The Abant Platform took up the Kurdish question this year amidst ongoing debates on the closure case against the AK Party and the Ergenekon investigation. During the forum the question was discussed in all of its dimensions.

The title of the platform was "The Kurdish Question: Looking for Peace and a Common Future Together." The issue discussed at Abant is an important part of the ongoing crisis. In other words, unless the Kurdish question and other associated issues are resolved, the current crises will remain influential and become perennial. The meeting was supposed to have been held in Diyarbakır a few months ago. However, despite significant progress having been made toward holding this event in that city, the venue was changed at the last moment, unfortunately. During my attendance at the preliminary work on the meeting it became clear that some circles and forces do not approve of the discussion of important issues outside of the framework that they have outlined.

There are two common and major questions in the minds of average people in relation to the Kurdish question: First, how sincere are those who advance this question? This question actually implies a doubt as to whether there really is such a question or if the issue was simply part of a plot staged by international forces seeking to undermine Turkey's prestige. Of course, I am aware that this is a simple and naïve question. But it should be noted that many disagreements and clashes caused by lack of communication are fostered by such simplistic and naïve factors. The Turkish public keeps these simple and naïve questions in mind while listening to the problems of their Kurdish brothers.

The second question is, "Let us assume that there is such a problem; what is the solution?" Undoubtedly, this question is meaningful. It is now time for Kurdish opinion leaders and intellectuals to take concrete action to give a proper response to this question. But I think that, before resolving the issue, it is imperative and important to hold mutual talks and negotiations — I call this in technical terms an operation of negotiation politics. The key to the resolution lies in the wisdom of negotiation politics simply because no solution will be found unless mutual discussions are held. The reason is obvious: Everyone has designed their own "others" based on symbols and images. In this world of constructs and images, it will be impossible for the Kurds and others to get to know each other in the absence of sound dialogue. "Defining" will prevail wherever there is no understanding or dialogue enabling people to get to know each other. At the meeting, I am sure that the vast majority of participants had the opportunity to get to know the people about whom they may have held prejudices from a different perspective. For instance, Turkish people are generally unaware of the Kurdish daily life, which is pretty rich and originated from the same source as the Arab and Persian cultures.

There are even some people who ask whether the Kurds have an intellectual or spiritual capacity. Those who have seen the TV serials on daily life in the region are particularly doubtful about whether Kurds and Arabs have an advanced human mind. But the speech by Abdülmelik Fırat, the greatest living sage of the Kurds, with his arguments and the poetry he recited in Kurdish, Persian, Turkish and Arabic, left the audience speechless. Of course, people who will make reference to the political, economic, humanitarian and international dimensions of the problem are strongly needed; but there is also great need for wise Kurds and opinion leaders like Fırat. The latest Abant meeting also showed us this: We need to speak out on our own behalf and of own our free will. In short, we need negotiation politics.

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."