Kurd voters stress on identity frustrates Turkish PM
Mon Mar 30, 2009 10:53am EDT
By Alexandra Hudson
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, March 30 (Reuters) – Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip
Erdogan’s ruling AK Party failed to conquer the Kurdish bastion of
Diyarbakir in Sunday’s local polls because they misjudged decades-old
grievances by minority Kurds.
Jubilant Kurds took to the streets of Diyarbakir, the biggest city of
the Kurdish southeast, to celebrate the victory of the pro-Kurdish
Democratic Society Party (DTP) over the AK Party, which campaigned on
a message of improving services in the impoverished region rather than
stressing Kurdish identity.
The southeast has been torn by separatist violence since the Kurdistan
Workers Party (PKK) took up arms against the state 25 years ago. Some
40,000 people have been killed in the conflict and ending it is seen
as key to boosting Turkey’s security.
Turkish President Abdullah Gul stressed the point in Baghdad last
week, calling on Iraqi Kurdish officials to do more to prevent the PKK
from using Iraq as a base to attack Turkey. He also recognised the
Kurdistan government in northern Iraq, a move expected to improve ties
between the state and Kurds.
Erdogan’s Islamist-rooted party had hoped to dislodge the DTP from
Diyarbakir and other local administration in the southeast after it
swept the region in a 2007 general election.
But the DTP won 67 percent of the vote in Diyarbakir, pummelling the
AK Party which took 31 percent of the vote.
The result was a big disappointment for Erdogan, who had worked hard
to win the support of Turkey’s 12 million minority Kurds, telling them
all Turkish citizens were equal and granting more rights to Kurds
under pressure from the European Union.
Launching a Kurdish-language state television channel and handing free
washing machines to locals did not convince them that the AK Party was
best placed to run their cities. However the government is expected to
continue pushing for reform.
DTP officials had accused the government of granting some r urds only
to win votes and had pointed out the many restrictions that still
exist on the Kurdish language.
"We are so happy that the DTP won. It is our party and this is our
victory," said 21-year old student Pelin Altun.
"Only old, religious people voted for the AK Party. The young voted
for the DTP because we are most concerned about our identity and the
future and not about religion," he said.
"We are not barbarians here we just want our identity," said Yilmaz
34, a caretaker.
Dogu Ergil, an Ankara-based expert on Kurds, said the results had sent
the message to Erdogan that "the road to Europe passes through
Diyarbakir". The EU has long pressed Ankara to expand more cultural
and political rights to Kurds.
"Kurds don’t want to be given rights by the government. They say it is
their own rights and they want to exercise them because they belong to
them," Ergil said.
The Turkish state has long feared that easing restrictions for
minorities will lead to the carving up of the country founded on the
ashes of the Ottoman Empire. In recent months the military has made
conciliatory gestures, saying force might alone will not defeat the
separatists.
DTP leader Ahmet Turk, whose party faces closure by the Constitutional
Court on charges it has links to Kurdish separatist rebels, said the
results were a success for Kurds.
"The people gave a lesson to the government. We got our votes
back. Governments are temporary, people are always there."
(Editing by Daren Butler and Dominic Evans)