Mümtaz'er Türköne wrote: My Kurdish side

Mümtaz'er Türköne explains in his article titled “My Kurdish Side” that he made the decision to “live as a Kurd” based on his personal and political past. Türköne states that a new process has begun with the decision to dissolve the PKK, and that the most important political actor behind this development is Devlet Bahçeli.

As a Turkish nationalist, I decided to live the rest of my life as a Kurd.

My reference is the famous words of Alpaslan Türkeş, the founder of doctrinal Turkish nationalism: “I am a Kurd as much as a Kurd is a Kurd; a Kurd is a Turk as much as a Turk is a Turk.”

There should be no place for racism, bigotry, or fantasies of lineage in these lands.

Routines will change, at least forgotten solid references will be remembered. This is the only path ahead of us, the rest consists of bottomless abysses.

I was born as the third of 6 sons from the Oghuz lineage from both parents. My siblings and I sat at the same table, shaking our spoons at the same pan, and occasionally splitting each other's heads and eyes. We adapted to our environment, which changed frequently from city to city and neighborhood to neighborhood, by supporting each other. Our fights inside the house became training for neighborhood fights outside.

All of them are political experiences about life and today.

In our region, in the neighboring neighborhoods, a new order, brand new buildings, new markets are being built. We will stand back to back; otherwise they will not even let us breathe. We are at a time when the propeller of fate is turning for our country and our future.

Brotherhood is a destiny that you surrender to without question. It is beyond your will, calculation, book, and choice. It also has its own law that includes the universal law that we know, and this law today puts before me, as a Turk, not only a brother but also a Kurd, as a responsibility and duty.

It is not easy, we are setting out on a new path together with my brother who has been beaten for a hundred years.

Don't get caught up in the details and the rumors called "backstage" about what was left behind. The ships were burned, the way was opened. The PKK decided to dissolve in the congress. If it hadn't been given, a declaration of war would have definitely come.

The surrender of weapons, the provision of assurances and opportunities to the PKK cadres are the business of those who govern the state. There is an extraordinary success and a result that will now allow us to start over.

We will look ahead.

Let's give the truth:

This success is primarily due to Devlet Bahçeli. He was the one who paved the way, put his own body in the ditches and fixed the obstacles. Without his insistence and determination, we would not have been able to overcome all that distance in such a short time and achieve this result.

Bahçeli's role is not limited to shouldering the nation's fate and bringing it to this safe harbor. He did not only pave the path we passed through, he also drew the roadmap for the future in the most detailed lines. The three texts published in Türkgün during the holiday should be read again and again as the Process's future perspective, and more importantly as an action plan that must be implemented. (The MHP should definitely print these texts, which will be frequently referred to, as a brochure.)

Human rights, rule of law and democracy.

He did not resort to bombast, he did not get involved in the dirt and rust of daily politics, he presented us with a clear and concise program.

Even his direct advice to DEM to become a party of Türkiye is very important. Even remembering that the late Sırrı Süreyya Önder was the face of DEM in Türkiye warms one's heart.

There is much more in the texts written by Bahçeli that should not be overlooked.

For example, a definition of citizenship that ends all discussions with a single stroke: “Everyone who is bound to the Republic of Türkiye through citizenship has equal rights and obligations.”

These texts contain the perspective that re-establishes the nation-state nature of the Republic of Turkey in accordance with the conditions of the age as the first quarter of the 21st century comes to an end. It lists the components of a modern, intelligent, solid and rich nation on democracy and law.

Among my old friends who grew up in the Ülkü Ocakları, there are those who are strongly opposed to the Process and those who voice their objections in good faith. Of course, the Process will progress with opposing ideas and objections. There will be discussions. The solution will become healthier in the light of these discussions.

There are two types of objections: First, those who perceive the issue as a threat to the unity and solidarity of Türkiye, those who have their own reasons, those who oppose it like my friends. The most proper and neat of these objections are the objections and criticisms listed one after the other by Turan Çömez. Second, those who see the process as a simple means of exploitation, who use it as material for their daily interests, who are thinking “what will be our share of this plot?”, those who are demonstrators of the image of right. Among them are the White Turks, who are abundant in the coastal areas, who have derived arrogance and superiority from the status of second-class citizens of the Kurds.

As Kurds, it is our duty -since I am now a Kurd- to respond to criticisms based on good faith and logical reasons and to alleviate concerns. What will we do with the latter? They will be the spice of the process; we will have fun.

The voices of those who want to seriously discuss the myth of the David Corridor that allowed the Kurds to reach the Mediterranean, the fear that "Kurds will establish a state", and the theses of the new plot of imperialism will fill the air. Nevertheless, the caravan will continue on its way.

This objection is correct. The issue has not been resolved with the dissolution of the PKK; on the contrary, it is just beginning. Öcalan has put the motto “democratic struggle instead of armed struggle”. The ground on which Öcalan has placed the Process coincides with Bahçeli’s projection: Democracy, law and human rights. We will advance on a ground where words are more effective than bullets.

The Republic Turkified the Turks in order to turn them into a nation. “The Turkification of the Turks has only recently occurred. The Kurds remained outside this process of becoming a nation. The Turks have become a nation but have not been able to transform the state into a nation-state. In an autocracy where lawlessness and injustice are rampant, the nation is not the owner of the state of which it is a citizen.

With their century-long experience, the Kurds demand the democratization of the state as a condition for becoming a part of the nation. They are absolutely right. An equation emerges whose solution depends on a democratic state governed by the rule of law. For the Turks, the power to democratize the state is in the hands of the Kurds. If the state wants to gain power and glory in the age of nation states by relying on a single nation that is united in sorrow and joy, and has a common destiny, it will prioritize law above all else and surrender to the will of its people, in other words, it will democratize.

We have deprived a people of their dignity and equal citizenship rights by banning and humiliating the language they learned from their mothers and lullabies. Many more atrocities have been committed. Put yourself in the shoes of the Kurds and decide:

What should be done?

Don't get too caught up in the armed and hard-hatted part of the process. The real power is in the hands of the people who will nurture this constructive climate. The most powerful weapon we have is a comprehensive Sympathy and Empathy Offensive targeting the Kurds.

The articles of the constitution, concepts such as federalism and decentralization are merely ammunition that those who want to continue the armed struggle with old habits have seized. The PKK members who have laid down their weapons will use this new ammunition abundantly. See how far you can develop your empathy.

Even more than that, try looking at it as a Kurd like me.