POLITICS > Divisions sharpening in CHP over Kurdish row

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

The main opposition party starts discussing the divisions within the party over the Kurdish issue after recent remarks by CHP deputy Güler

‘We are in a struggle to let our people live equally, peacefully, freely and as brothers without any discrimination. Nobody should destroy our people’s hopes for the future,’ Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has said via Twitter. DHA photo

Turkey’s main opposition is trying to tackle its recent intra-party turmoil following the resignation of a Kurdish deputy, yet the latest crisis could pave the way for a shaky process.

“That this line within the Republican People’s Party (CHP) surfaced that starkly will be beneficial both for the CHP and for Turkey. The issues that the CHP did not debate before became debatable; this is good and healthy for the CHP and for Turkey. Unless the CHP faces these problems, its way will not be cleared,” CHP deputy chair Sezgin Tanrıkulu said on Jan. 26.

Tanrıkulu was responding to a question about CHP İzmir lawmaker Birgül Ayman Güler’s statements about a bill extending the scope of mother tongue defense late Jan. 23. “You cannot make me consider the Turkish nation and Kurdish nationality as equal.”

Fırat resigns over remarks on Kurds
CHP Adıyaman lawmaker Salih Fırat announced his “necessary” resignation from his party on Jan. 24, describing Güler’s statements as one of the reasons behind his decision. Atilla Kart, a CHP member of Parliament’s Constitution Reconciliation Commission, issued a statement on Jan. 26, saying that no ethnic identity is superior to the other and stressing that the CHP advocates equality of all people. “Any discourse of discrimination actually serves the division of Turkey. No CHP member should serve this trap.”

The CHP’s other Constitution Reconciliation Commission member Süheyl Batum lent his support and agreement to Güler. “My esteemed friend Birgül Ayman Güler said ‘the king is naked.’ She said that Kurdish nationalism is not progressive and leftist... But some ill-bred people made efforts to show her comments as ‘Kurds and Turks are not equal.’

But Güler does not think like that. No CHP members discriminate against people based on their ethnic origin,” Batum said. The CHP’s charter panel members already had disagreements over the constitutional definition of citizenship, as Sühely Batum insisted on inclusion of the notion of “Turkishness” in the proposal, while Atilla Kart and Rıza Türmen objected to his stance.

Güler’s words drew a strong reaction from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who said “Defending one nation’s superiority over another is a betrayal and disrespectful to the core of these lands.” Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdağ criticized the CHP, saying that “racism within the CHP became stronger.”

January/28/2013

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Turk Uzan

1/28/2013 6:11:07 PM

@ B-Medic, If you paid attention to my comment you'd realize the only one who's confused here is you. A nationality is the legal relationship between and individual and a "Nation STATE". There is no Kurdish nationality, the only "nationality" Kurds in Turkey have is Turkish. I repeat a Kurdish "NATIONALITY" and a Kurdish "Nation (state)" both do NOT exist. There is a BIG difference between Nation, Nationality and a Nation state

cezer skonore

1/28/2013 4:47:55 PM

B MEDIC: I think Mrs Guler is using the word "ULUS" to describe the entire nation, which is a mixture of smaller nations, including Kurdish nation. But, according to the tdk dictionary there is no difference between "ULUS" and "MILLET", they both mean "NATION". I think there is also a confusion about the usage of the words "TURK" and TURKISH". The nation of Turks would be different than the Turkish Nation, I guess. I think Kurds don't want to see reference to TURKS to describe the entir nation.

mara mcglothin

1/28/2013 4:45:56 PM

If you were born in Turkey then you are Turkish. YOu might not be Turkic, but you are Turkish. There are many ethnic groups, but only one citizenship. It isn't that difficult.

B Medic

1/28/2013 12:17:30 PM

@Turk Uzan. You, Mrs Güler and many other Turks confuse "Nation" with "State". A State is a set of authorities and laws that organize the people (citizens) within a specific area. Turkey is a state. A Nation is a group of people that are united through common traditions, ethnicity, language, religion and other cultural factors. There is indeed a Turkish nation within the Turkish state. But not all citizens in Turkey belong to the Turkish nation.

sid solo

1/28/2013 2:41:01 AM

This is bad reporting at best and, if not, intentional misinformation! Mrs.Güler quite openly qualified her remarks by saying that she used the terms in a strict (sociological) sense. She added straight away, under the constitutional description of "Turk" all kind of ethnicities are combined, e.g. Turks, Kurds, Laz, Armenian, Bosnian, Circassian. Mr Batum is quite right by standing up to her defence, as her comments were either not comprehended or as in this article incomplete and deceiving.

Turk Uzan

1/28/2013 1:22:14 AM

Correct translation: "You can't feed me Kurdish nationalism as progressive or pro-freedom, you cannot make the Turkish nation seem equal to the Kurdish people" The Turkish nation refers to ALL Turkish citizens, Kurds, Turks, Arabs, Laz, Armenian etc. She is completely right and I agree a 100%. BDP/PKK are both the most racist organizations in Turkey Also a "Kurdish nationality" does not exists, unless you're telling me there is a Kurdish country/nation somewhere that has it's own passports.

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