All too often, it’s claimed “Kurds are integral citizens of the Turkish Republic, equal and brothers with Turks” and many nationalist Turks refuse to even say the words “Kurd” or “Kurdish”, insisting that “everyone in Turkey is a Turk” while simultaneously claiming that “the Kurds are Turks and they are equal too” not to mention “We hate Kurds so much that there are 20 million bla bla bla….” and “Istanbul is the largest Kurdish city in the world, not Diyarbakir or Erbil.”
As someone who knows many Kurds, has been following the developments in Kurdistan for some time now, but first and foremost (and most importantly), as someone with human conscience, I cannot allow these harmful, false myths to be spread any longer while the rights of Kurds in Turkey are being violated on a daily basis.
Here are some of the main reasons I’ve heard people say when it’s claimed “Kurds are equal in Turkey,” as well as a debunking of them.
Reason no. 1:
“Kurds are allowed to speak Kurdish, it’s not banned anymore. Their language is allowed, therefore they’re equal under the law.”
While it’s technically true that the Kurdish language is no longer banned in Turkey,[1] Kurdish has nowhere near the legal status that Turkish does. For one, whenever clashes with the PKK heat up (as they did in 2015[2] and 2016)[3] Kurdish language learning is severely restricted,[4] and many institutions (state-run ones, mind you!) which teach it (preschools, etc) are arbitrarily shut down, or have Kurdish removed from the curriculum altogether.[5][6][7]
Also, the mayor of Nusaybin was taken to court for putting Kurdish on local signs/street names,[8] a teacher in Aydin province reported 6 students to police for listening to Kurdish music (and the students were detained as a result),[9] and a children’s television show in Kurdish was even banned by the Turkish government![10]
Sign in a school in Şırnak, a Kurdish-majority province of Turkey[11]
The sign reads “I shall not speak Kurdish”, young children in school who cannot speak much (if any) Turkish, are banned from speaking their native language!
So the “Kurds may freely speak Kurdish in Turkey” argument is false.
Reason no. 2:
“Turkey was partially founded by a Kurd and has had a Kurdish prime minister before, and Atatürk saw Turks and Kurds as brothers, so there’s never been state-sponsored discrimination against Kurds. That is why they are equal.”
While it’s true that a Kurd, Mustafa İsmet İnönü, had a significant role in establishing the modern Turkish state alongside Mustafa Kemal Ataturk,[12] and while it’s true that Turgut Özal, a Kurd, was the 8th President of Turkey,[13] that’s about as far as it goes.
Notice how both Mr. İnönü and Mr. Özal have Turkish names, despite being ethnically Kurdish? That’s because under the Surname Law of 1934, everyone in Turkey was legally mandated to have a Turkish name, regardless of ethnicity.[14]
In addition, Atatürk’s government legally penalized all non-Turkish speakers, with fines and jail time, just for speaking non-Turkish languages (e.g. Kurdish, Arabic, Aramaic, Greek, Armenian, etc.) in public![15]
And while we’re at it, let’s consider how despite the fact that the US had a black president, Barack Obama, blacks are not equal nor treated fairly in the US, so to say “Turkey had a Kurdish president, so how can Kurds be unequal in Turkey?” is ridiculous.
Furthermore, if Atatürk saw Turks and Kurds as brothers, why were the Kurds called “Mountain Turks” and banned from anything Kurdish under his (and many subsequent) governments?[16]
Not to even mention the enormous massacres of Kurds under Ataturk,[17] as well as the subsequent expulsions and deportations of tens and hundreds of thousands of Kurds to Syria and elsewhere![18]
Kurdish refugees expelled from Turkey, en route to Syria’s Jazira region
Seems very “equal” to me…
Finally, reason no. 3, and in my opinion, the most absurd of them all:
“Turkey is only fighting the terrorist PKK, not the Kurds. So if anything, Turkey fights for Kurdish rights by fighting the PKK! Not against them.”
