Marking the end of Ramadan, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in his message, “We’re a civilization that makes it a principle to rush to the help of persecuted people, communities wherever they may be, and we stand in solidarity with them, holding their hands.”
He was in particular referring to the people of Syria and Egypt. Whether this current government is or not, it’s indeed true that Turks are generous and compassionate people. On a day like this that brings together families and loved ones in religious celebration, Erdogan was right to refer to those values that all segments of Turkish society cherish and honor. Yet there are so many domestic challenges that one can’t help questioning whether the deeds match the words — especially concerning the Kurdish issue.
It’s not fair to demand that any society be perfect, nor is it righteous to claim that one side is wrong at all times and the other is a constant victim. Erdogan’s efforts to resolve the Kurdish issue, therefore, need to be sensitively put into play, helping the people to bring out the best in themselves, forgiving the past, and walking toward the future together — just like he mentioned in his holiday message. While Erdogan said he will be dedicating his time during Eid al-Fitr — that is, until Monday, Aug. 12 — to studying his party’s democratization package, there is no doubt that he is also well aware that he is walking on thin ice, as some of the Kurdish demands have the potential to backfire on the west side of the country, especially at a time when a good number of Turkish military personnel, like Ilker Basbug, a former chief of general staff, have been sentenced to life behind bars for being “terrorists.”
While Erdogan and his party members have questioned the legality of the opposition’s reaction to the court’s verdict, they haven’t yet said a word about the latest remarks by Pervin Buldan, a pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party deputy and a regular member of the three-person delegation visiting the imprisoned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan at Imrali to provide him communications with the command of the PKK in northern Iraq.
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