Thus, they claim, the United States, after supporting the PKK for years, is now forcing Turkey to give in to PKK demands in order to foster peace with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). They presume that the United States is desperate to ensure stability in northern Iraq as it prepares to withdraw from the country. government - a friend to politicians and generals, a foe to most everyone else - is behind the Kurdish initiative. Numerous Turks are convinced that the U.S. Still, security and foreign-policy concerns complicate the issue. The National Security Council, traditionally a vehicle for the military to "advise" the government on political issues, also gave its blessing to the initiative. Realizing at last that the fight will never be won through purely military means, Turkey’s leading general now supports greater cultural freedom for Kurds and wants to make it easier for PKK members to surrender. This time around, though, the government has the army, a long-time rival, on its side. Plus, Turkey has a Constitutional Court with the power to strike down laws that alter the country’s "unamendable" constitutional articles - one of which declares that the national language is Turkish. Already, the two leading opposition parties have denounced Erdogan’s plan. But obstacles to implementing such initiatives have been insurmountable. Previous leaders have considered similar changes, such as calling citizens "Turkiyeli" (from Turkey) rather than "Turkish," to emphasize citizenship over ethnic identity. These initiatives have met - and will meet - tremendous push-back. (Those Kurds who are proud to call themselves Turks have always been accepted and often risen high in the ranks of politics and pop culture)
#RENAME IT ISTANBUL FULL#
But most Turkish journalists expect the government to allow public servants and politicians to speak Kurdish, end restrictions on Kurdish media, give some form of amnesty to all but the highest ranking PKK members, and possibly even revise the Constitution to allow Kurds to be full Turkish citizens without giving up their Kurdish identity. In late July, Erdogan announced his government was beginning a "Kurdish Initiative." He has not yet provided any details. Already, the government has opened a Kurdish radio station and promoted Kurdish literature classes at universities. That such a comparison can even be made is itself a sign of progress.Īnd there are concrete changes, too. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently brought a number of parliamentarians to tears by saying that something is terribly wrong when the mothers of Turkish soldiers and the mothers of PKK fighters are saying the same prayers over their sons’ bodies. The verbal recognition of Kurds and Kurdish culture at the highest political level is a first step, as Gul’s use of the name Norshin demonstrates. But what will it take to reconcile the Turks and the Kurds? The Turkish government wants to end the PKK’s terrorist campaign without splitting off a Kurdish state - and sees extending cultural rights and linguistic freedoms as the way to do it. But allowing or using Kurdish names is still a politically charged act, seen by many Turks as a concession to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (better known as the PKK), which has fought a brutal 25-year battle for Kurdish independence. For many Turks, saying Norshin leads to saying Kurdistan, and saying Kurdistan leads to recognizing an independent Kurdish state stretching across Iran, Iraq, and southeastern Turkey.Īfter a 1980 military coup, Turkey "Turkified": It banned the Kurdish language, imposed new Turkish place names, and famously declared that Kurds were actually "mountain Turks." Its government has since abandoned this extreme form of forced assimilation. The president’s opponents say renaming Istanbul Constantinople on highway signs will inevitably follow. Last month, Turkish President Abdullah Gul broke a long-standing national taboo: He called the remote village of Guroymak by its Kurdish name, Norshin.
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