"A Solution for the Kurdish Question must be a Solution for Turkey"

Journalist Ertuğrul Kürkçü said that a solution for the Kurdish Question could be brought on its way "if the Constitution is not going to be based on any sort of ethnicity and religious belief and if it guarantees an equal distance to all ethnicities and beliefs".

Kürkçü said that in recent years, approaches to resolve the Kurdish Questions also emerged from the base of the nationalists. "Turkey's society matured faster than the political parties. If there is an exclusionary tendency within the society it is more a class exclusion rather than an ethnic one. In that respect, the current conflicts are nourished by different tensions", Kürkçü argued.

Kürkçü: The solution must be a solution for Turkey

Evaluating the recent increase of conflicts in the East and South-East of the country, Kürkçü stated that if these conditions are fulfilled, "the conflict on ethnic grounds would not be eliminated completely, but they would be minimized and brought down to remain within tolerable limits".

"In my opinion, a solution for the Kurdish question must actually be a solution for Turkey. In general, the right to expression and self-realization should be assured for all Turkish citizens and all diversities. I think it is necessary to include all that in the framework of the constitution".

"In order to realize this, we definitely need a new constitution that is focussed on freedom rather than on security. This is the most important requirement, this is the priority... Otherwise, all pursuits for a solution are futile".

"At the same time, Kurdish and other non-Turkish communities should be supported to develop their own languages and cultures and to benefit from public sources".

"As a third point, the Constitution should not be based on any sort of ethnicity and religious belief but guarantee an equal distance to all ethnicities and beliefs".

"The political focus does not want to leave Turkey"

In a television program of the Turkish news channel NTV presented by Celal Pır on 21 June, Kürkçü put forward that officials have already talked to the PKK. He said:

"... In my opinion it is a mistake to think that the PKK only consists of armed people in the mountains. It is the most dynamic political truth within the Kurdish people with its cultural organizations, its representations in the civil society, its influence on local governments and its effect on the parliament".

"The political focus does not want to leave Turkey. The situation in Iraq is different; even though a new region was created, it is not attractive. The primary factor that is dominating the Kurdish world is here. Let us live together as citizens with equal rights. This is not invariably a Kurdish issue but the right to express all sorts of differences. This system also oppresses the rights of the poor Turks and of Turkish women..." (EÖ/VK)