Q, W AND X SPELL TROUBLE FOR KURDISH INTEGRATION
Thomas Seibert

The National
September 29, 2009

A Kurdish boy at a school in Diyarbakir, the capital of Turkey’s
Kurdish region. Chris Hondros / Getty Images

ISTANBUL // Can a "w" be a threat to national unity? The Turkish
government is preparing to submit to parliament a package of measures
designed to end the Kurdish conflict, which has cost tens of thousands
of lives, but nationalists have been up in arms since media reported
that Ankara is planning to allow Kurds to use such letters as q, w
and x in public – and maybe even reform the Turkish alphabet itself
to embrace the Kurdish letters officially.

"This is treason against the Turkish language," Oktay Vural, a
leading member of the right-wing Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP,
told reporters in Ankara. "This is not a democratic opening, but a
separatist one."

Q, w and x are not part of the Turkish alphabet at the moment, and
although their use in foreign language words and abbreviations –
such as "www" – is accepted, Kurdish activists who used the letters
in Kurdish words in the past have been charged with violating language
provisions laid down in a law dating from 1928.

The row over the Kurdish letters died down after the government denied
there were plans to change the alphabet, but the linguistic debate was
only an early skirmish in a political battle about to begin in earnest.

The "Kurdish opening", as the government’s Kurdish plans are called
by the media, will be at the top of the agenda of deputies returning
to parliament in Ankara tomorrow after a long summer break. Recep
Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister, sees an opportunity to end the
Kurdish conflict and can count on the support of many war-weary
voters and the military. But the row about the Kurdish letters and
other details of Ankara’s plan shows that Mr Erdogan faces an uphill
struggle to win opposition support for the legal changes necessary
to get the initiative on tra od that could be crucial for Turkey’s
domestic and foreign policies, and for Mr Erdogan’s own career as
well. Apart from the "Kurdish opening", parliament will also debate
recent agreements between Turkey and Armenia for the normalisation
of relations and an eventual opening of the closed border between
the two neighbours. The documents are to be signed by the foreign
ministers of the two countries on October 10. After that, parliaments
in Ankara and Yerevan will vote on the agreements.

With the Kurdish and Armenian issues, Mr Erdogan is tackling the
two most sensitive topics in Turkish politics at the same time. The
opposition in Ankara has been protesting against planned steps on both
issues. Mr Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP,
has enough seats in parliament to push through legal changes on its
own, but it would prefer to get other parties on board as well.

In several speeches over the past few weeks, Mr Erdogan has made it
clear that he is aware of the potential political fallout for himself
and AKP, should the "Kurdish opening" fail to stop the violence that
has plagued the country since 1984, the year rebels of the Kurdistan
Workers’ Party, or PKK, took up arms to fight for Kurdish self-rule.

"Whatever the cost may be, we will not take a step back," Mr Erdogan
told an audience in Istanbul last month. "Our party may lose votes
… We took that risk when we set out on our way and we will do what
is necessary." Mr Erdogan has said he wants the "Kurdish opening" to
be up and running by the end of the year. The package’s main aim is
to give more cultural rights to Kurds in an effort to weaken support
for the PKK. According to press reports, the plan includes such steps
as allowing Turkish families to give Kurdish names to their children,
adding directions in Kurdish to road signs in the Kurdish area in
south-eastern Anatolia, ending restrictions on the use of the Kurdish
language during election campaigns and giving Kurdish children the
chance to learn their an optional subject in their schools.

In the run-up to the parliamentary debates, the government has tested
public opinion about the "Kurdish opening". According to reports,
government polls show that between 55 per cent and 64 per cent of
the electorate support the initiative.

A crucial factor has been the support of the military, which is
highly respected among Turks. Last week, Ilker Basbug, the chief
of general staff, was quoted as saying he did not see a problem
in teaching Kurdish to children in state schools, a statement that
makes it harder for opposition parties like the MHP to argue that Mr
Erdogan’s government is selling out to Kurdish separatists.