Abdullah Öcalan is thrilled. The cause of the “proud and defiant” Kurdish people, as he calls them, is gaining impetus regionally and internationally. The famous prisoner of Imrali Island in the Sea of Marmara has become the centre of attention, not only in Anatolia but across the border among his fellow Kurds, whether in Syria, Iraq and Iran, and whether they are Sunni or Shia. In Europe, Öcalan's image as a “terrorist” is fading and may soon vanish. A different profile is emerging. If it is not necessarily that of another Mandela, it is definitely that of a leader. Before addressing the reasons for this rise, we should consider first a highly significant development emanating from that implacable enemy, Greece. As reported in Vatan newspaper, representatives of the radical left-wing Syriza Party, headed by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, took part in a rally of the People's Democratic Party (PDP), often erroneously described the political wing of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), headed by Öcalan. The rally was staged on Sunday in Gündogdu Square in the Mediterranean coastal city of Izmir, preparatory to the electoral marathon in Turkey on 7 June. The Greek party's participation at the rally was in response to an invitation extended by PDP leader Selahattin Demirtas to Greek premier Tsipras. Syriza was represented by a member of its central committee and the head of the party's foreign affairs council. But this is not the only sign of what we might call the Kurdish advance. It is now impossible to read the Turkish political map without factoring in the Kurdish element, to which there are two further recent indicators. Whereas the Kurds were once (and often still remain) within target distance of charges of terrorism or incitement of it until proven innocent, they have now become the victims amidst some suspiciously ambiguous stances on the part of the ruling Justice and Development Party (JDP). True, there have always been the occasional outbursts of violence between gangs of ultranationalist Turks and Kurdish “rebels”, but these have never gone beyond brawls and skirmishes. The recent attacks on PDP headquarters are unprecedented. Turkish nationalists claim they are not responsible, and Selahattin Demirtas agrees. The PDP leader holds that the bombings of his party's headquarters in Adana and Mersin, in which six people were wounded, were carried out by the Islamic State (IS). Addressing a mass rally in Istanbul, he said that the perpetrator was closely connected to IS and had spent a long time in Syria, and that after carrying out the bombings he fled back across the border. He criticised the Interior Ministry for blaming innocent parties, referring to the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP/C), a Turkish Marxist-Leninist party. The DHKP/C issued a statement refuting the accusations levelled against it by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and his interior minister. The group condemned the terrorist attacks and affirmed its support for democratic principles. The incident threw into relief, again, the question of JDP collusion with jihadist groups that attacked the Kurds across the border in the Syrian town of Kobani. Without referring to this directly, Zaman columnist Lale Kemal wrote: “As much as the government tries to deny it, trucks bearing shipments of weapons from Turkish Intelligence (MIT) to elements in Syria whether you call them radical or moderate have been caught red-handed. Yet prosecutors and military personnel had been thrown into prison for having exposed the contents of these trucks, which consisted of various types of ammunition and missiles.” Further along in the article, Kemal referred to a tape recording that was broadcast on the Internet in which JDP Deputy Chairman Yasin Aktay was heard advocating shipping arms to the Free Syrian Army. She also cites former chief of army intelligence, retired Lieutenant General Ismail Hakki Pekin, as saying that a retired brigadier general had founded a company that works with MIT and that, Aktay claims, is in the business of sending mercenaries to Syria. Kemal added that a recent article in the British The Independent newspaper suggests that the Turkish leadership had dragged Turkey into the Syrian quagmire because of personal animosity towards Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. The Zaman columnist notes that Washington repeatedly cautioned Ankara against supporting Al-Nusra Front and similar organisations. But Ankara refused to settle down. Then it comes to light that 20 per cent of the candidates selected by Turkish Intelligence for a US-run programme to train the moderate Syrian opposition to combat IS were actually IS supporters. The US, she writes, immediately began to eliminate those names from the candidate list. She concludes that Ankara thinks it is being cunning, but the result is that IS has outmanoeuvred a large coalition and is now on its way to Baghdad, controlling more than half of neighbouring Syria. As she wrote: “In other words, IS is Turkey's neighbour.” The second indicator of a mounting Kurdish political surge centres on developments in the field of sports. On Friday, management of the more than two dozen football teams in the predominantly Kurdish region of southeast Turkey held a meeting in that region's capital, Diyarbakir. The purpose of the meeting, which was also attended by a number of civil society organisations, was to discuss a proposal aired by the Diyarbakir team to organise an independent “Kurdistan” football league. The meeting was a response to what the Kurdish teams regard as offences committed by the Turkish Football Federation and its referees. Perhaps it was the match that took place between Diyarbakir and the Dinizli Municipality Club last Monday that was the final straw. According to the Diyarbakir press officer, Safat Özbay, his team lost this match, played on home ground, because of a penalty that the referee, Hussein Sabanci, ruled against the team in overtime. The team had no alternative but to withdraw from the Turkish Foodball Federation in protest at the lack of impartiality shown by the sporting organisation, Özbay said. It is noteworthy that none of the teams from southeast Anatolia takes part in the Turkish Premier League. The teams only take part in second- or third-class leagues. Still, the Kurdish future remains shrouded in a haze that may continue to harbour dangers. This is not just because of the JDP's U-turns on its pledges. It is also in large measure due to the growth in ultranationalist trends, as evidenced in the rise of the right-wing Nationalist Movement Party that refuses to even speak of a “Kurdish question”, and therefore eliminates from its lexicon any notion of negotiations aimed at ending the decades-long division in the country. Clearly the road towards a solution to the Turkish-Kurdish conflict is not paved with roses. Even if the Democratic People's Party surpasses the 10 per cent threshold in the forthcoming legislative polls, which is likely, this would not constitute a harbinger of immanent peace. Ultimately it looks like everyone, including the famous prisoner secluded behind the walls and towering trees of Imrali Island, will have to wait quite a while yet for a significant change.
