The only way for Kurdistan: Revolution

[kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu]

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at locust.etext.org>
Subject: The Only Way For Kurdistan: Revolution

(Article from 'Kurtulus' No.47, September 20, 1997)

The Only Way For Kurdistan: Revolution

"Demirel's Reality"

     "I don't agree that there is a Kurdish problem in Turkey,
rather there is a terrorist problem." This view is not new
amongst the oligarchy in Turkey. For years it has been repeated
literally by politicians and the military. Last week it was
repeated again. The context in which this sentence was said is
interesting: it was Demirel's answer to a statement by HADEP
(Halkin Demokrasi Partisi, People's Democracy Party)
chairman Bozlak during his visit to the prime minister's office
in the context of his "HADEP Dialogue Tour". This statement by
Demirel was classified as "unexpected", especially by the Kurdish
nationalists. "If this is meant seriously, the Turkish state is
not taking the peace calls seriously", the indignant Kurdish
nationalists said. Must this view, repeated time and again for 40
years, be repeated once more to come to this conclusion? So why
does one wonder? Because it was been the same Demirel who stated
in 1991: "Yes, we do recognize the reality of the Kurds." 
     In 1991, the representatives of the HEP (Halkin Emek
Partisi, People's Labor Party) joint the list of the SHP (Sosyal
Demokrat Halkci Partisi, Social Democratic People's Party) for
the elections and entered parliament as SHP delegates. Because of
the votes won by the HEP representatives, the SHP were confident
to enter a coalition with the DYP. The above mentioned statement
was made by Demirel as the leader of this coalition. This
statement was taken very seriously and the expectations were
accordingly. These expectations could also be heard when the SHP
entered the elections. What happened then? The coalition made
sure that the people were put under more pressure than before. 
Because Demirel is a loyal representative of the oligarchy.
Every time he governs, he makes sure that more blood is shed. 
     The oligarchy pursues a Kurdish policy from its own
perspective. This policy is accompanied by several kinds of
demagogy and a fake democracy. When this is overlooked, one gets
blinded by the pseudo-democracy. The Kurdish nationalists took
the bourgeois parties and politicians seriously, based on this
pseudo-democracy. This policy promises "heaven on earth", but
practice is contrary. How do we react to such promises? Should we
satisfy ourselves with the hope that these promises will be kept
in the future? Now is the moment that we see the real faces of
Demirel, Yilmaz, and Boyner. Neither the Kurdish problem, nor the
democratic struggle, benefit from the HADEP playing along on the
political level. Just because the HADEP is a legal party it
does not have to integrate in bourgeois politics. Under the motto
"Search for Dialogue", the HADEP visited Demirel, Yilmaz, and
Cindoruk. Visiting Ecevit was not deemed "important and useful".
The importance of a dialogue with Demirel and Yilmaz is
questionable. The HADEP stated after the meeting that it had been
useful and all went positively. What can have been so useful and
positive? In the name of the Kurdish people, the HADEP visits
Demirel who labels the struggle of the Kurds as terror, who
massacres, oppresses, and burns down villages. And the HADEP
remains silent about all this. This conduct cannot be explained
by claiming that the HADEP uses parliament only as a means to
achieve a goal. This conduct is quite clearly bourgeois politics
by a bourgeois party. Either you should not have gone to this
meeting, let alone remain silent, or you should have stood behind
the liberation struggle. Or you should stop claiming to represent
the Kurdish people. When parliament is used as a means to achieve
a goal, one should not act in a way that the hopes of the people
for the fulfilment of empty promises are fanned. Revolutionaries
or Kurdish nationalists should, when they use elections for
parliament or similar platforms, use them for the benefit of the
people and fight for its freedom.

-- 
Devrimci Halk Kurtulus Cephesi (DHKC)
Revolutionary People's Liberation Front
DHKC Information Bureau - Amsterdam
http://www.ozgurluk.org/dhkc                          
dhkc at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl