by Nikitas » Fri Mar 18, 2011 1:33 am
Old DTA above came in with a smart comment and then buggered off.
It was Turgut Ozal himself who ranked the Kurdish problem as the biggest problem facing Turkey since it is the only problem that can lead to the disintegration of the state. The construct of the state, which is really the only glue that binds the nation together. Kemalism is based on the unconditional supremacy of statism over every other influence, above religion, above local and regional differences.
The anxiety of potential loss and the knowledge of the weakness of the state, which is very young and lacks any cultural of historic glue, is evident in the almost manic flag waving, the ever present Kemal statuettes, photographs, images, texts and aphorisms everywhere you go. Turkey is the second state to have a mausoleum for its founder, expressing a need to have tangible evidence of the originator, the "father" of the nation.
The Kurds on the other hand are an ancient people, confident of their place in the history and geography of the area. No wonder the Turks were willing to lose 30 000 soldiers trying to subdue them. When they realised exttermination was out they tried to subvert them with piecemeal liberalisation, a radio channel here, a language school there, and encouragement to migrate internally and also to northern Cyprus. Hoping to diffuse a focused force through the rest of the population.
As other middle eastern countries found out, modern technology offers ways to incite revolt which have unforeseen consequences. When you can mobilise a quarter of the population in a few minutes many things are possible that were not a few years ago. And now the EU comes along with a new challenge: want to get in, enact civil rights that grant freedom of expression, language and culture for minorities. The weapons that the cynical manipulators used against their neighbors are now officially being turned on them. It will be interesting to see how they deal with this problem of their own making.