DIYARBAKIR MAYOR: KURDISH ISSUE ISN’T JUST TERROR PROBLEM

New Anatolian, Turkey
March 13 2006

The Kurdish problem is not solely an economic, security or terror
problem, Diyarbakir Mayor Osman Baydemir yesterday told a Kurdish
conference at Istanbul’s Bilgi University.

The controversial two-day conference on the Kurdish problem organized
by the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly (hCa) was held at Istanbul’s Bilgi
University over the weekend.

The conference, entitled “Looking for Civil and Democratic Solutions
I: Turkey’s Kurdish Problem” brought together academics, writers,
journalists, former deputies, and lawyers to discuss the Kurdish
problem in Turkey.

Addressing a panel on identity rights, social and cultural dimensions
of the meeting, Baydemir said that the Kurdish problem is an economic,
social, political and cultural problem.

“In order to solve the problem, a civilian project, a roadmap
which will include all these details should be developed,” said the
southeastern city mayor.

Author Muhsin Kizilkaya told the same panel that being a Kurd is a
somewhat dangerous issue in Turkey, while French Rouen University’s
Assistant Professor Salih Akin suggested to the panelists that Kurdish
should be accepted as a second official language in Turkey.

Ankara University’s Prof. Baskin Oran said that Kurds reject minority
concept but demand minority rights in Turkey. Oran underlined that
Kurds are not a minority in Turkey but a fundamental and founder
element.

Nationalists protested Saturday at the opening of the conference.

Small groups of demonstrators greeted participants with banners
reading: “The Turkish Republic is a whole – it cannot be divided”
and “No imperialist plot can separate our Kurdish brothers from us.”

Nationalist protesters said the conference was one-sided and
antidemocratic.

The Kurdish problem is still largely a taboo subject for public debate
in Turkey.

On Saturday, panelists called on the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party
(PKK) to lay down its arms. The most well-received speech on Saturday
came from Democratic Society Party (DTP) Co-Chairman Ahmet Turk.

Turk said that he believed the Kurdish problem can be solved within
the unitary state structure through a democratic political project.

Turk also urged a political pardon, suggesting that it’s not enough
to just call for people to give up their arms.

Bilgi University, in Istanbul, last year also hosted a conference on
so-called Armenian genocide — another controversial topic in Turkey.