
Before Ambassador Þükrü Elekdað wrote the above article last week the United States explained its views about Turkey and the Kurdish Question. Dana Bauer of the State Department said in Vienna on July 2nd that in addition to the Turkish Army’s success against the Kurdish terrorists, whom she called “guerillas”, Turkey should take advantage of the opportunity to incorporate its Turkish Kurds into its vibrant cultural mosaic. “If the Kurdish question is addressed in economic, social and political spheres, Turkey can seize the opportunity to anchor itself as a model of integrated peace, prosperity and strength in the world order of the 21st century,” she said.
“Permissive attitudes towards the PKK by regimes in Syria and Iran further bolsters the group’s base of operations. Today, the PKK exploits the lax security environments and growing organized crime networks in eastern Europe and parts of the former Soviet Union. Meanwhile the PKK falsely professes to represent all of Turkey’s Kurds and solicits funds and fighters from Kurdish communities in Europe and elsewhere. In addition, the group is involved in a variety of illegal activities including narcotics trafficking, alien smuggling, and organized crime networks through Europe, the Middle East, and parts of the former Soviet Union.”
It was significant that the State Department had organized Bauer’s lecture in Vienna two days after Austria took over the presidency of the EU from the UK. It is apparent that retired Ambassador Elekdað is not wrong in his expectation of Europe becoming active against Turkey before long in introducing the PKK as a political organization deeply rooted in Europe. If Bauer’s speech is anything to go by in showing Washington’s future intentions about Turkey and the Kurds, however, the Americans may not insist on the prospective recognition of the PKK as a legal political organization in future, but may well replace it with something else.
Bauer said, “The Kurdish question is not a new one. It has existed since the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and the foundation of the modern Turkish Republic. The problems have existed in many ways since then, although the last 15 years have seen most concerted use of violence. Turkey faces a definite terrorist threat, although the scope of the Kurdish issue cannot be singularly equated with the PKK.”
Indeed, the so-called “Kurdish Question” did not exist before the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. It was “invented” by President Wilson’s 14 points at the end of World War I and used for disintegrating the modern Turkish Republic with the continuation of the “Sevres Treaty mentality” during the capitalist plans to capture the Kirkuk and Mosul oil. That is why there is no “Kurdish minority” in the Lausanne Treaty that founded the Turkish Republic and why Turkey never uses this term even today. Leaving aside this historic past, today the Kurdish factor is a fact and as Elekdað suggests Ankara should come to grips with that issue once for all, going beyond military security measures,. uras@ada.net.tr , August 18th, 1998