Long-running friction between the Turkey state and its restive Kurdish minority entered a new phase last week following the killing of 13 Turkish soldiers and a proclamation of autonomy by Kurdish nationalists, reports Gareth Jenkins On Thursday, the Democratic Society Congress (DTK), an umbrella organisation for different Kurdish nationalist groups in Turkey, concluded a meeting in the city of Diyarbakir with the proclamation of what they termed "democratic autonomy" for the predominantly Kurdish southeast of the country. The DTK's proclamation came shortly after news broke that 13 Turkish soldiers had been killed during clashes with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in a mountainous area 80 kilometres east of Diyarbakir. Almost at the same time, the main pro-Kurdish political party, the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), announced the collapse of talks with the government to end its month-old boycott of parliament. Conspiracy theorists in the Turkish media immediately claimed that the occurrence of the three events within hours of each other was proof of a preplanned strategy. In fact, the timing appears to have been largely coincidental. But there is no doubt that all three events are direct or indirect products of a growing frustration amongst Turkey's Kurds at the failure of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) to attempt to address their grievances. In the general election of 12 June, which the AKP won by a landslide, a block led by the BDP took 36 seats in Turkey's 550-member unicameral parliament. One of the BDP's successful candidates, Hatip Dicle, was immediately stripped of his seat on procedural grounds by the Supreme Electoral Board (YSK) and his place in parliament awarded to a member of the AKP. The YSK made no attempt to explain why it had previously approved Dicle's candidacy. Another five of the successful BDP candidates ran for parliament from their prison cells, where they have been held for months on charges of belonging to a PKK front organisation. Even though the five have yet to be convicted of any crime, the Turkish courts refused to free them to allow them to take their seats in parliament. The BDP responded by announcing that it would boycott parliament, and would only attend when all 36 of its successful candidates were allowed to take their seats. Initially, the AKP refused to even to discuss the issue with the BDP. Eventually, it agreed to meet but made it clear that it would make no attempt either to reinstate Dicle or to put pressure on Turkey's highly politicised judiciary to free the other five successful BDP candidates. It was in this context that the DTK met in Diyarbakir last Thursday, arguing that if elected Kurds were prevented from taking their seats in the parliament in Ankara, the AKP had left them no choice but to administer themselves. In the short-term, the declaration of autonomy is likely to be largely symbolic, as the Kurds are not strong enough to challenge the authority of the Turkish state in the southeast of the country. But it is likely to be followed by an intensified civilian disobedience campaign and pressure for a boycott of institutions run by the central government. For example, many Kurds are already refusing to attend mosques run by state-appointed imams and opting instead to be led in prayers by clerics approved by the BDP. The refusal to allow elected BDP candidates to enter parliament has also played into the hands of the PKK, which has long argued that only violence will force the Turkish state to address Kurdish grievances. In the run-up to the 12 June general election, the PKK had scaled back its insurgency in the hope that, once it had received a new mandate, the AKP would be prepared to enter into substantive peace negotiations. But the government has given no indication that it is prepared even to contemplate holding talks with the PKK. In response, in recent weeks the PKK has slowly stepped up its insurgency. On the evening of 9 July, a PKK unit set up a roadblock on the main road from Diyarbakir to Bingol and kidnapped two soldiers and a state health worker. The Turkish military responded by launching a massive search and rescue operation to try to locate the three men. On Thursday, one of the military units engaged in the operation was ambushed by a group of PKK militants in the mountains close to Silvan in Diyarbakir province. In addition to the 13 soldiers who were killed, another seven were wounded. The deaths triggered a furious public reaction. Tens of thousands of Turkish ultranationalists took to the streets in a series of often violent protests, chanting anti-Kurdish slogans, torching several BDP offices and attacking party officials. Even though the firefight occurred during an operation launched by the Turkish military, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the PKK of killing the soldiers in a deliberate attempt to raise tensions. "They have shown their true face," declared Erdogan. "Nobody should expect any goodwill from us now.�--ê�The only way we can talk with the PKK is if they lay down their weapons," insisted a high-ranking AKP official. The AKP appears unaware that such intransigence is increasing, not reducing, Kurdish demands. Until relatively recently, most Kurdish nationalists would have been content with a removal of the remaining restrictions on Kurdish cultural rights, rather than autonomy. But now that the DTK has issued a proclamation of autonomy, it is very difficult for Kurdish nationalists to accept anything less as their ultimate goal; and an increasing number of younger Kurds are now calling for full independence. Yet, as demonstrated by the reaction to Thursday's firefight, the rise in Kurdish demands has been accompanied by an alarming growth in violent anti-Kurdish racism. As the Kurdish issue enters a new era, the fear is that the focus of a solution may move away from meetings between officials to the streets of Turkey's cities.