This statement has a number of flaws, not least of which is the complete ignorance of why the PKK was founded. After 50+ years of oppression, the Kurds were fed up! They needed a way out, hence the PKK. This cannot be ignored.
Second, and I should make this clear: The PKK are freedom fighters and terrorists at the same time. Yes, you read that right. The PKK are indeed freedom fighters and terrorists at the exact same time. They are not mutually exclusive.
How, you may ask?
Well, the PKK wants more rights for Kurds in Turkey, such as:[19]
- Initially Free Kurdistan, but now for remaining as one country. Hence:
- Kurdish language should be fully legalized
- Equal legal rights for Kurds
- Cultural and historical recognition of the Kurds
- Et cetera.
Therefore, because the PKK’s goal is “freedom” (more rights for Kurds, that is), they are freedom fighters.
However, the PKK also constitute a terrorist group, because of questionable activity, not least of which includes:[20]
- Suicide bombings
- Kidnapping civilians
- Using child soldiers
- Persecution of religious minorities (e.g. Assyrians)
- Et cetera.
Therefore, because the PKK carries out terrorist acts, they are a terrorist group.
Now, the way to fight terrorism is to strategically attack the militant group(s), but not the ethnicity, religion, etc. which it claims to represent as a whole.
This is not what has been happening with the Turkey-PKK conflict.
During the Turkey-PKK conflict, the Turkish state has carried out significant human rights violations and war crimes against the Kurds, under the pretext of fighting the PKK.[21]
A prominent example of this was the leveling of huge parts of cities in southeastern Turkey, with the damage even comparable to that of Aleppo, Syria![22] Diyarbakir and Cizre, in particular, saw severe damage, though it was commonplace in much of the southeast.
During the Turkey-PKK conflict, the Turkish government has also tortured civilians,[23] forcibly evicted hundreds of thousands of people from their homes,[24] and has even forced the already-embattled Assyrian Christian communities of the southeast into near-extinction![25]
This is not fighting terror, this is fighting innocent civilians.
So in conclusion, why do [some] Turks deny that Kurds are treated badly in Turkey?
Some people also believe the earth is flat, but that doesn’t make it any truer.
I rest my case.
Footnotes
[1] Kurdish can be taught in Turkey’s schools, Erdogan says
[2] Turkey Kurds: Many dead in Cizre violence as MPs’ march blocked
[3] Turkish warplanes hit PKK targets in southeast — Turkey News
[4] “Being able to study in Kurdish schools is a basic need, just as bread is. But the Turkish government does not let us open even one”
[5] In Turkey, Repression of the Kurdish Language Is Back, With No End in Sight
[6] Turkey shutters Kurdish language institute
[7] Turkey bans writing of university dissertations in Kurdish
[8] Sensing a Siege, Kurds Hit Back in Turkey (Published 2012)
[9] 6 students dancing to Kurdish music released after brief detention in Aydın
[10] Turkey stops Kurdish children’s TV channel citing ‘terrorism’ | DW | 29.09.2016
[11] Kurdish students barred by Turkish teacher from speaking Kurdish at school — Stockholm Center for Freedom
[12] İsmet İnönü | president of Turkey
[13] Turgut Özal | president of Turkey
[14] Surname narratives and the state–society boundary: Memories of Turkey’s family name law of 1934
[15] “Citizen, Speak Turkish!”: A Nation in the Making
[16] Mountain Turks: state ideology and the Kurds in Turkey
[17] The Massacre in Dersim Still Haunts Kurds in Turkey
[18] The expulsion of non-Turkish ethnic and religious groups from Turkey to Syria during the 1920s and early 1930s
[19] Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) | History & Ideology
[20] Terrorism Profile — Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)
[21] Does Erdogan Intend to Eliminate Kurds in Turkey?
[22] An Aleppo-like Landscape in a Kurdish Redoubt of Turkey (Published 2016)
[23] The death basements of Cizre: Five years on, victims are still fighting for justice
[24] Beytüşşebap Was Our Shingal
[25] Assyrian Christians the victims of Erdogan’s war on Kurdish militants
