Ocalan festooned the ballroom for Turkey to celebrate the death of the Kurdish goal
Serwan Zangana | Exclusive to iKurd.net
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party in the 12th congress finally declared its dissolution and disarmament, claiming that it is the new beginning, as the PKK Executive Committee member, Duran Kalkan, said, “not an end, but a new beginning.”
According to ANF NEWS, Mr. Kalkan commemorated the PKK’s deceased leaders as he called them the revolutionary martyrs, such as Haki Karer, Ali Haydar Kaytan (Fuat), Rıza Altun, and Sırrı Süreyya Önder.
While the PKK leaders see the dissolution of the party as a “…new era in Kurdish history and the birth of a new, free Kurdish identity in Kurdistan,” the Turkish leaders clearly have a different perspective on Kurds in Turkey.
The Nationalist Movement Party, MHP, chairman Devlet Bahçeli, in a statement regarding the dissolution of the PKK, said, “Respect, affection, and loyalty between Turks and Kurds have been embodied and consolidated within the noble Turkish nation…” Seemingly, there will not be a Kurdish self-governing region in Turkey’s Kurdistan, and Kurds will be submitted to the Turkish rulers.
Bahçeli, in the statement, emphasized the greatness of Turkey without mentioning the ethnic and political rights of the Kurds: “Today, politics and democracy have won. Today, from east to west, from south to north, the victors are the Turkish nation, the Republic of Turkey…” he said.
Obviously, the dissolution of the PKK will only bring peace to the Turks and brighten Turkish society, while the Kurds will reluctantly conform to Turkey’s law that defines democracy from the Turkish perspective to prioritize the Turkish ethnicity in the country.
The PKK’s dissolution will empower Turkey and open a space for the regime to breathe more freely and keep a tighter restraint on the Kurds to prevent them from seeking autonomy in Turkey.
The declaration to dissolve the Party and close its chapter can also be seen as a result of the exhaustion of its leaders, including Abdullah Ocalan, as they surrendered the 40 years of revolution to the Turkish nationalists to decide the fate of the Kurds’ rights, which have always been missing from the Turkish agenda.
However, dissolving the Party and ending the revolution without having any promises on the table from Turkey pushes the Kurds toward an unknown future.
The PKK ended its operations without the completion of the mission, which is achieving autonomy for the Kurds, and clearly, one can ask if the bloodshed of the Kurdish fighters was in vain! The PKK’s 12th congress was another failure and sellout of the Kurdish leaders of Turkey’s Kurdistan, similar to the leaders of Iraqi Kurdistan.
Now, as the PKK declared its dissolution—which is definitely a collapse of the entire revolutionary movement in the Kurdish modern era—Turkey will implement its law and present democracy and justice that fits and serves Turkish interests.
“We will build the Turkey of the century, rooted in democracy, development, peace, and justice, together,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said in a statement after the PKK’s declaration of dissolution. It is, in fact, as the PKK leaders said, a new era in Kurdish history—but an era of uncertainty!
Would Erdogan forget the 40 years of conflict with the PKK?
By dissolving the PKK and ending the 40-year conflict, Kurds cannot expect a peaceful living in a democratic society under the Turkish regime. It is more likely that Erdogan’s mindset will become an obstacle on the path of the Kurds to achieve their political identity.
Unfortunately, Ocalan has signed a blank paper with no terms and conditions handed to Erdogan, which means, regardless of the PKK’s hope in Kurds’ participation in Turkish society, Erdogan and his allies in the Turkish government will determine the Kurdish rights in Turkey.
The 40 years of bloodshed between the PKK and Turkey will not be simply forgotten by Erdogan, and this new era of Turkey without the PKK’s resistance can contribute to a different form of misery for the Kurds. The PKK leaders are praising the Party and interpreting the dissolution as a positive step and a new phase.
Perhaps, in appearing in such a positive and confident manner, the PKK leaders are either concealing the fact of the collapse or deceiving the Kurdish community. “We are leaving behind 52 years of struggle and entering a new phase,” PKK Delegate Cemal Amed said. But the PKK leaders are ignoring the Turks’ negative perspective on the movement and the definition—which is terrorism—that is linked to the PKK by Turkey.
“With the terrorist group PKK announcing its decision to disband and surrender its weapons, Turkiye has entered a new phase in its efforts for a ‘terror-free Türkiye,’” Erdogan said. Dissolving the PKK is the major historical defeat of one of the most organized militias in the modern era, and such a defeat indeed can fuel the Turkish government to begin its new phase, which is the assassinations or the prosecutions of the members of the Party.
The trouble is deeper than it appears in the PKK’s dissolution, and as such a decision was welcomed by the international community, it will be the same community that stands silent during the Party members’ trial in the Turkish courts for terrorism.
(Anti-Terrorism Law No. 3713) authorizes the Turkish government to bring down every member of the PKK to State Security Courts, which were established under Law 2845, and be criminalized and punished. The PKK leaders are going down the slippery slope toward their own destruction.
The autonomy between dissolving the PKK and shifting the direction
As the 12th congress was being finalized, the autonomy which was the main goal of the PKK to achieve was not on its agenda. Apparently, the PKK in the past has shifted its goal from seeking Kurdish independence to an autonomy of the Kurdish region in Turkey, and now, seemingly, with its dissolution, the PKK has abandoned the autonomy goal as well.
It is impossible for Erdogan to simply allow the Kurds to establish a self-governing system and create an autonomous region in Turkey’s Kurdistan, as in fact, Turkey is opposing any system that grants the Kurds the rights to self-governance aside from the central government.
It is noteworthy that Turkey also opposed the idea of a decentralization system in Syria that grants more political power to the Kurds in Syria’s Kurdistan. Such a system is perceived by the Turkish government as a threat to Syrian sovereignty.
“Turkey does not accept any initiative that targets Syria’s territorial integrity, that will damage its sovereignty,” a Turkish Foreign Ministry source said, speaking of the idea of the decentralization system in Syria.
Furthermore, Erdogan blatantly opposed decentralization in Syria, as in a threatening language he said, “…is nothing more than a raw dream…I advise (Kurds) not to dream of a federal structure or make decisions that will threaten the region…”
Now, between dissolving the PKK and shifting the direction to embrace Ankara, Ocalan festooned the ballroom for Turkey to celebrate the death of the Kurdish goal: autonomy.
Serwan Zangana, a contributing writer for iKurd.net, lives in Virginia, U.S. He serves as a correction officer.
The views expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of iKurd.net or its editorial team.
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