Washington Kurdish Institute March 16, 2021
Historically, Kurds in all parts of Kurdistan – which is divided across Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey – have faced all sorts of persecution from the oppressive governments and regimes ruling them. The Kurds have faced genocide, chemical attacks, ethnic cleansing, displacement, massacres, and the assassinations of leaders and public figures. These atrocities came almost equally from all the states into which Kurdistan is divided. For example, since the establishment of Turkey in 1923, the Kurds have faced major military campaigns, starting with the suppression of a Kurdish revolution led by Sheikh Said Piran in 1925, followed by the Dersim Massacre of 1937.
Furthermore, the Turkish state has reacted belligerently to legitimate Kurdish demands for self-governance, equal culture, and language rights. In Syria, the regime stripped thousands of Kurds of their citizenships. In Iran, the ongoing repression of the Kurds by the current regime is the continuation of the previous governments that brutally fought against Kurdish rights. The former regime in Iraq gassed Kurds with chemical weapons, began a genocide known as the Anfal Campaign, and replaced the Kurdish population with Arab people, known as the “Arabization policy.”
To this day, the Kurds in Turkey struggle for political representation, as the current authoritarian President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has jailed thousands of Kurds, including elected officials, politicians, and journalists. Erdogan’s anti-Kurdish campaign started after his Justice and Development Party (AKP) suffered its first loss in the elections after holding the majority of seats in the Turkish Grand Assembly for more than a decade. The AKP’s defeat in the June elections of 2015 was mainly due to the rise of the Kurdish-led Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), a party aiming to democratize Turkey and promote coexistence. The HDP does not seek Kurdish independence, unlike other Kurdish parties in Iraq and Iran.
Furthermore, in 2015, Erdogan ended the peace process with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), and, simultaneously, the Turkish military launched an elimination campaign against the Kurdish population in Turkey, Syria, and the occupied parts of Iraq. The Kurdish region in Turkey suffered the most, as tens of thousands of people were displaced. Erdogan was successful at decreasing Kurdish participation in the rerun election held in November of 2015, the results of which granted the AKP a slight majority. The ethnic cleansing campaign carried out by Turkey and its Jihadist proxies in Syria continues to target Kurds in the Afrin region and northeast Syria. In Iraq, Turkish troops have invaded dozens of villages, killed tens of civilians under the pretext of fighting the PKK.
Since the establishment of the HDP, the group has suffered immense pressure from the majority of Turkey’s nationalist society; this pressure was fueled by Kurdish hate from consecutive governments. The HDP was successful, however, at attracting Kurds and some Turks who sought peace and shared the goal of ending the bloody campaign against the Kurds, as well as ending the four-decades-old war between the Turkish state and the PKK.
Today, the HDP is under threat of closure by Erdogan and his ally in the government, the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). Turkey has a dark history of shutting down political parties, mainly those of the Kurds. For example, at least five Kurdish parties have been shut down by the government since 1990, but, in the past, the old version of Erdogan opposed such a move, even criticizing the former cabinets for such a move. The power of the Turkish state establishment and his dictatorial tendencies have made him one of the worst enemies of the Kurdish nation after changing dramatically in recent years.
The idea of closing the HDP circulated among both the MHP and AKP after the HDP proved itself to be a true opposition party with a significant base, potentially capable of convincing the other Turkish opposition parties to form alliances to end Erdogan’s authoritarianism in the next elections. The Turkish opposition parties, especially the largest one – the Republic People’s Party (CHP) – remain reluctant to cooperate with the HDP due to anti-Kurdish sentiments among their constituents. Likewise, some newly formed parties, such as the Good Party (IYI), had defected from the ultra-nationalist MHP. Nonetheless, the HDP was simultaneously successful at bringing both the Kurdish issue and the democratization of the country into the discourse, granting the party a considerable win among the Turkish voters.
Turkey remains the most anti-Kurdish country, however, due to the nationalist rhetoric fed by the government, its institutions, and laws. For example, Turkey’s constitution considers all citizens of the country to be Turkish. There aren’t any considerations for non-Turks, including other ethnic and religious minorities like Armenians, Christians, Jews, and Arabs. As a result, both the ruling party and the majority of the opposition parties were established with insecure ideologies toward non-Turks. Turkey has occupied parts of Iraq, Syria, Libya, and Cyprus since 1974, and continues pushing its influence in Asia and Africa; yet the country with the majority of its political power reacts severely to any mention, image, melody, or map of the Kurds. Recently, an unofficial poster was hung during the reception held for Pope Francis in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. The poster portrayed the Pope’s image embedded into a map of Kurdistan. In reaction, the Turkish government and the opposition parties alike attacked the Kurds, especially the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq (KRG) for hanging the poster, even for a few minutes. The map of Kurdistan shown in the poster is a century old, depicting the Kurdish provinces in the four countries across which they are located. The map is not recognized by any governmental, nongovernmental, regional, or international entity. Soon, the issue of the poster made its way to the Turkish Grand Assembly, where offensive comments were made about the Kurds by both ruling and opposition figures. Turkey’s foreign ministry also demanded clarifications from the KRG using the most undiplomatic and insulting terms.
Certain presumptuous authorities in KRG dared to abuse the mentioned visit, to express their unrealistic aspirations against the territorial integrity of Iraq’s neighboring countries. KRG authorities are in the best position to remember the disappointing outcomes of such deceitful aims. We expect an urgent and clear statement from the KRG authorities that immediately rectifies this grave mistake (Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs). Devlet Bahçeli, the leader of the MHP, added, “That despicable [Kurdistan] map is already under our feet”
The large-scale reactions to one poster hanging among countless other banners and slogans welcoming the Pope can surely showcase Turkey’s lack of confidence and how fragile the state-building has been in the past century, as it was mainly based on the persecution of its largest minority, the Kurds.
Turkey’s insecurity toward the Kurds has taken other hypocritical turns. For example, the KRG is an entity recognized internationally and by the constitution of Iraq. Further, the KRG trade relations with Turkey have resulted in billions of dollars of revenue for the country and its leaders. Yet, the government and the media use the term “northern Iraq” or the abbreviation “KRG” to avoid using the word “Kurdistan.” During visits by Turkish officials to the Kurdistan region of Iraq, however, the officials walk under the Kurdish flag, which is not shown by the news coverage, which also avoids showing Kurdish writing.
In Turkey, the word “Kurdistan” and the Kurdish language remain forbidden officially, and the world remembers the renowned Kurdish politician Leyla Zana, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison for using the Kurdish language at the end of her parliamentarian oath, saying “I take this oath for the brotherhood between the Turkish people and the Kurdish people.” Later, Zana was awarded the European Union’s Sakharov Prize for human rights.
In Turkey, the colors resembling those of the Kurdish flag are prohibited to a point that the government ordered the removal of roses in the streets resembling them. Furthermore, Kurds have been arrested for whistling Kurdish revolutionary songs, with the government banning Kurdish singers and jailing them.
These reactions to Kurdish songs, flags, languages, and maps clearly display how the HDP is surrounded by an almost impossible political atmosphere and political bias, yet they remain in the fight, despite their leaders being placed behind bars and the constant hate-based attacks.
The racist rhetoric toward the Kurds remains the biggest challenge facing not only the Kurds but Turkey as a country on all levels, including economic and military. One thing is certain, however: the closure of the HDP will not silence the Kurds, but will further encourage them to fight for freedom, including culture and language rights. The true enemy of both Turkey’s and its Kurds are the current politicians who continue to spread hate and animosity, avoiding long-overdue solutions to the Kurdish question.