The New Anatolian

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Sunday 07th of September 2008 01:57:21 AM GMT+2

AK Party's Kurdish campaign is wrong

Sending AK Party deputies abroad and saying that they are the real representatives of the Kurdish people in Turkey and nit the DTP may sound right but may actually be counterproductive. We need AK party and DTP moderates to cooperate to solve the real problem.

Ilnur Cevik

30 November 2007

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ilnurcevik@yahoo.com

The ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party is reportedly launching a new campaign to send its deputies of Kurdish origin abroad to explain some facts about the Kurdish issue to Americans and the Europeans.

We are also told that the AK Party leadership aims to tell the Americans and Europeans that its deputies of Kurdish origin represent the Kurdish people in Turkey and not the deputies of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP).

If the AK Party wants to send its deputies of Kurdish origin to free trips abroad to boost their morale, that is fine. But if it really feels it will make a serious impact we feel it is mistaken.

In the 2002 elections AK Party's deputies who were elected from the southeastern provinces and who were predominantly of Kurdish origin could no really claim to be representing the Kurdish masses of their region simply because the pro-Kurdish party (then the Democratic People's Party) won much more votes than AK Party in all the eastern and southeastern provinces and failed to win seats because the party could not win more than 10 percent of the national votes. At the time, some AK Party deputies managed to win seats with meager votes.

But today things have changed. AK Party won more votes than the DTP in the eastern and southeastern provinces and a public pinion poll showed that if elections are held today AK Party would win even more Kurdish votes. Thus AK party would be justified in saying it represents the majority of Kurds in Turkey.

However, that does not mean much. There is a problem in Turkey where some of our citizens of Kurdish origin do not feel first class citizens and these are mostly those who support the DTP. They are also those who are potential suppliers of the PKK militants who have been waging a terrorist campaign against our country.

These are the people who say they have grievances and these are the people who expect rights to be able to say they are first class citizens of Turkey. They are also the people who have been promoting their views in the United States and in the European Union countries.

Yes, our people from the AK Party can travel abroad to promote their views but they will also have to be prepared to answer some very pointed questions which they may find hard to answer.

They will be regarded as part of the establishment and even assimilated people and their counterparts will either listen to them politely but remain unimpressed or they will simply face some antagonistic reactions.

AK Party should not try to lead such an offensive. On the contrary AK Party should get together with the moderates of the DTP and try to solve the real fire instead of beating about the bush.

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