We are being unfair to the BDP
If we were able to heave a sigh of relief because the hunger strikes have ended, we should not forget the significant role of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) in this outcome. At the very least, doors were opened more easily thanks to the constructive attitude of a segment of the party.
However, collectively, we are actually being unfair to the BDP. We are all putting burdens on them. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is dragging them through the mud. A segment of the media continuously attacks them. The judiciary is doing its best against them.
Nobody ever considers the difficulties this party has to face. The BDP is between a rock and a hard place. For them, one is Kandil Mountain, the other is İmralı island.
There are two tendencies within the party.
One segment is faithful to outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan with love. They identify with ideas coming from there and they believe the solution passes through İmralı, where Öcalan is incarcerated. As much as they can, they prioritize those ideas that come from there. This situation was clearly revealed during the hunger strikes. This fine line also drew the attention of the state bureaucracy during the joint efforts with the Justice Ministry. However, this segment is also troubled because even though their hearts are on İmralı, their minds are on Kandil.
There is also another segment in the party and they prioritize Kandil. They believe Ankara can only understand armed struggle, and if there were no armed struggle, then they would not be able to gain anything.
It should not be forgotten that Kandil possesses the brute force.
No matter what the party says, it is not easy for any brave fellow to go outside what the PKK says. Nobody is able to disregard the command of the organization on the streets. Your heart may beat with sympathy toward İmralı, but the reality of life is in the hands of the armed.
That is what Ankara is looking for also. Who will be the addressee? Will it be the BDP together with İmralı? Where are we going to place Kandil?
No matter what, we should now look at the BDP with a different, more understanding and tolerant view. We should at least try to understand them some more.
Impossible not to admire Çandar
Cengiz Çandar is one of the first journalists that comes to mind in Turkey when the Middle East is mentioned. He is also the colleague I admire the most. His Mesopotamia journey, the one which he started in camps of Lebanon, is still continuing.
Out from İletişim Publishing House, his latest book, “Mesopotamia Express: A History Journey,” explains this journey. Cengiz’s express started its journey in Beirut during the years when he was a fugitive, then continued on to Damascus, Arbil, Kirkuk, Baghdad, Amman, the West Bank, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Ankara. When the stops are these, Cengiz’s 40-year long journey becomes a thriller. At every stop a separate adventure, different leaders, different issues emerge. The express passes hastily over the Middle Eastern soil without seeing its end. He has explained significant turns, leaders and people of the Middle East over the past 40 years. It is a journey that includes both guerilla camps and the office of the adviser to the president. He is a writer that touches the Kurdish region, who understands the Kurds and who tries to explain Turkey.
